Chapter 21: Little Too Much

Benton

After nearly an hour of straight fighting we eventually pushed the enemy to cut their losses and retreat, I exited the house and rounded everyone up, I did a count and there was three people missing, one was a soldier who took a round whilst in the house, he didn’t make it… I knew who the other two missing were, it was Daniel and John, I had no idea where they were and it worried me deeply, I ordered a sweep of the outside of the house and not long after I got a call on the radio from a soldier informing me that he found them. I made my way to where they were located and I saw something that I wished I didn’t, I saw Daniels Dead body, with a single round to the head and one through his upper right chest, I grabbed his tags and as a tribute left him with his sidearm, I couldn’t help but tear up “Take care.” I whispered as two soldiers came and took the body away, that left me with the puzzle of finding John, he was with him according to one of the soldiers, but he was nowhere to be found. The search continued for around an hour and he was never found, we had to leave and there was nothing I could do if he had abandoned ship or died somewhere else…

John

I awoke in a dark as hell room, with not a whole lot in sight, I appeared to be in a large shed, the kind of one where they put cargo ready to be shipped off. But honestly, I wasn’t sure, there was nowhere near enough light in this place in order to see. I sat tied to a chair with all my gunshot wounds more professionally patched up, it wouldn’t take long to find out who my capturers were as I heard a metal door creak and crack loudly as it opened and a light was turned on behind me, I began to quickly analyse the surroundings and my suspicion was correct, I was in a shipping yard, there was endless goods surround me in the area, the people who entered the building entered behind me and thus I had no idea who they were but I knew they would be part of the commanders forces, eventually 4 men stepped out from behind me, they were checking if I was awake, not long after they called out. “Hey! He’s awake!” and then coming out from behind me he stood, The Commander….

“Oh Johnathan, look at how far you have come, running an army, and slowly pulling apart my operation. I can’t deny the fact that I’m impressed.” Rage was seething through me, but I had to tuck it away and keep it from showing, I couldn’t show any weakness. “What was your point in capturing me? You should know you’re not getting fucking anything from me.” The Commander looked at me sternly, his posture, the way he spoke, it was all the same as it was when I last saw him. “You see John, I don’t need you for information, actually If I’m being candid, I don’t need anything from you really, I’m more here to apologise and give you a proposition.” I knew what he was going to apologise for, and I didn’t want to hear it, I wanted vengeance, he needed to die. As for his proposition I had no clue. “What kind of Proposition?” I asked intrigued, he stood for a moment before starting “One thing at a time.” He stated, he began to pace back and forth in front of me. “You should know I didn’t want to execute Emily, but I got shot from somewhere and I panicked, next thing I knew she was on the ground dead.” it was at that moment I lost it I couldn’t hold the rage that was bubbling over. “You Panicked? YOU PANICKED? You have got to be fucking me, because I Don’t remember Panicking to be a viable excuse for straight up murder cunt, you held a gun to her head! Threatened her life, and in that moment, you knew you were prepared to do it if I didn’t meet your demands, don’t use Jack as an excuse for your shit actions!” the commander stopped pacing for a moment, I saw a look of guilt and shame in his face, something that I had never seen before so strong in a person, I spoke up again. “I hope it haunts you!” he remained bothered “also I forgot to mention, you got Daniel killed too, have fun living with that one.” He then spoke up “I never wanted any of this, the fighting, the hurt, the pain. I was driven by vengeance once just like you, all it did was cause more of the struggle I was already going through and put it on others.” I thought for a moment, if he was telling the truth, that means someone must have done something to break him “what happened to you in order to make you desire vengeance?” I tried to ask calmly but it came off more condescending due to the many emotions running through me. He then blatantly stated “It was against your government in the big war. I was an innocent civilian, protecting my son, I was trying to flee a newly occupied area and during our escape on of your faction’s soldiers fired upon us, even though we were unarmed and not in uniform. They didn’t capture us, they didn’t let us flee, they just fired. My son died in the pursuing gunfire, he didn’t make it and I did, from that day forward I swore I was going to destroy them, burn everything they worked and stood for. And that’s why I became a spy, became a fighter, built an army of my own, because I couldn’t stand to let your government get away with what they had done, not only to me, but to hundreds of thousands of innocent souls. If they hadn’t of fired on my son none of what’s happening now would be an issue, I never would have joined the military and I never would have infiltrated your school and there wouldn’t a threat of another world war.” A pain shot through me, a pain akin to someone stabbing your heart, he lost his son during the original conflict that started everything that our generations life revolves around, and it was mostly the side I lived on fault, this man during everything that happened got put into the exact same position I was, I was burning everything he stood for to the ground, just as he planned. Maybe we were more similar than I thought, although I sympathised with what happened to him and I understood his motive, I didn’t kill anyone he loved, nor did I fire on civilians he was still the bad guy, and I wouldn’t let him get away with what he had done.

“I’m sorry for what happened to your son.” I stated sympathetically “I know that my government is stubborn, your leader told me that he had been trying to reach complete peace and they kept knocking him back, I know for a fact my system is flawed, but that’s no excuse for blowing into terrorism, which is what happened at battle school, you are the terrorist here.” The commander continued to focus on what I was saying, he was being shockingly absorbent to the shade I was throwing his way, he then made his point. “Your side has been oppressing my people for as long as I have existed, they need to be taken down at almost any cost, and here is where my proposition comes in. I need you to take out your governments leaders, rebuild the system with people who are civil and smart, people who want what is best for everyone, after that there will be no conflict.” I thought on it for a moment, teaming up with the person who took out two of some of my closest friends, could I do it? No, my hatred for this man was too high and what he had done was too bad. But I could fix the system, then once everything was over, execute the commander and all of his high ranking personal in one fell swoop. I spoke up “I’ll do it.” The commander looked shocked, “that was easy wasn’t it?” he then untied me, “Come with me.” The Commander and his forces took me to an Armory, it was absolutely chock filled with different weapons and attachments “Take whatever you need, we have contacted your forces, there collecting you in a moment.” I felt like a kid in a candy shop