The twenty elected women were similarly coffled. They were led to the edges of the village, ten to each side, where the helicopters awaited. They were forced inside.
When the trucks pulled away, the enslaved women jammed inside and kneeling on the floor, another groan went up from the crowd. It surged towards the trucks, thwarted only be a blast of machine gun fire at their feet. Kurim addressed them one last time.
“Here is the man who is responsible for your misfortunes,” he said, pointing to the bound, abject man kneeling in the dirt before him. “I give him to you to punish!”
Two soldiers dragged the man to his feet and threw him into the crowd. Hands and feet started to pummel him ruthlessly. All of the crowd’s sorrow was translated to this man who brought the terror from the governm
