He went quickly to the opening, stared through it. Minutes passed. To the woman who watched him, he seemed to grow older with each passing moment.
He turned. She was still there. He faced her.
"You—you haven't asked why the militia are here?" It was a question and not a statement.
"No sir."
Her answer left him momentarily at a loss for words.
"You don't know—what happened last night?"
"No. I do not need to know. I doubt if I could understand. It would make no difference." She spoke quickly, the words blurring into each other.
There was suddenly hunger in Lee Garth's eyes, the hunger that grows in lonely men.
"Stella—"
The flat smash of an explosion coming from outside jerked him back to the opening. A deep, angry drone sliced through the morning air. Another explosion slapped the earth.