endgame

It was a beautiful warm cloudless day and everyone looked anxious.
A boy played chess outside with his teacher on a broken chess set with an old lipstick tube substituted for the white king.
The boy, playing white, was getting frustrated losing to his teacher.
A horn blared over a loudspeaker. The game was over.
Everyone in the town walked single-file into the gutted town square, scrubbed their faces, brushed their hair, and smiled as broadly as they could.
Soldiers marched in, looking closely at their teeth, hair, and into their eyes.
The teacher was pulled from the line.
The soldiers gestured to all the grown men of the town and pointed at the teacher, then a box full of clubs they brought with them.
Single-file the townsmen picked clubs from the box and inspected the handles.
One townsman finally found the red-painted handle. The soldiers on either side of him gestured at the teacher.
He swung his club and hit the teacher in the back of the neck. The teacher fell to the ground and cracked his teeth.
The rest of the townsmen began swinging at him with their clubs.
All the women and children kept smiling as hard as possible. One woman coughed.
The soldiers dragged her from the line and threw her at the teacher still on the ground.
The townsmen started beating her until motioned away.
The soldiers then dragged the bodies into their cart and left the village.
A baby almost cried, but his mother slapped her hand over the mouth and tucked him under her jacket. She quickly ran away with one hand over her own mouth.
The student went back to the chess game. He hoped someone else would play with him.