The Frozen Desert (After Us #1) Page 2

  A sharp and prolonged whistle, along with an obscure darkness, has made a steady condition in my mind. I am looking for a light to escape from this darkness. But there are no voice and no light guiding me. I release myself until the sound and the light come to me.

  Things go on the way as I want. The sharp and prolonged whistle in my mind turns into tones, then, its tones change into the sound of the wind, and a soft voice accompanies it. It seems it is approaching me. Now I dare and open my eyes.

  My breath comes in short gasps from the cold air. I can’t move my fingers. I can’t feel my ears. The sky is still a little dark. It is like a suction device is inside me. I’d like to cry. I try to get up, but I can’t even move my fingers. I bend my legs toward my breast, thrust my hands in my armpits and dip my head into my collar. My head is shaking continuously and I can hear gnashing of my teeth.

  Suddenly, I hear a sound. I narrow my eyes to see more clearly. A shadow is coming toward me lamely. He drops himself on the ground. The shadow of his knife falls on my face. My body turns hot. The dry blood. I wait for my old friend, fear, comes to help me, but there is no sign of it. I just look at his knife, which is coming toward my neck. Again the waves of a silent whistle echoes through my head.

  Then, a thunder peals in my ears. I see the knife which spins quickly in the air and sprinkles the fresh blood. Some drops of the blood splash on my face. The shadow is wounded. It goes away from me lamely, while holding his hand with another one.

  I hear the fast footsteps of another shadow from the other side, which stops over my head. He puts his hand on my shoulder and begins to shake me. I do my best to say a word, but I just can wink my eyelids. He puts his weapon under his waistband and puts his knapsack on the ground. He takes a black cloth out of it and put it in front of me. I try to look at his face, but I just see the darkness. He remains still for a second, then goes to the same direction that the first and wounded shadow went. In the midway, he stops and looks at me, and again goes on his way and disappears in the darkness.

  I stare at the black cloth. It seems as though it asks me to expand it. Its smell arouses me. It attracts me like a magnet. My hand moves to it spontaneously, touches it and then opens its tie. There are some spam and bread in it, and a small flask of water beside them.

  All of my body organs are activated involuntary. I take a piece of bread and thrust it into my mouth. I take the opened can and empty it into my mouth. I gulp them without chewing. I take the flask, lie on the ground on my back and guzzle all of the water.

  Gradually, stars lose their lights by daylight, but there is no sign of the sun yet. Ground surface is rather dark. The wind is still blowing, and if I stay this way I’ll be frozen. I feel a bad bellyache. I feel I may vomit at any moment. I can feel the taste of the foods in my throat.

  Being filled, my stomach becomes warm. It is like by returning my soul into my body, the heat surrounds me with its flames. Despite, I am trembling, I still watch the stars. I think of the events that I didn’t expect them to occur. The events were changed conversely just in ten days. I remember when Wildi brought his food at the table and offered it to me; with the different spirit and manner, his desire was to enter the rescue team and to achieve a big goal. But all of his ideals were changed during ten days, so that he wanted to kill me. I remember his laughter, but those laughter were forgotten so that I stabbed him in his leg without doubt, and I didn’t think, even for a moment, that he is my friend. He also forgot me so that he put his knife on my neck. I don’t want to think about those events, even about the man who saved my life a few minutes ago. I just want to empty my mind. I want to get out of this predicament. Gradually, clouds are gathering and covering the sky.

  Mountains seem like shadows from a distance. It is like they are just a shadow as a whole, which has fallen on a vertical surface and has formed the mountains. Just the sound of the wind can be heard. The wind which is a light and chilly breeze, blowing from east to west. I don’t know how long I have remained in this way and looked at the sky. It is only when the sound of bombardment suffuses the sky, I awake from my daydreams. The boom sound of the bombs splits the sky and its light brightens the ground for a few seconds. Thunder pierces the clouds and reaches the ground.

  I feel a drop of rain on my face. Little by little, by increase in rain drops, the soft sound of rainfall can be heard. With each drop falls on my body, I shiver, as if a needle is piercing my body. I feel lightness. I stop when I become wet to the skin. My body trembles thoroughly. When I close my hands to my mouth to warm them, my face becomes irritated by touching my sleeves. Again, I can’t feel my ears. I feel debility in my legs. It is like I have worn a barbed trousers. The chill has frozen my blood. I go to the same way that Wildi went. I pierce the darkness and go forward.

  Once in a while, a thunderbolt lightens the air. I cross my arms and dip my head into my collar while my teeth are gnashing. Something in me has made my heart clear sighted. Although I am aimless, but I listen to an inner voice. Suddenly, I see a black stain under the blast of a lightning. I bend down to look at it. It’s the dried blood. Another stains are also seen in this direction. I follow the stains. All of a sudden, I see three persons in front me. Two of them have made the third one to sit on his knees and one of them has aimed his gun at him. I lie on the ground immediately to hide myself more in the darkness. The darkness also hides the faces of these three persons from me. The distance and the howl of the wind don’t let me hear their voices. I haven’t a good feeling.

  Suddenly, one of these two men pounds the third one’s face with his fist. As the latter one is collapsed, I see his face in a short second; he is Wildi. The shadow who saved me from Wildi’s hands, now, with the other one were intended to kill Wildi. Why they saved only me? Why they want to kill him? I reawake before my feelings go ahead one step beyond my wisdom. I can’t do anything in this condition. I can only save myself. I close myself to the ground as I can. One of these two men lifts Wildi and delivers him another punch on his face.

  They continue doing that until he almost faints. I feel a power in myself, which induces me to help him. Maybe they give up when they see me. But my wisdom doesn’t allow this. I also have no chance with them. They are armed with guns and they may not give me another chance to survive.

  They suddenly stop beating Wildi, and then, knife in hand, move toward Wildi without saying a word. I see in absolute disbelief, one from forward and one from backward, plunge their knives into Wildi’s body. They stab their knives into his stomach, chest, flanks and waist ceaselessly. After that, they leave him while his clothes are red. Blood is flowing from his mouth and nose, and his body is trembling.

  One of those two men give Wildi a strong kick to the back and he falls on the ground like a boneless body. They shake their knives several times to clean the blood off the knives. Then they talk to each other for a short time, lift Wildi off the ground, and after taking some steps throw him into a well.

  I look at them aghast. I can’t believe those who have saved my life, have done this. I tremble involuntary and gnash my teeth. I feel myself hollow. My chest burns and I feel pain in my stomach. I don’t know how long I have remained in this way. All of a sudden, I see them are coming to me. They are dressed in long gray rainwear and their faces are covered by black cloth. They are armed to the teeth with grenades and guns. I can’t move. It is like I am tied to the ground. I remain that way, and don’t move even my eyes; that is to say, I can’t. They come closer by each second. I close my eyes and hold my breath. Although they have saved my life, maybe they won’t give me this chance again. Maybe they haven’t saved my life. What was the difference between my life and Wildi’s that they killed him but saved me? Now I can smell the death.

  The only way to escape from death is that I go toward it. This is the only way. I can die here without any resistance or I encounter it. Maybe there is no difference between them and I die in both way, but at least I won’t lost my life like cowards. The thought of taking r
evenge on them, makes me more determined. They should pay penalty for killing Wildi. I open my eyes and clench my fists. I gather all of my power in my legs to attack them.

  I push the ground with my feet and my hands and make a lunge toward them. Suddenly I freeze in midway, and stand in front of them like a statue and stare at them. They are nomads and gazed at me like two death angels. So the nomads have back. My body is inflamed.

  My eyes just slide over the faces of those two men. They aim their guns at me. Then, one of them lower his gun and approaches me with taking four steps and stares at me. I feel my legs are losing their power bit by bit. Along with weakness, tremor appears in my legs. I didn’t think that one day I meet the nomads; the nomads who I heard about them just in fables. Now I realize the reason why Wildi was killed so awfully. With each his breath, it is like a bomb is blasting near my ear. I expect that something stabs into my body, but only his eyes are probing all over my face. Suddenly I see that his knife is coming toward my face. His knife, after passing by over my lips, is drawn from my right cheek to the left one. I feel no pain and just my cheeks become warm. He cleans his knife with my clothes and says: ‘Watch yourself!’

  While is laughing, he goes away from me, toward his comrade. Suddenly, by hearing the wavy sound of gunfire, they bend their bodies and aim at the voice side and begin to fire nonstop to the end of their cartridges. I also lie on the ground as a shelter. After changing the cartridge, they wait for a short time and then leave there for an unknown destination.

  I rub my hand on my face, it becomes red. The more I think, the less I realize his intention of making such a wound on my face. Did the nomads save my life? They don’t know anything but killing. Saving the life of a common man like me is incredible. I can’t understand none of the events which occurred at dawn. I go to the well immediately. Everywhere is covered by blood. The rain scatters the blood.

  I bend over the well. Call Wildi several times but there comes no response. I look for a way into the well. Its wall are sound and without any gap. I take some pebbles and throw them into the well. They clash with hard earth. As can be guessed, it should be very deep.

  I take a piece of cloth out of my knapsack and ignite it. A delightful heat warms up my fingers. I try to prevent the fire from extinguishing by the rain. I lie on the ground and dip my hand into the well as much as possible. Just a little light reaches to the bottom of the well. I can’t see anybody there. Only when the cloth is almost burnt, I leave it to secure Wildi from harm. It goes out midway. I call him several times, but again there is silent. I can’t do anything alone. Maybe this well is more comfort and safer for him than everywhere; that is to say, his everlasting house. I bid farewell to him and then proceed on my way to nowhere.

  It is like I am in a dark corridor which is endless. Nothing can be seen and only with the lightning the ground becomes a little bright. My eyes search in the dark hopelessly. The vapor which is coming out of my mouth obstructs my eyesight for a few seconds. Getting away from those events, my body is chilled again.

  All of a sudden, a lightning is emitted in the sky and after sometime looks like is faded behind a hill. There, again, another lightning occurs and again looks like is faded behind another hill. It is a rather unusual. It is like something prevent it to be seen. I close my eyelids a little and with the third lightning, which is accompanied with an ear-splitting sound, a spark lights my heart. I see a dim image of a house. A gleam light is shimmering in a distance of less than thirty meters.

  I hold my breath lest it become a hindrance for my eyesight. My eyes are gazing into the light which is coming forward. I can’t believe; finally I have achieved the thing I wished. I praise God ceaselessly, and a smile appears on my lips. Then I slowly move to the place I saw the light. With the fourth lightning, the house, under the passing light, reminds me of the ghost house. The light is from a rather big house which seems to have two floor, accounting the ground floor. Darkness of the air has become like a water color painting and I can see the house beyond this painting. Its walls are cracked. The house is made of bungling job of the brick, wood, and some pieces of metal and plastic. It looks like that the house is kept untouched by the cobwebs. In the lower part of the house, bricks and some pieces of wood and plastic have been collapsed by lapse of time.

  Nothing has remained of the walls of its yard. The walls of the house were bored and stovepipes were directed to outdoors. Some windows were blocked with bricks and grout. It has only four windows which are divided between ground floor and first floor.

  There are some thick iron beams on the top of the building which have elevated, and some other have arranged beside the house. The iron beams on the top of building are too rusty, so that one of them has bent and fallen on the ground, although it is still linked to its base.

  On the top of the building, the remnants of the debris of other floors can be seen. Half of the second floor has fallen completely and there is no door and window in the intact half. Its roof has fallen completely as well. Of third floor, it is remained just a wall which is the lateral and on the right side of the house. In general, only the first floor is available and useable. Yet, the iron beams on the top of the building allow to add some floors to the house in the future.

  I suspect a little, maybe I have confused it with something else. It is impossible that anyone resides here. I don’t want to think that it is not the same destination that I was looking for, and for this, I dictate it to myself this is the same house.

  The hands of the wind are playing a tuneless and longsome music with old aluminum plates which has covered different parts of the building, and, along with old plastic and wooden pieces, it is the only rhythm of the nature which reverberates in this infinite space and shows that the wind is a beginner.

  The right entrance door is in lateral side of the house. I go toward it slowly, while I drag my feet on the sands. Again, my heart beats faster but this time it differs from the last time. I stop at the door and look at the signboard which prevents me from confusing here with the ghost house.

  Immediately, I look at that part of the sky which is not yet captured with the clouds for the last time. The war is over. The blue sky and the yellow spot which spreads more and more. The war between light and darkness, which has been occurred for million years. I feel more rain drops on my face. I read the signboard over the house:

  “Dawn Shelter”

  Chapter 3

  Dawn shelter