RΓ©bellion FΓ©minine || πš‹πš’ π™Όπšžπš’πš£ π™Ύπš™πšŽπš’πšŽπš–πš’ π™°πš“πšŠπš’πš’

FS Review
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THE EXECUTIONER HOISTED THE AXE.

        Abeebat should look away. But no! She had to witness this moment. She had to observe with jitters, how the steel gashed through her sister's neck, severing head from a battered stump. She needed to remember it all.

        Warm blood splattered, scorching her horror-painted face. Her eyes slammed shut on the impact. For a second, she didn't know what to do with the splash that got through her gaped mouth.  

        With a sob, she looked to her side. Several dozen girls stood wrapped in one another's arms, each uncertain of the future. Ruqayat's teary eyes met hers. Were they having the same thoughts? If so, they would need to act tonight. The next victim could be anyone.

                                  ~~~

       The moon cast its shadows over the hills like a rare radiation of hope. Perhaps one could still find water in the desert. Even as they met here deep in the night, The girls knew this was just them braving up, them making a leap of faith. They didn't draw any farther than a few metres away from the dungeon the Al-Shimn terrorist group had provided for their rest.

       Abeebat eased to her feet, surrounded by dark-painted faces all crouched about her. She highlighted the details of her escape while they nodded. "Silent as a thief, slippery as the eel," she called in a whisper, and watched hope once more glimmer through the moonlight and across the faces of these ones. 

      She had learnt in her four months here how much harm being gutsy could bring. You fail to ram your lips shut, you invite more plagues. Back in the first month of their abduction, she had got raped many times, so that it seemed never to end. It took her a while to figure out her screams were triggers to her rapists. They made her favourite for sex. Victoria refused to join the sleeper cell and was beheaded. Kifaya, her sister, fumed and cursed the militants. Her feistiness scrapped off her head.  

       Right now, there'd be no direct protest. Rather they would take the enemy by surprise. Silent as a thief. Slippery as the eel.

       A terrorist guard patrolled deep into the night. Abeebat watched him through her squinted lids. She anticipated it. She kept mute as the knucklehead snatched one of the girls from the group, dragging her off to a far corner. Tapped her foot against the stones, as the scared girls scampered about. Silent as a thief.

       Tope was screaming in a corner as though beset by hell, the guard pounding against her groin. Ruqayat, on hearing Abeebat's hiss, passed a plank to her. Abeebat puffed a sigh and stole towards the busy guard. A heavy strike against his skull was all she needed. Blood splattered her gown, reminding her of Kifaya's beheading. How much she wanted to kill this monster over and again. But there was no time. She spat on the floor glowing with blood. Signalled to Ruqayat and they both stripped off the guard's weapons.

       She tiptoed to the entrance. A guard was there. She lunged at him, slashed at his neck, and spat on him. This one was probably expecting his own turn of pleasure. "Burn in hell!"

      "Are you sure these two guns and daggers will be enough to overpower the three guards at the ammunition chamber?" whispered Ruqayat, creeping away alongside Abeebat and two hundred seventy nine other girls, who already pulled back from their cowardly flight earlier. They journeyed to the arms chamber in the most silent of manners.

       "Shshh," Abeebat whispered in response. "We have to believe so. We're 281 undergraduate girls against three lowlifes."

      The chamber had no guards, or they were unwilling to guard here tonight. "They must have gone to sleep somewhere. They're not expecting the government to launch any attack against them, are they?" a girl said, grinning.

      Abeebat snapped her finger. Ruqayat and fifteen other girls whisked into the chamber alongside her. Still being silent as the thief. They hoped to acquire as many weapons as possible to escape this place, proceed to the commander's lounge, and attack the villains in their sleep. A couple of bombs should be enough to ground the fortress which housed seventy percent of the terrorists according to Abeebat's conclusion. Well, only a distinguished student of criminology in UniChoke could come up with such a brilliant plan.

       But. But... 

       At the main entrance stood several men, armed to the teeth. The girls threw gasps, and a few winced in shock. Abeebat couldn't fathom it. "How … What ..." She struggled for words. The lights came on. The armed men were giggling so hard, the commander throwing her a grim wink.

       "I'm sorry. I wasn't going to get caught revolting with you girls. The commander has promised no harm—for now, at least." 

       Who said that? Who? Abeebat eased a turn to her side. How could … "Ruqayat?" It still felt strange. She grabbed her by the shoulders. "What are you doing, Ruqa?" Tears washed her orbs. "Ruqayat!"

        Ruqayat wiggled away from her grip, running into the commander's widespread arms. "You will be rewarded for this. You'll soon be free to go home to your family," the commander said with a smirk. 

        Abeebat growled, eyes glowing embers. Last resort. No longer slippery as the eel. She hurled a dagger in their direction, crying, "No!" Before she could see the effect of her attack, she dropped to the ground, a flurry of gunshots wrapping her about.


MEET THE AUTHOR


MUIZ OPEYEMI AJAYI, a young poet and writer, is a fresh Law undergraduate of the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. He writes conventional & unconventional poetry and tales on diverse subjects including identity, personality conflict, but's & maybe's, as well as experiences from living in the Western part of Nigeria. 

Follow him on Instagram @real_bardboi and reach him on Facebook @Muiz Opeyemi Ajayi


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