She Buried My Ancestors, I Buried Her World

Lucy struggled to her feet and jumped into the deep pit. The exposed steel rebars sliced through her thin skin. Her blood dripped steadily, leaving a patch of dark red on the ground. She clenched her jaw and tried to pick up the rocks with her mouth, but their sharp edges tore her lips.

She forcefully tried to open her mouth wider, and her jaw dislocated from the strain. Blood and saliva both dribbled down her face.

"Lucy! Stop!" I howled, my eyes filled with anguish and tears.

But Lucy kept going. She was determined to save me, her brother.

Not only did Melissa feel no pity despite Lucy's pain and suffering, but she also grew impatient. "Why are you so slow? When are you ever going to finish carrying out the rocks? Mr. Eckhart will be here any minute!"

She barked at the bodyguards, "I've changed my mind. Tie up the madman and the halfwit. Throw them down together in front of the bulldozer. Ms. Fuller has said that we must flatten this plot of land by today. Their bodies can serve as fertilizer for the rest of the land as well."

My blood froze.

Several bodyguards brutally bound Lucy and me with steel wire to the front of the massive bulldozer, beneath the raised bulldozer blade. I could feel the icy metal pressing against my back.

As the engine roared to life, we were enveloped in a cloud of black smoke. Lucy trembled violently in terror, yet she still buried her head against my chest, trying to comfort me.

"Don't be scared… Henry… Don't be scared…" she mumbled indistinctly.

Just then, she suddenly pointed toward Grandma's exposed body in the distance and said in fear, "Pills… Grandma… ate… bitter…"

My entire body felt shaken to the core.

Grandma had always been in good health. How could she have abruptly taken ill and died? Could it be that Eva and the lot of them had something to do with her death?

The thought unleashed a burst of strength in me. Recalling the escape training I'd received from the special forces, I forcibly dislocated the joint of my thumb.

The pain was unimaginable, but I didn't make a sound. I slipped my hands free of the steel wire and quickly used my uninjured hand to reset the joint.

I swiftly reached for the dagger hidden in my combat boot and cut through the rest of the wires. Just a second before the bulldozer blade slammed down, I rolled to the side with Lucy cradled in my arms.

The huge blade crashed onto the ground, grazing my scalp and kicking up a cloud of dust.

Ignoring the pain, I charged into the cab of the bulldozer, shattering the glass with a kick, and yanked the driver out of the high seat. He screamed as he fell to the ground.

Alarmed, Melissa commanded the bodyguards, "Beat him up! Even if he dies, Ms. Fuller will take care of things. She wants him dead!"

More than a dozen bodyguards, armed with steel pipes and metal batons, charged toward us.

Holding the terrified Lucy, I was once again trapped with the men surrounding me.

A steel pipe slammed heavily into my back. I dropped to one knee, but I didn't fall to the ground. At that moment, my hand brushed against the satellite phone at my waist, which immediately dialed the emergency number of my immediate superior, General Liam Dunley.

"What's going on, Henry? Your vital signs are fluctuating all over the place!"