Chapter Thirteen – The Unbelievable

There was far more activity that morning than Stevie had seen in the last few days, and she had no idea what it meant. It made her nervous though. Whenever something started happening it didn't usually bode well for Stevie or her friends. There was nowhere for her to hide, so the best she could do was keep a close eye on what was going on around her. She couldn't understand what the rebels were saying since they weren't speaking in English, but they sounded excited. Thankfully they weren't paying any attention to the hostages. Instead they seemed to be leaving. Stevie allowed herself to relax as much as she could. Being trapped here had her wound so tight relaxing completely wasn't possible, but any little bit helped.

The room stayed quiet for a long time. None of the hostages moved more than shifting so they wouldn't draw attention. They had all learned that drawing attention here was not a good thing. A few rebels remained, some circling the room and kicking at the hostages' legs as they went by. Stevie kept her legs carefully tucked up against her and her arms wrapped around them. The worst she got was a few lecherous looks and a rifle butt to the shoulder.

Stevie had no idea how long everything stayed that way, but it felt like hours. Then, without any warning, one of the rebels collapsed. Before Stevie could even begin processing that another went down and the room was suddenly filled with soldiers. Terror and shock filled her, and she tried to scuttle farther back even though there was nowhere for her to go. It took a moment or two to realize who the soldiers were. French soldiers. What were French soldiers doing here? Not that Stevie was going to question it. They were here taking out the rebels. If she was about to get rescued she didn't particularly care who was doing the rescuing. It didn't take long for all of the rebels in the room to be killed. She watched wide eyed as part of the group of soldiers separated off and vanished down the hallways leading out of the room. The rest started gathering up all of the hostages. Stevie could have gotten up and gone with them, run out of the room as quickly as she could, but all she could manage to do was stare dumbfounded at everything going on around her. It felt like a dream. Three days of hell and now this…? It was hard to believe.

One of the soldiers came over toward her and held out a hand.

"Come on, Miss. Let's get you out of here."

It wasn't that Stevie didn't know what to do, but she was having a really hard time processing what was going on. She simply stared at him, ignoring his outstretched hand. This could all just be a dream or something her exhausted and desperate mind had conjured up.

"This is really happening?" she asked hesitantly.

A smile broke out across the soldier's face.

"It's really happening. Come on now."

Stevie grabbed his hand and let him pull her to her feet. When she wobbled he steadied her and then began directing her toward the back exit along with everyone else. It wasn't until she took her first step into the sun that she truly believed she wasn't dreaming. This was real. They'd actually been rescued. She almost dropped to her knees and started crying in relief then and there.

Later, when all of the hostages were sharing what little food and water the soldiers had been able to bring with them, Stevie heard her name being called. One of the soldiers appeared to be looking for her, though she had no idea why. She flagged him down anyway.

"You're Stevie?" he asked once he reached her.

"Yeah."

She couldn't help feeling wary. With who she was and after everything that had just happened it was hard not to be. They might have been safe now, but they were still in Africa and she didn't know this person.

"I have something for you."

Before Stevie had a chance to get nervous about what that meant Captain Ames had pulled a small stuffed animal out of his pack. She recognized it immediately.

"Snowbunny!"

Stevie clutched the toy to her chest as tears poured down her face. She knew she was being kind of ridiculous, but she couldn't help herself. The rabbit's presence meant that much to her.

"This was my mom's doing, wasn't it?" she asked once she'd gotten her emotions more under control.

"Yes it was. She met with me before we deployed."

Stevie grinned in response. Not only had her mom managed to find a way to save them, she'd even sent Stevie something to make her feel better. She had no idea how her mom managed to think of everything.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome. Ah… I don't know if I have the right to ask, but… Snowbunny?"

With a stretch of the imagination he might have been able to figure out the stuffed animal was a rabbit. It had one long ear that was visibly crooked but still close to rabbit-like. The snow part was more of a challenge. There was nothing about the rabbit that was white. It was grey or maybe even tan.

Stevie laughed and then glanced down at the rabbit and began caressing its head. She'd had the stuffed animal forever and had even brought it to college with her.

"I named him when I was really little, so it never felt right to change the name, as silly as it is."

"And it used to be white?"

"A really long time ago," Stevie laughed.

"It looks like it's been through a lot," he replied.

"You have no idea."

Everywhere she'd gone as a child had included Snowbunny. He'd come along in her backpack, the basket of her bike, and had even been buckled into her car seat with her. She'd habitually carried the rabbit around by the ears, and many of her games had involved swinging it in circles or twisting the ears around as tightly as she could. Eventually the strings holding the ears on had started to loosen and break. It hadn't stopped her from mistreating Snowbunny's floppy ears though, and only a short time later the inevitable had happened. When the first ear had fallen off Stevie had had a total meltdown. In order to calm her down her mother had made a big deal out of "admitting" Snowbunny to the stuffed animal hospital – the best one in the world according to her mom. The ear had been sewn back on, and Stevie hadn't noticed how crooked it had become. Unfortunately she hadn't learned her lesson about holding toys by the ears even after the first one had fallen off. The second had managed to hang on for a while longer, but it too had eventually fallen off. She hadn't noticed at first, and by the time she had she'd been getting ready for bed. Once she'd realized the ear was gone she'd absolutely panicked and refused to go to sleep until they found the ear. They had all searched the house, but to no avail. The ear had simply vanished. Little Stevie hadn't been able to accept that and had cried in her parents' arms for hours until she'd fallen asleep. She hadn't been much happier the next morning, but she'd eventually come to love her one-eared rabbit even more.

Now that single ear brought back good memories. Stevie ran the ear through her fingers and smiled. The little rabbit was still a form of comfort to her. It was a little piece of home that she was more than happy to have at that moment. Since she couldn't be home right then she would take what she could get. It would be something to hold onto until she got home and got to see her parents. She didn't care how hard it would be to apologize to them for this; she just desperately wanted to see them. Despite how old she was she still relied on them.

"Um… my mom. Does she know I'm okay?"

Obviously her mother knew that she was here since she'd sent Snowbunny with the soldiers. Her mom had eased some of her fears. Now she wanted to do the same. Her parents were probably terrified, so the least she could do was let them know she was okay. It was also kind of the most she could do, at least until she got home.

"Yes, I'm sure she knows. Our communications officer already reported to the White House that all of you are alive."

Stevie seemed to wilt slightly in relief and then she threw her arms around Captain Ames. She hugged him tightly while both laughing and crying.

"Thank you. Thank you!"

Ames hesitated for a brief moment before he returned her hug for a second.

"You're welcome, Stevie," he replied before pulling away from her. "Now let's get you home to your mom, okay?"

"Yeah."

Stevie wiped her tears away as she followed after Captain Ames while he started rounding up his troops and the hostages. She couldn't help feeling rather elated despite her continued exhaustion. They were going home. She didn't have to be afraid for her life anymore. It was all over, and tomorrow she would see her parents again. In a few hours she would be able to leave Nigeria and all of this behind. More importantly, she was going to be going home. That fifteen hour flight back to the States was going to feel far longer than it had on the way here. There was no question that it would drag on forever and be near torture considering how desperately she wanted to get back. If only she could magically get there without all of the time in between.