One by one, the farming families, including her neighbors, the Sangs, gave up and moved away. They had learned to adapt to the ebb and flow of war, but they were unprepared for the sudden rise of savage bandits roaming the Twilight Territory like packs of wild dogs, robbing and raping with impunity. Day after day, French patrols marched by toward the mountains, passing Coi’s shelter without even noticing it. At night, Viet Minh fighters moved silently through her orchard in the direction of the garrison.
