As footsteps approached, some of the women got more anxious.
"Today was a tough day beating down all those raijakars. Let's have a wild night with those whores."
A voice came from outside.
Foyez was sharp as always, holding a SMG.
After entering and noticing Foyez's crew, the same person smirked and said, "You kids from that old man's crew also came here to have some fun. This place isn't for kids like you. You need to pay if you wanna have fun."
Controlling his anger, Foyez made a smart plan and took out a 100-rupee note from his pocket.
"Would this be enough for us four?" he said.
Most of them were confused, but that prey took the money and said, "Seems like you hit yourself a jackpot. Choose any whore you like."
just as the man tried to pocket the 100 rupee note. Foyez just took cover behind a machine and started firing his SMG.
Several bullets were shot. One hit the man in the heart and another one wounded the leg of a man beside him.
Mashroqi, Fahmid, Siraj all took Klein positions and started firing. But the enemy was quick to reciprocate.
Amidst the gunfight, Mousumi was frightened. She didn't know what to do. She noticed that one of the gunmen was targeting her.
'Should I escape and run away? But then what? Even my family won't take me. Let them just kill me. I hope after death peace would come"
Just when she thought she was about to be shot, Foyez pushed her aside. But this put him in a vulnerable position.
The other party was smiling. But then Siraj gave him cover and started firing. He hit the mark, so did his enemy.
In the meantime, Mashrafi` and Fahmid ambushed the last enemy from behind, successfully ending the fight.
Blood was pouring out of Siraj. Foyez quickly brought a medkit. But it could hardly stop the bleeding.
"You don't have to bandage me boy. I'm going to die anyway," Siraj said. Foyez and others didn't say anything.
"At last, I'm going to reunite with my brother. I fought the war to take revenge on those Pak bastards, hoping this country will prosper after regaining independence. That was too much to wish, I guess.
Well, I don't know if I've fulfilled my goal, that i swore on my brother's name . But my time is over. The nation's future is in your hands now. No matter how pathetic, poor, corrupt this nation is,it is all we got . My last wish is you boys will fight on for the better days like you did in battlefield."
And he passed away.
Finding nothing else to say, they whispered in low voice but with conviction "we'll"
With a soft smile,Mr. Siraj passed away. His entire life isn't much to say.
He endured the harshest conditions in his life. His father left both him and his mother shortly after his birth. Being born a bastard in a slum didn't bring him anything other than suffering.
When he was 3, his mother also abandoned him to be hooked up with another man. From that point onward, he was all alone.
He suffered, but he worked hard all on his own collecting scraps from dustbin. Several years later, his mother came back but—sick with a severe disease. Seeing her like that, looking like a destitute, while holding on to a child, Siraj didn't feel any hatred. Instead, he pitied her. Her death came quickly due to AIDS.
Still, Siraj took care of his half-brother, Rifat. Rifat was the only relative he had. Sinaj raised him while pulling a rickshaw.
After decade long struggle, Rifat excelled in academics and became a teacher at the age of 22. He later got married. But on the eve of the 26th March, he along with his wife was murdered.
Siraj lost everything he had. To fill his emptiness, he joined the war. He fought bravely, hoping to get his revenge.
the war was won, but he was shot down by his comrade.
'life itself a cruel joke'
After his death, Foyez and the others sat beside him. Their emotions were overwhelming, but strongly suppressed.
'A man mustn't show his emotions—especially a soldier.'
In contrast to his usual self, Fahmid's mind was devastated. He sat in silence, struggling.
"I need to stay strong. I can't just cry in front of anyone, especially not in front of all these unfortunate girls," he thought.
Mashrafi tried to cheer him up. "Hey, man! Why are you crying like a little girl? We've won the battle. That's all that matters. I know today's battle cost us brother Siraj. He would be unhappy if he saw you crying like that."
Foyez and Sadat didn't say much. Their eyes were dry, but they revealed a hint of sadness. Foyez was silently steeling his resolve, while Sadat quietly longed for his family.
A girl approached them with shaky legs and bowed. "I'm deeply sorry. You guys tried to free us from slavery. But because of me, one of your own died. I'm the one who should've died."
Tears dripped down her eyes as she tried to flee. But a hand stopped her and pulled her back.
Foyez hugged her gently and began wiping her tears. "You've done nothing to apologize for. He decided to sacrifice himself on his own. And as his friend, I respect his decision.You don't have to blame yourself"
He showed brotherly affection—but it backfired.
The girl became red with embarrassment. Her body had endured the violation of man before. But this was the first time she felt intimate with one. She liked the feeling but deep down she felt inferior.
'He would never choose someone like me'
Fayez actually forgot the fact that he was within a body of a teenager and his brotherly affection could be interpreted as something else.
The other three were shocked by his bold action. But wasn't in mood to comment.
The next day, the group of three woke up by the obese nursing sun. They chose to sleep outside under the open sky.
Soon after the morning prayer (faraz-salah), they began to prepare for the funeral. They decided to not invite others as it'd take too much time.
Only four of the them completed the entire Janazah. Siraj was burned outside the factory near the other graves of unfortunate woman who were also cursed like him.
After the funeral, they were preparing for return back as they don't have any food left.
Fayes noticed Mousumi and a girl younger than her.
'I should at least take them out of here. Those girls have faced trauma far more than they could carry. they need a better environment to recover.'
"Hey you two! Come with us? We're going back to a safe house."
At first skeptical but quickly agreed,
Fayes left Mashrafi and Sadat to guard the factory. And it'd take some time to reopen it anyway.
On the way back he began to see the situation -
"Things are far worse than I thought. At first I thought the rape attempt was an unfortunate incident caused by rogue soldiers not related to higher up.
But using those rape-victims as prostitutes, this is an organized crime. I'm sure military officials and other military and civilian factions are behind them.
In the coming days, prostitution would spread like a wildfire.hundreds of thousands of virtuous women would end up as street-prostitutes due to economic collapse.
Many groups of them would be smuggled and sold as a slave in foreign nations. Some groups engage as far as arranging fake marriages to steal girls from impoverished families and sell them in brothels.
Government, military and bureaucrats all knew this but just ignored. Most of the politicians, officials were the biggest profiters of these crime organizations.
How pathetic fate one truly need to be born in this nation!"