Beatrice, Diana, and Poppy found several medicinal herbs, but nothing that could help prevent infection. Even so, they packed some away. They might still come in handy later.
There was also some dried food, including potatoes, sweet potatoes, moss, and a few other scraps. Anything better had probably already been eaten by the gang.
They each took what they could carry and changed into the cleanest clothes they could find.
Water mattered most. A person could last days without food, but not nearly as long without water.
The misery of nearly dying from thirst was still fresh in their minds, so they found several bottles and filled every one they could.
The two surviving women followed them into the storage room and started packing as well, trying to stay on their good side as they worked.
"You three are incredible. Can we come with you?"
Diana glanced over and lifted the bloodstained knife in her hand. "I'm not your mother. I don't owe you protection. If you wanna stay alive, stay out of my way."
The two women immediately fell silent, though their hands never stopped stuffing supplies into their bags.
All three of them were still sick, and carrying too much would only slow them down, so Poppy packed lightly.
Before they left, she went back to the cell where she had been held and cut through the chain on the door.
What happened to the women inside after that was up to them.
They had barely reached the cave entrance when they realized that although the sandstorm had stopped, the sky had turned dangerously dark.
Soon, rain came pouring down.
Whatever relief they felt disappeared at once. They were all still sick, and Diana's wound made the situation even worse. If it got soaked, the risk of infection would climb fast.
Poppy suggested, "Why don't we wait until the rain lets up?"
So they waited for two hours, but the rain only grew heavier.
It poured as if the sky had split open, sending endless sheets of water crashing down until muddy yellow runoff surged across the ground in every direction.
As the rain kept falling, small creeks swelled into raging streams thick with mud and sand.
The endless sea of sand had turned into a world of water.
Poppy watched runoff rushing down the distant slopes, dragging loose dirt and chunks of earth with it. There was more of it by the second, and the water was getting thicker and muddier.
Diana, who could feel a fever coming on, immediately sensed something was wrong.
"We need to get out of here. Now."


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