Chapter - 4“Tremor in the night”
Night settled over the canyon , and inside the compound, the fires had already burned low, while most of the children were already asleep.
The canyon walls trapped the darkness, making the compound almost invisible, the desert above them did not feel far away , a deep rumble rolled across the stones .
Although at first it sounded like distant thunder but then another sound followed.
A long metallic roar.
The boy lying near the entrance of the shelter suddenly opened his eyes.
He listened to the sound.
Engines.
Not just trucks this time but something heavier.
Somewhere beyond the canyon walls, machines were moving across the desert again.
A moment later the ground trembled faintly.
Then came the distant crack of artillery.
A long pause.
Then another.
The echoes crawled through the canyon.
Most of the younger children slept through it , but a few kept listening .
One of them whispered into the darkness.
“What is that?”
The boy answered quietly.
“War.”
The word meant very little to most of them.
Another child lifted his head from the blanket.
“You mean fighting?”
“Yes.”
“With stones?”
“No.”
“With sticks?”
The boy hesitated.
He remembered the tanks.
He also remembered the aircraft which screamed across the sky as they cut through the thin clouds and changed the course of battle instantly . The trucks exploded into fire.
“No,” he said finally.
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“It’s bigger than that.”
The children stared at him in the dark , they could still hear more explosions now , but more distant this time .
Soft, dull sounds like mountains hitting each other somewhere beyond the horizon.
One of the younger boys shook his head.
“You’re lying.”
“People don’t fight like that.”
“They fight with fists.”
“And then throw rocks.”
Another child added confidently:
“My brother once broke someone’s arm with a stick.”
The others nodded.
It made sense to them as they had never seen something so massive as this war.
To their understanding - violence had limits , it was something you could see with your own eyes , it was supposed to be sudden and it should end quickly , but here they were witnessing one of the most important wars of the era .
Countries had taken sides , some are aligned to the Bear of the Soviet Union and some are with the Eagle of the United States of America.
To the children it seemed as if fights only broke out between two people - two men , two bodies , one is the winner and the other is the loser.
What the boy had described earlier was different , it was too large , too strange, almost impossible.
Men flying through the sky inside metal birds.
Machines that could destroy a truck from across the desert.
Weapons that could kill people who never saw the enemy .
It sounded like a story.
So most of them ignored it.
Soon the children returned to their blankets.
Within minutes several of them were asleep , but the boy yet again stayed awake.
Another distant explosion echoed through the canyon.
Then, faintly, carried by the wind…
A sound reached them.
So quiet it was almost impossible to hear.
It was a familiar voice .
A human one .
A long scream somewhere far away across the desert and then there was silence again.
The boy stared into the darkness.
Somewhere above the canyon walls men were dying.
Men who had never met each other.
Men who did not know each other’s names.
Machines were crushing them into the sand and the desert left their bodies to boil .
And down here in the canyon…
Thirty children were trying to sleep.
None of them truly understood the world they had been born into , but one thing was sure - that their fate was about to be determined very soon .
Across the compound, a lantern burned outside a stone building.
The man in black stood beside it , and with him were two other men guarding him.
They wore plain desert clothing and carried rifles.
Neither of them spoke.
Not to each other.
And never to the children.
Only the man in black robe spoke to the children , only he told them stories , only he placed a hand on a frightened shoulder and only he spoke words that sounded gentle to their little souls .
To the children, that was what care looked like , as they had never been loved to know what the word means …
Only one thing the man in black robe asked of the children - Compliance - Never question .
The men who guarded the compound worked quietly .
They prepared food.
Maintained the tents.
Carried supplies from the storage rooms.
But they never showed affection.
Never laughed.
Never even a hint of anger.
They behaved like robots , like tools meant to serve - and tools did not need to speak.
The man in black robe looked toward the canyon entrance.
Another distant explosion echoed through the desert as the colder wind drifted with a faint smell of smoke and burning flesh .
War was coming closer every moment .
He knew that.
The soldiers in the desert were not fighting for land alone.
War was never just about land but was always about interests.
Governments started wars to distract the masses , a crowd blindly followed a leader who cared not for them but only about how long he could rule over them .
Companies wanted investments and cheap resources , the military industrial complex wanted to sell more of their toys as well .
And foreign intelligence wanted to destabilise the region for their interests .
Men who followed gold jumped right into the conflict , they cared not about ideals , but instead only served them who gave them gold .
Sooner or later someone's eyes will land on this region and when that happens , this hidden compound would become a dangerous place to stay.
The man in black turned back toward the dark shelters where the children slept.
Most of them were still useful.
For now.
Above the canyon, another aircraft passed through the night sky looking for prey , and as soon as they spotted any light moving in the desert below , they unloaded bombs to light the region up .
The sound rolled across the desert like distant thunder.
None of the sleeping children knew how large the world really was.
Or how small their lives appeared to the men who controlled it.
But one thing was sure , they were not going to be here for long …
