I was 16 with a 3–year–old daughter and while adjusting to becoming a dad was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do, I wouldn’t have ever neglected her. These poor children are dirty, smelly, and very underweight, and it makes me feel sick!Â
As soon as I lift them out, I pass them to Ryan, who passes them on to the next warrior, and I don’t miss the looks of sadness and anger when they see the sight of the children. Most of the warriors here are parents themselves and I think it hits just that bit deeper forÂ
those of us who have children of our own.Â
There’s a line of them that reaches all the way to the SUV. They haul them in there and as soon as one is full the driver leaves and heads for the road where we hid them when we got here, and the next one arrives to get more of them. It’s like a fucking conveyor belt, but it works. Thankfully, it doesn’t take us long to get the smaller children out, and we’re soon left with the pre–teens and teens, who canÂ
get up the ladder fairly quickly.Â
“OK. That’s all the children out of here. I counted 54,” Cole shouts. Fuck, 54 children! “OK, let’s get these ladies out of there and get the hell away from this hellhole!” He nods and helps the first woman climb onto the ladder. She’s not too heavily pregnant, so she makesÂ
it up fairly quickly.Â
Soon we have 10 women out of there, but now we’re getting to the ones with bigger bumps, and it starts to become a struggle for them to climb up, but between Ryan’s pushing and my pulling we manage to keep a fairly fast pace. “OK, now it’s time for the last 5 women.” These are the women who are going to have a challenge getting out of there, but we will figure it out.Â
The first woman tries, but she can’t keep herself up on the ladder because her bump gets in the way, and we can’t get her up the same way that we did the children for the same reasons. “Are you ok with me picking you up?” Warren asks her. She looks a little nervous, but she gives him a nod.Â
He scoops her up in his arms bridle style, being careful to be gentle with her bump the whole time, then he balances her against the ladder while supporting her with one arm as he steps up on the ladder and this is how he gets her out of the hole. One step at a time, balancing her against the ladder as he takes a step up, then lifting her higher after every step until he eventually reaches me enough that I can take her from him.Â
It’s not easy and takes longer than we would like, but it’s the safest way to get her out and, quite frankly, the only realistic idea that we have, so that is exactly what we do with the rest of the women and, soon enough, we have them all above ground and on their way to the SUVS while I take a step back and take a deep breath.Â
Fuck, what a day. We came here to get Tony’s boys but instead, not only are we leaving without them, but we’re also leaving with overÂ
fucking clue what we’re going to do with them. Fuck, what a day! 70 women and children and I haven’t got aÂ
