A Thousand Splendid Suns

"I don't like it," she said. "Guns scare me."
Tariq turned the magazine over in his hand
"They found three bodies in a house in Karteh-Seh last week," he said.
"Did you hear? Sisters. All three raped Their throats slashed. Someone
had bitten the rings off their fingers. You could tell, they had teeth
marks-"
"I don't want to hear this."
"I don't mean to upset you," Tariq said "But I just…Ifeel better carrying
this."
He was her lifeline to the streets now. He heard the word of mouth and
passed it on to her. Tariq was the one who told her, for instance, that
militiamen stationed in the mountains sharpened their
marksmanship-and settled wagers over said marksmanship-by shooting
civilians down below, men, women, children, chosen at random. He told
her that they fired rockets at cars but, for some reason, left taxis
alone-which explained to Laila the recent rash of people spraying their
cars yellow.
Tariq explained to her the treacherous, shifting boundaries within
Kabul. Laila learned from him, for instance, that this road, up to the
second acacia tree on the left, belonged to one warlord; that the next
four blocks, ending with the bakery shop next to the demolished
pharmacy, was another warlord's sector; and that if she crossed that
street and walked half a mile west, she would find herself in the territory