"Untied Nations Space Command, or UNSC for short."
"Recently they've destroyed a cargo ship of ours, and hundreds of troops are starving to death. Many more are dying wounds" he explains, then shows pictures as proof.
Blood. Lots of blood.
In addition there are bodies too. The UNSC killed those poor people. Why would they do that? I wonder.
"The UNSC has assassinated a high ranking offical, and left his young daughter to bare witness to the murder. Now she's traumatized" he explains.
At least the daughter didn't have to train like us.
"That is what you've worked so hard for. To help us spill their blood through the streets, and destroy their families like they do ours" he persuades.
Not once did it cross my mind that maybe we were the bad guys. To be honest I don't think it cross anyone's mind. We believed the UNSC were the killers.
He remained silent letting the information sink into our minds.
"Now there is good news" he begins then walks a little bit around the stage.
"A few soldiers have managed to capture three of the UNSC soldiers, and the time to become part of our ranks in upon us, so we shall spill their blood. Let them pay for their crimes!" He shouts then a few people cheer soon some of us join in.
We can bring justice to the little girl!
The guards move aside as Robert starts to exit, and I scramble to eagerly follow wondering how we are to punish the killers. Kaleb is right on my tail then two more then others join in.
Outside there is more guards. A military vehicle pulls up, and the first guard opens the door. He drag a gagged man from the car.
The man is unarmed, and uninjured. He glances at us before shock fills his face.
A second man is lead around the car, and he too is shocked to see us. The two men are forced to the concrete.
"The third one escaped" a guard says to Robert.
"No matter. It will work" Robert insists. I kept staring at them. They are both wearing a vest, and it has the word UNSC printed on the back. The men are brought to their feet.
I hear a whistle then turn behind me to see Arkesha. She snaps her fingers to get the attention of everyone, and motions back to the base. They want us to run again.
I tug on Kaleb, and we steal the lead of course including the aggression. The race is on again. My shoes pound on the dirt as I run back.
I'm still tired from earlier. This time I can't keep up with Kaleb. Kaleb's fear keeps him ahead. Me? I lingered behind trying to catch my breath.
I shove someone close to me into the dirt to keep ahead. After a few more seconds I feel sick again. My energy is draining. My throat had been dry for a while because we didn't get to drink anything after waking up.
My knees give out, and I end up in the dirt. I get up to run alongside another boy. He's the same age as me I think.
"Dylan" I said to him. The boy looks angry.
"What?" He snaps, "my name is Dylan" I say.
I figure out quickly that he had been last. Pink scars line his arms. The boy doesn't reply to me, but I know he's thinking. I'm not sure if I should be worried, or not.
"Mathew" he finally answers. I'm not really sure what to say next, but maybe I can calm things down a bit.
"I'm sorry. About what happened to you" I say, but no answer. Not even a glance. If only I had seen it coming. Mathew didn't intend to be last, and I just made myself an easy target.
Suddenly Mathew leaps onto of me, and punches me in the face several times. He gets up as quick then takes off leaving me laying in the dirt. I lay stunned for a moment before someone kicked me.
The guard who pulled the first soldier out of the car grabs me by the neck, and forces me to my feet. I feel angry. I'm going to hurt Mathew. I hear a click, and the guard is on me in a flash.
I just scream as he lashes a fury of blows on me. Instincts kick in, and I start kicking my legs. He uses his baton on my arms, and legs. I curl into a ball to try, and protect myself. I can feel a stinging pain. I begin to cry as the guard stands up.
The one thing that makes me even more angry is that the other kids are watching me. Out of the corner of my eye I can see him. I get up, and brush my tears away then the dirt coating my body.
I don't speak a word to him as I pass by, but I stray a little away from the group. I pick up a rock, and hesitate.
Would I get into trouble for fighting with someone?
I think about it for a minute. I move closer to Mathew hiding the rock in my pocket.
In a swift move I leap onto him, and grab the collar of his shirt. I crumble part of it up to tighten around his neck while he kicks at me. I sit on him to stop him from moving.
His shirt stops him from breathing, and once he is weaker I get up to start kicking him. I aim anywhere I can land a hit as the other kids start cheering for a fight. I start using my fists while Mathew lay dazed like he had done to me.
That's what he gets for beating on me. I don't want to be a target just because I wanted to be nice to him.
I take a couple steps back to let him get up expecting a fight. However, to my dismay Mathew backs away brushing his clothes off. He won't dare to look at me.
If I'm honest I'm happy Mathew wouldn't fight me because he is stronger. I find out why he backed away when Arkesha comes up beside me.
"Well done" she says.
"Am I in trouble?" I ask looking up at her.
"Of course. I'll just wake you up earlier, and you'll work a lot harder. Can't tell you how humiliated you would be if you lost" she explains.
"Are we gonna kill them?" I ask her motioning to the two soldiers.
"Eventually, but we're going to break them for information using the most brutal method we can come up with" she replies. I follow her inside for our daily routine.
Today Kesha makes me eat early in the morning, so we can work all day. She actually made me run until I threw up.
It gave me headaches.
The soldiers actually were kept here on the base for few months, and that's when we got to chase them.
Oddly enough they gathered us together to introduce tracking. Much like the day they arrived we got woken up early.
Well it wasn't too much early. About an hour to be precise. Robert Watts gathers us in the chow hall, and briefs us while we eat.
"The two men that we have captured escaped this morning, and have fled into the forest. Now is your chance to get revenge. So, using the skills you have been taught your first mission is to chase them down then dispose of them" he explains pausing for a minute.
Robert is too calm for someone who lost prisoners. It makes me concerned. After we eat they take us outside, and let us go. We get to hunt.
Robert told us that there is a ship that is following the men as they flee. Kesha gave me, and a girl what she called a com.
It let's her comunicate with us from long distances. So, we go in the direction of the ship.
"Dylan, the subjects are 12 klicks North. In english that means go left" Kesha tells me. I yell her words out to my brothers, and sisters.
This time I let Mathew lead because he can take one of them down for us to get.
Mathew doesn't even look at me as I catch up to him. I slow down a bit to keep an eye on him. If he jumps me again then I'll be ready.
The one problem is that the soldiers have much more stamina, and speed than us.
"Kesha, they are better than us. How do we catch them?" I ask her. "That part has already been dealt with. You just have to kill them" she assures me.
Kesha again directs us closer to the two people. "The faster runners go first, and circle them" Mathew yells. I pick up speed a little bit, and catch a glimpse of the first soldier.
He's stripped down to a t-shirt, and pants. They must have taken his gear. Both of them must be defenseless. According to Kesha they split up. The ship can only chase one of them down.
The second soldier will get away.
We track down the first soldier, and I leap on his back to slow him down. The man grabs me by the neck then throws me to the ground.
I grab his foot, and wrap my legs around his to limit his movement until another kid can land on his back.
Two of us were on him.
Three.
Four.
We brought him down to the ground as everyone else arrived. It became chaos. With all of the weight on him I think he lost the ability to breathe, but did he fight.
The soldier got up then rolls on the ground to get me off, and to get the other kid off. He starts to strike out at us. I stumble back when he hits me twice in the head with a rock. I crawl away holding my head. It starts to pound. I reach into my pocket to retrieve the rock I picked up earlier. I aim for his legs cutting them to make them bleed.
Spill their blood.
The man breaks away to keep running. Even hurt he is determined. I run to catch up with him, but I'm tired. I stop to walk for a second, or two.
I have to keep up with the others. My head is pounding when I start to run, and it hurts so bad. I just stop, and walk.
The soldier gets away.
Our fastest runners can't keep up with him. I catch up with then to find the others panting. "Lost him, but we've got his trail" someone says to me. Kesha hasn't said a thing since we found him.
"We need to find rocks to throw" I say feeling the one resting in my pocket. It has blood on it. Once everyone has a breath then we follow his trail.
I'm not sure how long it's been since we left the base.
I hear a growl then a boy kicks up dirt.
"Tracks are gone" he admits in defeat.
"What now?" Mathew questions. I shake my head, "not sure. Arkesha has been quiet since we saw the soldiers, but she's not answering now."
"So, what do we do?" A girl asks, and I scratch my head.
"Um let's head back" Caleb suggests. The group turns to return to base. I'm hungry.
Why doesn't Kesha answer?
"Wait" the same girl stopping firmly. Mathew growls crossing his arms. "What? Scared?" He accuses, so I grab the rock in my pocket to threaten him with.
"Shut up."
"What if we send a scout?" She suggests as I stare Mathew down. I wish he would fight me again, so I can beat him to death.
"Who do you suggest then kid?" I pester, "it makes sense though."
"I'm that fastest, and it's Destiny by the way. Maybe the reason Kesha isn't responding is because the UNSC is there" she snaps at me waving her hand through her blonde hair. She has freckles on her cheeks, and hazel eyes.
"Kesha could be dead for all we know."
I roll my eyes, "the rest of us can climb into the trees to be sure that we'll be hidden" I poke in. Destiny spins around on her heels to start running.
I steal a glance at Mathew to see a stupid look on his face, so I smack him. I find a average sized tree, and grab the first branch with one hand. I heave myself up up reach a big fat branch then sit on it.
I sit back up against the tree, but stand up to see of I can see the top of the base. I can't, so I climb higher. I just barely see the top standing on my tippy toes.
We didn't hear anything, but the birds.
We didn't know what to do.
We don't know what happened.
This frustrates me.
They gave of training, they gave us skills. How can we put then to good use? The key might be to survive. To hold our tongue, so we can fight again.
Bring honor to our families.
I sit in silence. Impatience makes me look down at the others. It seems I'm not the only one staring at the base. I jump grabbing at the branch tightly. There is a noise that is blaring, and it's repeating.
What is making that noise? It gives the bases location away.
Branches snapping forces me to duck down to hide.
"Dylan! Ian!"
Destiny bolts into view, "Dylan, we have to run. They're here, and they're looking for us!" She exclaims. I scramble down the tree urging the others to hurry. There are only eleven of us.
Kesha said there was more, but they are else ware, so the enemy won't catch all of us at once.
Five boys, and Six girls. Me, Mathew, Kaleb, Ian, and Eduardo are the boys. We call Eduardo, Eddie for short.
Destiny, Sophie, Anna, Tiffany, Sylvia, and Hailey are the girls.
"Come on, come on" I urge basically bouncing on my feet. We run in a tight group to stay together. I get the sudden urge to run faster. I dare to look behind only to see trees.
The trees start to leave, and reach longrass. There is a hill leading down to the grass, so we climb down. It has rocks on it.
The field is wet, muddy, and big. We run through the water. The droplets splash against my legs then my socks start to get wet.
"Dylan, do you have your com? I lost mine" Anna asks me. I reach up to feel the small plastic piece in my ear.
"Yes" I reply slipping it into my other pocket.
Again my head starts to pound. I can feel the dried blood with a small scar. We will follow the water into the woods to hide marks left from our feet.
I tell the others to take their shoes, and socks off as the water gets deeper. The water now laps around my knees.
The group begins to walk thankfully. I carry my shoes in one hand then hold my socks to my head.
Rocks in the water scrape against the bottom of my feet. We step on the ground long enough to circle around a fallen tree.
I'm tired.
Meanwhile
"How's the search?" A Colonel questions the marine.
"No sign of the children, but they were there. There are signs of th being there" he reports. The Colonel rubs his forehead. It seems the rumors are true.
Child Soldiers have returned, but doesn't ONI have some of their own?
"The marines reported that the children had been sent to hunt them down. It's possible that they are still in the forest. I want them all alive" the Colonel orders sharply.
This mission has, so far been a failure. Colonel Robert Watts has escaped, and now eleven unknown children are in the forest.
None of the Insurrectionists will talk about the children's purpose, but I have a fair belief on what it is.
It's not a very pretty scenario.
~*~
"Commander, we have orders to secure the group. The Colonel believes that they might be still in the forest" he informs the Sergeant.
"Get a pelican in the air to scout for them while we travel on the ground. Hurry up soldier" the man yells.