Raji, Book Three: Dire Kawa

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Excerpt from Chapter Seven

When the ninth and final aircraft touched down and cut power to its engines, I was startled by the booming explosion of an artillery piece that had been camouflaged in the brush at the far end of the runway. Almost immediately, the ninth plane was blown to smithereens.

The whole place erupted in a roar of machinegun and small arms fire coming from the surrounding brush and trees. The major screamed and ran toward a small hangar. I ran to follow him, not knowing what else to do. Some of the soldiers from the plane ran about in confusion, then made for a line of trees and brush where no gunfire came from.

I heard shouting and saw Fuse running toward me, waving frantically, but I couldn’t understand his words over the crackling gunfire. Suddenly, the hangar exploded, knocking me to the ground. I rolled to my side to see Fuse raise his arms to protect his head from flying debris, then the plane behind him blew up.

October 1932. At the beginning of the Great Depression, schools and universities all over America were cutting back, and even closing their campuses. Raji and Fuse, like so many other young people, were to be cut adrift. Having concentrated on nothing but academics for the past four years, they weren’t prepared for the brutal economic realities of a world sinking into misery and hopelessness.