Chapter Four

The troops moved in, killing all that had not fled. They moved in around the temple.

I stood guard at the temple gate. The women and children had taken refuge inside. I was their last defence. I would give my life. Tara would never know. I loved her. My gun shook. My hands trembled. I was going to die… then… a sprit… me..? Not long now…  

“Commander I see them… oh… my god…”
“Jib how many!?”
“Oh… my… oh… crap…”
“Jib!”
“Oh… em… one, two thousand… I can’t be sure… they’re coming straight forus!”
“Jib… get to your post!”

The commander moved forward to his own post, reloaded his gun and lookedaround at the last of his kind, the defiance in their faces and the hunger in their eyes. He saw his sister. Tara. Stubborn, stupid, beautiful. He wanted to hold her again. He wanted a home. He wanted peace. His every thought was of peace. His every action was directed towards freedom. His sister represented for him the courage in what remained of his people. Standing in the rain. Jeans muddy, t-shirt bloody, nothing but a jacket to protect her from the rain and bullets. She had a black band tied around her head and it fluttered in the wind. Defiance.

“MEN! … OUR TIME IS NOW! … Liberty comes at a price… peace does not come without suffering and freedom is gained by the lives of the innocent. Those who fight you tonight have never known peace because they have never been free. You shall… WE shall... fight for our freedom and we shall die for our freedom. Show them what it means to be free. Show them that we will not stand by and watch them rape our women and murder our children, show them that we will not go down without a fight, that we will not give into the night, and show them that if this is to be our final hour then it will be a bloody hour and that we will not SURRENDER!!!”  His speech was met with an uproar of passionate war cries. The crieswould be silenced. He knew… they’d all be dead come the rising of thesun…  

I was proud… but afraid; I trusted the commander, I would follow him to the ends of the earth. I retreated into the temple and found a good sniping location. I could kill easily from here and remain hidden. Why was this happening? How did it end up like this? Why was I here? These questions were very simple to answer in theory. For peace…for freedom…but in practice… I prepared myself…  

Tara willed herself to be brave, to stand and fight, as her brother would. She wished, she prayed, she cried. Why? The question went unanswered. She had never killed before, but she would do anything toprotect or preserve her freedom. So when the first trooper came into sight it was she who fired the first shot. That one was for her mother. The next one was for her father. The one after that was for her sister. And so it began…