All seemed calm in my personal Hell, as calm as Hell can get that is. The desert sun beat down upon me through the window and beads of sweat collected on my forehead and my upper lip. Bruised and broken, I lay immobilized on the ground, gasping for air as my ribs send a familiar stabbing of pain through my torso.
Footsteps startled me but when no beating came I figured it was the extremist that kept watch over me. I sighed and relaxed once again.
Bang
One shot rang out, one and only one; there was a Sniper in the surrounding area. I mentally cursed at myself for not using the 'crash, thump' technique. I quieted my thoughts to prepare for another possible shot from the same, or a different, Sniper.
Bang
One one-thousand, two one-thousand, three one-thousand, four onethou-
Thump
I felt the pressure wave of the rifle gently thud against the house and I stopped counting. After calculating in my head, I determined that the Sniper who pulled the trigger and fired that shot was approximately 1350 meters away or about 171 miles away.
That was fairly close, I squirmed; my sudden movement caused a fire to burn through my torso.
"It is useless, you stupid American girl. You will stay here forever, you should just accept your fate." My watcher's voice broke the silence.
The next unmeasurable moments of time were filled with bangs and thumps and each time they would grow closer. Eventually crickets started to chirp, signaling it was evening or night.
Bang
O-
Thump
Only an eighth of a second.
My heart began to pound, this person was only 4 miles away from me, and I didn't know if they were friend or foe. A wave of the desert's scorching temperature suddenly washed over my body causing a thin layer of sweat to delevop on my arms and face. My exposed legs were sticky with sweat and I took deep, painful, necessary breaths. Tears sprang to my eyes and I let them flow; the coolness of my tears against my hot skin were a hidden blessing for which, I was grateful.
"Dude, we can't be here right now." The first man announced his presence in a whisper. He spoke fluid English and had a slight accent, it sounded southern and slightly familiar.
"What did you call me, soldier?" The second man announced himself in a hushed yell.
"I mean, Colonel, Sir."
The second man sighed. "I may be your brother but in the field I am your superior, you'll do well to remember that."
I heard the first man reply witha weak "Right."
I squirmed and tried to find my voice; Americans! There were Americans right outside my prison! My captor rushed over to me and I felt the cool metal of his small handgun pressed against my temple. I stopped moving. "You will not move or make a single noise or I will shoot you. Understand?" I nodded quickly. "Good. Now, hush."
Their chatter continued and got softer as they walked off. I began to thrash once I couldn't hear them anymore. That was my opprotunity of freedom and it was walking away! I yelled as well as I could through my gag and ignored the burning in my chest and every other muscle in my body. My yells turned to sobs after about a minute of thrashing.
My chance of seeing civilization once more was lost; That was the moment I finally gave up hope.