Two legs are ultimately slower than wheels.
While Song Heping was still sprinting rapidly across the wild, unexpected trouble had already erupted in Uelda Village.
Three pickup trucks rudely screeched to a halt in the village's central clearing, engines still roaring, as over a dozen ferocious armed men jumped out.
One of the militants raised his hand and shot a burst into the sky.
Bam!
Bam!
Bam!
"Get out here! Quick!"
"Hand over the food and money! Men stand to the left! Women to the right! Kids stay out of the way!"
Leading them was a burly man with a scarred face, swinging a sword around and roaring in a mix of broken Arabic and local dialect.
They were a newly risen armed faction from the nearby mountains, self-proclaimed "Freedom Fighters," but in truth, they were merely bandits exploiting the chaos to loot, burn, and plunder.
Before the war, Siria had ample food supplies.
At its peak, Syria was renowned as the "Granary" of the Middle East.
