TAKEN

[29]

"What about her?" I shouted back at Carlos, pointing at the incapacitated woman.

Things seemed calm around the camp as more people trooped to the bus. Just a few of us and Mama still stayed on.

He turned and shot me a pitiful gaze. "Do with her as you please, she's now your problem."

I was still trying to figure out what to do with the older woman when my eyes caught Carlos taking a tiny walkie-talkie device out of his pocket.....Or, that's what I thought it was.

He slowly lifted his head, scanned the camp and just as our gazes met, he swiftly pushed the buttons on that device. In seconds, things began to go Kaboom from everywhere, exploding into balls of fire.

Mama's house was first to go, followed by her war room and drug distribution warehouse.

Screams filled the place as Dima and I tried to shield away from the debris that was flying in the air. Although the explosion was coming farther away from us, the tremor and debris could be felt right where we stood.

It was Mama's loud wail that caught my attention, then mine, nurse Dima's, and maybe the prisoners in those secured rooms. Carlos was right, he finally incinerated Mama's collaborators and maybe some other innocent clients.

While he pushed those buttons, it was fear on the old woman's face that intimated to me about what Carlos had planned. He wanted to burn the whole thing down with or without my help. And now, he'd achieved his aim.

Right at this point, it dawned on me about what Carlos meant when he suggested that I should've left Mama where I'd found her. And it made me realize that anyone who attempted to rescue Mama through that channel would have met their horrific death as well.

He, Carlos wasn't close enough for me to question him or vent my anger \ confusion. He was already on the bus, riding away to safety.

Mama's raging wail shook me out of my temporary sting of guilt and anger. She couldn't hold back her screams, it filled the camp and my ears with continuous ringing. She tried to stand but her wounded toes wouldn't let her.

"Mama, stop!" I tried to help her back into the confined chair, seeing how unstable she was on her feet but she slapped me away, wagging her finger in my face.

"All my hard work," She pointed as the tongues of flame rose high in the sky. "Everything I built, you," She wobbled on her injured foot, shakily grabbing her chair's handrest for support.

"You took them all away from me." Those shaky fingers came fiercely back at me, pointing and reaching to grab me.

My brain without my instruction instinctively pushed my foot back, away from her. A widened surprised gaze and a scowl were all I weakly presented as my defence.

This woman was still very far away from reality. This was someone who had hurt me in ways that were unspeakable, inhumane, and heinous, yet here I was, still trying to help her. "Ah!" I yelled into the noisy raging fire. "What is wrong with me!"

After I managed to comport myself, I roughly forced her back into the chair while she fought, wailed, and cursed.

Hysteria took over her mind, her hands were stretched into the dark orange glowing night as though she could do a thing to rescue all she'd lost. For her, it was wealth, power, and money.

For me and the rest of us, it was the lost humanity in us, the lost dignity of our bodies, minds, and happiness. This was beyond money, it was the uncertainty of an opportunity to heal and live again.

I shook my head and wiped my tears. I'd save it for another time because for now, it was up to Dima and I to figure out what to do with Mama.

As flames continued to compete with each other, pumping ashes and dark fumes into the sky, a handful of the victims were still on the ground, deliberately refusing to leave the camp. So, we all stood at a safe distance and watched as a kidnapper's den went up in flames.