Another day, another patrol. Everything still looked normal on the outside. Everybody went about their daily lives, but there was a feeling of tension in the air. Nobody knew whether the enemies would strike first or our own country. Nonetheless, Jack, Yune, and Mary went about their daily lives.
They said their goodbyes to Tasha and went to their daily patrols.
Everybody seemed on edge. The windows on the houses looked like they were watching the streets more so than the three.
Eventually, as the strolled around the city, a call came in through the radio.
"Attention. Terrorist activity alert. More military police requested at the school district."
"School district!?" the three exclaimed worrying about Tasha' safety.
They rushed over to Tasha's school to protect her. They didn't care at all about anybody else. Just Tasha.
When they arrived, the stench of gun powder would crash into their faces. The other soldiers already rounded up all the other children and teachers.
"What's the situation?" Jack asked to one of the commanders there.
"Oh, good. Some backup. Although not as much as I'd like, it's not like we need much anyways," he replied.
"Sir, what's going on?" Yune asked.
"Apparently, there have been some anti-war movements going around at these schools. Apparently, some of the teachers even decided to go against our leader's wishes and teach the kids things they shouldn't have. The younger ones can be reeducated. But we still need to place an example."
"Example of what?" Mary asked before being handed a rifle. The other two were then also given rifles.
They walked over and the commander continued. Gunshots could be heard from behind the school as they moved forward, but the commander wasn't alarmed by them.
When they reached the back of the school, they've left lines of bodies on the sides of the dirt. The luckiest ones, if you could call them that, were the youngest who were placed by the sides to watch.
The teachers were the first to go. All of them were killed and left there for all to see.
Next were the teenagers. The commander felt it was necessary to kill some of them, so he decided to just choose the ones he deemed to be already corrupted by their teacher's words.
Jack, Yune, and Mary were all horrified. It was like they were back in the war, but for some reason, compared to their meek memories of a past war, this one felt real. The carnage and brutality of the executions. For the ones in command, it was just a matter of numbers, but not to the three girls. Not to them.
"Alright, you three, you go up and execute the next batch."
"Aunties!" Tasha yelled as she was being dragged along the dirt and other teens, "Please help."
"There's the next batch of people. Go shoot them. Then, we'll bring in the rest of them."
They lined them up in front for the three to see. They were horrified. Jack was about to throw up, but she swallowed it back in. The acidity of it felt like nothing compared to what she was ordered to do.
Their hands and legs shook. They fidgeted their fingers unsure of what to do. They couldn't disobey their commanding officer.
"Alright, men. Aim your weapons," the commander said.
"Please, don't do this," Tasha screamed as her head began to spit blood. The others kids only closed their eyes in fear.
"Sir, these are just kids. They didn't do anything wrong," Jack pleaded.
The commander saw his three soldiers wavering and couldn't have that in his ranks.
"Men, I'm giving you a direct order. If you disobey them, you'll be joining them. Besides, this is for the good of the country. We can't have these 'free-thinkers' ruining what we've built so hard on. We must be united. So, execute them, or I'll throw you in with them and get somebody else to do it," the commander ordered with a scowl, "Now, aim!!"
The three girls aimed their weapons. Tears flowed down the cheeks of all the girls. Tasha, Jack, Mary, and Yune. None of the three wanted to do it, but if they didn't, then they would be killed or, at the very least, thrown in a POW prison. Going against the orders of the commander was like going against the leader's own commands.
They didn't believe that none of the kids did anything wrong, especially Tasha. They were all just going to school. And the three girls knew that as long as they followed orders, then they couldn't be doing anything wrong.
Then with a swift stomp, the commander yelled, "And fire!"
And within milliseconds, the three girls closed their eyes and as they were about to pull the trigger, their marks began to glow. A shroud of darkness began to unravel around their arms. They opened their eyes.
"This isn't right," Jack said.
"Something's not right," Yune said.
"This world is false," Mary said.
They all spoke at the same time as they felt the world collapsing around them. They remembered their true selves. This wasn't the real world. An illusion.
"What are you doing, men!? I ordered you to fire!" the commander yelled.
And as if the three were tethered together, they turned their guns around and aimed at the commander. They fired. The commander was filled with holes and then fell. When he hit the ground, his body turned into a black puddle. The whole world began to break apart into black mud. Everything except for Mary, Jack, and Yune. And Tasha.