The dusty road was filled with cars, and not one of them was moving.
Dozens of young men and women were half-crouched around their vehicles, confused about what to do or which way to run.
Where’s Nir!
Yossi glanced at his phone again, just to confirm that the line was still open. It was. Another series of gunshots sounded back at the party site, causing everyone to drop lower. By the sound of it, a massacre was taking place in and around the dance floors. The cracks of the rifles had begun right after Nir had clicked off and were steadily increasing as more and more terrorists were arriving.
As an analyst, subtle variations in data or visuals stood out to Yossi. That’s what made him so good at his job. Being able to tune in to the details, unfortunately, also carried into what he now heard. Squatting down by the cars, he could distinguish three different kinds of screams coming from the festival grounds. The first was terror. It echoed out but was typically silenced by gunfire. Groaning and cries for help accompanied the second kind. These had to have been the wounded and the dying. Many of them, too, were silenced mid-cry. The third type of scream, though—those were the ones that made him pull Adira closer. They were mostly female and were haunted with anguish, pain, and misery. It was these screams that lingered on and on and on.
His earbud pinged.
“Yossi, sitrep,” Nir inquired, looking for a situational report.
“It’s al hapanim, man. A total nightmare. There are dozens of gunmen here and they’re slaughtering everyone still left at the site. Constant gunfire. And, achi, it also sounds like they’re taking their time with some. Torturing. Raping. The screams, dude…” Yossi’s voice caught.
“Stay with me, achi. What’s it look like for getting out of there?” Nir’s voice exuded confidence, and Yossi tried to strengthen himself with it.
“Ein matzav. There’s no way. The roads…” A small explosion back at the rave site caused everyone to drop to the ground. “The roads are backed up. No one is driving out. A few minutes ago, I heard the sound of dirt bikes, and I saw a lot of dust in the air on the other side of the grounds. I think the dirties are completely mobile.”
“Where are you?”
“We’re on the side of the road. Maybe ten minutes north of the site. I know there’s security back there, but I think they’re overwhelmed. I feel like I need to go back in there and try to do something.” Adira spun around and looked at him with wide eyes.
“No,” Nir yelled. “You will not go back in; do you hear me? The numbers are impossible. You have one person to save in all of this, and I’m assuming she’s right next to you. She is your only responsibility, and I expect you to protect her with your life. Do you understand?”
When you can’t save them all, save who you can.
Yossi remembered that from a late-night session in the IDF between his squad and his sergeant. If he went back in, he would certainly die, and it was likely Adira would too. But he had a chance now to save her and maybe some others.
“Avarnnu et par’o, na’avor gam et ze,” Yossi replied, pulling Adira into an embrace. “I’ll protect her the way Moses protected the people.”
A wave of partygoers began sweeping past them from farther up the road. Adira grabbed a girl to ask her what was going on.
Yossi missed the girl’s reply as Nir said, “Good. Now tell me, do you see any other dust clouds anywhere, either near or far?”
“Hang on, Nir. Adira, what’s going on? Why are these people coming back this way?”
“The road is blocked ahead. People are being killed up there. There’s no getting through to the north.”
Yossi passed the information on to Nir.
The analyst could hear his boss pound the steering wheel. But when Nir came back on, his voice was calm. “Okay. Tell Adira good work.” A car horn blared through the earbud. “Ahabal,” Nir called out. A moment later he was back on. “Sorry, achi. Listen, I need you to be my eyes and ears there. Anything remotely interesting, you report to me. Then I’ll pass it along to Efraim. But remember—and I want to make sure you fully understand this—information gathering is your secondary job. What is your number one responsibility?”
Yossi put his arm around his girl one more time. “Get Adira home safely.”
“Sababa. Now, you’ve got to get away from there. You need to run to the east. West is Gaza, and north and south…It’s looking like Hamas is smarter than we’ve given them credit for. If they have any brains at all, they’ll have blocked the road south, also. Then they’ll slowly close the noose until you’re all fish in a barrel. Your only chance is to outrun them to the east.”
“We can’t outrun dirt bikes,” Yossi replied, seeing more dust clouds approaching the Nova site.
“You’re right, you can’t. If you sense they’re catching up to you, then hide in the scrub. Staying where you’re at now, though, will certainly get you killed. North, south, and west will get you killed. East is your only option. Now get going and keep this call open.”
A click in his earbud told Yossi that Nir had switched to another line.
“We’ve got to go east,” he told Adira, pointing to his right. Then, cupping his hands around his mouth, he called out, “East! We’ve got to go east!”
Some people immediately began running into the fields in the direction of Yossi’s finger. Others yelled angrily at him, saying that his way would get them killed. “No, listen! I swear! I’m on with special forces,” he called out, pointing to his earbud. “Our only way out is east!”
A handful more listened and took off running, but there were still many who cursed him and his recommendation, vowing to stay with their cars until they could drive to freedom.
Adira tugged on Yossi’s arm, and he began running with her. The field felt like fallow farmland. The dirt was loose but not deep. You had to watch your step so that you didn’t twist your ankle in a rut. They were maybe a minute into traversing the open space when gunfire erupted, and Yossi watched as one, two, four, six people dropped to the ground.
“Run, motek, run,” he called out to Adira, shifting his position so that he was between her and Nova.
The gunfire increased. Shot after shot. Every step Yossi took felt like it would be his last. Then Adira cried out and plunged to the ground, her momentum rolling her over and over.