"Free of charge," he said.

"Well thank you very much," said Eli.

"Yes, thank you very much!" said Rachel, while she devoured the meal.

"Hahaha," the old man chuckled, "It' s always good to help an old friend."

"Excuse me?" said Eli.

"Don't mind me," said the old man, "An old friend of mine pa.s.sed away in that raid you were telling me about. She was the nicest lady, the kindest soul in the world I ever met. She didn't deserve it. She didn't deserve any of it..."

"What was her name?" asked Rachel.

"Hannah," the old man said.

Rachel's smile froze, and her expression turned stiff. This only lasted for a moment. Eli didn't notice a thing. The old man nodded to himself and decided he had done enough meddling for one day, when suddenly, Rachel screamed.

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"My water! They're coming!" she said.

Her water broke. The water break didn't hurt. The water break wasn't why she screamed. No, she screamed out of surprise.

The old man and Eli went to pick her up and take her to her old house. But, she didn't want to go there. She wanted to go to the little bamboo hut with hay in it.

The old man asked, "Are you sure?"

She nodded her head violently.

She went into labor in the next hour. Her screams filled the area. There was no midwife to hold her hand, so Eli held her hand. She squeezed hard. This continued for the next three hours, when suddenly she started to give up.

"Rachel! You have to keep pus.h.i.+ng!" Eli said.

"I know... I know... I'm... Just catching a breather."

"The lad's right," said the old man, "Pus.h.!.+"

So, she started pus.h.i.+ng again. Her labor pains continued for the next four hours into moment before dawn, the moment before morning. She pushed the babies out and gave one last blood-curdling cry. Eli went to catch the babies, but he was horrified.

"Rachel... I'm sorry," Eli said, "It's a still birth."

He looked to Rachel to notice that she wasn't responding. He felt her pulse and noticed she was dead.

The old man sighed. He took a pipe from his coat and started to smoke. His smoke went up, up from the little bamboo hut, to the ma.s.sive brightening clouds, all the way to the heavens it seemed. Rachel and her babies were dead.