The seven arrogant college hostages felt as if they’d been struck by lightning at Commander Hamid’s words. Their whole world had just collapsed around them.
The purpose of them coming to Syria to film a documentary was very different from Zoey. They didn’t care about the world, or the people suffering through war. To them it was a big shiny credential that could be added to their resume and give them some clout with the hypocritical western upper-class elites. They were looking forward to being showered with praise, getting party invites, and in general making connections and impressions off the documentary.
They’d never dreamed that upon coming to Syria to create this “resume qualification” they would be captured and held for the rest of their lives! At the thought of staying in this god forsaken wasteland for their lifetime, the hostages all began to weep and sob.
Seeing the wailing hostages, Hamid scoffed “Why are you crying? When coming to Syria did you never think today would happen?”
Among the hostages, the Indian kid spoke up between tears, “We just wanted to get some qualifications. We never expected it would actually be so dangerous.. Please, Commander Hamid, let us go. We are all educated and can read, but would be useless for anything else. We’ll only be a burden to you!”
If there was any chance they could get their freedom, they were going to strive for it with all their might. However, Hamid crushed their hope with his words, “Starting tomorrow you will work sixteen hour days. The men will work the privies, the women will herd cattle and sheep in the fields and hills. If any of you dares to slack off or be lazy, you will be punished with no food for three days. If any of you try to escape, your legs will be broken. You can crawl to the bathrooms if you need to!”
The village and military stronghold have generally poor conditions. While there used to be power in the village, it’d been knocked out since the start of the civil war. Now there is no power, communications, running water, or sewers. Both the villagers and soldiers use dry toilets. With over two thousand people in the area, soldiers took turns repeatedly cleaning the privy area each day, including transporting human waste outside the village.
No one liked that job, so it was an easy solution for Hamid to just assign the 5 male prisoners the job of doing it instead. As long as they were pushed hard, his own men wouldn’t have to dirty their hands anymore with such work.
After listening, the five men wanted to die. Having to handle the waste from over two thousand people daily meant their lives we’re over. Hamid had already told them they would be slaves until they died, which meant that all day, every day, they would be cleaning toilets and dumping sewage. This was to be their existence.
Many of them thought of Charlie, feeling hatred and regret deep in their hearts.
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