Locked In

Born into Freedom

A scream awoke Black Hawk in the middle of the night. He sat up and fumbled for the lamp switch in the pitch black of his bedroom. Blinking his eyes at the sudden onslaught of light he looked to his left and saw Lucinda clutching her stomach.

"Black Hawk I think the baby is coming."

He sat up and looked at his wife. "Are you sure Lucinda?"

"Yes."

Black Hawk nearly fell out of the bed as he threw the covers back and stumbled to the closet. He pulled out some clothes for them both and grabbed the baby bag they had prepared for the delivery. Black Hawk helped Lucinda to her feet and gave her some clothes to put on. There was no time to call anybody. As soon as Black Hawk had pulled his jeans on they went downstairs and out the door.

They took a taxi to the hospital. Lucinda was rushed to the labor and delivery floor. Black Hawk called his sister and had the rest of the Muslims notified of Lucinda's labor. Soon Marigold, Tareen, Blaze, and a few others were gathered in the waiting room. If this baby survived delivery it would be the first Muslim born into freedom.

Ten hours passed. They waited anxiously for news on Lucinda and Black Hawk's child. Finally Black Hawk came out with the baby in his arms. It was a boy. "We've decided to name him Alam. It means 'hope' in Arabic," Black Hawk said.

"Masha Allah. God has willed it. Insha Allah, God Willing, he will be a righteous Muslim," Tareen said smiling.

"How is Lucinda," Marigold asked.

"She's doing well. No problems except for a long labor. And some slight tearing but she should be able to come home in a couple of days."

"We got some protection in our homes." Marigold said in a low voice so nobody but them would hear her.

"That's good. Any news about the Devil's Thorn?"

"None that we know of."

Black Hawk relaxed at that statement. While Lucinda had been giving birth to their son thoughts about his old masters had crept into the forefront of his mind. He couldn't help wondering if they had come out of hiding and were marching on Sweden to exterminate them. What if they had gotten wind of Black Hawk and his companions becoming Muslims? He shook his head and tried to shake off his feelings of fear. Black Hawk wasn't about to ruin this wonderful day.

Suddenly one of the other Muslims rushed up to them. It was Matthew; one of the escaped prisoners from Camp 2345 Alpha. The Muslim escapees had told their story to the former slaves of the Devil's Thorn, not out of hatred, but so they could know what Muslims went through every day now.

"Black Hawk! The non-Muslims have gone insane!"

"What's up Matthew?"

"The non-Muslim countries are killing all the Muslims in the camps and tracking down Muslims who are in hiding! Ever since we escaped other Muslim prisoners have tried escaping in other countries. So all the countries held a meeting and they agreed that it's time to just kill all the Muslims in the camps worldwide!"

They were all silent at that. The Swedish natives and the former slaves had never thought things would go this far. "What about the escapees from the camp? Do they know?"

"Yes. Everyone is in the Mosque. They're thinking this is the end of their time in Sweden. Even now some Swedish citizens are demanding the government to do something about the Muslim citizens and Muslim refugees. They said if the government doesn't do something about this then they will."