30 Sept 2020, 17:13

FLASHBACK

They had come, with military vehicles, but apparently friendly. It was terrifying; they all believed they would be stabbed in the back. He, their speaker, smiled uncomfortably. "Well, hello. What exactly have you come here for?"

They explained their aims, but already they all knew that they were going to stab them in the back at some point.

"Wait a bit," said the man, attempting to smile yet again.

They went some distance in the woods before deciding, after only fifteen minutes of deliberation, to drug them. It would be a massive operation; but their stores of opium were enough.

The Reitzmic soldiers were allowed into their base, an outbuilding of a former collective farm. They, the loyal and socialist Haaneans, stuffed the opium into the metal air vents of the building before setting it aflame.

They barred the doors, covering the windows, and waited.