The Kare Mountains formed the natural north-south boundary of the Blakerson Human Corridor, and were also its most majestic mountain range. This range, stretching east to west for tens of thousands of kilometers, extended westward into the uninhabited wilds, those places so remote they were marked black or gray even on maps. No one knew where they ended. To the east, they ran straight to the sea.
Days of relentless rain had shrouded an area spanning thousands of kilometers around the Kare Mountains in mist. Before this natural barrier, the endless tide of people withdrawing from the north crowded against the northern foothills, hoping to cross it. Refugee camps now covered the entire northern side of the Kare Mountains. Where the refugees were most densely gathered, gray tents stretched for hundreds of kilometers. The earlier arrivals had yet to leave when fresh waves of refugees came pouring in...
Refugees died every day—some to natural disasters, others to **. Hunger, disease, cold, murder, robbery, and rape ran rampant through the camps...
Two days ago, at Karle Port in the Angawa Federation on the westernmost edge of the Kare Mountains, the port garrison had just suppressed a civilian riot. More than fifty thousand people had died in that uprising.
Unable to leave the port after being stranded there for so long, driven by hunger and fear, vast numbers of refugees began to disregard order and surge into Karle Port in a desperate scramble for places aboard ships two days ago, on August 27. No one knew when the bloodshed had begun. Once the basic order collapsed, and once the refugees who had boarded began using violence to hijack the vessels, the tragedy unfolded.
Police officers trying to maintain order were swallowed by the surging refugees. There were horrific stampedes. Refugees fighting for