So that’s why they divided us into groups, Doaa thought angrily.
Bassem, Doaa, and the girl they were helping walked over to the nearby road. Doaa could see a cluster of farms ahead of them. As she and Bassem made their way toward the farms, Doaa looked back to see that the girl had stayed behind with another group of Syrians.
As they continued forward, Doaa saw a gang of over twenty menacing-looking young men carrying sticks and knives walking toward their group. “I was in touch with your organizers,” one of them said as he approached, trying to sound friendly. “I was told to help you. We’ll take you back to the boat.” Doaa and Bassem had a bad feeling about the men, but they didn’t know what else to do. At a loss for an alternative, they followed the men down a side road.
One of the men looked at him and said harshly, “Don’t worry about them!”
“They’ll catch up. Keep moving, or the police will find and arrest you,” another said.
“Keep close to me,” Bassem told Doaa. She was the only girl among the group, and he was afraid the men would kidnap or rape her, and that he wouldn’t be able to stop them. Doaa moved in closer to Bassem, feeling as if they’d made a terrible mistake in following these men. Allowing themselves to fall behind the pack, Doaa and Bassem whispered together, coming up with a plan. They stopped walking and Bassem announced, “We want to wait for the others.”
The thugs then circled around them, confirming Doaa and Bassem’s fears. They demanded that Doaa and Bassem hand over their money and their jackets.
“We have nothing, we gave it all to the smugglers for the journey,” Bassem replied. He clutched Doaa’s hand and they took off back up to the main road as the thugs gave chase and shouted insults behind them. Doaa and Bassem reached the main road, gasping for breath and hoping that the thugs wouldn’t try anything in front of all the cars that were now roaring by. Doaa was crying from exhaustion and fear, and Bassem tried to wave down cars and comfort her at the same time. Doaa stood with him, hoping that a driver would be more sympathetic toward a couple than to a lone man. Her mouth was dry and she felt as if she would faint from a combination of thirst, fear, and despair. “Doaa, watch out!” she suddenly heard Bassem shout. The next thing she knew, he had lunged to her side and pushed her down. Doaa looked up from the ground and saw a truck had veered toward her and would have crushed her had Bassem not yanked her out of harm’s way.
Several cars buzzed by, but none stopped to help. Doaa and Bassem were worried that the gang were watching and waiting for them to turn back. Finally, Doaa spotted a police car approaching and was strangely relieved. “Let’s give ourselves up, Bassem,” she said. “It’s better than being attacked by those thugs.” Bassem agreed and together they ran out to the street. The police car screeched to a halt beside them. The officers stepped out, guns drawn. First they slammed Bassem against the car to search him as Doaa began to cry again. Then the police asked about the rest of the refugees. “We don’t know where they are. We decided to give ourselves up,” Doaa lied. They pleaded for water when they got into the backseat of the police car and the officers handed them a bottle to share.
The police drove up and down the area until daybreak looking for others from the group who were attempting to leave the country illegally. At about 6:00 a.m., the police stopped at the place on the beach where the sleeping coastguardsmen had originally spotted the refugees. In the light of dawn, Doaa noticed a small military post that had been hidden in the dark and recognized many of their fellow travelers, including about forty women and several children, sitting on the ground in front of it. The men had their hands tied behind their backs. Doaa and Bassem were taken to join the group. They sat down on the sand with their bag between them. Doaa felt sick and dizzy. She had run for hours without food, water, or rest. She recognized the pregnant woman from the truck when she said, “You look so sick, dear.” She handed Doaa a small carton of orange juice with a straw. Doaa sipped the sweet, warm liquid and instantly felt better.