“I was born here,” Jabal said, obviously in response to Hafsat’s earlier request. “My great, grandfather met my great grandmother in the neighboring state and came back here to settle. That was many centuries ago.”
“Centuries!” Hafsat exclaimed. “How old are you?”
“My father was a local farmer. My mother had a shop at the market square, but helped with the farm work whenever her business permitted. I was going to secondary school then.”
“Then what happened?” asked Hafsat.
Jabal looked away.
“Then, Boko Haram came and we lost everything. I lost everyone. I had nowhere to go to. I was captured and brought to Sambisa Forest, and forced to join other boys in training.”
“What kind of training did they give you?”
“Oh, many things. How to handle a gun. How to handle a knife. How to kill, how to do many dangerous things…”
“So what made you change your mind?”
“I didn’t change my mind. I didn’t make up my mind to join Boko Haram. They made us do all those horrible things to each other. There was not a chance of escape from the watchful eyes of El’Nasar and his dogs.”
“They have dogs too?” Hafsat looked wildly around.
“Yes, and the best trained hunter dogs.”
“Then we are in more serious danger than I thought.”
“Why? Because they got dogs?” Jabal asked indifferently.
“Yes, because they got dogs,” Hafsat repeated. “You know what? Dogs can smell a scent a mile away that you and I cannot. Which means that by now they are already on our trail, directly. And it’s only a matter of time before they got here.”
“We have to keep moving then,” Jabal suggested.
“You are right, we have to keep moving.” Hafsat climbed to her feet. “Okay, girls let’s get moving again.”
“Why so soon?” Jummai asked with her lop-sided grin, saliva dripping from the corner of her mouth.
Hafsat used the tail of Jummai’s long robe to wipe the other girl’s mouth. “We have to keep moving as fast as we can, or else Boko Haram will catch up with us. We have to hurry to safety. Jabal knows the way, so let us follow him.”
“Hafsat, are we close to home?” Jummai asked.
“With Allah on our side,” Hafsat declared, “we shall reach our promised land.”
Jabal led the way from their current hiding-place. Asabe followed closely behind, while Hafsat remained last, keeping an eye on Jummai who was in front of her and directly behind Asabe who was following Jabal.
They had not gone more than a hundred meters when they happened on a lone, thatched hut, similar to the make-shift huts back at the Boko Haram enclave.
Jabal abruptly came to a halt. Asabe, who was close behind, bumped into him. Hafsat quickly took hold of Jummai’s arm, stopping Jummai from moving forward.
“Down,” Jabal whispered as he dropped to his knees. All the girls copied.
Hafsat crawled up to Jabal.
“See anything, anyone?”
Jabal shook his head negatively, without taking his eye off the barrel of his gun as it traced the area around the small hut. Denser vegetation was an indication that they were in close proximity to an aqua source. This translated to life. Which meant a likelihood of human and animal traffic. The hut certainly meant human existence.
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Escape From Sambisa Forest
Mystery / ThrillerDARE DEVIL ESCAPE Sometime long ago, but not too long, about 200 secondary school girls were abducted en masse. They were whisked away from the school where they were about to write their final year exam by the notorious Boko Haram bandits. The abdu...
