Kav woke from a pleasant dream and immediately sat up from the steel floor covered in blankets. Cold air howled through the ventilation ducts, but it did nothing to reassure him. Even though this was one of the rare peaceful sleeps he had had, panic still seized him. His black curls, caked with gunpowder smoke and dust, clung tightly to his forehead with cold sweat. Around him were many boys and girls about his age. They had no idea where they were, and the glaring white lights overhead, combined with the silent air, created a terrifying atmosphere.
Without exception, nearly everyone waited anxiously for their final fate. As children living in a war zone, they had long heard of the things foreign soldiers did.
A piece of chocolate could buy the first night of the prettiest girl in a village. Farmers had to grow poppies in exchange for meager food. Every child was told to stay away from foreign soldiers, because they could kill any local at any time merely because they had "reasonable suspicion"—foreign soldiers tied people to cannon barrels and shook them to death, sprayed villages with gunfire for no reason, stripped civilians naked, then beat them. When Kav and his companions had been forced at gunpoint up the aircraft ramp, he had thought this was the fate awaiting them. Yet there were only several women in black armor and red robes standing inside the aircraft, expressionlessly inspecting them like a flock of lambs.
They spoke to them in a language Kav could not understand.
After the aircraft landed, Kav was shoved and driven off the plane. Escorted by soldiers, he descended the ramp and entered an enormous space. Many aircraft were parked there, but the two women in black armor did not allow them to stop. Instead,