Chapter 2 2: Rescue Team

The stench of blood surrounded the entire village of Magumeri as they rushed through the street. There were dead bodies all over the place that even though he knew there must be survivals somewhere hiding, some had already ran off and might not be able to return to their home town and families forever, he wondered if half the village hadn t been killed. He was the Captain of the rescue team, they were able to fight off the insurgents and had them run back to their hiding place wherever that was and it was finally time now to rescue those that were able to survive. He looked soiled. Thankful that he got no bullet shots in his body, only the bruises he was able to acquire. They had first started with the farms, where the bomb had been planted and no matter how strong hearted Na im was, it was too much of a gruesome sight to bear. Some dead bodies, no one would be able to recognize, not even their families, that was if they were there. Those that survived were in such a bad condition that Na im knew before the ambulance he had requested for arrived, lots of them would ve been dead by then. "Captain!" Someone called him from afar and when he turned, he found that it was Lieutenant Hafiz. He ran over to them, for it was obvious they needed a helping hand to whatever it was they were up to. The smoke that rose from the farms was enough to lull someone back to the brink of death, but by now, they all were used to it that they worked so well and fine. "What s wrong, Lieutenant?" He asked in a brisk tone and when his eyes got to the middle aged man that had his entire half body nearly cut from his body while he cried and muttered some incoherent words, he felt the walls of his heart being shaken by grief. Na im knew this wasn t the first time he had rescued survivals from a bomb blast, but there was something about this man that had touched the core of his heart and he went down to his knees in front of him. "There s no medical help we can give him before the ambulance arrives, right?" He directed his question towards Hafiz, even though he knew it wasn t possible, but he just had to ask to soften what he felt in his heart. "No, sir!" Lieutenant Hafiz muttered in grief stricken voice. It was better to be dead than survive such kind of injury that would certainly kill you too, just that it would be in a slower pace and will become even a more painful death. Na im leaned toward the man, "Assalamu Alaikum!" He waved his hand over the face of the man that cried, groaned in pain and kept calling names that seemed to hardly get out of his chest. There was a food warmer beside him. Not a warmer though, just a food bowl that had gotten all the rubber encasing it melted and he could see the now burnt food inside. Slowly, the man s eyes turned to him and he stared at him longer than a second before he spoke painfully. "Save Intisar and Maryam, I beg of you." His voice was hardly coherent enough for Na im to hear but he had understood that he wanted him to save someone. Probably his wife or children. "We have to take care of you first, if they were in the durbar ground, we re not certain about their survival." He knew his words held no emotions, but he had learnt not to sugarcoat things to a dying man. It did more harm than good, and who would want to lie to someone that would certainly die in a few minutes? Maybe the grief of it all would have him die faster than he would ve, and it would ease his pain. He groaned in nothing but sheer agony and Na im decided it was better not to watch the half cut off body of this man. It was as if something hard had fell on his body to have him cut into two that the only thing that left him conjoined with his upper body was his intestines and some things he didn t even care to take a good look at. "I'm sure they re coming here to meet me. Please save them. I'll die, don t focus on me and just find them for me." The way his voice sounded, how he was speaking along with his grunts of pain and the tears on his face was enough to break even the strongest of the mountains and Na im knew not to get attached. He stood up and looked up to the three soldiers that surrounded them. "One person can stay with him. I ll go and see how the rescuing is going and even though I don t know the children of this man, I pray we have them at the survival meeting point." He looked down at the man and spoke softly this time, "I don t promise that I'll find them, but I'll try my best to see that I do." He walked off and ran towards the way that would lead him to where the rescue team gathered the survivals so they would be taken to Maiduguri and to the refugee camps. …… They had ran long enough for them to be out of Magumeri, until Intisar found a place for them where they would be able to hide from everything and wait, until Baaba came to find them, she had said. They squatted there silently, aware of the stomps of feet as people ran, the thud of dying bodies as they fell to the ground, the stench of blood and the smoke that was the aftermath of the bombast but in all, Intisar seemed calm enough to make a decision. She turned to Maryam under the iron shelter they had found and whispered. The sounds of the gunshots were becoming so much closer now, with each sound heard, their hearts got filled with too much fear that she trembled in pain, yet, the steady hands of her sister assured her that at long last, they would be safe and fine. "It seems like the soldiers have arrived, Maryam." She said in a tone that showed her relief. "I'm certain they ve rescued Baaba wherever he is and he s trying to find us now, we will be safe, okay?" Their Eid attire had long been smudged by sand, blood and the sign of lifelessness. Maryam had made a mental note of never to wear those clothes ever again in her life. "I'm scared, Inti." ?Her lips trembled while she spoke and she couldn t stop the rush of her tears as they hurried down the lane of her cheeks. With each breath she took, her heart trembled with nothing but fear and she found herself feeling so light at how terrified she seemed. Intisar brought her to her body and she hugged her even though how tightened their shelter was. How easily it would be for them to be found and for a bullet to penetrate through everything. "We will be safe, Maryam, okay? I promise, even if I don t make it, I'll make sure you re safe." Maryam didn t seem to understand what she meant, but she only nodded her head at that. They heard the sound of a car moving through the street before it stopped. And there were sounds of men as they were being ordered and they too, ordered. Girls cried while someone assured them that they would be taken to the refugee camps but it seemed everyone was just so terrified to believe a word. In a hushed tone, Intisar turned to her. "I'll go out and check if they re really soldiers that could help us. Unless I come for you, don t come out, Maryam, okay?" She began to shake her head, she didn't want to be separated with Intisar even at the slightest second of this terrifying moment. But tears pooled the brink of her eyes as she felt Intisar s hands on her shoulders, "I promise I'll be back to get you, Maryam. Just wait until I'm here, please." She nodded her head and pushed back her tears, she didn t want to worry her sister too much. Intisar snuck out of their hiding and through a hall that would make her able to see everything, Maryam peeped through it to see what was going on and her heart lost a bit. It was a military car, certainly. There was a man that gave her his back while he roared orders to the other soldiers standing there as they cocked their guns toward the girls in the back of the car, whom seemed too terrified to even scream. "You have to make sure you take them to that meeting point I've told you, and you can t be seen!" He roared, looking around in a manner that showed he wasn't doing what was right. Or he was simply being dangerous to them, and that made her intestines churned with nothing but fear. Intisar was out there, she prayed she wouldn t be found. "Captain Bolori!" Someone called from afar, but she had heard the name and that man turned to the said direction, she was still not able to see his face. "Yes! I'll be there in a minute-" he wasn t able to finish his sentence when Intisar came to his view, and Maryam wanted to scream at that but she knew she had promised Intisar that she wouldn't be out until she had come for her. But she sensed danger when she saw one, and this was definitely dangerous. He grabbed her by her neck and in one swift movement, Maryam watched as he threw Intisar into the back of the van and she wailed in pain. The other girls clung to each other as they muffled their cries, afraid of the gun heads aimed at the centre of their heads. Maryam covered her mouth with her palm as she tried to stop her tears, she didn t want to make a sound. She didn t want to be found by anyone except Intisar. She would stay safe like she had promise her. "Captain Bolori, you re needed here!" Again, someone shouted from afar, and he turned to leave. "Make sure you leave here right this instant!" He thundered his orders and the only thing that surrounded the place was their 'Yes, Sir! As they roughly hopped onto the vehicle and drove in such a high speed that Maryam barely saw the vehicle moving, only had it disappeared from her sight. Her entire body shook, she cried so bitterly, yet, she wasn't able to make a sound as she was so terrified of being found out by anyone apart from Intisar or Baaba. But it seemed Intisar might never be able to find her again. Baaba had told them once that they shouldn t be going out of the house anyhow because there were men ready to kidnap any girl they had seen and she would never be seen again, forever. 'And you know my girls are beautiful, right? You d be wanted at the first glance by those men. So, please be careful and take care of yourselves for Baaba, okay? He had said it in a joking manner even though he meant each word he had uttered and they knew he really wanted them to be careful. Maryam knew they were those men Baaba had warned them about, and now they had taken Intisar and she would never see her again. She cried again, her heart twinging in pain and she instantly thought of Baaba. He must still be at the farm waiting for them. He might be somewhere around Magumeri looking for them. Or had he fled the village like other people did and now she would not ever see him again too? That thought made her stood up and she came out of the place they hid. She knew she had to do something, she had to find Baaba before he got tired of waiting for them and run out of the village without them. She stared at the now empty street, if she was right, this was the street that always led them to islamiyya before she was forced to stop going. But it was now filled with the stench of blood, the lumps of dead bodies that she was sure if she were to check them now, there would be a face she was familiar with. She decided to run, she knew the way to Baaba s farm by heart and she didn t even have to open her eyes lest she saw something so terrifying that would stop her from going there. She closed her eyes and with one twinge of pain and fear in her heart, Maryam leapt into a run towards the direction her heart told her. She kept running until she felt as her head banged on a hard surface and she collapsed on the floor. No, she wasn t dead, she thought. She had just hit a rock or something that was probably moved by the insurgents and she had to open her eyes now to find a way out. To maneuver around it to get to Baaba s farm as quickly as she could. She didn t realize she was still crying even though with her eyes closed until she opened them and the sun was blinding her gaze that she had to rub her palms over her eyes to get them accustomed to the sunlight. She looked up to see the figure she had ran into, and when a man stared right back into her eyes, a soldier s uniform clad on his body even though dirty with blood and mud, she felt her heart trying to leave her body. There he was, she would be taken away too like Intisar had been. If only he would get her taken away together with her sister, she would be glad to be reunited with Intisar albeit she would love to see her Baaba too. ? Her body trembled and when he leaned down to bring her up to her feet, Maryam bolted out and abruptly stood up as she tried to run away but when she saw the gun he was holding, she knew she would only get herself killed if she dared move. So, she stood there staring at him as she cried, her entire body shook with nothing but fear. She wanted to beg him to severe her life, that even if he wanted to kill her he should do so after she had seen her Baaba, but no words were formed in her mouth. "I'm a soldier..." He began in a voice that commanded her to turn her attention back to him and listen. "Captain Bolori!" The sound of that name shook off the remaining senses she had in her, the composure left and the reasonable thinking she could ever muster. With a one glance at his face, Maryam knew he looked like the body that had caught her Intisar by the neck and threw her into the back of the van and she turned to run away for her life. "Yes? What s it?" He turned and when his eyes caught the petite figure that was about to run away, with a single move of his hand, he caught her wrist and the abnormal breath she surged in made him think she wasn t alright. She was traumatized, certainly, but it felt as though his touch had caused something in her body. "That man is desperately looking for you. I've been trying to get him speak to me but he said he trusts you more and will like to speak with you before he dies." Lieutenant Hafiz spoke as he panted and Na im thought of that man. "He s still alive?" He couldn t help but ask and then his attention was back on the girl that was now panting so hard for her breath and when he turned to her, she seemed to be out of breath. But she was doing just fine! He released his hold on her and she slumped on the ground with a thud, gathering herself as immediately as she fell down. "I ll be there in a minute, I'll take her to the survival point." He didn t look up at him when he spoke and Hafiz saluted him before he ran back to his position and Na im stared at her. She had her eyes closed as she panted for breath while her hands were surrounded around her body as she tightly hugged herself, her tears intensifying. "Are you looking for your family?" He asked softly, because he knew at this situation, it was the only thing she would talk about. She slightly nodded her head after what seemed like forever that he even began to wonder if she were mute. "Come, I'll take you to your father, your mother or siblings if you have any." He silently prayed that among the thong of people they had gathered there, she would be able to meet someone she knew. She seemed to have paid heed to what he had said, even though she seemed too terrified and her body kept shaking while she moved. Na im made sure she was beside him as they walked, "You have to hurry up, okay?" His voice wasn t soft in any way that would let her slacken off, and there seemed to be an aura of command that surrounded him that even if you didn t want to, you d do exactly what he had said. They walked faster and in no time, Maryam was able to see a thong of people gathered around and slowly, under a neem tree, she found a face she knew. The face she had been running so hard to meet. She gasped in terror when she saw the situation he was in, and her heart broke at the sight before she ran toward him and slumped on the ground beside him. "Baaba?" She whispered, as though she wasn't sure if this man that had himself surrounded by too much blood, his body cut into two was indeed, her father.