บท 28: Part 2: Chapter 28: A brutal attack

Sonia's thirst madened her. Hunger worsened her turmoil. She drifted between sleep and sickness as hours passed. Her wounds burned with hellish fire. So severe that she wished to amputate it. First the leg, then her head.

How many days had it been?

She tried to pray, but words failed. Longing for biblical support, her memory obscured with years of neglect. She recited Psalm 91 and Psalm 23 often, but no relief came.

In her dreams Curt's faded images left her listless. Her son's face only a mirage; stripped from all the delusions. Even the burned building became a faded memory. A person in white stood just behind it and called her. She tried to move, but knee-deep mud stopped her. She kept sinking deeper into a bottomless pit. Every time she woke, the thirst and hunger reminded her of her predicament.

In vain she tried to get attention, but the attempts remained useless. No one came. She asked for mercy, but received none.