Path of Jen: Bloodborne (19 page)

The hospital lobby was a war zone. Soldiers
fought hand to hand against each other or died from short range gun
fire. Jen saw others in bio suits arriving as she pushed through
the front doors and escaped outside. The sun was bright, but she
was anonymous in the black uniform. Everyone was focused on the
melee in the lobby and paid no attention to the lone soldier
running the other way.

A siren pierced the air as Jen reached the
first barrier. She ran out a side road near the mosque that she
often saw unguarded. As she ducked under the steel gate and rounded
a concrete barrier an explosion knocked her to the ground. Jen
blinked and shook her head. Her world was filled with an intense
ringing sound and she trembled as she tried to stand on wobbly
legs.
“Am I okay?”
she wondered.
“What happened? Am I
shot? Did I get blown up?"
She slowly regained her senses and
began to shuffle forward again. She looked over her shoulder and
saw thick black smoke rising from the hospital. The ringing
continued, but she heard other sounds too. The siren was still
screaming, and there was sporadic gun fire. Jen just kept moving.
She stayed close to buildings and ran from shadow to shadow.

The city never seemed to end. People ran out
to see the smoke and some even ran toward the commotion. No one
paid her any mind as she ran the other way. Everyone seemed to
think
“The soldier must be on a mission. He must know what he's
doing."
Jen ran for nearly an hour before she finally stopped
to rest.

She was still inside the city, but there was
a break in the urban sprawl where a wide river split the city in
two.
“This must be the Tigris River,”
thought Jen.
“It
flows north to south, so that means I’m heading east. Thank you Mr.
Simmons!"
Mr. Simmons was her sophomore Geography teacher. In
his class, which tended to focus on the Middle East, was one of the
few times Jen had felt connected to her heritage. Mr. Simmons was a
Marine Corps veteran that loved to tell stories, and he always had
photos to show the class from his many combat deployments. Jen felt
a surge of excitement to think that Mr. Simmons may have stood
somewhere near where she was standing at that moment.
“He may
have stood on this shore, looking across the same river!"

Jen looked north and south. There was a large
bridge spanning the river a few hundred yards to the north. To the
south she could see two smaller bridges with a third and larger
bridge in the distance beyond. The smaller bridges were a little
closer so she began walking southward. She kept to the brush and
vegetation near the river, hoping to avoid people as much as
possible. Along the way she found piles of rubbish piled near the
river bank or thrown over the side. There were feral dogs, digging
through or laying on top of the piles. Jen saw worn out clothing
and blankets in some of the trash. As it got darker, Jen began
looking for a place to hide for the night. She finally leaned
against the eastern side of a grass covered dirt pile that
protected her from view on the near side of the river.

Jen would have died two years ago to be
sitting in the dirt among snakes, spiders, and other unnameable
bugs, but here she was.
“I’m carrying an AK47, running through
Iraq dressed like an ISIS Jihadi. Ha! Sarah would freak out!"
She laughed at the thought. All of the sudden she stopped laughing.
“Wait…I’m dressed like an ISIS Jihadi!"

Jen sat up and looked around the immediate
area for anything to change into.
“Nothing, of course. Oh yuck.
There were clothes in the trash piles I walked past."
Jen
cringed when she thought of putting garbage soaked clothes on. She
tried to forget it for now and lay back again. She slid down
farther and tried to get comfortable.
“At least I’m on my way
to…somewhere."
She closed her eyes and prayed,
“Dear
Heavenly Father, you have been with me so far. Please stay with me
and keep me safe tonight. Tomorrow I need to get out of this city.
Please help me."

It was unbelievably cold when Jen woke up.
She decided it was best to start moving again.
“Maybe I can get
across the bridge in the dark without being noticed."
She
shivered against the cold. The chill would have worn off quickly if
she could move faster, but it was too dark to run or even walk
fast. The last thing she needed was a broken ankle from hurrying in
the dark. To keep her mind off of the cold, she made a list.
“I
need water and food. I need plain clothes. I need to get to an
embassy or find a way to contact my parents. I need a phone."
She walked on.
“Heck, I need a cheeseburger and large
fries."

Jen noticed her feet were starting to rub in
her shoes. They were a little too big and her socks were too thin
to provide much cushion. She ignored her aching feet for now, but
she knew it would be a problem soon if she didn’t take care of
them.

When she stepped up onto the road and looked
cross the bridge, it was like being in a scary movie. The bridge
was dark and the river far below was darker. She stood still and
watched for movement. She listened for any indiction that someone
was ahead of her on the bridge. It was completely quiet except for
dogs barking in the distance. Jen walked forward, with her gun at
the ready.

A noise up ahead startled her and she nearly
squeezed off a round. Her finger trembled as it rested on the
trigger and she continued forward cautiously. She heard a can
rattle on the ground as something bumped it. She raised her rifle
and pointed it toward the sound. Five more steps and she saw
something moving near the guard rail. It was digging through some
trash thrown out on the bridge. Jen was truly frightened now. Her
heart raced and she began to slowly squeeze the trigger. She
stopped suddenly and took her finger off the trigger. “Oh my
goodness!” she said out loud. She dropped the rifle to her side as
a bristle haired puppy picked its head up from the trash it was
digging through and looked at Jen. She squatted down and held out a
hand. She puckered her lips and made kissing noises to call it to
her, but the puppy growled and ran away instead. “
Okay dude.
Your loss,”
she thought as she stood back up and kept walking.
“It must have been a boy. I’ve never had much luck with
boys"
She took her rifle in her hands and continued across the
bridge.

The eastern side of the river was much like
the western side. Not far from the river, the city became dense
with buildings and streets.
“Just keep heading east and I’ll get
past the ISIS controlled territory."
She hoped that was true.
“Two years ago, ISIS had just taken Mosul, but that may have
changed by now,”
she thought. Jen knew that Iran also bordered
Iraq in the east, but it was mountainous terrain. She didn’t want
to try crossing the mountains alone. Maybe once she was out of the
city she could find a friendly family to help her find a phone or
an American.

As morning gained momentum and the sun began
to warm the stone and earth buildings, Jen noticed people looking
at her strangely. They stopped and stared as if unsure what they
were looking at. Some even stepped back inside the doors they had
just come out of and quickly pulled them shut. Jen hurried along
and hoped she would find the edge of the city soon.

A block farther on, she saw three military
aged men step out into the street ahead of her. She pushed the
safety lever off and held the rifle tightly against her.
“Please
just leave me alone,”
she thought. She kept to the edge of the
street and continued walking forward. The men closed in.

Jen stopped and weighed her options. She
quickly looked over her shoulder to make sure she wasn’t being
ambushed from behind. It was all clear, and Jen turned to face the
men in front of her.
“This is definitely not good,”
she
thought.
“What should I do?"
They were only a few steps
away. Jen’s finger found the trigger, and she was about to raise
the rifle to fire, when one of the men spoke.

“God’s peace be upon you,” he said with a
forced smile. The other two men moved to either side of Jen,
surrounding her. “What brings you to this part of the city?” he
asked. Then, in a menacing voice he said, “This is a dangerous
place for you to be walking all alone."

Jen jerked the rifle up and almost pulled the
trigger before one of the men beside her clubbed her viciously in
the head. There was a flash of intense light and then everything
went dark.
“Not again,”
she thought jut before blacking
out.

It was her sense of smell that awoke first.
Without opening her eyes, Jen knew she was lying on a stone or dirt
floor. The earthy smell filled her nostrils with every shallow
breath. There was another smell that reminded her of a car. She
opened her eyes and saw the same three men standing nearby,
speaking in hushed tones. She could see the opening of an alleyway
in the distance.
“That means I’m at the back end, hidden,”
she thought. She looked around and saw the source of the other
smell. There were jugs of oil, gas, and other fluids next to the
back of the alley. There was an old beat up motorcycle and a few
tools next to it.
“This must be some kind of garage or repair
shop."

Trying not to make any noise, Jen felt for
the pistol in her belt. Her hands were tied together at the wrists
in front of her, so she had to move both arms at once. The pistol
was gone. The knife in her pocket was gone as well. “No such luck,”
she sighed. She pushed herself up to a seated position. Her head
hurt and she gingerly touched her scalp. She felt wetness on the
fabric of her black mask above the injury. Jen looked at her hands
and saw smears of blood.

She heard footsteps and looked up to see the
three men walking toward her. The center man, who had spoken
earlier, held her knife. The two others posted on either side of
her as before. One of them held her rifle and another held her
pistol. The center man came in close holding the knife in front of
him. Jen leaned away as he brought it close to her face, and he
held it even closer.

“What are you doing out here all alone?” he
asked. “Where are your friends, eh?" He touched the tip of the
knife to Jen’s forehead and tapped it. Jen winced, but kept her
mouth shut. “Silence will not save you boy,” he said, and he
reached out and yanked the mask off of her head.

He reeled back in surprise when her long
brown hair cascaded down over her shoulders and partially over her
face. “Oh!” he laughed. “What is this?" The other two laughed as
well, and one of them grabbed her hair and pulled it roughly.

Jen cried out, which only brought more
laughter from the three men. She pushed her hair back and out of
her face, and glared at them defiantly. She looked from face to
face and looked each of them in the eye. “Don’t touch me.” she said
firmly in Farsi.

The man in the center nodded at the other two
and they grabbed her by the arms and hoisted her to her feet. He
stepped in close and slapped her hard across the face. Burning pain
radiated from her cheek, up the side of her nose, and into her ear.
Her head snapped to the side from the impact. She let her head
drop, and she opened her mouth and worked her jaw as she recovered
from the blow.

She began to laugh. It started slowly and
grew quickly into a full belly laugh. Jen let her legs give out and
placed her full body weight on the two men holding her up as she
laughed. They angrily jerked her to her feet and tried to make her
stand, but she continued to go slack. It was like a child throwing
a tantrum and they didn't know how to react. The middle man brought
the knife up in a threatening manner, but it was too late.

Jen suddenly pushed with all of her leg
strength toward the man on the left and smashed into his face with
the top of her bloody head. His nose shattered and he fell back,
unable to see through his own tears and blood. The man on the right
still had ahold of Jen, and he jerked her back toward him
viciously. She didn’t fight it and the pair tumbled to the ground
in a heap. Jen scratched at his face and wiped her bloody hands on
his exposed skin. She rolled away from him and onto her knees. She
managed to stand up just in time to see the man with a broken nose,
tackle the center man while snarling like an animal. The center man
shouted as they wrestled and then began to scream as the other man
savaged him with his nails and teeth.

In the melee, Jen saw the pistol on the
ground and quickly picked it up. The man she scratched made it to
his feet and seemed confused. He pointed the gun at her and then at
the other men, and then he just looked down and stared at it for a
moment as if he didn’t know what it was that he held in his hands.
Suddenly, he threw it to the ground in a rage and his head snapped
up to look at Jen.

“
Uh oh,”
she thought. Jen gripped the
pistol in both hands and brought it up in front of her. She pointed
it at the man just as he started charging at her. Her index finger
squeezed the trigger straight to the rear and the gun violently
exploded in her hands. She managed to keep ahold of the pistol as
it completed the cycle of operations and her body absorbed the
recoil. In slow motion, she watched her target as his head jerked
back and his body fell slack to the floor.

Jen spun to face the two men behind her and
saw them lying still in a death embrace. The man with a broken nose
lay heavily on top of the center man. The knife was standing
straight up in the back of his neck. The center man’s eyes were
open wide and his mouth opened and closed mechanically as blood
pumped from gaping wound in his neck.

She quickly walked forward and put a bullet
into each man’s head. Reeling from the blow to her head and the
violence of the last few seconds, Jen bent at the waist and dry
heaved. “Oh dear God!” she managed to whisper between bouts of
retching. The nausea passed quickly and the reality of the
situation hit home.
“I have to move!”
she thought.