Sharon- United Human Faction- Day 66
The
peaceful Hawaiian shore contrasted sharply to the burning husks of former
Faction and Chinese naval vessels. Countless beached sailboats dotted the
coastline, their torn sheets following the dictates of the wind. Metal and
concrete jutted out from the sands, remnants of great Chinese ships and prisons
left decimated by Anning’s carrier and the improvised explosives of the escaped
civilians. Sharon surveyed the damage as a foot soldier returning from the
front line. The fight for the Big Island was far reaching, with Chinese
artillery regularly striking Haleakala, where Faction snipers peppered enemy
speedboats and those foot soldiers foolish enough to walk the northern coast of
the island. She frequented the sniper nests, often looking through the scope of
a rifle, but never pulling the trigger. She had learned the bitterness of
violence in the initial surge, and she felt no craving for a second taste.
The
murder she had committed in the prison camp had, after several days, swayed her
to Paul’s side. In her memory, without the sweat and adrenaline of combat, the
event was far more disturbing. Each night, she imagined herself in the dark
halls of the prison camp, pistol at her side. Her face was cold, stiff,
inhuman, and her steps fell slower than those of her comrades. Calmly, she
would roll back her shoulders and turn the corner to find a pair of men she
already knew would not survive the night. During the day, she liked to believe
she had tried to save the prisoner and spare her opponent. She liked to believe
that she could have shown mercy, that some part of her had fought the urge to
kill the Chinese soldier. But her dreams always
played on her darker suspicions. She walked around the corner, immediately
raising her weapon. She screamed at the soldier as she walked forward, some
nights warning him, others egging him on, until he panicked. The shocked
soldier stared down at the body on the ground and at his bloodstained hands.
The dream Sharon would take no notice of his horror, mercilessly firing a
bullet through his skull.
Unsettling
as the dreams were, Sharon found herself gathering tactical information from
the memory. Most importantly, she noticed that the “Chinese” soldiers they
fought were, in reality, members of several Japanese fleets pledged to China
after the Second Korean War. There was no loyalty tying these men to the goals
of the Chinese, and, with motivation, they would cross the Pacific and turn on
the nation that had so forcefully demanded their loyalty
No comments:
Post a Comment