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4.18.2012

Chapter 5-13: Queen's Gambit - The Price of Victory


Sharon- United Human Faction- Night 49

            Sharon and her troops moved as cautiously as they could, staying to the brush on the side of the road. They never lit their flashlights or strayed into the street. If they were seen by the Chinese, they would be killed instantly. Sharon needed more support, if only Anning would provide it.
            Suddenly, a floodlight on the roof of the prison camp directed itself toward them. Yells became audible from the guard manning the light. A steady stream of panicked Chinese rang from the base.
            “Go loud! Open fire!” Sharon yelled, pulling her rifle's bipod onto a nearby rock.
            She took aim and fired at the man, but shifted her arm at the last moment. The glass of the light shattered and the whole side of the facility seemed to go dark for a moment. The man’s yelling stopped suddenly. Her hands shook as she loaded another round. Sharon took aim, and again missed her shot. She felt almost as though she was incapable of hitting the man in her scope. Another soldier took his own shot killing Sharon's target himself, then beckoned for her to move forward, so she obliged.
            There were far fewer guards inside the facility than she had expected. Many had fled toward Lahaina, where they would be able to evacuate the island, and others were preoccupied with the Faction troops on the mountain. Sharon walked ahead of her wary soldiers. She moved in a trancelike state, following the fresh blood and bullet holes sattered in lines across the walls as she followed the sound of footsteps at the end of the hall.
            Five prisoners ran out from past the corridor, all of them wounded. Sharon ran past as her men tended to the traumatized civilians. She chased the sound of sobbing from beyond her sight. As she rounded the corner, a Chinese soldier raised his weapon to his hostage’s head. He yelled out, tears streaming from his eyes as he attempted to negotiate for his own life. Sharon heard only the cry of a foreign tongue from a man prepared to commit a murder. She wanted justice.
            “Put down your weapon,” she said, drawing her own sidearm.
            She took a step forward, and the guard touched his weapon to the back of the prisoner’s head.
            “Please, don’t let him kill me!” cried the hostage.
            Sharon took another step forward, yelling, “Let him go, and I’ll let you live.”
            The guard did not hear her words; he only saw her actions. Desperate, he executed the prisoner. Sharon waited for the body to hit the ground. The man was dead. He needed to be avenged.
            Sharon looked the shaking guard in the eye. There was no hesitation in her motions. There was no instability in her hands.
            She brought justice by the fire, and dirtied her hands for the first time. She felt nothing, with two dead at her feet.

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