Chapter 82: Searing Gunshots

She fought the tears back, but they came nevertheless and she let herself cry. "If I had known what Yarima Na'im is doing with Maryam right now, I would have emulated it on you. But then, I'm not able to even if I knew." He was about to speak when Saima quickly cut him off, "Just close your eyes and sleep, Soldier. I promise to be here when you wake up." He was feeling sleepy, so he closed his eyes and obeyed her rule, knowing so well that when he opened his eyes again, she would be seated right beside him on the chair.
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Maryam couldn't find Na'im over the chaos that was happening in the barrack. She didn't know what she would do now that Intisar wanted water so bad and she looked at Bilkisu, "Can you please help me keep watch of her? I'll go and look for him, okay?" She said as she glanced longingly at Intisar that looked so terrified and tired to even lift a limb before she began walking through the midst of the soldiers that made her heart beat as widely as she had never expected it.
But then something happened, it was swift, yet it still happened and Maryam screamed at the pitch of her voice. Someone had grabbed her by the arm and there was a gun pointed at her head that if she dared screamed again, she would be shot at, dead. Her tears that were already there rushed down to her cheeks, she had thought that everything was over, wasn't it? Intisar was here with her today, Captain Bolori had been locked in a prison and moreover, she was in the army barrack and who would dare hurt her now?
No one seemed to notice that she was being dragged out of the barrack, her tears were intensifying because she knew this would be the end, she had no other escape route. Na'im was somewhere around here doing something while he would think she was together with her sister. Bilkisu will keep on waiting for her to be back and no one will think she had been dragged away by someone.
She cried as she was thrown into a car and there were huge men and she recognized them to be those that Captain Bolori left in her care the first time she had been kidnapped by him. She was crying, but seeing their faces and knowing so well what they did to her when she cried the last time, Maryam kept her mouth shut as she prayed, Na'im should save her, he should. He had to go and check in on her, he had to find out that she wasn't there on time to save her.
The scorching sun of Maiduguri was so hot that she could feel the sweat drilling down to her body, but that was the least of her worries. The path they followed only had two cars and it seemed to her they were together, they were driving in such a high speed that would've made her lost her calmness if she weren't already frightened by what was happening.
Then she heard a gunshot, the car behind them was being aimed at as it was shot. She noticed the agitated look on the men's faces and she silently prayed that it was Na'im that was there to save her. He should be the one, please. He should come and save her from these men, she shouldn't be dead along with their baby.
It took only a few seconds hearing the sound of gunshots being exchanged before she heard something blasting as hard and loud as she had never heard in her entire life and Maryam blocked her ears from the sound. Then came the sound of fire, rustling and burning and when she took the risk of looking back behind her, she saw that it was the car behind them that was burning, all the remaining calmness she had in her got vanished into thin air.
Was she going to die in the fire too? Because whoever it was that shot that car to ashes would aim at this one and she would be dead along with these men. Her heart was pounding so hard against her ribcage. And then it came, amidst the bullet exchange between them, she heard the sound of their tyre being shot and the driver seemed to have lost his control of their car. She tried so hard to stifle her tears but they came rushing to her cheeks and she had to palm her mouth to stop her cries from being loud.
The other tyre was shot too, which forced the driver to stop wobbling around the road and he abruptly parked and Maryam was lifted by one of them men before they walked out of the car. She stared back at the other car that was burning by the road side and the one that seemed to have shot it driving furiously at them. She she could see Na'im on top of the car, shooting bullets at the other men that aimed at him, even though she was aware of how he had acted oblivious to the fact that she was being held by one strong man and had a gun pointed at her forehead.
When they were close, the car stopped and Na'im hopped down with a pistol in his hand. "Let go of her!" He thundered, but it seemed like his threat hadn't been taken into consideration by the man he wanted to listen to him and let her go.
Yet, she felt the way the man was backing away from them, assured that if Maryam was in his hold Na'im would never be able to shot him. One of the men he was still not able to shot moved towards him and it only took a single bullet that ripped right into his heart and he slumped, presumably, dead. She screamed at the pitch of her voice before the man placed his hand on her mouth and stopped her from screaming further.
He was still walking backwards in an attempt to run away from Na'im. Na'im kept on following him and when by his side, he saw another man aimed at him with a gun, he shot him but he was so quick that he dodged the bullet and when he straightened, not giving the guy a chance to shot again, his bullet pierced into his skull and Maryam watched as blood spurted all over the road. She clenched her eyes shut, it was too bloody for her to keep up and there was only one man left; the one holding her hostage. She didn't even know what she was feeling anymore, just that her whole body was shaking and she could taste her heart on her tongue.
The other man came behind him, trying to shot him dead when Jafar pushed Na'im to the floor and the bullet got right into his right arm, he groaned in pain and when Na'im was up, Maryam saw two bullets in a rush, getting right into the man's chest and he slumped, yet again, dead.
She was crying so hard, he shouldn't be killing these much men. She hated seeing blood, hearing the gunshot just because he wanted to save her. The man holding her was now practically running backwards before Na'im was able to regain back his composure. He waited until he was sure he would be able to save himself before he threw her on the floor as roughly as he could as he broke into a run.
Na'im ran towards her and pulled her to his body. She was still shaking and her lips trembled as she tried to speak, but no words came out. She lifted her face to stare at him and gently, Na'im pulled her face back to his chest and she heard the way his gun kept on shooting, at the man, until there was no bullet yet, even though she heard the body of that man slumping on the ground, but he didn't stop. He kept on shooting until all the bullets in the gun had finished before he sighed and hugged her body tightly against his.
He lifted her up slightly but she was so shocked, so terrified to make a move or to even try and stop her body from shaking the way it did. "Are you okay, Hoor?" He managed to ask and Maryam stared at him for a few minutes before she knew the kind of answer that was expectant on her and she nodded her head to him. "Thank god." He said and pulled her back into his body.
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She knew she was safe now, but she was still trembling with fear. She had never seen deaths as much as she did today and those bodies were killed by the man she loved, because he wanted to protect her. She thought that all the bad guys killed, just like the ones that had raided Magumeri. The ones that made their village a pool of blood. But today, she saw something different. Na'im didn't even flick his eyes when he shot a bullet into someone else's heart, knowing so well it would leave him dead.
He didn't seem to care, his motive was to even kill them. She thought that he would find a way of rescuing her without killing them, there must've been a way. He can shot their legs, just do something. Whenever she closed her eyes, all she could see was the blood that spurted out of their bodies and the way their lifeless bodies slumped on the ground. Her ears kept resonating with the echo of the gunshots and she wanted to silence everything, to block everything, to just sleep as much as she could.
The doctor had just finished examining her and left and she prayed silently that the baby was still there. Because even though she had acted as though she was unconscious, she had heard when the doctor had told Na'im that it was possible to loose the baby due to the shock of everything that had happened to her. If only she knew how much she wanted the baby, she wouldn't have said this.
She slowly opened her eyes when she heard the sound of the door being opened and when she saw that it was him, she flinched. The moment the image of him killing those men crossed her mind. Somewhere deep within her, Maryam knew he would never hurt her, but she couldn't stop herself from being afraid of him.
Na'im just stood by the door as he stared at her and felt the way pain was trying to agonize his entire being. He had even forgotten what it looked like for her to be this afraid of him and before, it had never hurt him, it angered him. But today, seeing the way she had flinched at the sight of him made something struck his heart and he wished he would wash that feeling away, but it was there, because Maryam was still not looking at him and her body jerked at every movement he made of approaching her.
"Mairam," he whispered when he pulled the chair and sat down but she didn't look his way. She was facing the other side of the room and he was sure if he left the room now, she would even be relieved. When did they come back to this stage with her? Just when?
"Are you afraid of me now?" His voice was clogged with so much pain that he didn't know how he was going to gulp it down. He felt like crying, but he knew he shouldn't cry in a situation like this. He should act strong and fight for the one he loved. "Should I have left you to the hands of those men? They would have killed you, the baby and me altogether if I hadn't killed them, Mairam." There was no point in acting like he didn't know why she was scared of him, he knew.
When she turned to look at him, there were tears in her eyes. "You can shot them, but not that kind of death. No one deserves to die that way." He tried to touch her but she flinched even further, "Leave, I'm terrified of you."