War Kids (19 page)

ZAK

Jada is propped up against the wall, holding her bandage down on the gunshot wound. I don’t know how long she has left. She is bleeding a lot; she’s going to die here. The hospital is miles away, and there is no way I can get her there.

I carefully peek around the corner and look toward Mansur. There is a man kneeling over him wearing a red beret, the same red beret as Captain Reef, the man who killed my brother and took my father.

No! Why is he here? Why is he kneeling over Mansur? He killed all the teenagers; he doesn’t care about children!

“Get him to the hospital… he’s still alive,” Captain Reef says.

Damn, I didn’t kill him!
Soldiers run over to Mansur. Fuck, Heen is with them. Swiftly, they lift up Mansur’s body and run with him to the truck. I look down at Jada. She needs to get to the hospital as well; blood is seeping out of her leg.

There’s no way they are going to help her, though. The truck speeds off with Mansur and Heen in it. I can see the Keeper standing next to the Captain.

The Keeper points over toward the building we are in. I duck down out of sight, but it’s pointless. They know where we are. How are we going to get out of this? It’s clear the Keeper and the watchers are working with Captain Reef and the soldiers. I cannot believe we walked into a fucking trap; they fucking tricked us. What the hell do they want with a bunch of children anyway?

I slump down next to Jada. She’s shaking, so I take off my jacket and place it over her, holding her close to me to keep her warm. I think she’s going into shock.

“Zak, how are we going to get out of this alive?” she asks me.

There is no way I can answer her. I just don’t know.

“Jada, we’ll go down fighting. We’ll get out of this.” That’s all I've got. My big plan. I have failed her... I have failed everyone I love.

“Zak, can you hand me my backpack?” She sounds so weak; I pass it to her quickly, and she takes it. “I’m sorry, I should’ve believed you. It’s all my fault.” Her eyes fill up with tears.

“Jada, it’s not your fault. I love you.” Oh, my God, I cannot believe I said that. I told Jada I love her.

She looks up at me. Jesus, I hope she feels the same. God, I feel like a girl! Ali would die!

“I love you too,” she tells me.

Thank God!
My heart fills with joy and guilt; I couldn’t protect her. I lean forward and kiss her. She’s so cold; I can feel my own eyes welling up, but I have to hold it together.

There is movement outside, but it doesn’t sound like they’re getting closer to us. I pray they are moving away. I have to see what is happening. I have no choice.

Sneaking a peek through a window, I can see the horror unfolding.
Oh God, no!
The innocent children are lined up, kneeling on the ground toward us. They look terrified, and they are waiting to be executed. It is the same scene I saw at my school. He is going to kill them... all of them. My mouth begins to water. Fuck, I’m going to throw up!

“What’s happening?” Jada whispers. She's using a lot of her strength to speak to me. She is nearly breathless.

“Nothing, don’t worry,” I lie to her.

“Zak, you have a choice. Come out freely, or we will come and get you. It’s up to you,” Captain Reef yells to me.

What fucking choice is that?! Surrender to him, or let him come here and murder us?

“I’m bleeding to death. I will do whatever you want,” Jada says. She’s placing her trust in me; what shall I do?

“Come out now, and I will get Jada to a hospital. If you make me wait, every minute you waste, one of your friends will die, and so will both of you!” the captain yells.

What the hell?
I look out the window. He is pointing a gun at one of the boys kneeling on the ground.

Oh my God, he’s going to kill him because of me.

I have to decide now! I cannot let them die. If we surrender, there may be a chance that we survive. Jada is sitting in a pool of blood; the color has drained from her face. I have no choice.

“Jada, if he asks you how old you are, say seventeen, and that you will join his army. Do you understand?” I rush my words out.

“I understand.” Jada doesn’t question my decision. She knows she will die here if we stay.

Please, Lord, I hope I am making the right decision.

I stand up, holding my hands in the air. “We surrender, we surrender,” I yell out to the captain. He smiles at me as I make eye contact with him. I wonder if he remembers me. I hope he doesn’t.

“Slowly throw your weapons out of the window and walk toward me,” Captain Reef instructs us.

I bend down to take Jada’s gun from her hand. Her grip is frozen onto the handle; I have to peel each of her fingers off one by one.

Following his instructions, I toss the guns out of the window.

“Very good. Now slowly walk to me,” Captain Reef shouts. Jada raises her arm so I can lift her up. Bending down, I hoist her to a standing position, giving her a moment to recover from the dizziness.

“I’m sorry, Jada.”

“We’ll be okay.” It almost sounds like she really believes it.

We hobble slowly toward the door; there are two soldiers waiting for us. If we hadn’t surrendered, we’d already be dead. The soldiers quickly pat us down.

“Be careful, she’s been shot,” I explain, trying not to yell.

The young soldier looks at me with a smug smile on his face.

We continue slowly walking forward, each with a soldier by our sides. The innocent children are still kneeling on the ground, looking down. None of them have weapons, but, as Jada said, “They must’ve been able to protect themselves, since they got this far.” Maybe she’s right, or am I just crazy to think that?

I stand in front of Captain Reef, waiting for him to recognize me, waiting for him to speak. I can tell by the weight of Jada that she wants to crumble to the ground, but I will not let her.

“My son Junayd informs me that you shot my son Mansur,” Captain Reef says to Jada.

Oh fuck, we shot his son, and Junayd and Mansur are brothers! I knew it!
Junayd stands next to Captain Reef, smiling.

“It was I who shot your son!” I protest.

He slaps me across my face with an open hand.

“I am speaking to Jada!” My face instantly stings and I recoil. Captain Reef inspects me closer. “I know you.”

This is it… he’s going to kill me now.

“Boy, where do I know you from?”

Fuck, what do I say? My throat is frozen in fear; I cannot speak, even if I knew what to say. I just look up instead. As soon as I do, I can tell he remembers.

“Ha, I know you! Did you find your parents nice and chargrilled? What happened to you taking revenge? You stupid kid!” With that, he slaps me across the face again, knocking me to the ground. “I will deal with you later!”

Captain Reef moves his attention back to Jada. “Girl, did you shoot my son?! Answer me!”

Her head is facing away from away from us… something has caught her attention. I can see what it is.

It’s Liquorice's and Tilly’s lifeless bodies. Mansur has killed them both. Tilly’s body looks so tiny; I just stare at her, willing her to get up.

Jada turns to Captain Reef and spits a mixture of phlegm and blood in his face. What the fuck is she doing? Within an instant, he pulls his gun out and shoots Jada in the shoulder. Her body is thrown backwards.

Everything moves in slow motion as Jada falls toward the ground. She pulls her leg inwards and moves her hand down to her ankle.

I can see something black on her ankle as she falls. She fires the gun before her body hits the ground. Captain Reef’s gun drops, and I scramble forward to grab it as he staggers backwards, grabbing his collar bone.

She did it; she shot him in the neck!

Junayd runs over to his father, trying to catch him before he falls.

Jada’s body hits the ground, and the sound of the gun follows. I raise my arm with Captain Reef’s gun and fire a shot at the soldier standing next to Jada. I get him directly through the heart, killing the soulless monster.

The other soldier standing next to Jada’s lifeless body raises his gun to me. We place our fingers on the trigger at the same and fire.

The bullet rips through my bone and muscle and exits out of my back, shredding my shoulder blade. But I’m still standing, unlike the soldier. He is down and not getting back up. Jada taught me well.

Unaware of the situation around me, I am focused on Jada... but, luckily, the other innocent children are aware. With adrenaline running through their bodies, they have a chance to save themselves.

They react faster than the soldiers do. The children run at the soldiers like a pack of crazy wolves ready for a taste of blood.

The watchers have run off, leaving the soldiers with the crazy children. They are beating the soldiers to death. Jada was right… they made it this far, and they do have special skills — killing people with their bare hands.

“Jada, Jada, stay with me.” I franticly shake her. She’s ice cold and her lips are turning blue. Her eyes burst open as a surprised look comes over her face.

“Am I alive?” she blurts out. She looks like she’s in shock.

“Yes, Jada, you are alive. Please stay awake; I need to get us out of here.” I force myself to hold back all my emotions. I want to scream, “
Don’t die on me, don’t you dare die! You are all I have left!
”

“There is no pain when I close my eyes,” Jada whispers.

“No, stay awake!” I beg. But she is dying right in front of me.

I have to get us out of here. There is a truck. I can just see Junayd lifting his father into it, and within seconds there is a cloud of dust... the truck is gone.

The pack of crazy wolves is beginning to slow down. Bloody bodies lay strewn about like they are on a slaughterhouse floor. There are a few children, but it’s mainly the soldier’s bodies. They were not prepared for the attack. The pain in these children was finally released on the enemy, on the ones who murdered or kidnapped their families and turned their world into a living hell.

Now there are no soldiers left.

Realizing that they are all gone, I sit down next to Jada and pick her head up and rest it on my lap. A faint smile appears on her face. I stroke her hair, moving it out of her eyes.

“I told you we would be okay,” she whispers.

Bang!

We both jump at the sound of the loud shot. What the hell was that!? I look over and see a small boy standing in the pile of bodies.

He’s dripping in blood and holding a gun in his hand, pointing it down at a soldier on the ground.

The small boy has no emotion on his face. An older boy stands up and takes the gun from him.

He fires at the next dead soldier on the ground. One after another, the boys and girls get up and shoot a bullet into each and every dead soldier’s body, all with a blank look on their faces, similar to the look the watchers had. They take turns killing the soldiers as if to end their nightmares, to confirm these soldiers will never get up or hurt them, ever again.

Then, after several moments of loud shooting, the eerie silence is back. There is no one left to kill. No bullets left in the gun. No words left to speak.

Jada is quiet, but breathing heavily. I hold her closer. Maybe we will die together.

Blood is pouring from my arm, but I feel no pain from the wound, only in my heart. I rest my head onto hers, closing my eyes, hoping our suffering will come to an end quickly.

The silence doesn’t last long. Soon we hear the sound of trucks approaching. I have no fight left in me. I close my eyes and submit to my fate.

“Zak, Zak, get up, get up!” Dani yells.

“No, I’m staying here. I’m not leaving her on her own,” I mumble to him.

“They’ll kill you!”

I roll over and hold Jada tighter. “I’m ready to die. Now run, run fast and get to tent town. Get away from here!” I say to Dani and the other children. Why are they just standing there looking at me?

“Run, I tell you! Run! Now!” I shout.

With that, they begin to sprint away from the fast-approaching trucks.

I close my eyes and press Jada to my body. Her breathing is slow and shallow. If we stay still, will they think we’re dead?

Eventually, we will be.

ZAK

“Gérard, I cannot look. I cannot bear to see Jada’s body.”

Did I hear correctly? That sounded like a woman concerned about Jada. She said her name, but Jada’s mother is dead.
Have I died? Are we in heaven? Is my mind is playing tricks on me?

I’m too afraid to open my eyes. I lie on the ground, frozen with confusion.

The sound of heavy footsteps approaches me; this is not the sound of a female. I hold my breath. I cannot give us away. I’m not letting them take us!

“Zak, is that you? Haytham sent us to rescue you and Jada,” the voice says quietly.

Did I hear right… he knows Haytham? Is this another trap?

“Zak, Ali is alive. He survived the school shooting,” the voice continues.

My brother is alive?

I try to open my eyes, but my eyelids are terrified. They are pulling down, fighting the light.

Finally, I manage to open them, and I all I see is a black silhouette bent over us. The sun is bright and blocking him out.

There is only his black shadow.