No Place for Females

Chapter Six

The sound of a truck woke me up. I didn't know how long I'd been asleep, but I knew that I needed to make a move, now, before things got became any worse. Inside the little hut, it was dim, but there was enough light for me to see my rifle. I grabbed it, trying to ignore the stabbing pain in my side.

Hearing voices, I froze. I wondered what was happening. I crept towards the window, steering clear of anything that might make noise. I pulled back the cloth just enough to be able to see out.

The two children were standing outside, talking to a man. He held an AK-47, similar to the one carried by the little boy.

Oh, no. I considered my options.

A: Kill all four of them. Immediately, my mind rejected this one, if only because of the little girl. She had been nothing but kind to me.

B: Shoot the man, and take his truck. That might be better. Of course, if he was one of their relatives, I would risk pissing them all off, and then they might kill me anyway. From where I was, I couldn't see whether there were other people outside.

All I could do was wait. So that's what I did. The boy and the man talked to each other for several minutes. The girl seemed to hang back, keeping her head down, and saying nothing. Was he their father, or an uncle? I couldn't be sure, but they didn't seem to know each other that well.

I wished I could understand Pashto. Not that this would have helped; they were speaking too softly. Still, body language could tell you a lot. The little boy appeared somewhat tense. He pointed at his sister, and to himself. Then he pointed in the direction of the house, at the window in which I stood.

My heart froze. Was he telling them about me? The little girl's eyes grew wide and she glanced in my direction. I clicked the safety off my rifle and checked that there was still a clip of bullets inside.

I thought about shooting the man, and leaving both children alive. No, I didn't want to do that. The boy had an AK-47. If I let the boy live, he would surely shoot me. And let's be honest, I wasn't that good of a shot, so there was a possibility that I would miss. Then I'd really be in the shit. I had qualified, but only by the skin of my teeth. To be fair, I hadn't had a red dot sight on my rifle at the time, the way I did now.

It had been a gift from Ben.

"Put a red dot on it, and it goes down," he'd said, as he clipped it to my rifle.

"I hardly think I will ever need to use that thing."

"You never know, lovely. Take it. Just in case. I'll feel better knowing that you have it."

Then he'd kissed me again. What a sneak.

The image made tears rush to my eyes. I had to fight to keep them back.

No. Not now. No time for that. I hadn't thought about him in a while. I guess it hurt too much.

I wondered if they were still going to come for me. It seemed to be much later in the day, though I wasn't sure if it was still the same day. It was probably taking the guys some time to figure out what had happened, but even if they were looking for me, I doubted that they'd ever find me here. I needed to leave this place.

I decided to wait and see whether the kids would lead the man into the house. If they did, I would shoot the man, and then the boy. In my heart, I knew I wouldn't be able to shoot the girl, no matter what.

The man began to shout at the children. When he made a move towards the house, I readied myself to put a bullet into his skull. The little girl spoke. Whatever she said, it seemed to stop the man in his tracks. He backed away from the house, and grabbed the boy and the girl by the arms. Just then, another man walked into view.