Ellia nudged Nadia forward toward the handprint reader, and when she was close enough, she briefly unbound the other woman’s hands, seized one, and planted it on the reader. The machine beeped and buzzed and then a synthetic voice read out, “Handprint recognized. Please enter.”

Ellia did so, and then she bound Nadia's hands again. She nearly blanched at the inside of the fortress. Everything was a disorganized mess. Food crumbs lined the tile floors, some lights were broken, laundry was scattered about on the floor, and so were weapons. No wonder she lost. Ellia thought to herself.

Ellia stepped around the mess as all of the Lionesses gathered around her. Ellia’s own tribe had their weapons at the ready, prepared to shoot anyone who stepped out of line. Once the hall was as filled as it could possibly be, Ellia whispered to Nadia, “Is this everyone?”

Nadia grunted, “Should be.”

Ellia nodded. She appraised the tribe of enemy women with a critical eye, gathering her thoughts. She had to win these people over to her side, and she had to win them now before she executed their leader.

But this was something that Ellia excelled at. She only had to gather her thoughts for a moment, because she knew, deep down, that she was a born leader and that whatever came out of her mouth would inspire those around her.

Despite being more delicate in her youth, even back then she had known she was a leader. She could command those around her, and had earned the faith of the Zironists even back then. She didn’t need to practice over and over again to give a great speech.

Her eyebrows knitted determinedly as she looked around the room at the enemy women. After that, she took a deep breath and said loudly and clearly. “Good to meet all of you. My name is Ellia, and from now on, I will be your new leader.”

The women scowled and angrily talked over her, calling her every name in the book and claiming that she would never be their leader like how Nadia was. Ellia let them yell and scream until they finally ran out of air capacity to do so, and Ellia calmly addressed them again. “I know you all are reticent to admit me as your leader, but believe me, you will come to recognize it as the best decision you have ever made in your lives.”

A black-haired woman from the crowd yelled, “Says who? How can we trust a woman who has our previous leader at gunpoint and who has already killed so many of us?”

Ellia nodded understandingly. “I understand. However, what you all need to remember is that you would have done the same to us. We women fight and kill each other to move up the food chain like animals—because that’s what we are, animals. Whoever is bigger and badder than the rest of the tribes will come out on top, and I promise you, we will be the biggest, baddest tribe out there. We will devour our enemies and make examples of them. We will have the most children. We will have the only male children, and we will never have to worry about the Last Man being taken. We will never have to worry about our family lines going quietly into the darkness. Our blood and sweat will be the blood and sweat that survives for generations! Nobody else’s!”

The women were quiet for a moment as they listened to her. For a moment, she thought she had convinced them. Many of them looked surprised at her words—like she had brought something to their attention that they had never considered before, and were now pondering it as if it were an intricate piece of art.

In a moment, one of the women finally protested from the crowd, “What makes you so damned confident? You act if it it’s your divine right to rule when the Zironists preach something else entirely!”

Ellia found the woman in the crowd and locked eyes with her with such ferocity that the other woman shrank under her gaze. “The Zironists preach exactly what I was preaching just now. They preach being the best—offering sacrifices to them in the form of the own sweat of our brow and the bodies of our enemies! We will not be their chosen people—the people who deserve Paradise—until we dispose of all our enemies! When I was a girl…” Ellia continued, swallowing and taking a moment to decide whether she wanted to tell her most personal story. It turned out that she was ready, and she told it with such strength in her voice that it astounded the women around her. “When I was a girl, I was a lot more of a wallflower. I was shy—I let men look after me and take care of me while I took care of the cooking, cleaning, and sewing. I enjoyed such work because it kept me out of the fight. You see, back then, I did not foresee a grand purpose for myself, so I had no need to push myself. But then…” Ellia closed her eyes bitterly. “But then tragedy struck and I was forced to push myself to my limits.”