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Authors: Robert J. Mrazek
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moment she wondered if she might have gone deaf. Then more screaming broke out on the other side of the village followed by the staccato rhythm of a machine gun.
As if in a choreographed ballet, the men on the back of the motorcycles dismounted and began running to surround the village square, herding the people they met into the village meeting hall.
Other men armed with machine guns began storming into every building, cottage, and hut, quickly reemerging with the occupants. Small groups of sobbing women and children followed the first wave of people into the meeting hall.
One of the invaders turned from the crowd and began running toward the front door of her cottage. Racing back into the kitchen, Wei dropped through the hole inthe floor and covered the opening with the removable wooden floor panel.
Moments later, she heard the soldier storming through the cottage, slamming doors and searching each room. She heard glass smashing in the kitchen above her and then silence.
Crawling to the end of the root cellar, she looked through the small opening at the edge of the crawl space beneath the house. It gave her a view of the center of the square, the village school, health clinic, and meeting hall. She could see more villagers being beaten and shoved toward the meeting hall.
One of the invaders shouted out that the search was complete. As a cordon of them stood silently guarding the square, four of the men wearing the space suits walked slowly toward the meeting hall. Each appeared to have a short metallic hose in his hand connected to a gleaming silver canister on his back.
The first one remained at the front entrance and the others disappeared around the sides of the building. As Wei watched in horror, the man aimed his hose at the front wall of the building and it was suddenly engulfed in fire.
She could hear the people inside the hall beginning to shriek in terror. The man with the metallic hose continued to spread raging fire everywhere he pointed it. Within seconds the whole wall of the building was aflame. The agonized screams grew even louder.
As she watched, a window was smashed open from inside the hall and something dropped through the opening to the ground. Wei saw that it was a child wearing a white cotton dress. She stood still for a moment as theflames consumed the wall behind her. Then she started running away from the fire toward the line of men.
It was Me Lei, the little girl Wei had entrusted to mend the leg of the injured mallard. As she drew closer to the ranks of the invaders, she stopped and began to cry. One of them smiled and beckoned her forward. Timidly, she walked toward him. Laughing, he waved his sword and lopped off her head. He stared down at it for a moment and then kicked it like a football across the square.
The continuing screams from the meeting hall were drowned out by the rumbling of a powerful engine. The noise became a deafening roar. Through the opening in the crawl space, Lei watched four earthmovers rolling toward the square on their massive treads, leveling every house and building in their path and driving the smashed debris into a huge pile.
When one of them swerved to flatten the village health clinic, she recognized the blue crest on its yellow driverâs cab. It was the emblem of the Dong Hao Chemical Corporation.
Beyond the bulldozers nothing was left standing. It was as if the thousand-year-old village had never been. Now she could hear other machines grinding loudly from the area behind her own cottage. As she watched the men with the hoses set fire to the huge mounds of debris, she called out, âGod save me, Ancient One. Please spare me to bear witness.â
Her voice was lost in the din of the machines. Moments later, she heard a crashing roar as the walls of her cottage disintegrated above her. Lying next to theancient stone walls of the root cellar, she felt a searing pain in her back and legs and then total darkness.
âI wish they would fight
As if in a choreographed ballet, the men on the back of the motorcycles dismounted and began running to surround the village square, herding the people they met into the village meeting hall.
Other men armed with machine guns began storming into every building, cottage, and hut, quickly reemerging with the occupants. Small groups of sobbing women and children followed the first wave of people into the meeting hall.
One of the invaders turned from the crowd and began running toward the front door of her cottage. Racing back into the kitchen, Wei dropped through the hole inthe floor and covered the opening with the removable wooden floor panel.
Moments later, she heard the soldier storming through the cottage, slamming doors and searching each room. She heard glass smashing in the kitchen above her and then silence.
Crawling to the end of the root cellar, she looked through the small opening at the edge of the crawl space beneath the house. It gave her a view of the center of the square, the village school, health clinic, and meeting hall. She could see more villagers being beaten and shoved toward the meeting hall.
One of the invaders shouted out that the search was complete. As a cordon of them stood silently guarding the square, four of the men wearing the space suits walked slowly toward the meeting hall. Each appeared to have a short metallic hose in his hand connected to a gleaming silver canister on his back.
The first one remained at the front entrance and the others disappeared around the sides of the building. As Wei watched in horror, the man aimed his hose at the front wall of the building and it was suddenly engulfed in fire.
She could hear the people inside the hall beginning to shriek in terror. The man with the metallic hose continued to spread raging fire everywhere he pointed it. Within seconds the whole wall of the building was aflame. The agonized screams grew even louder.
As she watched, a window was smashed open from inside the hall and something dropped through the opening to the ground. Wei saw that it was a child wearing a white cotton dress. She stood still for a moment as theflames consumed the wall behind her. Then she started running away from the fire toward the line of men.
It was Me Lei, the little girl Wei had entrusted to mend the leg of the injured mallard. As she drew closer to the ranks of the invaders, she stopped and began to cry. One of them smiled and beckoned her forward. Timidly, she walked toward him. Laughing, he waved his sword and lopped off her head. He stared down at it for a moment and then kicked it like a football across the square.
The continuing screams from the meeting hall were drowned out by the rumbling of a powerful engine. The noise became a deafening roar. Through the opening in the crawl space, Lei watched four earthmovers rolling toward the square on their massive treads, leveling every house and building in their path and driving the smashed debris into a huge pile.
When one of them swerved to flatten the village health clinic, she recognized the blue crest on its yellow driverâs cab. It was the emblem of the Dong Hao Chemical Corporation.
Beyond the bulldozers nothing was left standing. It was as if the thousand-year-old village had never been. Now she could hear other machines grinding loudly from the area behind her own cottage. As she watched the men with the hoses set fire to the huge mounds of debris, she called out, âGod save me, Ancient One. Please spare me to bear witness.â
Her voice was lost in the din of the machines. Moments later, she heard a crashing roar as the walls of her cottage disintegrated above her. Lying next to theancient stone walls of the root cellar, she felt a searing pain in her back and legs and then total darkness.
âI wish they would fight
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