“Go! I worked something out! Keep your belly away from them at all cost, and you’ll be all right!” Chavik threw himself headlong into the first son of a bitch to break through the barrier. He had wrapped his torso with flimsy sheet metal. “I’ll hold them off here!”

I took the children to the mouth of the first tunnel I found and looked back at Chavik. He’d be all right, I thought. From the looks of him, hard-headed, and not much belly; he’d been starving for days by the time we stumbled along.

I turned and fled into the darkness with two gibbering children.