The night wind blew in from the wilderness, but it was kept outside the Mushroom House.
Anna leaned in her mother's arms, listening to the mushroom cap overhead creak in the wind, and slowly closed her eyes.
Her mother gently patted her back and said, "Sleep. It'll be better when day breaks tomorrow."
Her father, meanwhile, was rejoicing with the uncles who had also fled the village that they had come across this patch of Mushroom Houses on the road to escape. At least they did not have to sleep out in the open.
No one noticed a shadow sweep across the night sky.
It was not a bird, but a bat. It flew very high, circled once, then flew off into the distance.
A scream jolted Anna awake.
She heard someone shouting, "Run!"
It was Uncle Hansen's voice, the voice of that chubby uncle who always secretly stuffed candy into her hands.
Her father grabbed a firewood knife and pulled her mother and Anna out of the Mushroom House.
In the darkness outside, countless figures swayed, and familiar screams rang out one after another.
Anna hid in her mother's arms and was carried farther and farther away, but several sets of footsteps followed behind them.
"You two go!" Anna's father shouted in a low voice, then deliberately fell behind.
Then came several muffled thuds, and the footsteps behind them chased after them again.
Her mother covered Anna's mouth, found an earthen hole, and stuffed her inside.
"Good girl, don't make a sound, understand?" Her mother's eyes were filled with tears, but she forced a smile for Anna.
After Anna nodded, her mother turned and ran in another direction.
But she did not manage to run far. An arrow pierced through her chest, and Anna watched with her own eyes