The March of the Spiders
By
Timothy C.
Phillips
In the distance they heard the sound of guns.
Rifle fire echoed over the low hills
in the summer sun.
Isa Akbar, the human rights worker from Nigeria, told Dr.
Price it
was the guns of the rebels that they...
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The March of the Spiders
By
Timothy C.
Phillips
In the distance they heard the sound of guns.
Rifle fire echoed over the low hills
in the summer sun.
Isa Akbar, the human rights worker from Nigeria, told Dr.
Price it
was the guns of the rebels that they heard.
Akbar was in the army of his own country
before coming here.
“The bursts of gunfire are far too long to be fired by disciplined
soldiers,” he informed Price.
Price hoped that Akbar was wrong; that would mean the
rebels were approaching, and if the rebels took the town, they would all surely die.
They were trapped there, both by circumstance and by their vocation.
Akbar, two
women and Price were aid workers, caregivers who had decided to stay behind after the
government takeover in March.
As the months wore on, there was some stabilization; but
then the old rival factions came down out of the northern hills with an army of
dispossessed tribesmen and mercenaries from over the border.
That was early June; now it was the m
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