The Oasis by Janette Osemwota Page A

observed his surroundings closely, but couldn’t tell whether Lena was still alive or not. Logically, everything he knew about these people told him to just abandon the whole idea of rescuing her and head to California. She was most likely dead anyways. The old Jasper, the man who had been trained in how to kill a man ten times over, was basing this whole operation on hope. There was something about Lena that woke him up. He yearned for her and wanted to be near her. Everything he had been taught, everything he’d taught himself when everything had gone to hell rebelled against her. She woke in him a whole new man. He wanted a new life with her, something that didn’t involve solely surviving day to day.
    Maybe that was why he had taken her with him. He saw something on that farm that he envied. In all the chaos, in this nightmare that they lived, she had created a paradise. She proved that humanity and civility could survive in this living hell.
    Growling quietly, he saw the camp ahead of him. Through his training, he knew that the nighttime was when the others were most active, sleeping long into the day. It took every ounce of his strength not to run into the camp with guns firing. He suspected they had her in there, but so far he hadn’t heard any cries that sounded like hers. Instead he had seen groups huddling around fires and men fighting other men. Nothing out of the ordinary, if this camp from hell was anything like others he had seen.
    Crouching low, he stealthily made his way deeper into the city. Somewhere he was going to find her. Dead or alive. He shook his head; he couldn’t think like that. She was alive and he was going to find her. No matter what. Passing through the streets, he grabbed a coat off the ground that smelled like death. He wrapped it around his shoulders and did his best to imitate the people around him. The one thing he had going for him was that as long as he stayed away from the bigger, more aggressive ones, he wasn’t likely to be noticed.
    Shuffling down the street, he saw some of the larger ones in front of an old office building and instantly he knew that was where she was being held. He smiled to himself; he knew she was alive. Unfortunately, though, he also knew that this wasn’t merely some random collection of miscreants; there was something greater at work here and he feared he already knew what her fate was going to be.
     
    * * * * *
     
     
    “Let me out of here!” Lena shouted, pounding her fists on the walls of her cell. She hadn’t been alone long before she’d heard screaming. The thing that caught her attention was that the screams clearly came from a woman. Her heart ached with the fear of the unknown.
    The sun began to rise, warming her cell. She had been in there all night without any interaction with her captor or anyone else. Lying down on a blanket on the floor, she tried to forget how she had gotten into this mess. Jasper’s face flashed before her eyes and she confessed to herself that she missed him.
    Hearing the door handle jiggle, she quickly sat up, unsure of what she was about to face. A person wrapped in rags was pushed into the room along with a bottle of water and two small bags of chips. Her stomach growled and she watched the other person closely as the door shut behind her. They both sat, motionless. The other person hunched over and held the rags she wore closer. She was petite and had no shoes on. Her body was filthy, like many of the others, and the clothes she wore covered her head. In fact, the woman’s feet were the only thing Lena could make out.
    Quietly, Lena stood up and grabbed one of the chip bags and water bottles and handed them to the woman. Flinching away quickly, the girl backed away from Lena.
    “It’s okay,” Lena whispered, unsure if the woman could even understand her. “I’m not going to hurt you.” The woman continued to hunch away from her. Lena set the food on the floor in front of her before she sat back on her