Amid the ruined walls, a little girl barely over a meter tall carried a large sniper rifle almost as tall as she was, aiming at a truck speeding along ahead.
She was ragged from head to toe, her face smeared with blood and dust, but her eyes were frighteningly bright, like those of a small beast driven into a corner.
Bang...!
The gun fired.
The truck's right rear tire blew out.
The sound of the bursting tire exploded across the empty road.
The truck lurched violently to one side, its tires screeching against the ground.
Like a snake with its tail chopped off, the truck left long black skid marks across the road before barely coming to a stop.
The little girl did not move.
She lay prone among the ruins like a tiny statue, her muzzle trained steadily on the truck's cab.
Her breathing was so faint it was almost inaudible.
She was waiting...
Waiting for the person inside the cab to crawl out, so she could fire another shot.
But her wait did not bring her prey into view.
A mocking voice sounded beside her. "So we missed one here."
The little girl jolted in alarm, instinctively rolling aside while swinging her muzzle toward the voice.
Her reaction was already fast enough, faster than that of most adults.
But the man was faster.
Before she could even see how he moved, the large sniper rifle was snatched from her hands.
"Give it back!"
She had barely reached out to grab it when the man sent her flying with a kick.
Her small, thin body flew more than two meters like a kite with its string cut, slamming into a half-collapsed wall.
The back of her head struck the hard masonry, and she slid down the wall.
Lying on