Last Hope (32 page)

Sara agrees with Anna. “She’s right
Mandy. This life changes you, it changes all of us. Look at Gary
over there. He first came here, Gary already had a hard life. He
lost so many men. Chavez, Hugo his best friend. After that he
suddenly became a father. When that happen Gary started to become
better and a better soldier, than he lost Kato. That death had the
most impact on him. If this death does not push him over the edge,
then I am certain that the next death that is close to him will.”
Mandisa let out a small sigh when her pager went off. “Go mandy,
Anna and I were planning on going to the doctors to see how Von is
doing.”

“
Stay safe Sara.”

When Mandisa left along with Chang,
soto, Andrea, Maziah and Adam. Jay walk out into the open wondering
where everyone was at. “Is the war over?” He ask looking around
because the place was completely empty.

On the aircraft the pilot was giving
the soldiers a rundown on the mission. “The council gave Commander
an emergency mission. The Sons are placing bombs in a metro
station. We need you guys to hurry up and disarm the
bombs.”

Chang started to freak out a little.
“Are you serious? We are suppose to disarm bombs? How the hell are
we suppose to do that!?”

Mandisa gave him the answer. “Simple,
you pull on all the wires! I know it sounds stupid but I have been
on these kind of mission before. That what happen when.” Mandisa
could not finish her sentence when she was remembering an old
friend. She then told her friend name to herself in a whisper.
“Estela.”

“
Mandisa?” Adam ask in
question.

Mandisa came back from her flashback.
“Yea, I’m fine. Unless they upgrade their bombs then dont worry
about it. If there is one thing I learn about the Sons is that they
want to produce as many things as possible so when it comes to
stuff like armor, it’s not very strong. Thats why we can destroy
tanks just by shooting at them.”

Chang was still complaining. “Thats
great and all, but that still does not change the fact that we are
dealing with bombs here.”

Maizah step into the conversation.
“Stop being a baby.” The whole squad was shock from Maizah’s
outburst. “You were order to do a job and you are going to do that
job whether you like it or not.”

“
Yes ma’am.” Chang told her
in a snarky tone as they land.

Andrea runs ahead, found a bomb,
disable it by cutting all the wires that he could find. “Hey Chang,
you could stop acting like a girl, the tactic works!”

Chang starts to chuckle at himself.
Maziah wonder why. “What’s so funny big man?”

“
It’s just funny hearing
that coming from Andrea for some reason.”

Maziah runs ahead, found three sons.
“We are not alone here.” Mandisa found another bomb but can't get
to it because there was three more son. One try to move, Andrea
shot at it but miss. Mandisa shot at one son, kills it.

Adam rush into a train, kill a son. One
son poisons Chang, another son shot at Mandisa, miss, another son
shot at Adam, hit. Adam kill the son that poison Chang. “Are you
alright Chang?”

Chang choke a little before answering
Adam. “It’s really not that bad once you get use to it. Just like
the gas chamber from basic training.”

Mandisa hit the son that hit Adam.
Maziah kills a son. Andrea kill the son that Mandisa hit. Chang
moves forward, one son tries to move, Chang fires but miss. Soto
killed the last son. The place was clear. “Is that all of them?”
Soto ask looking around.

“
Let’s hope so, the last
thing we need is for a bullet to hit one of these bombs and have
the whole place going off.” Andrea told Soto as he disarm another
bomb.

Maziah turns off a bomb. “Why do the
Sons want to blow up a metro station? There is no one here this
place is empty.”

Mandisa moves forward, found two more
sons. “Why don’t you ask them yourself?”

Adam moves forward, kills a son, the
other son tries to run away but Mandisa kills it. Maziah turn off
another bomb. Mandisa runs forward, turns off another bomb. Adam
runs forward, found two more sons, one tries to run away but
Mandisa kills it. Adam turns off another bomb then kill a son.
Andrea moves around, could see the main power source. “I think I
see the main power source from where all of the other mini bombs
are getting their power from.” Andrea turn off another
bomb.

Chang turns off another bomb. “Don’t
worry, I’ll get it. I’ll just rip all the wires out at once and
pray to God that I won’t get blown up.” Chang turn off the main
power source. “Good job squad.” Change told everyone when Commander
radio in to everyone on headset.

“
Head up squad, we count six
more sons closing in on your position. eliminate all sons before
coming back home.”

“
Sounds like the after party
is going to be coming in. Why don’t we show them a fun time?” Chang
says with a smile as he pulls out his RPG just because he can. No
one went to Soc-mad, Adam became a Captain.

Sara was in the War Room with Commander
as she and Anna was looking through over thirty different soldiers
profiles, trying to find the new ones to add to the family. “We do
need a new medic so what about Hugh Murphy?”

“
Why him?”

“
I want him because his last
name is Murphy and I love Eddie Murphy.” Sara says with a
smile.

Commander let out a small chuckle as he
was looking through the profiles. “Alright, Murphy it is. Then I
want Jordan Shaw to be a new sniper.”

Sara did not really like the idea to
much. “We don’t need any more snipers. I know we lost Andres who
was a sniper however Katrina and Zoe are the two best snipers in
this whole base.”

“
True, but what if they die?
Then we won’t have any more snipers.”

“
I see your point. If that
is the case then, then I want Martin Schafer to be our heavy. In
this war the three classes we should focus on are snipers, medics,
and heavys. The snipers can shoot from a long range and that is
always good. The medics can heal others and with James passing away
and Gary being in Sic-Mad for a few more days we could use some
more medics. The reason why we also want heavies is because they
can fire rockets at tanks, mechs, and other things that has a lot
of health.”

Commander just made a small smile.
“This is why I can never beat you at chess.”

“
Anna can, she is really
smart.” Sara look over to Anna who was busy reading this one
soldier's profile for a while. “Do you see anyone that you like
Anna?”

“
Ahmed Turk, heavy class.”
She says with a small sigh.

Commander grab the profile and did not
agree with her finding. “This guy has been into so many fights
against his superior officers, he is a known drinker, and he gets
in rage easily. I really don’t think we need him on
base.”

“
You let Andrea Moletta on
base. His profile was a bit more empty but ever since him and Maxim
met each other. Andrea has been working in the gym to relieve his
stress. I am surprise that Andrea did not got into a brawl with
Maxim sooner. Guess that won’t happen now since Maxim is no longer
with us.”

“
Why do you want Ahmed so
bad?” Commander ask.

“
We can use his rage against
the enemy. He may be useful to us for a short while. Since Boris is
also in SIc-Mad I agree with Sara that we can use some more
heavies. Mandisa, Sandra, and Adam are just find in the assault
class. I don’t think they will die anytime soon.”

“
Allright, Ahmed it is
then.” Commander grab all four profiles. “I’ll round these four up
in a few days. Are you going to go back out in war with your tank
Sara? Is it combat ready?”

“
Yes.” Sara told Commander
with a smile. “I know you have to pay money every time we want to
create a new one, however I think once you find a good mission to
deploy the new soldiers. This tank will do just fine, as long as
the enemy just not try to fire everything on poor little
S.A.R.A”

“
I’m looking forward to it.
Good luck team.” Commander gave a salute to both Sara and Anna and
they return a salute back.

While everyone was outside, enjoying
completing another mission. Gary and Boris was still in Sic-Mad.
Boris let out a small sigh. “Are you awake?” Boris ask Gary not
telling if Gary was awake or not, with a small wall blocking the
way. Gary was awake, he was just ignoring Boris. “I guess you're
not.” Boris let out a small sigh. “That mission we were in. It
really should not had kick our ass like it did. The only thing that
pose as a threat was the mech. That machine killed Andres, and out
you and I in here. We had three heavies in that mission. Soto,
Maziah and myself.” Boris said as he chuckle a bit. “I’m glad you
did not die Gary. If anything you should fight for, it’s for your
son. You are the only thing that he has in this world, and the only
thing you have in this world his him. Don’t stop fighting Gary,
never stop fighting.” Boris says as he mumbles himself to sleep.
Gary just kept laying there in his bed, as he try his best to
ignore Boris words but eventually start to shed a few tears knowing
what Boris said was right.

Mission 39 Intoxicated

Mandisa was sitting by herself during
breakfast eating food with a smile on her face. Despite saying
hello to everyone who walk pass her. Everyone could tell that she
was only faking. Adam was getting worry about her. “I know she says
she is ok, but deep down, you can clearly tell that she miss her
friends.” Adam told Maizah.

“
Why don’t you go over to
her and sit by her if you worry so much about her?” Maziah ask
blunty.

“
I would do that but she
chose to sit by herself, away from others.” Adam explains. You and
I were eating breakfast before she came in. When she came in She
said hello and good morning to us, then she sat alone.”

“
Woman are not like men
Adam, are you not dating Zoe?”

“
I am.”

“
Then shouldn't you know
more about how women behave if you are dating one?”

Adam only chuckle at Maziah’s words.
“Zoe is a very interesting female, I will say that much Maziah.
However I have not had to encounter Zoe when she wants to be by
herself yet. Zoe has not had any kind of tragic deaths like Mandisa
had to go with.”

Maziah finish up her meal and stood up.
“It’s not my place to say this Adam, however since you are asking
my advice about this situation here is my two since. Date the
girl.” Adam was kind of caught off guard by Maziah’s words. “I seen
how the two of you look at each other, talk to one another. I know
you are a gentleman Adam. You are probably the most kindest person
that I had ever known. You are a strong leader, smart. I know you
love Zoe, but I don’t think she needs you right now. If anyone
needs you its going to be Mandisa. Who knows thats going to happen
to her if Sandra or Katrina dies. Look at her now Adam. She is
walking around with a fake smile. No one knows where Katrina and
Sandra had went to and that is how she is behaving not knowing
where her friends are. She is in denial that everything is going to
be all right. She needs someone like you there when things don’t
become all right.” Without waiting for Adam to respawn back, Maziah
left the room. Adam was a bit stun of what Maziah told him, however
he knew that she is not completely wrong. Adam does love Zoe, but
for a while now he can’t stop looking at Mandisa.

Mandisa look to her side to see that
Adam was all alone. She was about to go get up and sit next to him
when two strange men came in front of her. “May I help you?” She
ask cautiously as she sat back down and reach for her leg knife
under the table.

“
No need to be alarm Miss.
Dubazana. We are not here to harm you, please come with us and
don’t ask questions for the next ten days.” Mandisa cautiously did
what she was told.

Adam look back to where Mandisa was
sitting at to find that she was no longer sitting there anymore. He
shrug it off thinking that Mandisa does not have the same feeling
that he is having about her. When Adam went back to slowly eating
his food, another person sat on the table. It was Katrina, she look
scared. “Katrina?”

Sandra and Martine walk right next to
Adam, the three soldiers that have been missing for ten days look
scare. “They broke her.” Sandra told Adam.

“
They broke her?” Adam said
in more confusing.

“
They made her cry.” sandra
told Adam.

Adam look at Katrina who shed a tear.
Even after Kato had died, and being good friends with Katrina. She
did not even shed a tear. This time for some reasons that Adam does
not know, she cry for the very first time. “What happen? Where did
you three went?”

“
We can’t tell you.” Sandra
said sitting down. “The only thing that we can tell you is that
your mind will bend and twist in so many directions before it
finally snaps. Out of the three of us, she was able to pass all the
test.”

“
Psychological warfare?”
Adam ask Sandra silently.

Sandra gave Adam a slow nod. “This
training, is more advance than anything that you have ever thought
of. If you do not have good will, they will break you less than a
day. Martine, the good hearted fellow he is, was broke in a day.
Where is Mandisa?”