His roaming was fruitless for some time as he concentrated on keeping out of the light from the many lamps set up around the place. Soldiers passed him from time to time, oblivious as they ran their errands, but he studied each, taking in all that he could about the men of the Alliance. They were all different, very few personifying the image that the soldiers of the Alliance had been known for over the years, and most held a different nationality to the next. This was a symbol of the vast empire the Alliance had created. They took everything they needed to build the world’s greatest army. And yet still they had been unable to defeat the Resistance stationed at Corsec city.
Jaden felt pride as now, like his brother, he too fought the Alliance. But he did not have an entire force to hold off the attacks of the Alliance. It was only him and a few of his people. He knew he would die in the coming days, but he would die knowing that he had fought bravely and against evil, just like his brother would have.
As he stepped around the corner of the next building, Jaden came to a clearing in the fort. No buildings were here, only vehicles in a yard. Here were the giant movers that had crushed his people’s houses, the tanks that tore through his village without mercy, and the jeeps that hunted them down as if they were no more than wild game. With these machines, he and the other survivors could wage a full-scale assault on the Alliance. He had done it. He had found what he was looking for.
Jaden kept low as he raced across the yard, driven on by fearful excitement. A line of trucks was at the other end, all of which he found contained every weapon he could have imagined. This was it. Now all he needed was to get back and tell the others. He would take a weapon or two as proof.
But before he could jump into the back of one of the trucks, he heard a man shouting. In fright, he quickly dodged around the corner of a building to a dark, safe place. He then waited until the man stopped talking. Soldiers called out to the man, cheering in response to what he said. He was speaking in the language that Jaden could not understand, but Jaden recognised the voice as the man in the black uniform from outside. Curiously, he edged himself around the corner of the building so that he could see what was going on.
There was an assembly in another clearing, hundreds of soldiers all standing before the man in black uniform, who continued to call out loudly. After another speech to which the men responded as they had before, a strange machine was brought out into the open on his request. He held his hand up for silence before signalling for three men to come forward. Two of them were soldiers, but they dragged with them an elderly man from a group of people held at gunpoint. They stood the elderly man upright against a post in front of the machine.
‘Don,’ whispered Jaden in disbelief, recognising the elder of Callibra immediately, who now had a newly gashed cheek and badly bruised neck. Don had been captured. The other survivors had been found—they made up the group from which Don had been dragged. How had this happened?
The soldiers were now tying Don’s hands behind his back as Jaden looked on in terror from his place of hiding, helpless to do anything.
The man in black uniform continued his speech, and then called for silence again as he stood as far back as possible. The soldiers moved away from Don, leaving him standing alone against the post, and then the machine that had been brought out flared up with various lights. With a single command, there was a flash, forcing Jaden to turn away as a sound like thunder came. When Jaden looked back he could see Don was still standing, but knew instantly something had happened. Even from this distance, he could see there was now a large hole through Don’s chest. The pole he had been leaning against had been cut in half, the upper piece now lying next to him, and soon Don slumped over and fell lifeless to the ground.
The soldiers gave a cheer so loud that not even they had heard Jaden calling out. He was left in shock, involuntarily staring at the gruesome scene that had just taken place. Then he closed his eyes, while he mourned the loss of another good man.
It wasn’t fair. How could the innocent be so brutally destroyed? Why did it continue to happen?
The World Protection Alliance really didn’t care for humankind or even peace. They were greedy, evil conquerors that preached goodwill to all only when it suited them. Jaden had now witnessed their true nature and knew that it had to stop. It couldn’t go on like this. He understood why his brother had left to fight in the wars against them.
In a hate-filled rage, Jaden leapt up and ran to the first truck. He jumped into the back, grabbing a rifle, then ammunition, and then a backpack that he slung over his shoulder after filling it with grenades and items he didn’t even recognise. All he could think of now was becoming one of the heroes in the stories told of brave men or women who rose up against the soldiers of the Alliance and shot them dead. He would avenge his village, he would avenge his people, and he would avenge the wise and trusted elder, Don.