"Hold the line, guys!" she shouted but to no response, taking cover behind a building to the left side of the battlefield, the sound of gunfire resonated as the intoxicating smell of sulphur littered the dusty air, and the still-warm bodies lay strewn across the civilian streets that had turned into a chaotic battlefield.

Mixed within the bodies of innocent civilian bystanders were those of her brothers and sisters. They had fought together, they would live and die together, they had all promised that they would make it together till the very end, but they had reneged on that promise and left her behind.

"Avery!" a loud voice called out to her from the building behind her, but she just stood there seemingly senseless with her ears ringing and nausea overcoming her as she gazed at the grotesque battlefield with hollow eyes.

"Avery, call out if you can hear me!" the voice sounded again. This time it registered with her. She took a moment to lift the cross on her pendant up to her lips. She made a vow and pointed a finger up to the sky at the great one to bear witness; a declaration was made.

"I'm here!" she finally responded.

"We are retreating. Reinforcements have arrived from the flanks. On my order, run to me!" he shouted back.

The gunfire stopped for a moment as dozens of flares were launched high into the air before descending on the streets. In an instant, a camouflaging smokescreen enveloped the streets.

"Go!" on his signal, she ran like a madwoman, unlike she had never run before, while running towards Liam she turned her head to the direction of their assailants and her dead comrades, despite having no vision of her enemies, the eyes which seemed to be able to pierce through the smokescreen glared at them with great repugnance.

The reinforcements were able to break through the encirclement, and through the use of camouflaging smoke and gunfire distractions, they made way for what was left of her squadron to break out and retreat with them.

-

In an incomplete apartment in construction, Avery sat on the hard concrete in one of the rooms where she was being treated for her injuries by one of the medics that had come with the reinforcements when a young man ran into the room.

"Sister!" he shoved the medic away and embraced her, "I'm so sorry I'm late. I had to go with seven to report."

After crouching down, he put his hands on her shoulders and looked into her eyes, and he said with a heavy expression, "Nobody else made it. They are all dead." Avery just nodded without reaction.

"Are you okay?" Liam enquired with worried eyes.

She replied, "I already know. I saw them die right before my eyes," before silently getting up. She patted her brothers' shoulder before leaving the room.

-

I was on my way home with Bryan and Arielle seated beside me in our private cabin on the tram, "Do you have something on your mind, Callum?" Arielle inquired.

"Why do you say that?"

"You look like you are deep in thought," she replied with a chuckle.

I sighed and replied with a helpless smile, "You know me too well."

"What happened? Did something go wrong with – you know, that?" Bryan interjected.

"TJ said that 108 will soon become a battlefield," I dropped the bombshell on them.

A silence descended on our cabin. Some moments later, I broke it, "So, what do you guys want to do?"

"You said you wouldn't contact him ever again."

"Huh?"

"You promised me that you would never contact TJ again after – that," she repeated.

Oh, that's what she was talking about.

"Our circumstances left me with no other choices," I lied calmly.

"What circumstances!" she snapped.

"I needed to acquire some weapons to deal with CHNS." I unzipped my jacket to reveal the protective suit I was wearing underneath, and to my left and right, two guns were strapped into the suit.

She was about to talk when I raised my finger up to her face and interrupted her, "Stop being so short-sighted Arielle, I know you have my best intentions in mind, but after what happened yesterday, there is no way we could have just kept moving on as if nothing had happened, you understand what I'm saying right?"

Bryan, who had stayed quiet until now, interjected, "Actually, I agree with Callum."

She stayed quiet for a moment before apologising weakly, "You're right. I'm sorry for doubting you, Callum."

I nodded, feeling slightly guilty for lying straight to her face before continuing, "TJ says that we should leave within a month, the insurgents are still preparing and are yet to make a move, but when they do, a full-scale war will ensue, the likes of which will engulf the entire country, only excluding the independent wards on the southwest coast."

"So I'll ask again, what do you guys want to do?"

Bryan was first to respond with a shrug, "I'll just follow you in whatever you think is best, Callum."

Let's hear it from you first, "What do you want to do?" Arielle continued.

I crossed my arms and said with a sigh, "To be honest, I'm not sure, I've been thinking about it, but no matter what we do, it's hard to imagine that there will be anywhere which won't be caught in between the crossfire."

"Regardless of who comes out on top, following the conflict, the country will be destroyed, and from the remaining ruins, even if we survive, new and probably more severe issues will arise for us.

"We still have time to prepare. We know what's coming and can decide on what to do before everything unfolds. For the time being, we should stock up on weaponry, survival supplies and do whatever we think would help us for when the war begins."

Arielle spoke up, "Can't disagree with anything you said." Then Bryan nodded too.

"I want you guys to forget about avenging me against CHNS," Arielle continued.

Bryan and I both nodded, "Okay."

"Just like that?" she asked, suspicious.

"Can't disagree with anything you said," I mimicked. We all broke out in a fit of laughter despite the tension.

"But I'm serious guys, I know what you might be thinking, but if what TJ said is true, then we can't afford to be wasting time on some school bullies. I know that you may want to get revenge for me, but they won't be able to cause problems for us soon."

The announcer's voice sounded, "Now arriving at district 12, ready to deboard."

-

It was the middle of the night in ward 7 of France. Avery sat atop the roof of the abandoned apartment that they were using as a hideout and stared out into the night sky.

Her squadron had nearly been wiped out entirely yesterday, except for her and her older brother Liam. Everyone else was dead.

She had proposed the idea to go to the central district for a day out, despite being warned against it by the higher-ups, they had gone through with it because they wanted to appease her, she had even put her brother, her last remaining family, who went along with them to protect them, in danger.

The guilt she felt as a result of the death of her friends, who she had called her brothers and sisters, was immense. The self-hate consumed her. Why had she been so naive and immature to think everything was going to be okay? To put her own selfish desires above the safety of her loved ones, she thought that it was unforgivable.

The counterintelligence units had identified them and sent armed forces after them who had openly attacked them on the streets without care for the civilian casualties.

What ensued, she could only describe as a nightmare, the armed forces encircled them and opened fire, without any real chance of standing against them, they took cover and returned fire in an effort to stall it out, but by the time reinforcements had arrived to break them out, nearly everyone was dead.

In the middle of the battlefield, she made a vow to avenge her fallen comrades, a vow that she would keep on fighting every day, that she would give her all to take down her enemies, and those of her fallen brothers and sisters, and only then would she give in and let herself reunite with them in the afterlife.

It was now under the vast expanse of the starry night which marked the silent debut of the woman who would come to be known as the madame du Peuple, someone feared by her enemies and revered by the populace.