CAPTURED

Chapter 6

Making it under the table, Stephanie stayed put. It’s hard to tell if it’s her hands shaking, or Saloom’s, but her teeth chatter abnormally when she tries to communicate with the person beside her. After minutes of shuffling and loud orders, people, both foreigners and natives, separated into groups of men and women.

"Kameel’s soldiers will be here in thirty, take what we came for and clear out. We do not need the aged and the injured. Kill them and line up the young women. The men will carry the valuables to the back," a man who would later be identified as Labin instructed the men.

"Yes, Major," they followed.

Those unfortunate to be caught behind the line pleaded for their lives but were laid to waste without a glance.

Gunfire was expelled like the drizzle of rain, leaving some bodies deformed and unrecognizable.

"The rest of us... have to walk outside in a single file," the translator took on his job again.

"This one is so slow, dispose of him," Labin said.

"No, I’ll speak faster...please," the civilian raised his hands in surrender, asking for a second chance, but received two bullets in his chest instead. The rest of the people did as told, moving hurriedly at gunpoint.

While overseeing the hostages walking out with their hands behind their heads, Labin notes how one blonde woman suspiciously spies in a certain direction, even to the point of turning her head.

"Wait!" He stopped the moving line, pointing his rifle at the seemingly thirty-year-old. "Why you looking there," his English was not polished.

"N-nothing," the woman lowered her eyes fearfully.

Labin sizes her up and says to his men in their native language, "Throw a grenade in that area." Having studied the language for some time, the woman understood that statement. She swallowed hard as her eyes swelled with tears. One word from her and only God knows what will become of her ten-year-old, crouching behind a pillar. She falls to the ground, grasping Labin’s foot for mercy. "She’s just a little girl. Please spare her."

"You...go bring her here," Labin left it to one of his aides. "You’re lucky it’s a girl," the darkness in his eyes terrified the anxious mother. Seeing her daughter struggle with the rebel, she opens her mouth and says something to calm the girl down. "Do what they say hunny, you will be fine," she forced a smile in that difficult situation. Labin smirked, giving the signal to move when a moving shoe caught his attention within a split second.

"Saloom... Hold on, Saloom. I think they’re leaving," a stammering Stephanie said, to give hope to the injured man he was in hiding with. The smell of blood was becoming too strong and her insides wanted to erupt. Suddenly, the noise seemed to be fading. Footsteps had stooped and she could hear herself breathe.

HA!

Her heart lurched when the table shielding them was kicked out of the way without warning. "Stupid b***h!" A man in a grey and black combat outfit grabbed Stephanie by her hair and dragged her across the floor, through the ruins. She gnashes her teeth to bear the pain, but when a man goes past her to deliver two gunshots to Saloom, she bites her tongue in anguish.

His eyes found hers, pleading, apologizing, saying goodbye - all in one broken glance before the bullets silenced him. The last string of safety snapped in her chest.

As soon as the assailant let go, a punch in the face was in effect right away. Stephanie’s dark skin did shoulder the bruise, but her nose gushed out blood. She remained on the floor as the earth began to spin, shuddering at the burning pain. For a heartbeat she caught sight of something absurd - the bent leg of a chair, still upright in the rubble - then the mouth of a rifle stared her down, dragging her back into the nightmare. Stephanie’s blood turned cold. She knew this was the end of her life too, as Labin’s index finger rested on the trigger.

"What’s keeping you...," a gravelly voice resonated.

Labin pauses during the execution to salute his superior and closest friend. "We are almost through. I just need to discipline this one for not obeying."

The man that stood next to Labin was taller, with clothes that barely highlighted his well-toned physique. The blue-black scarf covering his head and most of his face, coupled with his broad shoulders made him come off as very intimidating. Aside from the gun hanging over his shoulders, this person also carried a thin saber: one that he uses to command Stephanie’s eyes to look up.

He took a long look at the woman’s face and dislocated nose. "She has learned her lesson, let her join the others."

Labin turned sharply at that statement but held his tongue. "Yes, my General," he said.

Stephanie’s eyes painfully gazed at the back of the man that just saved her life. Only one group is capable of doing this... The Kaboos. And as far as she knew about this treacherous band of rebels, the name ‘General’ was only accorded to a leader sitting third at the top of the very pinnacle of their organization: the cold-blooded Arsalan Nagi.

The hostages were rounded up in twenty-foot containers and driven off. Two trucks waited at vantage points to distract the military and mislead them. There would be gunfire and explosives, and more destruction would be inflicted on a peaceful community.

Being the last to enter, Stephanie was right at the door. The darkness caused more fear and panic than the congestion and heat. The women wailed and banged at the huge tin can housing them. Some wet themselves when the carriage went up a hill and it felt like they were going to fall over.

"What’s going to happen to us?... Are they going to kill us?" Questions loomed in the small space.

"I’ve heard about this before... The last time the Kaboos locked their hostages in containers like these, they were found somewhere in the desert... and the people inside were burnt to a crisp!"

"Oh, God!"

The panic rose in sharp bursts - screams, pounding fists, frantic prayers.

"Everyone, try to calm down! Talk like this will kill you before those monsters do," Stephanie was not going to comment, but crying and screaming is torture enough. They didn’t have to paint gruesome images of a painful death to make it worse.

"How can you tell us to calm down?"

"What else can you do then?! These doors will not open either way, so save energy by crying in your head!" Stephanie had no idea whom she was speaking to, but those words did shut the women up. The silence that followed was jagged, broken only by muffled sobs.

Eventually, some fell asleep or were unconscious. After what seemed to be hours of swaying and bumps, the truck stopped. At the sound of metal locks unhinging, people flinched... and at the first sight of light the screams took on another wave. That did not sit well with their captors. They beat anyone who cries too loudly and laugh once the prisoners have learned to keep mute. It was not until most of the people got down that they realized three others were lying stiff on the floor. They were declared dead and shot several times to make sure they stayed that way.

"You’ll be making the rest of the journey on foot." Labin came down from a jeep. "A system has been adapted to keep you in check. If you do not die on the way, your families can buy you back... Anyone that slows down the line will be shot in the head. Anyone that tries to run will be slaughtered...," Labin comes to a halt and looks down at a peculiar young woman. "And anyone who tries to outsmart me will not be given a second chance," Stephanie averted her sight from the shadow over her head.

Thus, the journey into the desert began. The prisoners had no idea where they were headed or if they would survive it, but they were given two options; fight to stay alive or choose death. Stephanie kept a low profile. There was no time to think about what had happened to her team or Saloom. When her throat turned dry from treading in the scorching desert heat, her heart longed for home.

Her mother was right; this is a hurdle.