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(Page 4 of 8) Saelieni Chapter 2 by Gregory Harvey The men had yanked her arms strongly, hauling her out in one single motion.
"I can't hold it!"
As the sword began to shake and grind, the entire house began to vibrate. The man lost control of it, letting go as it plunged through the bed and into the floorboards. Melanie let her eyes open, and saw that there were four men standing in the room, each dressed in standard army fair, assault rifles flung over their shoulder.
"What the hell is going on?" One to her left (younger than the others) said.
"I'm Lieutenant William Garson. These are my men. What is your name?" He said systematically.
"M... Melanie. Melanie Carn," she replied, reaching to her head in order to assess the wound. After being trapped under the bed for so long she enjoyed the full range of movement.
"How old are you?"
"Seventeen."
"What happened here?"
The younger one, the only one whose face she had seen previously, spoke up, "Lay off a second, would you? Let her catch her breath."
William Garson shot him a look before speaking that Melanie couldn't quite interpret, "This is Private Samuel Harrison. The other two men are Privates Cadell and Cholmers."
They passed a brief nod in her direction. They were both non-descript men, no distinguishing features worthy of mention.
"Now, what happened here?" Garson asked again.
"There... the sword... it came through the roof," she responded.
"Yes, we know this. But your mother... I'm assuming so... she's been moved from her point of death. How?"
Melanie looked down at her mother's body. The left eye was still open, tilted in her direction. It was dead. No emotion. Her mother's hand would never be there for her again...
"Melanie. I realize this is difficult, and there will be time for mourning later, but for now there is a job to do. How was the... your mother... moved?"
She withdrew her gaze, "There... there was a man."
Garson was quick, "What did he look like?"
"I only saw his shoes..."
"What did they look like?"
"One was a yellow gumshoe... the other was... an army shoe, kind of," she said, the resonation of his voice echoing in her mind.
"And he moved the corpse?" Garson continued, assuming the answer was ‘yes', "What else?"
Melanie paused for a moment, "He asked me to tell you something. He wanted me to tell you that, The guardians shall fall."
She spoke as if she were attempting imitate his voice slightly.
"How did he know we were coming? What does that mean?"
"I don't know."
"Okay," he said, and then, "Let's move. We'll patch up your that cut when we get back to the base."
"What about my..."
"There are roughly three hundred and fifty corpses just like hers. We can't move all of them."
Samuel Harrison raised his voice again, "But surely..."
"No buts. We're moving to the corner of Chadford Road and High Street to meet up with Jonesy's boys . A sweep team will come back for the bodies," Garson motioned them out of the room.
Melanie watched as each of the men stepped over her mother's body. She moved to within a foot of it, and couldn't take another step.
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