Chapter One: Deserts of Sand and Ice
Unseen tears stream down puffy cheeks beneath the fifteen-year-old’s white veil. She bites her lip as she strains to conceal her sobs. From outside her window she watches her Baba and uncles as they set up tents for the marriage festival. The wooden door to her small room opens as her mother, covered completely in an azure burqa, enters the room.
“Come Avizeh, let’s take a walk together.” The blue-veiled woman reaches out her hand. Avizeh does not even feel her own rise to accept it.
The brick and clay of the Fatah family’s ancestral home breathes in the afternoon sun. Avizeh’s kindly uncle Parviz once told her that her betrothed, Razaaq Hirat, owns a mansion near the border with Iran. Rumor has it the warlord occupies an old Soviet base built in the shade of an Alexandrian temple, a temple which had been converted into a mosque a thousand years ago, before it was shelled by the Americans during their first invasion. Two thousand years, a dozen empires and the only thing left is a pile of stones sinking into the sand as the ever-hungry Dasht-e Margo, the ‘Desert of Death,’ forever swallows history and people alike.
The young bride follows her mother past the sweeping tents set to hold her betrothed’s one hundred most trusted men. Avizeh watches anxiously as her sisters, cousins and aunts lay out bowls of nuts and fruit across elaborate Persian carpets under the main tent while her father converses with the local mullah who will officiate the wedding. Her mother leads Avizeh to the house’s other side, where the world opens towards the endless western expanses. The world feels still around her as if it is holding its breath. The mountains in the east and west hold back the wind, and any sparse rain that makes it past the Indian Himalayas is greedily swallowed up by Pakistan. Avizeh watches her mother’s chest rise to reassure herself that time has not stopped completely.
“Do you have any questions before tonight?”
“No.” Avizeh chokes out the word numbly, sounding like a ghost speaking with the shaking voice of a terrified child.
“Don’t talk as if you walk to your own grave!” her mother berates her. “You must be happy tonight. A bride must be her husband’s font of joy. When you leave with Razaaq Hirat you must always do as he says quickly and gaily. Learn what he likes and do what he wishes even before he asks you. When he goes back to war or when he takes a second bride then things will be easier, but if you shed a tear at one of his commands your life will be nothing but misery.”
“Yes.” Avizeh shudders, then quickly adds, “Yes, I understand Mother, and I will do as I am told. Mother, how can I sound happy when I’m not?”
“Remember how you were so thirsty when the sandstorm came to our village and no one dared go to the well? Remember how you imagined there was water in your mouth? How you played that game and when we finally did bring back water you hardly drank at all? Just imagine you are filled with happiness.”
Avizeh bites her lip and clutches her mother’s hand. For the first time she realizes she may never see her again. Razaaq is a man of war, fighting false believers, drug smugglers and American soldiers who still on occasion interfere across the fractured provinces of western Afghanistan. Above all regional squabbles, Afghanistan has always been the play toy of greater empires. Conflict is the spirit of her land, the young bride has no doubts. She closes her eyes and attempts to push away any thoughts that might bring tears to her eyes.
In the distant north, sand kicks up as a half-dozen Jeeps roll across the roadless desert. Mother and daughter watch as the war caravan approaches for a wedding. As the procession nears, the women can see individual men crammed on top of the vehicles. From beneath her veil Avizeh cannot tell the men apart; to her they are one man wearing a hundred black and gray robes, sporting a hundred chest-length beards, carrying a hundred assault rifles. As they near, the young bride looks for Razaaq among the men but as she does she feels an immense wave of dread and her knees shake violently.
“Come, you need to return to your room. Remember, the mullah will ask you three times if you’ll accept the marriage. Say ‘yes,’ each time, walk out and when your husband lifts your veil to kiss you, you must be smiling.”
“Yes, Mother.” Avizeh tries to sound happy even as the ground begins to spin. She glances up just in time to see the sky before the roof of the house appears above. Her mother ushers Avizeh into her room, commands her to sit on the bed, keeping her clean white burqa off of the dirt floor, then walks out, closing the door behind her. The trembling young bride listens as the Jeeps close in around the house. A chorus of a hundred pairs of stomping boots on hard ground mingle with jubilant greetings as she sits silently alone. The walls muffle the noise from outside until the dozens of conversations become one alien sound, expressing happiness she does not share. She thinks she hears her Baba among the voices talking to Razaaq as they hash out the Nikah. Avizeh knows it is a mere formality; Razaaq is a powerful warlord, her father will agree to whatever terms he dictates to him. She smells warm bread and lamb meat from the nearby kitchen and listens to her empty stomach growl. After an hour of listening to Razaaq’s men conversing with her extended family she hears light footsteps from outside her door. The door opens and the mullah stares down at her. With his flowing black robes, wrinkly bald head and sharp-eyed stare he looks like a vulture examining a fresh carcass. The young woman bows to her elder respectfully.
Without closing the door, he asks, “Avizeh Fatah, do you accept Razaaq Hirat as your husband in marriage?”
“Yes,” Avizeh says, forcing out a smile, which is hidden behind her veil.
“Avizeh Fatah, do you accept Razaaq Hirat as your husband in marriage?”
“Yes,” she hears herself say.
“Avizeh Fatah, do you accept Razaaq Hirat as your husband in marriage?”
“Yes.” No word has ever sounded so ugly to her ears.
“You are now Razaaq Hirat’s wife. Follow me, Avizeh,” the mullah commands as he turns his back to her room.
Avizeh cannot feel her feet yet somehow she is pulled like a spirit from her home into the wedding tent. Her uncle plays the sitar as her eldest cousin sings Asta Boro. Her extended family and some members of the village stand on her right while Razaaq’s men stand on her left. The soldiers have removed their face coverings and laid their assault rifles on the edges of the tent, though they remain in easy reach. At the end of the hall a tall man with a long black beard, broad chest and piercing dark eyes holds her gaze.
Smile. Smile. One foot, the next. Breathe. Happy, be happy.
A mere step from her husband, Avizeh realizes that it is only important that he thinks she is happy. The thought cracks through her and she hears herself gasp for air within the silent tent. She stands next to Razaaq and looks up to meet his gaze. He smiles broadly and lifts her veil. He leans down to kiss her and she feels his large lips cover her own, feels his beard on her chin. He pulls back and looks down affectionately at his new bride. Congratulatory cheers resound through the tent. Avizeh cannot hold her smile any longer as two tears stream down her cheeks and she gives a small sob. As her vision blurs she sees her husband’s face contort into a hateful glare.
Gunfire explodes from behind the wedding tent. A man howls in pain behind her. Instantly, Razaaq’s men grab their weapons and run outside. The sudden stampede brings the tent crashing down and Avizeh’s family cries out as they run for cover. A strong arm circles Avizeh’s waist and she is carried like a disobedient child on her husband’s hip as he sprints towards the cover of a Jeep. Fiery-golden gunfire bursts through the dark night, a cacophony of overpowering light and sound that leaves Avizeh senseless.
Razaaq presses Avizeh against the wheel of one of the Jeeps. “Stay here and stay low, do you understand?” he roars at his young bride.
His new wife cries and puts her hands on her face.
Razaaq smacks his new bride hard across the face and she tastes blood. “Don’t make a sound, idiot girl! I won’t have you die before tonight.” He grabs her head and forces her to the ground before running off into the darkness to join the chaos.
Avizeh lies on the ground and tries to stifle her cries when a nearby explosion blinds her. The sound of gunfire is suddenly replaced by a metallic ringing and she blinks madly to clear her vision. The newlywed starts as she sees something move in front of her. A dark form walks toward her, cautiously. The shadow crouches on one knee and lifts a long black rifle. A sound like a high-pitched whistle breaks through the night and a tiny spark illuminates a man wearing camouflage garb. The gun whistles again and a body hits the ground behind her.
Avizeh rises, legs shaking uncontrollably, and stares at who she assumes must be an American soldier. The world in front of her is a wall of imperceptible darkness broken only by flashes of gunfire. The way the man stops in front of her makes the young woman think he is studying her, gauging a potential threat. Suddenly she runs towards him. Through eyes clouded with tears she sees the gun point towards her chest but keeps running. As she nears he turns the barrel away from her.
“Please don’t let him hurt me! Don’t let those men hurt my family, please! Please, please don’t kill us! Don’t let them kill us, please!”
The man stares at Avizeh, his demeanor unreadable behind his night vision goggles and mask. A shot rings clear through the chaos and a fountain of blood explodes from the man’s chest, covering her wedding gown. Avizeh screams and falls to the earth, feeling warm blood trickle down her clothes. The young woman stares through bleary eyes at the man before her even as he convulses. She tries to wipe tears away but that only makes her vision worse. She blinks furiously and looks down at her hands and sees that they are covered in a dark mixture of blood, sweat and dirt.
“Avizeh!” a rage-filled voice roars close behind her.
Avizeh stiffens as she recognizes her husband’s murderous tone. She turns and sees his face covered in blood as he glares hatefully. “I told you to wait by the car, you faithless whore!” Avizeh gasps and turns back to the American’s corpse, eyeing his gun. Avizeh runs to the body and tries to lift the rifle. She tugs on the heavy gun but it slips and falls to the ground. Between flashes of gunfire the terrified bride realizes that the now-motionless body lies on the rifle’s sling. She drops the gun and searches the body, praying for a pistol. She pulls on his bloodstained shirt and sees a blinking blue light. Avizeh reaches for the light and pulls back a silver disc-shaped object roughly eight inches across and half as wide. Blue-crystal digital numbers run across its glowing screen.
“Whore!” Razaaq thunders as he aims his Kalashnikov at her.
Avizeh shakes and grips the disc as tightly as she can. She closes her eyes and prays for mercy.
The sound of gunfire disappears instantly. A chilling breeze, colder than she has ever felt before, cuts through her wedding dress and she shivers furiously. Through chattering teeth, she thinks she hears the sound of water splashing all around her. She opens her eyes. All around her are titanic blocks of ice, their snow-covered tops floating over frigid blue water. Avizeh looks down and realizes she is kneeling on pure white snow beneath her.
Did I die? Is this heaven? Or hell? How can this be either when both are supposed to be warm? She looks down at her burqa and jumps, seeing the wet crimson stains across her dress for the first time. Her hand shakes uncontrollably from fear and sudden cold. She touches the sticky dark crimson across her belly. Did my husband kill me? She pulls back her trembling hand and watches the scarlet liquid solidify on her fingertips.
A deep, inhuman wail explodes from just behind Avizeh, causing her to scream and fall to the ground. She looks over and sees the marine’s corpse, at first thinking he might be alive. Then her eyes fixate on a massive creature that looks like a fat dog with flippers instead of feet. She stares, wide-eyed, numb hands clawing at the snow beneath her, pushing herself away. The creature bares its huge yellowing teeth towards her and Avizeh cries out again. The young woman’s heart pounds even as she shivers violently from the cold. Her mind races as she looks for some escape, even as she begins to feel light-headed. She knows the gun is useless as its sling is trapped underneath the corpse between herself and the creature. She looks around frantically for somewhere to run. To her horror, she realizes she is on a tiny ice floe only a dozen meters long and about as wide. She looks up to the sky as her tears freeze on her cheeks.
Are you still there, God? Or did I leave you in the desert?
The dog-creature turns from Avizeh and barks at the water loud enough for her to feel its panicked cries reverberate through her chest. The terrified young woman watches it open its maw, exposing long yellow teeth as it yelps. Out of the corner of her eyes she sees movement and follows the creature’s gaze downward.
Against the still, dark blue abyss a massive black fin rises in the water and races towards the ice floe. Avizeh watches as the fin gains speed, moving faster than she could run. Once it reaches the ice floe the fin dives downward and a colossal black lower body and tail descend into the water. A small wave splashes onto the ice floe in its wake. Avizeh pushes herself backward to avoid the chilly water as the ice teeters beneath her. The dog-creature backs up to the middle of the small frozen island, so close Avizeh can smell its putrid breath. It yelps and looks nervously back out at sea.
Avizeh watches horrified as four more fins race towards them, moving even faster than the first. A huge wave rises above the fins and the creatures dive just before hitting the ice floe. A wave of freezing water rolls over the surface and Avizeh is paralyzed as she tumbles backward in the freezing swell. When the wave passes, it leaves her body stiff in the deathly cold. She only barely registers that she is on the very edge of the block of ice, her feet dangling above the water. The body of the American slips down, sinking into the blackness.
Avizeh is completely numb. She is barely conscious of the dog-creature awkwardly pushing itself back to the middle of the small island as the four fins take up positions again. She knows she must join it to live but her will is weaker than the cold. The only feeling in her is the disc in her left hand. With what little strength she has she clutches onto it, hoping for another miracle.
A humming from far away turns into a deafening whipping sound just above her. A pair of boots drop down in front of her, kicking snow into her face. An arm reaches around her waist as a strong man lifts her, though she barely feels either. Suddenly she flies through the air just as another wave rolls over the ice floe and the dog-creature tumbles into the depths. The man holding her barks something in a language she cannot understand and someone seizes her from behind and places her in the back seat of a helicopter. Avizeh jerks violently and holds her arms across her chest as she shivers. The man who rappelled her to safety closes the sliding door. Beside her, another man pulls out a hot water bottle and presses it against her chest, which she grabs. She holds it tightly against her and thinks its life-saving warmth is the best feeling she has ever had, like the feeling of happiness filling her and spreading outward to every part of her being. The men wrap her tightly in a thermal blanket as she shakes.
Feeling returns to Avizeh’s numbed fingers and she realizes that the disc is still in her left hand, underneath the hot water bottle. She eyes the men around her. Her rescuer says something to her in a language she cannot understand. She thinks he means to sound friendly but his voice is gravelly and comes out as a bark. He waits for her response; when it doesn’t come he turns to the other man who says something that sounds like Arabic, which Avizeh can recognize but not speak. When she doesn’t respond to him the man shrugs his shoulders and looks out the window.
Avizeh looks back and forth at these strange men. They sport long black rifles at their sides and look like the soldier that died in front of her. While their eyes are turned she cautiously slips the disc down inside her clothes.
This device and God’s grace are the only things I have in this world.
The unusual group sits in silence, with only the semi-muffled whirring of the helicopter blades above them breaking the peaceful journey above a snow-white landscape that stretches as far as the eye can see. Avizeh peers out the window and thinks she sees strange black birds that waddle instead of fly. After a long flight over endless white expanses the helicopter slows as it approaches a large hexagonal building, surrounded by smaller buildings that look like half-cylinders on their sides, with a concrete wall surrounding all of them. A large American flag waves gently from a nearby pole.
The helicopter descends onto a platform amidst the buildings, blowing snow in all directions. The door to her right opens. A strong hand on Avizeh’s back pushes her forward, through the biting cold, towards a non-descript building with the words ‘Medical Center’ painted above the door. As they enter, a seated man in green scrubs looks up from a computer screen, his face rapidly displaying shock, worry, confusion, then sympathy. Unintelligible words pass between the medic and the soldier behind her and the former leads her to a bed. He steps away and returns with a set of clothes which look too large for her small frame. He pulls the curtains around the bed, points at the clothes and says something before ducking out. Avizeh takes the hint and shakily removes her drenched wedding gown. As she does the teleporter falls to the bed. She catches her breath and her gaze shoots up to the closed curtain. She removes her soaked layers and dons the baggy clothes. She then grabs the teleporter and stuffs it inside her shirt. She opens the curtain and nearly jumps to see the medic standing just outside. He motions for her to lie back, covers her with a heated blanket while holding a thermometer to her forehead.
Warmth courses through Avizeh and she suddenly feels incredibly tired. Just as she thinks she is about to nod off, she notices a figure walk towards her. She looks up into the heart-shaped face of a tall, dark-haired woman who stares back with apparent compassion.
“Hello,” she says in Farsi.
“Hello,” is all Avizeh can think to reply.
“How are you feeling?”
Avizeh stammers.
“That’s understandable. What’s your name?”
“Avizeh.”
“Avizeh, that’s a pretty name. My name’s Clara.”
“Clara,” Avizeh sounds out the foreign-sounding name.
“Is your head spinning? Do you feel nauseous? Are—”
“Am I dreaming?” Avizeh interrupts her checklist of medical questions.
“What?” Clara asks, taken aback. “No, you’re not dreaming, though you’ve had quite a day.”
“Where am I?”
“Antarctica.”
Avizeh’s eyes go wide.
“This is the US military base Fort Powell. You must have touched a teleporter, that’s how you were transported here.”
Avizeh closes her eyes and wonders again if she is dreaming. “What about my family?”
“Are you hungry, Avizeh?”
Avizeh suddenly realizes how famished she is and nods. She thinks back to her wedding, remembering the smell of warm bread and cooked lamb. After the marriage she would have feasted with her new husband and family. Tears well up in her eyes and she sobs.
“It’s okay to cry, Avizeh.” Clara puts a hand on her shoulder. “Take your time, cry it out.”
Avizeh thinks of her family, left behind in the firefight. She lowers her head to her chest and weeps, feeling the teleporter pressing against her with every heaving breath.
**
Somehow Avizeh manages to sleep, though for how long she can only guess. When she wakes up, Clara is still sitting beside her. She offers Avizeh a cup of water and escorts her to the bathroom, which Avizeh tells her is unnecessary. A few minutes later Clara steps out, returns with a tray full of food and assures Avizeh that the chicken soup is halal.
“How did I get here?” Avizeh asks as she lies back and picks at a piece of bread.
“You must have taken a Q-Leap.”
Avizeh tilts her head to the side.
“You must have accidentally touched the emergency jump button on that fallen soldier’s teleporter. I can’t tell you much; only what is publicly known. The man who you were set to marry, do you know who he was?”
“Razaaq Hirat?”
“Yes… do you know what he did?”
“He’s a warlord. He took over the Hirat tribe and moved into Farah territory.”
“He made bigger enemies than that, otherwise you wouldn’t be here, Avizeh.” Clara watches with a slight smile as the youth shoves food into her mouth. “They’re going to ask you what happened to the teleporter.”
Avizeh looks up at her innocently.
“Do you know what I’m talking about? It’s a disc-shaped object, has a lot of lights…”
Avizeh shakes her head. “I don’t know what you mean. Whatever it is, it must have fallen into the ocean with the dead American. What’s going to happen to me?”
Clara’s face doesn’t move and Avizeh feels a pit open in her stomach. “That’s not for me to decide. I’ll get you clothes tomorrow. If you’re hungry or need anything, just ask me. Not many other people here speak Farsi.”
Avizeh hears boots stamp across the tiled floor and looks up. A tall man with gray hair and wolf-like eyes approaches them. He walks as if his upper half is completely stiff and unaware of how quickly the lower half is moving. He stops beside Clara and says something to her in English but in an accent that is impossible for Avizeh to understand. She stands, salutes, responds and waits for his reply. The man finishes speaking and both his and Clara’s eyes turn to Avizeh.
“Do you feel well enough to walk around, Avizeh? This man is my commanding officer and he wants to speak in his office.”
The young bride looks nervously at the pair.
“Avizeh, I want to help you but you have to trust me.”
Avizeh meets her gaze, which is neither soft nor warm, but possesses an inner strength which calms her. The Afghan bride stands up slowly. Clara assists Avizeh with her coat and gloves and the trio walk in silence towards the exit. As Clara opens the door, Avizeh covers her eyes and squints against the light reflecting off the snow. After a moment of confusion she realizes that the sun moved to a different position in the sky though the world is just as bright as it was hours ago, and she wonders again if she is alive and conscious. Clara’s gloved hand presses on her back, feeling as real as anything Avizeh has ever felt, guiding her to a large rectangular building.
The sudden move from the negative sixty-degree outside to the balmy interior gives Avizeh a sudden vertigo, and she grabs onto Clara, who leads her down a series of hallways to the gray-haired man’s office. Inside is a desk and several gadgets and trinkets whose purpose Avizeh cannot guess as they occasionally flicker and emit a little beep or hum. The gray-haired man and Clara take off their coats and hang them on hooks on the wall. Underneath his thick coat the man wears a finely-pressed green suit with medals pinned to his left breast. Clara starts to help Avizeh remove her snow gear when she shrugs her off, pulling her coat around tighter; Avizeh is used to wearing a full burqa in temperatures twice as hot as the room. The stiff man takes a seat on the other side of the desk and the two women sit in chairs opposite him. He says something to Clara while still looking at Avizeh.
Clara explains, “Avizeh, this man is Colonel Gregory Mueller. He wants to ask you a couple of questions.” Avizeh nods and she continues. “Can you tell us your full name?”
“I already told you.”
“Say it again.”
Colonel Mueller presses a button and a faint buzz comes from a small microphone between them.
“Avizeh Fatah.”
“Where do you come from?”
“Afghanistan.”
“Where in Afghanistan?”
“Near Anar Dara, in Farah, a little village southeast of there.”
“Who did you live with there?”
“My family. I have two brothers, Aamir…” Small hairs beginning to grow on his chin, standing by a bowl of nuts, his hand on the table waiting for the feast. “Daoud, Fahima’s son…” Beside his uncle, fidgeting, sucking on his thumb, wondering why his sister is wearing white instead of her usual black.
“My sister…” Laily, the pretty one with sparkling eyes, a gentle face and soft hands. She is promised to Razaaq’s second-in-command on her thirteenth birthday. “My three sisters from my father’s second wife Fahima…” All younger than me. Elina, Omira, Ilaaha hiding behind Fahima, shielding the little ones from the eyes of the soldiers.
“My mother…” Still as a statue. When I walked between my family and the soldiers, did she even look at me? Was she worried about what would happen to me? That after he took me back to his mansion maybe I’d be killed during a fight with Razaaq’s rivals or the Americans? Was she sad? Was she ashamed of me? Did she think I couldn’t be a good bride? She always loved Laily more…
The young woman feels a sudden overwhelming weight press her down into her chair, feeling for the first time as if today’s events are a break with her entire previous life. Her family, her friends, her village, her entire existence transformed from an is to a was, and all that is is a young Afghan woman sequestered in an American military base on a frozen continent, alone with only Clara who understands and sympathizes with her, and even the last part she doubts. Avizeh looks down at her hands, studying the black snow gloves, remembering when her delicate fingers were covered in white.
“Was that all?” Clara asks.
Avizeh closes her eyes, too tired to cry anew.
Colonel Mueller says something to Clara.
“Was that all, Avizeh?”
“I don’t want to think about it.”
Clara conveys her message to Colonel Mueller. He offers a stern reply.
“You have to answer,” Clara adopts her superior’s tone.
Avizeh sighs deeply. She wonders why it matters. What do they want? Will they help her? Avizeh looks up at Clara and decides she must trust her. She thinks back to that night. She remembers perfectly what she saw when she was halfway up the aisle. “Baba.” My father never smiled much when I was around but as he watched Razaaq lift my veil he was smiling, showing his teeth, finally proud of me.
“My uncle Parviz.” Singing Asta Boro with gusto, looking to impress the soldiers, who he admired so much.
“And my aunts Hadi and Yalda.”
Colonel Mueller’s gaze does not leave Avizeh as he asks the next question.
Clara translates, “Can you tell us what happened just before you teleported here?”
Avizeh slumps in her seat and looks aside. “Do I have to?”
Clara nods.
“I… I was getting married.”
“Who were you getting married to?”
“Razaaq Hirat.”
Something flickers in the Colonel’s eyes.
“Did he come with anyone?”
“One hundred of his men. His soldiers.”
“Did you recognize any of them?”
“No.” Avizeh shakes her head. “I only know him.”
“Can you tell us what happened?”
Avizeh recounts the events up to her rescue from the ice floe.
“What happened to the teleporter?”
“It fell into the water.”
Colonel Mueller’s eyes narrow. Avizeh clutches her sides and wishes she had her veil to shield her from the man’s look. After a moment’s pause to process this new information, he says something to Clara, who then turns to Avizeh. “He wants to know if you know anything about Razaaq’s men. His plans, his territory, his weapons.”
“There was a hundred men there, I think. He controls most of the territory north of Farah. His men had lots of guns.”
Clara says four words to Mueller and he rolls his eyes.
Before he can pose another question, Avizeh asks, “Is my family okay?”
Clara pauses before translating to Mueller.
“We can’t say,” she responds.
“Are you sending me back?” Avizeh replies nervously, looking up into Clara’s face.
“You would be in danger,” Clara says without changing her expression. “Do you want to go back?”
Avizeh pauses. “You killed Razaaq, yes? It’s safe for me to see my family?”
Clara looks at Mueller. Without translating to him she turns to Avizeh and says, “We can’t reveal any of our operations.”
“What about my family?”
Clara speaks to Colonel Mueller. After a tense back and forth she turns back to Avizeh. “I’m sorry, we can’t tell you what happened.”
Avizeh looks down, defeated. “What will happen to me?”
Clara asks Mueller, who gives a curt reply and responds with a wave. Clara stands up and motions for Avizeh to do the same. “You’ll be staying in the women’s dormitories under my supervision until we can get you off base. Now, it’s time to go.”
Avizeh rises to her feet and dares a look at Mueller. He stares back placidly at the women as they step out the door. Clara puts her hand on Avizeh’s back and leads her past the reception hall, into the cold.
“Avizeh, listen to me. The army is probably going to arrange to have you adopted by a family somewhere where you will be safe. Probably somewhere remote, like in Iceland, or rural Canada. It’s too dangerous to send you back to Afghanistan. And one rule you must abide by, Avizeh: never, ever say what happened that night. We work in secret up here and the man who you were going to marry belongs to a very dangerous group. If you ever tell anyone what happened that night it could endanger you and your family.”
Avizeh looks up at Clara and starts breathing quickly, feeling the biting cold fill her lungs. She wants to protest but realizes she can’t afford to anger Clara as she is the only person who understands her. She drops her eyes, squinting against the light reflected off the snow.
Someone yells something in English so suddenly Avizeh jumps, her eyes shooting to her right to a raised concrete platform. A machine suspended on a crane projects a holographic image of seven soldiers in different positions. There are two in the back on their bellies holding sniper rifles, four men in front of them holding machine guns and one man in the center holding a grenade. On the ground below each are seven ‘Xs.’
A group of seven real men walk past Avizeh, towards the holograms. They take up the same positions as the projections, guns leveled ominously towards her and Clara. A final man steps forward and holds a grenade in his hand. A loudspeaker begins a countdown. The two men in back put their hands near their hearts and Avizeh sees the familiar shape of teleporters. The two snipers disappear. Avizeh blinks as she tries to comprehend what she knows just happened. The loudspeaker issues a command and the four infantrymen disappear. A final countdown begins and the man in front pulls the pin on his grenade. He cocks his arm back, ready to throw. Avizeh puts her arms in front of her and closes her eyes. When nothing happens, she looks up and sees he is gone.
© 2022 Gary Girod
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