It was my first encounter with guerrillas.

Two of my friends were in desperate need of a vacation so they had dragged me into a weekend holiday I never asked for. My boss was already mad at me and just in case something went wrong: I mean to say that if I don't make it back to work on Monday my job would be gone. Two of my closest friends, Jay and Monika bargained me the sake of our friendship so I had to give it a nod.

"Where are we going anyway?" I asked as I opened the inaugural can of beer for the weekend.

"That's a surprise. You'll know when we reach there." Monika was in no mood to say anything more about this "surprise" place. She took few photographs and showed them to Jay who was in the driver's seat. Jay just kept saying "That's nice." but hardly ever looked at any one of the pictures. Monika was a noisy pretty brat. She and Jay had been seeing each other since high school but I wondered what kept these people together for so long. Jay was a no-nonsense determined young man while Monika probably wanted to remain sixteen till she died. I just watched these two people from the back seat. Jay talked to us once in a while - but that rarely happened, as Monika never shut up.

We arrived at Daman at 4:30 in the evening. It was already chilly at the top of the hill and the sun was setting fast. "Yep, that's it. Daman for the weekend - tell me if you liked the surprise." Monika asked me with a beaming smile.

"What's so surprising about this place? I've already been here like 20 times." I said as I sloppily lit a smoke.

"But I guess you're here with us for the first time." I heard Jay's voice in three hours. Yes, he was right. I had been here before with family, once with boss to cut a business deal and once with my girlfriend. I vividly remember it was snowing when I last came here with Sara and we had sex in the fields. We got leeches sucking all over us. Man, that was the wackiest thing I ever did. Sara freaked out and I was so scared. It's weird but a wicked truth. Unfortunately, that was the last time I ever went out with Sara.

"Hey Mo, wanna go and look out for some brackens?" I comically asked Monika.
"You don't find brackens here. This place is kempt, silly." Jay tried explaining me because he probably didn't get the joke. But Monika looked horrifically lost. I knew she would ask the following question and ultimately she did.

"What's a bracken?" It was her signature innocence - rather ignorance.

We dined together in the resort later in the evening but decided to spend the rest of the night besides the campfire. It was a warm night and I couldn't figure out the purpose of having a campfire but I surely knew it would be fun. In fact it was great fun. We sat around the fire as Jay sang and Monika danced. I too joined them in the song and sometimes danced. But as the night ripened, Jay had something else in his mind. It's the thing every guy wants from a girl and it was such a beautiful night.

"Are we done with the dance?" I asked, "I mean I must sleep now unless you guys have something funny in your mind." Jay smiled. There were lots of things Jay and I never spoke out loud. We just understood them. Jay's secret wish to spend the night with Monika was something I had long anticipated so I decided to leave them in private. Upon everybody's consent I left the fire and took to wander off with my copy of Creation Myths by Clare Brown.

"Clare Brown is the last thing I'd read for the weekend." Jay said as he clutched Monika by her neck and kissed her on her head.

I just walked away winking at the lovebirds.

--

About two hours later I heard a sharp cry as I was dozing off to sleep. At once I knew it was Monika's. What could have happened? I asked to myself as I hurriedly pulled myself into a t-shirt and ran outside. As I approached close to where Jay and Monika, there were a group of people standing there. Who were those guys? I hurried closer and I was astounded to what I saw next.

Jay lay in the floor bleeding with a bullet fired right in the middle of his bare chest. They had shot him with a pistol on a silencer and he was fast dead. I grew red and nervous and looked up at Monika. Five men held her captive clamped by her arms. She looked at me and cried hysterically. I couldn't speak a word and one of the men held me from the back.

"What the hell is going on here? Leave me, just leave me." I cried.

"Let me go. Who are you guys what do you want? And why have you killed him?" I screamed as tears rolled down my eyes.

Monika was almost as shocked as I was. Why were we being held captive? What had we done? What had Jay done as to be killed? I was absolutely shaken, surprised and horrified not knowing what was happening to us. I tried to set myself free but the guy from behind was clutching me hard with his rifle around my chest. As I was struggling for freedom, the leader of those men arrived.

"Hello. Sorry to disturb you at this late hour and oh, I'm so sorry I had to kill your friend because he and this girl just broke law." he said in a very comical yet deep tone and gesture.

"Who the fuck are you?" I screamed.

"Ugh. Language! Someone please tell him I hate dirty words. Anyway I'll give you a chance. My name is Raveen and I'm supposed to check if everything around here goes fine. You see, people just tend to forget rules often." So this guy was Raven and he was what he called the commander of the "People's Liberation Front."

"You're mocking the law. What you did just now is more unlawful than what Jay did." I confronted but received a tight slap for response. My cheek was red hot.

"Shhh. Have some respect yaar. I'm telling you I'm the district commander." He banged his feet and continued in a deep tone. "This place does what I say. I govern the place so people like your friends don't petrify the society. I mean just tell me how civilised it is as to fuck under the open sky. That's so animalistic. Man, I had to shoot him. I had no options."

"You have no right to..." I tried to explain but he put a pistol on my forehead.

"Shut. You say a word and I'll shoot." He started to threaten me now. Monika has somehow managed to sob but she burst into scream again.

"Hey. Lady. Shhh. Just be silent for a while. I can't work when it's noisy." I laughed to myself as he continued to terrorise Monika. "Alright. We're going. Bring in the ropes dear. Tie the two of them and before I forget, pack this body and bury it. Remember the last time you guys forgot to bury one and how it smelled. I hate rotting bodies. Ugh, they're so smelly!" He told Monika in a witty tone.

--

"Sam. Sam, where are we? Sam! Do you hear me?" Monica whispered.

Thank goodness. It had been a long wait till I finally heard Monika's voice. We were both blindfolded and taken to a place we had no idea of. I thought they had taken Monika somewhere else but finally she spoke.

"Yes, Mo! Had you been here all this time?" I whispered back.

"Ya. They hit me on my head with something and I fainted. I don't remember anything." She said in a gruesome voice.

"Are you alright now?" I was worried.

"Yeah. I'm fine. What about you? Where are we?"

"I don't know. I can't see anything. But I think we're screwed. What do we do now?"

We heard someone heading towards us and quickly shut up. The person came near us and was pretty firm on what he said, "Good you're both back. You've been taken captive and I am supposed to see if you guys run away." He sounded as if he was trying to flirt with Monica. In fact what he said next assured me he was. "And yes, just in case you want to complete the orgasm you were having your man died, ask me for help." He chuckled.

"Back off, moron." I screamed trying to unfasten my hands.

"Wow. Wow. Wow." he said, "It's okay boss. The lady is yours. I don't fuck hostages."

Monika stressed but didn't say a word. The man patted me on my cheek that I didn't like at all and he left. The crisp sound of his boots was gone.

We couldn't think of a way we could escape. We were trapped. We would either be killed or released. There was no third option. What started as a camping night out had taken the worse nightmarish turn. Our friend was gone and our fate remained undecided. We were not fed nor given water to drink. The place smelled of urine and was cold. There was nothing we could do as we remained hopelessly tied up and blindfolded. We just waited and prayed.

--

A few hours later Monika suddenly called out: "Commander. Commander Raveen! We need to talk! Do you hear me? We need to talk."

I was startled as why would Monika all of a sudden take that step. I tried to stop her but she had something wild in her mind. "What are you doing?" I said trying to interrupt but Commander Raveen soon arrived in the cell.

"Yes dear. How nice you called. How can I help you lady?" Raveen exclaimed as he unlatched the door and entered with five of his men. They all entered and spread all over the cell.

"Who are you and why have you kidnapped us? I need to know." Monika demanded.

"Well. Lady, is that all you called me for? Tch! I was so scared. I thought python-sython entered your cell. So much already happened and you're still asking why have we brought you here? Simple. You broke the rules and you must pay for it." Raveen stiffened.

"If you think your political agenda will be fulfilled by kidnapping us then you better know the more people like us you kill the farther you go from your goal. It's so lame that you call yourself political fighters. You guys are losers, just damned jealous terrorists. That's what you are. Terrorists." Monika was into some scary shit now. It was weird but I never imagined Monika could talk about politics. In fact I thought she was too innocent for anything. But this was an absolutely new Monika standing in front of me I knew nothing about. This girl was way smarter than I thought she was.

Raveen stopped, closed his eyes and titled his head a bit. He sucked his lower lips and then moved close to Monika. However Monika didn't say a word. She just stared at Raveen that made him furious. Raveen couldn't do much. He involuntarily produced his pistol and pointed it at Monika's head.

"You can kill me if you want." Monika said in with some sort of trembling in her voice. She was sad and frustrated by now. Jay was gone and she didn't fear to die by now. I just stood there hopelessly, clutched from the back, helpless and feeble.

Suddenly something stroked on Raveen's head. He lowered his pistol and tried to walk away. He turned around a took a few steps forward when Monika suddenly blurted out:

"Hey you. You're in a war, aren't you?" Raveen turned around while Monika literally screamed, "You call yourselves the People's Army, don't you? Well, I have got some new for you. All of you are fuckers. You're all damned bloodsuckers with nothing better in life and took up weapons to deprive others of what was never yours. What do you think of your leader? A visionist? Revolutionist? Well, let me tell you he's a loser and you're his army of the loser. You'll never make it there, suckers. Politics is too serene for you. Losers!"

Raveen squeezed his eyes together and held on for a second. He didn't say a word, didn't look around - he just stayed calm. He just raised his gun and bam, bam, bam! Shot three bullets into Monika. Poor Monika fell flat on the ground and didn't even make it to cry. I lost her forever because of a bunch of terrorists who like to call themselves the People's Army.

I was dumbfounded. I hadn't said anything in while. Not even cried at Monika's death. I just stared at the vacant. I never realised everyone was actually looking at me. I had no idea what they'd do to me. It wasn't much use of living either after witnessing the bloodiest night of my life. Two of my intimate friends had lost their lives in a matter of a night and the next one in the line was me. Raveen's anger was not yet calmed. He could have easily shot me but he was waiting for me to say or do something. But I was mute, horrified and shocked. I stood there like an effigy.

Slowly the men started walking out one after another. Perhaps, this was the end. Perhaps it was over. Slowly Raveen too moved towards the door but his eyes were fixed at me. He stopped right in front of me and said in a grim voice, "We never want to kill anyone, but we're here for a purpose. We must maintain peace and security because the government has not been doing anything. It's for your good. It's to make sure that the society remains free from pathogens of the Western civilisation. We must preserve it. You know what I mean..." He sighed and walked out of the door.

I didn't at all understand the last few lines he spoke to me. They were unclear and vague but there was a depth to what he said. He had a point. His men had a point - just they used the wrong measures to prove their point. I wondered.

A moment later I looked at the door. They had left it open.