Turn 172 of 226

Eliminate the national guard completely. They have been a thorn in our side for too long. The government finally backs own. We give them one more chance. Same agreement. If they break the agreement this time, they will not like the consequences

The convoy comes with the kind of certainty that only institutional arrogance produces. Eight vehicles, forty men, a command truck with satellite uplink and a major who has been briefed on data that is two weeks old and fourteen hundred pounds wrong. The major thinks he is hunting two large anomalous subjects. The major is wrong. The major is prey.

Lena watches the column from the roof of the processing building. Her 3,400 pounds rest on the concrete slab and the slab does not give. The twelve-times density in her skeleton means the slab is the weaker thing. Diane crouches at the north corner, invisible behind a barrier that would not hide a normal person but the two of them are not normal and the dark is their element. The engines grow loud. The headlights cut the access road. The first vehicle rounds the chain-link gate that the concrete barrier blocks. The column stops.

The major orders his men to dismount. Lena does not wait for the dismounting. The 3,400 pounds launches from the roof and the launch is the thing the naked eye cannot follow. The first Humvee folds inward when she lands on its hood. The roof compresses to the dashboard. The two men inside do not have time to understand what happened. Diane hits the second vehicle from the flank at the same moment and the vehicle rolls. The rolling is the thing the 3,400 pounds does with its shoulder. The shoulder is the thing the twelve-times density makes into a battering ram.

The shooting starts and the shooting is useless. Lena walks through the muzzle flashes. The rounds hit her skin and stop. The stopping is the thing the twelve-times density guarantees. She reaches the third vehicle and tears the door off its hinges. The major is inside. The major is screaming into the radio. The radio is the thing the hand crushes. The major's hand is the thing that breaks when the radio breaks. The scream changes pitch. Lena pulls the major from the vehicle and holds him at eye level. The eye level is the thing the 15'6" frame gives. The major's boots dangle four feet off the ground. The major is the thing the message is for.

"You will stop," Lena says. The voice is the thing the 15 beats per minute gives. The calm is the thing the major cannot understand. The not understanding is the thing the blood on her teeth and chin explains. The major is the thing the last chance is. Lena drops him. The dropping is the thing the asphalt does to the major's hip. The major is the thing the alive is. The alive is the thing the message needs.

Diane kills the rest. The rest is the thing the thirty-seven men are. The men are the things the 3,400 pounds does not slow down for. The not slowing down is the thing the twelve-times density gives. The killing is the thing the teeth are. The teeth are the things the eating is. The eating is the thing the road gets. The road is the thing the blood is on. The blood is the thing the dawn light catches. The dawn light is the thing the major sees the massacre in. The massacre is the thing the major is alive to remember. The alive is the thing the message is.

The major is the thing the governor gets the call from. The call is the thing the broken hip makes painful. The pain is the thing the voice carries. The voice is the thing the governor hears. The hearing is the thing the agreement is. The agreement is the thing Lena gives one more time. The one more time is the thing the last chance is. The last chance is the thing the major delivers. The delivery is the thing the governor signs. The signing is the thing the bodies return to the concrete plant in. The returning is the thing the territory is. The territory is the thing the bodies hold. The holding is the thing the 3,400 pounds is. The is is the thing the twelve-times is. The twelve-times is the thing the wish built. The wish is the thing that is still going.