Part 1
The station was quieter than usual, something about most of the officers being out on duty, it was just him, four other guys, and the very nice lady that made sure everything was in order. Judging by the look that the other guys kept exchanging it was certain that they knew something he didn’t. it was also very early in the morning and living only a couple minutes from the base he was always one of the few people to arrive on time but there were supposed to be 15 or more officers present for the base was never to be empty.
He got up from the bench and walked to his locker shoving his things in, his eyes landed on the small picture of his wife that seemed to calm down his nerves, she was a beautiful blonde with creamy skin and piercing blue eyes, the taste of her lips still lingered on his seeing that he left their home only a couple of minutes before.
He took a deep breath and slammed his locker door shut and managed to catch an officer staring at him with a sorrowful look, they stared at each other for a good minute until the man gestured for him to follow, then he left.
I must be imagining this.
But he knew he wasIt happened so quickly, one minute they were in the trenches, fatigue taking over their bodies moving slowly but surely and the next they were running like they have been preparing for a race their whole lives. The clan was screaming for the smugglers that had already abandoned them upon suspecting that border patrol was unto them. They were running around with no specific direction in mind, the goal was just to escape being caught to be sent back to their respective countries when they sold everything to take a shot at a better life, and she did just that, she hid in plain sight.
She clutched her bag that contained all her belongings to her chest hoping that the small bush would keep her hidden but the odds were against her seeing that she hid a few feet away from the trucks where her clan members were being loaded into. She watched as a distraught José was being dragged all while clinging unto baby Elena whose mother was one of the unfortunate souls to not survive the journey.
She thought of all the sleepless nights she had tended to the infant while the father grieved, the thought of not being able to properly dispose of his wife’s body eating him alive. Frustration, guilt, and fear were eating her from within but she remained hidden, not daring to make a sound but like karma was out to get her, she felt something lazily traveling up and down on her sock-covered ankles.
Please
A lone sweat traveled the length of her back even though the desert night was freezing, she prayed that it was just some bad dream that she would abruptly awake from and they would continue on their journey, they were so close only a couple of miles more and they would separate each to live their own lives.
Please
But she knew.
She watched as the rangers settled down indicated that everyone had been caught, everyone but her. A couple of slaps on the back were exchanged, a form of saying that they had done a good job in capturing people like cattle, brutalizing them like they were worthless because their status in the United States of America was more important than the value of their lives. She did not dare to leave them out of sight because at any given moment, they could spot her.
You think you’re so clever...
The nagging voice in her head started.
I bet they already spotted you and they just want you to believe that you wouldn’t be caught
It continues.
Any minute now and one of them will jump on you.
Instead, some of them started walking back to the trucks and a couple of others lingered. An officer caught her attention and she knew that she just had to keep her eyes on him, there was something about the man that made her uneasy. She watched the man make his way to the trucks, tension rolling off his shoulders. Then her ears started ringing as the man crumbled to the ground.
A gasp left her mouth but luckily it was overridden by the chaos that followed. The immigrants were screaming not knowing if they were next, if they were being executed, their shouts becoming fainter and fainter as they were driven away. She watched as the group of men that stuck around walked around the body and into their respective modes of transportation and departed.
It was now her, the cold night and a corpse.
Being captured suddenly doesn’t seem that bad.
Maybe if I ran I could still catch up to them...
Her hearing came back and she could now listen to how fast her heartbeat was, she took a deep breath and prayed that the man was dead if he was shot by his unit maybe he was a menace to everyone, even more, that she was defenseless other than the small and very thin piece of metal sheet that she picked up along the way. Her mind scrambled to come up with an escape plan as she wasn’t too sure if the helicopters that spotted them weren’t still hovering around in case an immigrant escaped the patrol officers which in that case would be her.
Just run! Dead or not, that man is dangerous! What if they turn around to make sure he is really dead and they spot you?
Hyperventilating, she looked up the little section of the sky that she could see from her hiding spot and tried to make out a blinking light moving around but to no avail, she took a deep breath, adjusted her backpack, and bolted.
Her worn-out converses squished something on the dirt soil but she had no time to make sure what it was, she ran between bushes, squatting down, looking up just going in a straight line, she did not dare to take any turns.
What if...
With her breathing coming very difficult and her mind hazy, she began to panic. She had nowhere to go, she knew not where she was, the little food she had would not last her long and she was running out of water.
You left a man to die.
The tugging at her heart intensified, but still, she pushed through. If his own unit shot him then he must have done something he shouldn’t have.
Shouldn’t he be in jail then?
She crashed to the ground, emotionally and physically exhausted. Dehydration, starvation, and the cold got to her. She began to cry silently, not wanting to attract an animal and she just knew that right then and there, that what happened to that man was not fair. Whatever he did, he did not deserve to be shot and left to be eaten by the wild animals that roam the deserts at night. She did the only logical thing, at least to her, she ran back.
She hadn’t gotten too far, maybe three miles at most. She was being ridiculous, she was sure of it, the man could easily kill her if he wanted but she was praying that he was still alive and that she could help him.
What are you going to do? Nurse him back to health?
She pushed through her contradicting thoughts, both telling her to run faster and in the other direction. He was a patrol officer that she was certain of; no amount of corruption should equal someone being executed in the dead if the night miles away from any civilization. He could surely be dead by the time she arrives, even way before she left, she did not see where he was shot but he just hoped that the universe would for once be on her side because, in her mind, she was doing was she would have wanted someone to do for her.
His body was now in a pool of his own blood, seeming to be seeping out of his lower body. She crouched next to him and did the first thing her mind told her to do, disarm him. She reached in his holster and took out a gun. Her blood ran cold but and her hands started shaking. She swallowed hard and only did she check if he was still breathing. She saw no movement and started thinking that she was too late. But a small rising of his body told her everything she needed to know.
She placed the gun in her own bag, took out his handcuffs, taser, and baton. Not knowing what would be the outcome of her decisions, she got to clean his wounds and fought with death for his life.
