SURVIVORS

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

   The humid weather greeted us with aggressiveness that night. Earlier on, we had landed safely in a forest and it was now evening. I wasn't sure of where we were but I had a gut feeling we were no longer in Africa. The sudden change in weather along with the aerial view was convincing.

   After we landed, we walked a little while before Danladi ordered the guards to pitch our tent in an open area. They weren't assigning work to we the captives because I feel they wanted to keep us in good shape, our health meant their drugs were safe. Which explains why they had been feeding us regularly with much better food than we normally ate.

I sat awkwardly in the tent made for the captives. The drugs in my body were uncomfortable, not that they were painful or anything. But I just didn't feel like a normal human being.

A guard approached our tent, eyed us before saying "Rest and sleep now, because we are leaving by midnight". He eyed us one last time before before walking away.

A female captive whose name I later found out to be Rahmah was the first to break the silence amongst us.
"Hey, what are your names?" She asked no one in particular.

"I'm Gaddo." One of the boys replied. He had a stout appearance and wore a brown kaftan. I couldn't decipher if that was the Kaftan's colour or if it was dirt.

I waited for another person to speak and when no one else did, I introduced myself. "My name's Shafatu".

"Amira here". A fair girl with braces replied.

The last person to speak was a guy who had scars all over his face. His name was Tanimu.

A really tall girl was the fifth among us and she never spoke throughout, let alone introduce herself. She looked at us with emptiness, drew her knees and buried her head in them.

Amira stood up and went to squat beside her "Look, I understand how you feel, we all do and feel the same way. But the least you can do is tell us your name, we're here together and we'll see through this."

The tall girl didn't budge and Amira's words fell on deaf ears. Amira sighed and went back to her position.

"Where are we and where are we even heading to?" Rahmah asked again.

Gaddo stood up and strolled around the tent before answering her question. "We are heading to South America, as for where we are, I am not sure but we should be there if not close."

"How do you know that?" It was my turn to question.

"If you paid attention while Danladi was speaking all through the journey, then you're supposed to know". He gave me a stare that read I shouldn't doubt whatever he said. "Master has a connection here who would help us get to our main destination."

"Oh great" Amira said throwing her hands in the air. "I have always wanted to go to America and the first time my dream comes true, it's disastrous."

Rahmah chuckled. "Same here, same here. I wonder if we would be caught, would we be arrested? I mean, we the captives."

"Of course" Amira rolled her eyes. "For one thing, we are blacks. Coupled with the fact that we are smuggling drugs in a foreign country, a white man's country, we're doomed if it were to be."

Tanimu who hadn't said anything didn't agree with Amira. "We wouldn't if we have proof that it is against our will and they used our bodies..."

"Well we don't, so we're back to square one". Amira interrupted.

"That's if by chance we were to be caught, which is definitely not going to happen, they're good at what they do." I reminded them to clear any uncertainties.