Before the Quake [Part II]

[pieface101 285]

Part I

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Before the Quake

 

 

 

General Enton

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General Enton glanced at his watch. 1400 military time. Which meant Commander Watson should have arrived at his first rendezvous point and would be preparing to enter the last known home of Sergei Mansworth. Yet as he looked at his screen, Watson, a tiny green dot, was twenty miles off course.

 

Enton sighed. He should have known that Watson, reckless as ever, would not heed his orders and choose to go on his own little adventure. Even though he told him personally to send a message before going against orders.

 

There was a knock at the door. "Come in." said the General without looking up. Years of military experience showed that if you did not acknowledge someone, they would work extra hard for you.

 

A tall man with a black suit and pants entered. Enton observed the slight twitch in his mustache, the way he fiddled with his black hat and glasses. It was the slightest sign of nervousness, but yet, he took his seat with the air of importance.

 

"You received my message?" asked Enton, looking up and clasping his hands. The man nodded, spinning a pen. Enton felt the slightest bit annoyed at the man's insubordination, but if the world renowned assassin was up for the job, Enton did not want to deter the man.

 

"As you know, we want to capture a man. Sergei Mansworth." the General started. He waited for the man to react in some way, but all he did was motion for the General to continue.

 

"We already have a man on the job. Alan Watson."

 

The General looked up to see if recognition would flash across the man's face. It did not, although even if he knew the name, the General doubted a trained agent would reveal his true emotions.

 

"However, I do not trust Watson to complete the task. As I cannot go against orders, I have sent Watson on false documents. I want you to capture Sergei Mansworth and bring him back alive."

 

The General waited, before passing over a manila folder. The man made no move to collect it. Enton considered pushing it further, but decided not to. He was, after all, one of the highest ranking members of the military and far more important than this measly spy.

 

"One last thing. If you happen to run into Mr. Watson, I want him back in my office. I am tired of his endless insubordination."

 

The man looked up and addressed the General. "Don't worry. You will have both men at your disposal before you can call me back."

 

The General watched as the man walked out of the door without taking the folder.

 

 

 

Tewu

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Tewu rolled over on his cot, trying to sleep. Last night, all the memories had come rushing back, threatening to drown Tewu in a tsunami of nightmares.

 

Little Eno waddled into the room, tossing Tewu a slice of bread, grapes, a Hershey's Bar, and some sour milk. Tewu sat up. It was what? A month? Two? Maybe even three months since the man came and struck the deal with Tewu. Now he was endangering the survival of his family, right in the middle of a war zone. The man never told Tewu what was important enough to warrant sending him to defend. Even the pistol he was given was polished and lubricated to allow smooth pulling of the trigger, although it had never seen any action.

 

"Can you tell me a story?" asked Little Eno, popping grapes into his mouth. Tewu cracked a smile.

 

"Maybe. Not sure if there is any space left on the walls."

 

"C'mon. Please?" Little Eno begged, making the cutest face he could manage. "I promise I won't draw the story on the walls after you tell me it."

 

"Alright, alright. But promise." Tewu warned. Little Eno nodded vigorously.

 

"Ok. Once upon a time, there was a forest." Tewu began.

 

"Was it a big forest?"

 

"Yes, it was a very big forest. With lots of trees and vines. It was very dark and spooky-"

 

"How spooky?"

 

"Little Eno, stop interrupting me!" Tewu scolded. Little Eno hung his head and mumbled an apology. Tewu patted Little Eno on the head. "It's ok, I'm only kidding."

 

"Anyways, in the forest was an evil wizard. There was also a prince. Now this was a very special prince. He was on an adventure to cleanse the forest of evil. He had killed every single evil creature, and now he came upon the hut of the wizard. Now this wizard was very clever.

 

He called out saying, 'O great prince? What brings you here?'

 

The prince called back in an equally charming tone, saying 'I, the great prince, am here to cleanse the forest of all evil.'

 

The wizard replied, saying 'Alas, I believe you have failed.'

 

Now, as you can imagine, Little Eno, the prince was confused. 'What are you talking about? All I have to do is rid of you and I will succeed.'

 

But the sly wizard replied, saying 'But there is one more task you must do. Once you have disposed of me, you must dispose of yourself, too.'

 

Obviously, the prince thought it was a trick, but the wizard replied saying, 'Have you not seen your evils from the other's point of view? You have needlessly slaughtered lives of the forest. Beasts, and their offspring have fell to your sword. Have you not seen how all you meet cower before the light of your blade? We inhabitants of the forest consider you to be the evilest of the evil. You take lives, where there is no need or retribution. You take homes, where you do not even live in. You take all we have from us. I ask you, is that truly what a good person does?'

 

But the prince countered. 'That is what you have done to us humans too.'

 

'Alas, is it necessary to fight fire with fire? That will only grow the inferno.'

 

'What are we supposed to do then? Stand idle while our houses burn?'

 

'No, but we are not pure flame. Evil does not mean without Good. Good does not mean without Evil. It all depends on the perspective. Men claim friends to be Good, while they claim enemies to be Evil. Those who they misunderstand are considered Evil as well. You humans see us as Evil because we burned down your villages. In turn, you claim the slaughtering of beasts to be just. We see the slaughtering of beasts to be an Evil against us, so we claim the burning down of villages to be just.'

 

The prince thought about this for a moment, and said 'So, wizard, shall me make friends and heal the rifts history has caused?'

 

But the wizard replied, saying 'Alas, history has caused to gap to widen so much that it may be beyond our ability to close. It is not easy to change one man's beliefs. It is nearly impossible to change the belief of a kingdom of men.'

 

And so the wizard and the prince charged at each other, prepared to fight to the death."

 

Little Eno looked at Tewu, confused. "What is that supposed to mean?"

 

"I don't know. It's a story Mother told me once. An old folktale. Ask her."

 

As if on cue, a bullet went through the wall, piercing the skull of Little Eno, allowing him to finally join Mother.

 

 

 

Alan Watson

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"No! Stop!" called out Alan, to the uneasy members of his squadron. A few stray shots rang out and ricocheted off of concrete walls before silence finally consumed the situation.

 

Alan assessed the damage. Apart from the little girl, a few other children were shot down. A ten-ish year old boy, his arms spread out as if to protect those behind him. A six-ish year old, who looked so alike he could only be the ten year old's brother. An eight-ish year old girl and a boy. A pair of twins. The rest of the children had either scattered and were now hiding behind the buildings, or they were now slowly regrouping in the center of the village.

 

"What is it?" asked a member of Alan's squad through the walkie-talkie.

 

"They're children, not soldiers. I'm going down to talk." replied Alan, scrambling down the hill. Johnson tried to stop him, but Beckett held him back.

 

As Alan made his way to the bottom, the crowd of children had assembled to a few dozen. A few mumbled nervously, while others eyed him uneasily. A few children clutched onto personal belongings. A photograph. A blanket. A stuffed animal. Wooden cars. An amulet. Still others held sticks, stones, slabs of concrete, wielding them, unsure whether to attack or not.

 

"I come in peace." called out Alan, unsure of what to say other than that. The children exchanged glances and drew back nervously.

 

"Don't worry, I won't hurt you. I promise. I'm incredibly sorry about earlier." began Alan. The children mumbled. A few shot Alan glares.

 

"Look, all we want is information. We need it to fight off a bad man. We won't hurt you." Alan coaxed. The crowd drew back, and a few shook their heads. It occurred to Alan that they might not understand English.

 

"No, I'm not the bad man. There is a different man who will get all of us killed. Me and you. We need to work together." Alan tried. A little girl cocked her head to one side. A little boy sucked on his thumb. Alan watched as Beckett sneaked along the side, searching the buildings for clues. Alan gave a sigh of relief. He could get the children occupied until Beckett found the needed information, and then they would retreat. No one would be harmed.

 

"Look, I have a gift for you." Alan said, taking out a wooden flute. It was a gift from his wife, to keep him entertained during the war. Alan played it, managing a few short, squeaky notes. "See? Flute." Alan said, tossing it into the crowd of children. Someone caught it and began examining it. The children argued among themselves, trying to get a good look. Someone took it and snapped it in half, throwing one half at Alan, and stomping the other half into splinters. The children shot accusing glances at Alan, as if the flute was filled with deadly gas.

 

"No," Alan argued, "We are good people. We never harmed you or your families. You can return to them when we are done."

 

One child angrily raised a hand. It was missing a finger. Another child waved her photo of her family. The faces of her parents were both drawn over with a big, red, "X". More children held up evidence of damage, angrily accusing Alan.

 

"No, please. We can learn to be friends, right?" Alan pleaded. A boy came running from a house, carrying a limp body. The crowd parted to let him pass.

 

"My name is Tewu. Give us back our land, evil man."

Edited December 19, 2016 by Hexed

[Hex 11,520]

Approved.

 

Edits:

Three typos corrected, and

Standard/General re-designing (to make it look better)

 

A useful tip: Using different fonts and colors (but not too much) will attract more people to your article, since the use of them can make the article look more beautifully written. Hope to see more productive material from you, good luck!

Edited December 19, 2016 by Hexed

[NERF836 202]

Another great article! Great job!

[GeeVuh 1,647]

Nice .-.

[Tofu 6,773]

You are pro writer m9

[tweezers 1,034]

You are pro writer m9

I concur. Dis is gud.

[Tofu 6,773]

I concur. Dis is gud.

ikr