Dawning

Chapter 10

Disclaimer: countries are real, the route is fictional. Also graphic description of blood and gore. Very long chapter.

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The next day, Hardy packed his backpack, he carefully placed Jassi's medicine and a few sets of warm clothes for both of them inside.
For this journey, along with them, they had another middle aged guy named Kamal from the group who wanted to go back home. It had been 15 years since he had last seen his family.

Come nightfall, the three of them found themselves stuffed in the back of a pick-up truck, along with some junk. It was a good cover to get delivered to the docks. They were to spend the next 40 days in the container taking them to Iran.

Upon stepping into the space they realised they weren't the only ones. There were twenty more men, women and children all couped up in that small container. It was hell for the next 1000 hours it took them to reach the next country. 1000 hours of being suffocated in the dingy, odor filled container. Their only hope, each other.

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Once in Iran, some of the people split from the group to take a different route. The remaining five of them had to walk through the open desert for a week to reach the other side of the border. There were several dangers lurking around, the heat, occasional wild animals, or the patroling guards who could spot and arrest them for trespassing any time. They would walk the whole day in scorching heat and rest behind some forgiving rocks and weed patches at night. The desert temperatures would drop to uni digits sometimes at night.

On their fifth day, as the group was crossing a particularly baren stretch of land, they spotted a guard jeep approaching from a distance. They had nowhere to hide. Hardy spotted the guns and whisper-yelled at the rest of them to not run and just surrender. He then proceeded to step in front of Jassi and shield her behind him. Out of the other three men, one thought he could brave it and started running towards the rocks as the guards came near, but he was soon gunned down. The guards loaded the rest of them into the jeep and drove them towards their tents.

There, the four of them were forced to kneel down with their hands behind their head. Two armed guards standing on either side, guns trained at their heads. Hardy, Jassi and Kamal were trying to remain as calm as possible, but the fourth guy was getting fidgety by the minute. Running on sheer fear and adrenaline, he quickly stood up and attempted to run, but he was shot in an instance, blood spraying over the others as the bullet went through and through.

The leader, who was sitting in front of them on a tattered foldable chair, was continuously leering at Jassi. She could feel him practically undressing her with his eyes. He signaled her to follow him into the tents. Jassi denied it by violently shaking her head. Just as the leader reached for his gun, Hardy raised his hand,

"Stop."

He grabbed Jassi by her arm and made her stand,

"Go." He said without looking at her.

Jassi was already scared and her lips were trembling. For a flitting moment, a thought crossed her mind,
'I was wrong about Hardy. All men are the same.'

"I don't want to. Hardy leave me. I don't want to do this." She begged, trying to free her arm from his grasp.

"If you don't, we'll all die. Walk." He replied looking directly into her eyes.

She couldn't tell what she saw. But it made her comply and she let herself get dragged into the tent. The leader following close behind them.

The man ordered Hardy to leave the moment he entered the tent and began to unbutton his shirt. Jassi was scared to death and held onto Hardy's arm, begging him with her eyes to not leave her there. But he pushed her down, successfully detaching himself from her. He left the tent without looking back.

The man prowled towards Jassi and grabbed her face with his right hand, with her still protesting. He was about to proceed when a sharp blow was delivered to his neck from behind. Hardy. He wrapped his hand over the guy's mouth to silence any noise he would make. He pulled the man to the floor, twisting his right arm behind his back and began to repeatedly hit him in the head with the butt of the gun lying nearby, until he bled out.

Jassi stood in the corner and watched the scene before her in horror.

Once Hardy was sure the man had died, he turned around to look for her. She wanted to say something but nothing came out of her mouth. He had a wild look in his eyes and mechanically motioned her to keep quiet. She gulped hard and shut her mouth.

Hardy picked up the dead guy and arranged his body on the chair in a sitting position. He had to get the two guards' attention without losing another innocent life. He started making a ruckus, banging the pots and pans, throwing around the minimal furniture that was in the tent. Jassi continued to watch him.

One of the guards fell for the bait and entered the tent. Hardy took the opportunity and shot the guy twice. The shots altered the other guard outside and he kept the barrel of his gun trained on Kamal's head. Hardy pulled Jassi to the other side, so that she was hidden from anyone having a direct line of sight inside the tent. He tore down the curtain that worked as a makeshift door to reveal the leader sitting in a chair with his back towards the guard. Hardy put his own gun over the body's head. The guard outside was flustered looking at this scene. He started shouting furiously in Kurdish which Hardy did not understand. But he understood that the guy was demanding his boss be freed or he'd shoot Kamal.

Kamal screamed in fear, "Let him go paaji. He will kill me if you don't!"

Hardy instead made a show of shooting the boss and poked his gun harder into his head. This seems to have done the trick as the guard outside lowered his gun and slid behind Kamal. Hardy took a split second to calculate and shot the guy. The bullet passing over Kamal's head narrowly missing it.

Once silence fell over the desert, Hardy turned around,

"Let's go Jassi." He said gruffly. But there was no response from the woman who stood there, still in shock.

"Jassi, Let's go." His voice softened as he dragged her out of the tent by her elbow.