"Everyone sound off," Deekee commanded. They were missing Bandee, two children and Selah was obviously hurt, possibly dying.
"Dad, I found the fire sticks, I'll get one lit here in a second," came Lundah's voice through the darkness. "At least we're in the storage room," he said striking a match on a beam beside him. As the room illuminated, the wailing began again. Deekee pulled himself together and crawled to where Bandee's half-buried body lay. He picked up her head and laid it in his lap, bent over, kissed her bloodstained face and began sobbing, "Why? Who could have done this?"
"All I saw was bright lights coming out of the sky." Talkee sobbed.
"From the sky?" Deekee queried, then he thought just for a split second and said seething, "It must have been the Elite! They're the only ones who can fly through the air with their blasted machines; it must be retaliation. They're still trying to destroy us! Those four will pay! They will pay for this royally!" Deekee looked around and found Selah. She was lying near the door with a large beam of wood and a lot of debris on top of her. He could only see her right shoulder, side and leg. "Come on, we have to get her out!" he exclaimed with a frightened tone. It seemed like an eternity before they were able to remove the dirt and debris from the beam that kept Selah trapped. "I'm going to need to shore up this stuff above her to keep it from coming down," Deekee said and then commanded, "Lundah, get that board." Deekee wedged the board at an angle, then kicked the bottom of it in to push up the things above them. Dirt and debris fell. The children whimpered at the thought of it all coming down on them again. Landah had already brought another board right behind his brother and the procession continued until there was enough support of what was left of the ceiling. "You older boys get a lever under, I'm the strongest; I'll pull Selah free," Deekee ordered. When the lever was in place, Deekee said, "O.K. now, on three, ready, one… two… three-e-e." He managed to put something under the beam to hold it up. "O.K. this time I'm going to pull her out," Deekee yelled. The boys repositioned the lever to get a higher lift and once more Deekee counted, "one… two…three-e." As the boys lifted, he pulled and Selah screamed. Well at least she was still alive. He slid her away safely and called, "Talkee, bring the fire stick over."