Blood Mine

Chapter Ten

Mapula stood on no-man's-land, her shoes sinking into the ash. In front of her, Maya, Nakasi and Zanele piled sandbags into a chest-high wall. Behind her, a police officer set out chairs, almost as if they were having a picnic. Mapula smiled at the thought. But then she looked at the other identical barriers that were going up all around Bonde Wakulima, and her smile faded.

"You enjoying the view?" said Zanele. "Come on. Help us out."

Mapula set herself to the bags, pulling them off the heavy-duty wheelbarrow hauled by her brothers Komotso and Pumza, heaving them onto the wedge-shaped wall. The rough sacks grated her palms, and her knees trembled under the weight, but she didn't complain. She was only glad she had missed the fight last week. She had been to the funeral of the policewomen who had died in last week's fighting and wasn't eager to risk joining them.

The last of the bags went down, and the leading officer massaged her hands. "Well done, girls," she said. "Maya, Nakasi, come with me. You two..." she pointed at Mapula and Zanele. "...are on first guard shift. We'll have the next pair out to relieve you."

The town's borders had been sealed off. No one was allowed to come into the town without permission, and now it would be Mapula's job to enforce that.

The sisters nodded, and the officer turned and led Sami and Otta back into town, feet scuffing in the soft ash. Mapula and Zanele slumped into their chairs and looked out at the jungle beyond no-man's-land, silent.

"This is scary," said Mapula. "What are we going to do if bandits attack? There are only two of us!"

"We're covered by the other posts," said Zanele. She jerked her head at the next arc of turf bags a few dozen meters to the right, where Maya and Nakasi stood watch. "They'll come help us. They're nice like that."

"Okay," said Mapula, "so that's four-- no, six people. Six! You heard what Sami said, didn't you? In the fight last week, Sami said there were fifty of them!"

"Morgan said thirty."

"But still! What chance do we have?"

"This border isn't here to stop bandits. It's here to scare them off. Before, there was nothing to stop anyone from coming in. We didn't even count the newcomers. It's no wonder the town went bad."

Mapula sat against the turf bags and stared forlornly at her knees, black with soot. Desperate for a distraction, she pulled out her projector and lit up the first page of her favorite book. Its image was dark, and the ripples on the ash distorted the letters beyond comprehension.

"Are you reading a book?" asked Zanele.

"Yes."

"Here," she handed over her own projector. "Mine has depth correction. You'll get a clearer picture with it."

"Thank you."

"And after three hours, we're switching."

Mapula started reading, and for the first few minutes, she could think of nothing but guns and danger. Then, just as she began to lose herself, she heard what sounded like a tiger's roar. The sound grew steadily stronger, and she looked up.

It was no animal. An enormous cargo helicopter, like a boat stretched between two behemoth rotors, thumped over the jungle canopy, making for Bonde Wakulima. Its downdraft blew aside a swath of ash as it cleared no-man's-land, and the throbbing of its blades changed pitch as it stopped. The two sisters watched raptly as it rotated, probing for a place to land, then finally lowered itself onto the airstrip.

Mapula opened her mouth to ask what it was, then she remembered. It was more mining equipment for Mari Maldashi. She was making a fortune, and now the mine was growing again. It would grow even faster once they found a cheaper way to transport the copper, although Mapula had no idea when that would be.