Locked In

Open Season

Our journey seemed to progress quickly and without incident once the non-Muslims had joined our small group. We traveled at night and slept during the day. We were trying to get out of the country as fast as possible. One of the non-Muslims who had joined us had a small radio that we would listen to.

One morning when we had stopped for the night in an abandoned barn we were listening to the radio when an announcement came on. "The American soldiers at Camp 2345 Alpha reported of an escaped attempt made by a group of detainees. These fugitives need to be brought to justice. I declare this day, April 5, 2015 to be open season on all Muslims in America if they escape from prison. If you see them shoot to kill. Anyone working with these fugitives will be thrown in prison for thirty years. Islam is against the law by order of the President. All Muslims must be extinguished to combat the growing threat they pose to our soil and abroad."

"This is terrible. The American Government has gone too far now," Benjamin said in the hushed silence.

We were in shock. We had known that we were being hunted. We had known that we would probably be killed if we were lucky if we were ever caught. Death was better than being prisoners in our own homeland. But to hear the President, a man sworn to uphold the Constitution, say it was okay to shoot Muslims on sight was truly horrifying and evil.

"We need a map. Where are we going to go once we escape America," Elizabeth asked.

"I have one. I have a map of Europe," Sebastian said. Sebastian was one of the non-Muslims who had joined us.

"What do you need a map of Europe for Sebastian," Benjamin asked.

"I always thought about touring Europe. So I bought a map one day on a trip to Greece."

They looked over the map. Everyone seemed drawn to the one country they had spoken of in particular which was Sweden. Whenever we looked at the other countries we were always drawn back to Sweden. After three more times of this happening we were in agreement that Allah wanted us to go to Sweden.

"What cities are in Sweden? Should we hide in the mountains?"

"We need to figure out how we will live if we go to the mountains. Can you even raise livestock there?"

We were silent as we looked at the map. Then Hakeem pointed out a city in the north. "Kiruna. What's there?"

Benjamin still looking at the map said, "The map key shows this city is in the Scandinavian Mountains. It is in a region called the Lap Lands. Apparently people raise reindeer and it's not very populated. Only one major area is known as the city. The rest appears to be uninhabited."

"That seems like a good place to go. We can make a fresh start there. But we need to consider how we will survive."

"How about raising reindeer," Talal asked.

"No. Reindeer need to graze so we would have to move around all the time," Benjamin said.

"What types of economic opportunities do they have," I asked.

"According to the map key iron ore mining, tourism, space research, and testing."

"What type of testing?"

"I would say cars and aerospace testing. Kiruna, the map says, is home to the North European Aerospace Test Range (NEAT)."

"That isn't a big economy. What other cities does Sweden have?"

"Well the major areas are Stockholm, Ostersund, Gothenburg, Visby, and Malmo. Stockholm is the capital of Sweden and is a largely service industry area. Ostersund is known as Winter City or the center of Sweden. It's situated right in the middle of Scandinavia and in the middle of Sweden herself. It has a lot of shops and is a big center for trading. Gothenburg is on the West Coast of Sweden. This city has a lot of trading and shipping in addition to being the largest harbor in Sweden. It also has manufacturing and industry but relies on tourism as well. Visby is on an island known as Gotland, it's a Medieval City. It seems to mainly survive on tourism during the summer. Malmo has traditionally been based on shipbuilding and construction related industries. It has a high unemployment rate and in the southernmost province in Sweden," Benjamin being the well educated man said.