Nadir
April 2018
Despite what I had hoped, Erik and I only made it a few hours down the highway before we found ourselves at a dead stop. It was absolutely miserable, and I had survived Afghanistan. A late April chill pervaded into the old walls of the car, freezing me to the bone. The gas mask was heavy and uncomfortable; I could not imagine how I could possibly keep it on for another moment, let alone the foreseeable future.
To make it worse, Erik had not been the only one who decided that fleeing was for the best. We were surrounded by mini vans and trucks, all filled with a vast assortment of people. My gaze flickered to the right yet again. For the past hour, we had found ourselves next to a family car with a particularly frightened child. He had taken one look of our gas masks in the window and had promptly burst into loud, wailing tears that could somehow be heard through my car.
"That woman needs to take better care of her abominable child." Erik snapped when the child began to pound on the window. I silently agreed, but the mother seemed to be more concerned with her own crying to take any notice of her baby at the moment.
The child's cries did not cease, and the honks of the cars only seemed to get louder. I was becoming increasingly more worried for Erik's sanity. His glove-clad hands were clasped steadfastly around his knees with alarming strength. It had been many years since he had killed, and Erik had never sought out the death of a child, but if this kept up...
"Perhaps it is time for us to leave the highway." I suggested lightly. The child let out a particularly piercing keen.
"Yes." He said, and I could hardly detect the haste in his tone. "Should military action be called, we will be crushed underneath the American tanks. How little they would care for their citizens then!"
With assurance I did not feel, I flicked on my left turn signal and began a slow migration off of the highway.
Forty minutes later, we found ourselves on the country roads, which were marginally better. Instead of vehicles being at a complete standstill, they were racing past us at alarming speed. More than once, I feared we would be rear-ended by a panicked driver.
In the end, it mattered little. Not half an hour off of the highway, my car began to make the most atrocious noises and slow down considerably. I hastily pulled over to the side of the road, nearly hitting a car going far too fast. The driver's horn blared in the distance as he sped off.
Erik immediately got out, popped open the front of the car, and began to investigate. He didn't take him more than a moment to declare the car unsalvageable.
"It is of no concern. We would have had to leave it behind in a few days anyway—the looters will target those in vehicles first."
From then on, our luck seemed to take a turn for the better. After abandoning my car at the side of a large cornfield, we encountered no serious troubles. Luckily, Erik had the foresight to pack enough food and fire starter to last us a decent amount of time. That night found us huddled near an empty cornfield just out of sight from the road. With practiced fingers, Erik began to build a small fire.
"Is this truly the best idea?" Usually, he would not have graced my opinion with a response. It appeared that he was in an uncharacteristically good mood.
"Must you question everything I do, Nadir? Humans enjoy deluding themselves with morals and beliefs. It will be a few days yet before we need to hide ourselves."
His lack of faith in humanity discouraged me. Still, I doubt that Erik would have survived this long without it. I had hoped that after leaving Afghanistan, he would have learned to tolerate humanity... but perhaps it was for the best.
With a slight nod to Erik, I walked deeper into the field in order to relieve myself. This was one thing I had not missed about Afghanistan. I had hoped to never have to relieve myself outside again, but it appeared that would not be the case. I hadn't been gone more than a moment, though, when Erik's panicked voice echoed around me.
"Nadir!"
In all my years, I had seen few things that had actually made Erik panic—I ran.
When I arrived at our little campsite, slightly out of breath, I was shocked to find a young girl to be the culprit of Erik's fears. She clung to his thin wrist frantically, babbling in some assuredly European language. Though I could not see his face behind the gas mask, I could sense the distress in his posture: the sooner the girl stopped touching him, the better. Quickly, I ran over and pried her off of Erik. She spun around and clung to my arms instead. She continued to stammer, trying to convey something I could not understand.
She was beautiful. She was young, too, eighteen years old at the most. Her hair curtained her face in brown waves that reminded me of Rookheeya. Large brown eyes gazed up at me frantically, still begging for something in her foreign tongue.
"I—English! Do you speak English?"
The girl only looked more distressed. I was sure that this was not going to end well.
Now that he was safe from physical contact, Erik seemed to have sufficiently composed himself and responded to the girl in her tongue. Almost immediately, the girl began to sob, relieved at hearing her own language.
A rather confusing conversation ensued, which resulted in the girl flinging herself to the ground and sobbing uncontrollably in despair.
"Erik! Is she all right?"
"She is fine. She asked for help, and I informed her that she would find none here."
"Erik! Of course she will!"
"Nadir—"
"Erik."
I gave him what I hoped was my most stern glance. He looked as though he were about to spit at my feet, and I feared that he would actually send the child away.
"You're feeding her." He spat at me before saying something to the girl. She began to laugh in relief and, to my horror, kiss his feet. With a snarl, Erik tore them away from her and stormed off, presumably to strangle a squirrel or some other forest animal.
Gently, I knelt down beside the girl. This was becoming more of a mess than I had anticipated. What could I say to the child? She did not even speak my language! She turned her eyes to my gas mask. I did the only thing I could.
"Nadir." I said slowly, pointing at my chest
She blinked once, twice, before pointing slim fingers to herself.
"Luciana."