“So you are Rasul and you are Ahmad,” Diana said, pointing at each boy. “Are most of your people, uh, like you?” Embarrassed, she tried to explain what she meant.
Rasul grinned, and Ahmad laughed.
“No, you were lucky,” said Ahmad. “You have the only Pakistani Moslem and Hindu Indian in the camp, here. I was born in Karachi and Rasul was born in Mumbai. Our families moved to the US when we were babies. But don’t worry. We are savage warriors, and besides, we belong to the Spears.”
“Yeah, right,” Rasul scoffed.
“We’ve got one thing going for us,” Ahmad said, “They are looking for two ladies and a baby. They are not looking for two guys.”
“True,” said Rasul. “On the other hand, they have a flashlight and we don’t.”
“I have a flashlight,” Diana told him.
“Why didn’t you say so?” Rasul grumbled, irritated at her announcement. “We could have broken our necks climbing down that slope.”
“I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking. I’m just so frightened,” she replied.
“Why are you out here anyway?” Ahmad asked.
“Imee had to leave. They were going to do something to the baby. They didn’t like having it around. They said it was a nuisance, and that it cried too much. I couldn’t let Imee run away by herself, so I escaped, too.”
As Diana said Imee’s name, the younger woman began to unbutton her dress. The boys watched wide eyed as she lifted up one cup of her bra, so the baby could suckle. They looked at one another, and then they averted their eyes.
“You have a flashlight?” Rasul asked.
“Yes, I stole it from them,” Diana replied. “I thought we might need it. We left five days ago. They bragged about killing a kid in this area. We thought if there was a kid here, then there must be some other people over here, someplace. We thought we might find someone to help us. Was the boy they killed your friend?”
“He was a member of our village,” Ahmad said, he expression grim. He looked at Rasul. “I think that I know what the Chief would do if he were here.”
“Hang them,” Rasul said, nodding.
“Yes.”
“We have a rifle,” Rasul said.
“Have you ever fired one?”
“I never even held one before we left, except for that one time when I fired a single shot,” Rasul admitted. “And I wasn’t even close then.”
Ahmad thought. “I have my spear,” he said.
“We took down the bikers with our spears.”
“Yes.” They thought some more.
“If we could get close to them in the dark while they were sleeping, I could spear one of them,” Ahmad said.
“And I could bash the other one’s head with the rifle,” Rasul added.
“What if they’re awake?” Ahmad asked.
Rasul thought about that. He looked at the woman.
“What if the man on guard thought we were the women coming to surrender?” he mused thoughtfully.
“How are we going to make him think that we are the women?”
“They are looking for two women.”
“And a baby,” Ahmad said. “We don’t look like two women.”
“If we attacked them when they could barely see us… I have a plan, Ahmad,” Rasul said. He explained his plan to Ahmad.
“That might work,” his friend said. “Even if one of the men is awake, it might work.”
In the early morning hours, the man with the cold voice was watching. It was just light enough for him to distinguish individual trees, close by. The wind was still blowing hard, and the man was tired and cold, but he was alert. When he heard the snap of a tree limb behind him, he sprang up and looked around. He saw two shapes wearing dresses.
“It’s the bitches,” he yelled as he kicked his sleeping comrade. The two figures turned and fled. “Come back, you stinking bitches,” he roared as he followed them. The other man grabbed his rifle and hurried after.
Abandoning their plan, Ahmad and Rasul ran as hard as they could, up the ridge, away from the direction of the women. They could hear the pounding feet of the man following. He was closing in on them. He was still screaming at them. Their young hearts pounded with fright, and their breath became ragged as they ran.
“Rasul, fall down now,” Ahmad yelled, as they began to pass the steep cliff on their left.
Ahmad dove behind a boulder. Rasul looked back. He had never been so afraid, but he fell to the ground with the rifle beneath him. The man came running up, and as he passed the boulder, Ahmad sprang out at him, and the teenager jammed the wooden shaft of the spear into the man’s ribs. The man cried out in pain, as Ahmad forced him to the side. He stumbled at the edge of the cliff, lost his footing, and then he screamed as he fell over the precipice.
Ahmad turned to look for the man’s companion, just as the other man swung his rifle and smashed Ahmad in the face. Ahmad fell backwards as blood gushed from his mouth and nose. The man raised his rifle to give Ahmad another blow, but instead he took a blow in his own face from Rasul’s rifle. He staggered back. Rasul dropped the rifle, grabbed Ahmad’s spear, and shoved the point into the man’s belly. The man screamed, staggered back, and then he too fell over the cliff with the spear still stuck in his body.
Crying, Rasul ran to Ahmad and fell to his knees beside the Muslim boy. “Ahmad, Ahmad,” he yelled, panicked, tears streamed down his cheeks.
“Oh, man,” Ahmad managed to gasp. “That was one screwed up plan.”
Rasul sat down next to his friend, weak with relief. “I thought you were dead, man,” he huffed.
“I think I was already falling backwards when he hit me,” Ahmad moaned, the pitch of his voice markedly different due to his injury. “Did we get them? He caught me off guard.”
“Yes, we got them. I think they are both dead,” Rasul answered, staring at the rim of the cliff.
“We better get back to the women,” Ahmad said.
“You stay here. It’s getting light. I’ll go back and get them. You rest.”
“Help me back to their camp. They might have something there that I can use to stop the bleeding.”
Rasul helped Ahmad to his feet, and as the sky lightened, they stumbled their way to the men’s campfire. It was still burning, and gratefully, Ahmad sank down next to the warm fire. Rasul searched the men’s packs and found a cloth that Ahmad held against his face.
“I think my nose is broken,” Ahmad said.
“Both of your lips are split, but luckily none of your teeth are damaged.”
“My beautiful smile is intact,” Ahmad mumbled.
“Yes,” Rasul said with a grin. Ahmad was rather vain about his smile.
Rasul left to find the women. Presently, he returned with the three fugitives and the boys’ gear. Gently, Diana examined Ahmad’s face. She wiggled his nose, and he yelped.
“Yes,” she said. “Your nose is definitely broken.”
She used a t-shirt from one of the men’s packs to bandage Ahmad’s nose. She was surprised when Rasul handed her a tube of Neosporin.
“Chief’s rules,” the boy explained.
Diana gave him a wan smile. “He must have a good understanding of teenage boys,” the nurse said.
“You could say that,” Ahmad croaked.
Rasul looked at the women who were dressed in the boys’ clothing. Even Diana, as tall as she was, had struggled into Rasul’s clothing.
“Um… about our clothes,” he said.
“Oh, yes,” said Diana. “I’m sorry. It’s just that we have been so cold for so long.”
Imee started to unbutton Ahmad’s shirt. She shivered. Rasul looked at Ahmad who shrugged.
“Ah… why don’t you wear them for a little longer,” Rasul said. “But only until the sun comes out.”