World War 3: The Hit on The Innocent

World War 3: The Hit on The Innocent: Online Edition is my first story that is a new version of an existing one, so please don't say anything harsh 'cause at least I tried, okay? I already have this on my computer anyway. There will be Call of Duty stuff, but there will be other stuff too...and the Call of Duty guys\guys from other media will be playing other characters either purely fictional, celebrities playing as other fictional people, or fictionalized versions of real people. I will also be changing some things from the computer edition of the story by adding new intros or omitting certain scenes that were present in the computer version, but not in the online version. In addition, I'll add to the Cast of Characters list, so keep checking back for updates.

The basics
I'll be doing some Call of Duty-ish stuff, but I'll change stuff around (like ODIN Space Station will instead be ASGARD Space Station) and re-create certain events in the Call of Duty universe, but with twists. Overall, this is supposed to be a fanfic of multiple Call of Duty games under a non-Call of Duty title. Like I said before, this is my first attempt at a story, so please don't say anything insulting or offensive to my rookie writing skills.

Cast of characters

 * Olivia Thrilbyas Olivia Coonz\Penelope Abramovich Sakharova
 * Elle Fanning as Ella Coonz
 * John Price as himself
 * John "Soap" MacTavish as himself
 * Chang Wei as Chang Jing
 * Diego Almagro as Diego Cortez
 * Vladimir Makarov as Lev Raskov
 * Viktor Reznov as himself
 * David Mason as Mason Davidson
 * Mike Harper as Harper Michaels
 * Gaz as Doug Harris
 * Lydia Young as Eleanor Stein
 * Madison Young as Bella Atkin
 * Victor Ramos as Guillermo "Guy" Villafranca
 * Gabriel Rorke as Michael Tobben
 * Alex Mason as himself
 * Elias T. Walker as Donald Coonz
 * Logan Walker as himself
 * Alex "Ajax" Johnson as William Hoving
 * Audrey Hoving as herself
 * Jennifer Hawkins as Sadye Weible
 * Faruk Al-Bashir as Habib Al-Washir
 * Khaled Al-Assad as Ali Al-Washir
 * Solomon as himself
 * Dimitri Makaykovsky as Dima Raskov
 * Nikolai as Yuri Gavrilov
 * Raul Menendez as Gabriel Santos
 * Premier Chen as Huang Jingxi
 * Amber Heard  as Jessica Reel
 * Javier Salazar as Guillermo's cousin
 * DeFalco as MI6 director
 * Richard Armitage as MI5 director
 * Tommy Cheng as himself
 * Teresita Killmade as herself
 * Olivia Wilde as Lexy Mae Kuper
 * Jeremy Renner as Will Robie
 * Dane DeHaan as Sam Coonz
 * Garrison as Korey Hogan
 * Frank Woods  as himself
 * Amir Kaffarov as himself
 * Kyle Chandler as Sandman
 * Michael Kelly as Dylan Windes
 * Matthew "Trex" Trexler as Henry Blackburn
 * Hannah Blackmur as herself
 * Sergei Kozin as Sergei Kamov
 * Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Shepherd
 * Anna Teague as herself.
 * Ben Hoving as himself
 * Luke Knudsvig as himself
 * Kiefer Sutherland as Jack Bauer
 * Sam Kuper as himself
 * Matthew Merchant as himself
 * Nikita Dragovich as himself
 * Alexandra Maria Lara as Samantha Kayser
 * Tereza Sbrova as Gaylina Raskova (Lev's long-lost sister)
 * Kenneth Branagh as Howard Stivey
 * Richard Armitage as Preston Alderidge
 * Rosamund Pike as Lindsay Coonz

Factions

Allied

 * Team Misfit
 * Shadow Force
 * Cordis Die
 * Iron Hand (led by Elanya Niermeyer)
 * Yuri Gavrilov's PMCs
 * United States Army
 * United States Marine Corps
 * US Air Force
 * MI5
 * MI6
 * Israel Defense Forces
 * Special Air Service
 * Central Intelligence Agency
 * Russian Ground Forces
 * People's Liberation Army (Huang Jingxi's loyalists)

Enemy

 * Anarchist Confederation
 * Iron Hand (led by Ben Hoving)
 * Muhammad's Army
 * African Militia
 * People's Liberation Army (Chang Jing's Communists)
 * Communist Federation of South America

Random stuff




Prologue: The Coming Night
Lake Zurich, Switzerland

May 21, 2027

Michael Tobben



The crowd was gathered in what I thought was a huge mob on the shores of Lake Zurich, Switzerland. It was the safest place to hold a huge rally, and far enough from the encroaching Iron Hand soldiers to be noticed. As I stood on a floating stage, I tapped the microphone and said into it, "The more things change, the more they tend to stay the same.  Boundaries shift, new players step in; but power always finds a place to rest his head.  We fought and bled alongside the Iron Hand and we should've known beforehand that they'd hate us for that.

"History is written by the victor, and here we all are, thinking that we'd won.  But you bring down the first bad guy and they find someonbe even worse to replace him.  Locations, the rationale, and the objectives...they all change.  Yesterday's enemies become today's recruits.

"Train them to fight alongside you and pray they don't eventually decide to hate you for it too."

A bunch of "Amen"s came from the crowd and many of them even raised their fists. So I took a deep breath and said, "Today, the war for our freedom against Luke Knudsvig's treachery begins!  LONG LIVE FREEDOM!!!"

Everyone knew what I meant, and I knew that we were going to have a long fight ahead of us.

 Rise to Power 

 Chapter 1: The babysitters, the monsters, and the sympathetic

San Diego, California

May 21, 2027

<p style="text-align:center;">Teresita Killmade

<p style="text-align:center;">

<p style="text-align:left;">My name is Teresita Reyes Gama Vasquez Killmade. I am fifteen years old (but I turn sixteen in a few months) and I've been going to Beverly Hills High School since the Freshman year. I'm Hispanic (yeah, no racist jokes, please), but I was adopted at age 5. If you want to know why I got so riled up and annoyed this morning, it was because my mother wanted me to babysit a five-year old Asian-American guy named Thomas Cheng, though everyone in the family called him Tommy. And it also seemed that the other guys in my neighborhood were pretty jealous of me because I got the job and they didn't.

<p style="text-align:left;">For example, take Olivia Coonz's brother, Sam. You know, the guy with the brown hair and the hazel eyes who always slicks his hair down with hair gel. When he first found out that I got a babysitting job, he went crazy. He told me things like, "Man, I wish I had a job"; "You make me jealous, TK"; and "When will I get a job like that?" To tell you the truth, I'd had it with that guy. If my mother was going to keep on insisting that I take the job (possibly because she thought I'd be good at it), then that meant I'd have to take the job anyway, whether I wanted it or not. But babysitting was the least of my worries.

<p style="text-align:left;">

<p style="text-align:center;">Yucatan, Mexico

<p style="text-align:center;">May 21, 2027

<p style="text-align:center;">Olivia Coonz

<p style="text-align:center;">

<p style="text-align:left;">My name is Olivia Bernard Coonz. I've been rotting in this hellhole of a prison cell in the Mexican jungle for years. The Anarchists grabbed me two years ago, in 2025, during a reconaissance mission in the Gulf of California, and stuck me into this prison in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico (officially Anarchist territory) to rot for life, possibly because of my connections to people involved in the rescuing of Adrianne McNamara, the daughter of the US President, years prior. What happened was this: I was sent into the Gulf of California as an informant for the British intelligence agency MI5, which recruited me in the year 2022, two years after my mission in Switzerland. My first mission was to go into the Gulf of California and investigate a guy name Tariq Khan, who was apparently a friend of Luke Knudsvig. But someone on the inside betrayed me, and gave me away to the Mexican drug cartels loyal to Knudsvig. I suspected that Tariq alerted this "traitor" and tried to chase him down in order to prevent him from alerting more potential traitors, but then I was captured and sent to this prison, where I remained to this day.

<p style="text-align:left;">During my stay in prison, I was brutalized by Anarchist and cartel gunmen, most of whom had fun waterboarding me, beating me, and torturing me. But I didn't break; I never told the guards anything, no many how many times they burned me with red-hot iron sticks and threatened to cook me alive in a giant oven. But that wasn't the worst that I had to endure. The most extreme and worst form of torture happened today. And it all started when a bunch of evil-looking scientists walked into my cell, grabbed me and dragged me into a large operating theater with a bunch of scientists. I also saw a flat operating table with surgical instruments on a tray nearby.

<p style="text-align:left;">I began to scream. "No!  No, no, no!  Please!" Almost immediately, I began to hear people screaming around me as I was onto the table strapped down. I started sobbing. "What do you want?!  PLEASE!  Please don't hurt me!"

<p style="text-align:left;">And then, I heard and felt someone grabbing my hair. I looked up and saw a young woman-a German by the looks of it-about my age with blonde hair and blue eyes. She was wearing a lab coat and some kind of half-mask respirator, which looked kind of creepy. Her nametag identified her as Samantha Kayser. Right beside her was a guy. He had the same hairdo and hair color, only he had hazel eyes. This guy was apparently called Ayden Diepenbrock. Even he had a lab coat and a half-mask respirator.

<p style="text-align:left;">The minute I saw the two people, I was scared almost to death. A Russian guy suddenly appeared right next to the two Germans, a person in his fifties with a 6'5" frame, dark hair, and dark eyes.  I suddenly recognized him as Nikita Dragovich, the guy from Call of Duty: Black Ops.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Feeling okay?" he asked, smiling down at me. I started struggling against the bonds holding me to the table and screaming. In response, he slapped me across the cheek.

<p style="text-align:left;">I spat in his face. "Go rot in the underworld!" I blasted at him. "You planned this, didn't you!  You gave me up!  You exposed me!"

<p style="text-align:left;">Dragovich laughed. "I did not expose you.  Tariq and I both exposed you."

<p style="text-align:left;">"No..." I gasped in realization as I suddenly came to the conclusion that he was right. "No, no, no, no!  No!  No, this can't be happening!"

<p style="text-align:left;">Dragovich kept on laughing and then gestured to one of his men, who looked down at me. "Don't make me hurt you!"

<p style="text-align:left;">"P-please!" I begged. "I'll do anything!  Just please don't kill me!  At least...at least let my parents know I'm alive!  Please!  They're worried sick about me!"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Your parents don't know you're here," said another voice. I turned to Dragovich's right and suddenly saw Alexandra Daddario, sneering at me. "No one knows you're here, in fact.  Not even your friends.  You'll rot in here.  Forever!"

<p style="text-align:left;">"No!" I sobbed. "No!  Please, guys, have mercy on me!  I'm just a girl!  You don't-you don't wanna do this to me!  It's not-!"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Not a good idea?" Dragovich joked. "I don't think so." Then he slapped me again and pulled out a roll of inky-black duct tape. "Not a good idea," he said, and then he ripped off a thick six-inch slab and plastered it over my mouth, ignoring my frantic cries. I started to sob and scream through the muzzle as Dragovich held me down, while nodding to his men.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Dr. Dipenbrock, I believe you have something to tell me." Dragovich smiled at the male German. "Tell me about this girl.  Has the operation suceeded?"

<p style="text-align:left;">Dr. Dipenbrock was silent for a few moments and then shook his head. "The subject has been sucessfully implanted with the knowledge to fight with her mind."

<p style="text-align:left;">"So, what is the problem?" demanded Dragovich. I whimpered through the tape as the German doctors looked at each other.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Uh, her responses to our orders have been-sporadic.  Unpredictable, to say the least," said Dr. Kayser. "She shows a remarkable resilience.  Something the other subjects do not have."

<p style="text-align:left;">I screamed through the tape at all these accusations the doctor was making against me. I wanted to yell and scream everything I had in my mind to say to these people, but the tape over my mouth muffled my cries. I started to sob; if Dragovich was true about what he said about my parents not knowing I was here in this hellhole, then I was indeed in trouble.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Why does she have this?" Dragovich looked hurt, angry, by what Dr. Kayser had said. "I need answers, Doctor Kayser!  Why does she have this?!?"

<p style="text-align:left;">"She is unusual...atypical." Dr. Kayser's voice took on a somewhat surprised tone. "Few prisoners-both male and female-possess such will...Our other test subjects have been far more sucessful."

<p style="text-align:left;">Dragovich looked at me, putting a hand over the tape covering my mouth and smothering it with his fingers. "Then we should try something that will lower her resistance, shall we not?"

<p style="text-align:left;">I sobbed through the tape, dreading what he meant. And then, Dragovich gestured to one of his men, who produced a syringe, loaded with a disgusting-looking red liquid. It looked like blood, but then again I couldn't tell what it was exactly.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Give her the other drug," said Dragovich. "The one that will lower the resistance of adamant prisoners.  If this one does not work, she is no use of me.  She can rot.  Inject the virus inside of her and take her back to her cell if her resistance intensifies."

<p style="text-align:left;">"No!" I screamed through the tape, though my words came out muffled. "No, no, no, no!" When the needle entered my skin and the plunger came down, I screamed bloody murder, thrashing violently against the table like a maddened animal demanding to be let loose. Dragovich and Daddario just looked at me, smiling. They looked like they wanted me to suffer like this, like they wanted me to enjoy this torture.

<p style="text-align:left;">When the red liquid disappeared from the syringe and entered my body, I began to scream even louder, struggle even harder. Daddario and Dragovich looked at each other, smiling. I looked at them and then, I stopped screaming and struggling.

<p style="text-align:left;">Dr. Kayser looked down at me. "I'm sorry, sweetheart," she said apologetically. "I could not have had it any other way.  Please...accept my apology." I looked into the woman's eyes, suddenly getting the feeling that this doctor was a little more humane than the other guy, that she secretly hated her job and wanted to save me in any way that I could.

<p style="text-align:left;">Dragovich looked at Daddario and said, "Let us leave her...for now.  Doctors, if you excuse us..."

<p style="text-align:left;">"Not at all," said Dr. Diepenbrock. "In fact, I need a break too.  Samantha..."

<p style="text-align:left;">"I will stay with her," Dr. Kayser said, stroking my hair. "She is pretty, is she not?"

<p style="text-align:left;">"She will be even prettier when she becomes my personal slave!" laughed Dragovich as he headed out the door with Dr. Diepenbrock and Alex Daddario. I whimpered through the tape again, shaking my head desperately and begging with my eyes. I watched the other three captors leave the room before turning my attention to the sympathetic Dr. Kayser.

<p style="text-align:left;">Help me! My eyes begged. ''I need you! ''Dr. Kayser looked at me with a sad smile and then stroked my hair again. "He is a monster, isn't he?" She asked. I nodded, closing my eyes in horror as I replayed the torture in my head.

<p style="text-align:left;">She grabbed the edge of the tape and whispered, "Don't scream or I will put it back on to keep you from alerting the guards, okay?" I slowly nodded and Dr. Kayser slowly peeled it off. I let out a gasp, and then a sob jumped from my throat.

<p style="text-align:left;">"The pain...Oh my God..." I whimpered. "Doc...help me!  It hurts so bad!  My body...!  What did-what did they do to me?"

<p style="text-align:left;">"They wanted to brainwash you," Dr. Kayser said soothingly, trying to avoid making me scream in terror again. "They wanted to turn you against your own country, make you an enemy of your people.  They wanted you to become one of them, become a traitor and give the United States a reason to kill you."

<p style="text-align:left;">I sobbed again. "Can you help me?  I mean, you said yourself that Dragovich was a monster."

<p style="text-align:left;">"I cannot do much right now," said Dr. Kayser. "I'm sorry, Miss Coonz."

<p style="text-align:left;">"Please...call me Olivia." I said quietly, managing a weak smile before crying again. "Can you help me?  Please...I want to go home.  I want to see my family again.  Please help me."

<p style="text-align:left;">"I'm sorry, but I can't." The doctor looked at me apologetically, as if she dreaded what she was going to tell me. And then, she abruptly changed the topic. "You miss your family, do you?  So do I.  I have been thinking about betraying Knudsvig, but I will be compromised that way, so I cannot.  Not now, anyway."

<p style="text-align:left;">I nodded sadly. "Did Dragovich force you into the workforce?  Are you a doctor in real life?"

<p style="text-align:left;">"No," said Kayser. And then she returned back to the topic I was getting her to listen to earlier. "Do you want me to help you?  Do you really want me to help you?"

<p style="text-align:left;">I nodded. "Please...if you can do anything, anything at all, I'll appreciate it.  Will you tell my family I'm okay?"

<p style="text-align:left;">"I could get into a lot of trouble for this," said Kayser. Then she muttered something in German before switching back to English. "I don't know about this..."

<p style="text-align:left;">"At least please try," I begged. "If you can, at least please try to get me out of here.  I'll do anything to get out of here...please!"

<p style="text-align:left;">In response, Samantha pulled out another syringe, this one loaded with a powerful anesthesic. "I will see what I can do, but no promises."

<p style="text-align:left;">I smiled again as the needle entered my arm. Then Samantha stroked my hair again and smiled back at me. "In the meantime, do whatever you can to survive this ordeal.  I will help you in anyway I possibly can, but if I am caught, you are on your own, okay?"

<p style="text-align:left;">I began tearing up again. "Thanks...thank you so much, doc."

<p style="text-align:left;">Then the drug entered my body and I fell asleep.

<p style="text-align:left;">

<p style="text-align:center;">

<p style="text-align:center;">Yucatan, Mexico

<p style="text-align:center;">May 21, 2027

<p style="text-align:center;">Lexy Kuper

<p style="text-align:center;">

<p style="text-align:left;">I was definitely not going to spend my time in the military being tortured for information by these jerks wanting to know what my mission was in Switzerland. Heck, I wasn't even involved  but apparently these guys thought I was, somehow. The guy who kept on dunking me in a tub of cold water-a Russian by the looks of it-said, "Where are the others?" I just stared at him blankly, but then my blank expression turned into that of anger.

<p style="text-align:left;">"I'm not giving you anything," I hissed between clenched teeth.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Well, that's too bad, then," said the unmistakable voice of Luke Knudsvig, who suddenly threw me to the ground.

<p style="text-align:left;">WHAM! His fist slammed right into my face and I was out cold.

<p style="text-align:left;">

<p style="text-align:left;"> <h3 style="text-align:left;">Chapter 2: The Pill

<p style="text-align:center;">San Diego, California

<p style="text-align:center;">May 21, 2027

<p style="text-align:center;">Teresita Killmade

<p style="text-align:center;">

<p style="text-align:left;">Thomas Cheng, AKA Tommy, was a short, shrimpy little guy. At age 5, he seemed vulnerable, just like a child would be. His brown eyes, black hair, and olive skin told me that clearly this kid was an Asian. Tommy's mother, Sherri, was-just like my mother was-happy that I was going to babysit this guy for a few days while the Chengs went on vacation.

<p style="text-align:left;">The Chengs' residence in Beverly Hills looked a lot like my own; both had white walls and red brick roofs. But they had an even bigger swimming pool and an even bigger basement, which made me jealous. Apparently, the guy's room was medium sized and had a crib. The walls were all yellow(ish) and the paint looked all flaky and old. Attached to the crib was a note telling me of Tommy's schedule.

<p style="text-align:left;">He'd wake up at 7:00 AM and for breakfast, he'd want cereal with milk (the note didn't really specify what kind of cereal, but I was told he liked Cookie Crisps). From 8:00 A.M. until the afternoon, he'd have his freetime. Then he would have lunch and then he'd play around until the evening (unless he was so tired he needed a nap), and his bedtime was 9:30 P.M. My mother was talking with Mrs. Cheng and during this time, I took a good look at Tommy. He was apparently playing with some LEGO blocks and building what I thought was a helicopter.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Um, hi," I said awkwardly. "I'm Teresita.  Wow!  That's a nice helicopter!"

<p style="text-align:left;">Tommy looked up at me. "Thank you."

<p style="text-align:left;">The minute he said that, I wanted to hug him; the guy made me like my job because of the fact he was cute! I don't know why I even hated the job in the first place. As I hugged him, Tommy suddenly said, "Your house is far away?"

<p style="text-align:left;">I looked at him awkardly again. "Um, yeah.  I live, like, six or seven minutes away from you, so it is pretty far."

<p style="text-align:left;">"Oh." Tommy smiled at me. Then he pointed at my mother, who looked more German than Hispanic (yeah, I was adopted by Germans). He took a moment to look at my mother's blonde hair, her weathered skin and her blue eyes. "Is that your mom?"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Yes," I said quietly. "That's my Mom."

<p style="text-align:left;">"Oh." Tommy then lightly punched me in the elbow. "Are you going to visit?"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Um, I'm actually going to babysit you, you know look after you, for a couple of weeks while your parents go on vacation, okay?" I smiled at him and Tommy, being the cute five year old he was, smiled back.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Okay," Tommy said, then lightly punched me in the elbow again. "Let's go!"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Go where?" I asked, watching Tommy running outside. I followed him. "Go where?"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Go have fun!" Tommy squealed as he belly-flopped on the grass and stared up at the sky.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Um, okay," I said, turning to Mrs. Cheng, who was saying bye with my Mom and getting into her Toyota Sienna, which was apparently converted into the family's vacation vehicle. "I'm coming."

<p style="text-align:left;">Mrs. Cheng suddenly looked through the windshield at me. "Hey, Teresita!"

<p style="text-align:left;">"What?" I called out.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Make sure Tommy doesn't make a jerk out of himself while we're gone, okay?" Mrs. Cheng smiled at me. "He can be quite a crazy bud!"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Um, okay," I said. "Bye!"

<p style="text-align:left;">Once the car was gone, Mom walked up to me. "Are you sure you have this under control?  I mean, he could-"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Mom, I'm fine,"  I said and then joined Tommy outside. "Tommy, I'm coming!"

<p style="text-align:left;">

<p style="text-align:left;">I ran outside, only to see Tommy running into the backyard. Following him there, I saw a large shed. And Tommy was pointing at it. He started screaming, "Look!" I joined him and stared at the shed, feeling a sudden weird temptation to go in there and see what was inside. I looked at Tommy, who was jumping up and down with delight. "I want to go in there!" he screamed.

<p style="text-align:left;">I looked at him blankly. "What?" Then I looked at the building and shrugged. "Okay, fine.  Let's go in there."

<p style="text-align:left;">I followed Tommy inside the shed and found a whole lot of things, from garden tools to random garbage just lying around.

<p style="text-align:left;">And then Tommy saw something really attractive: an orange capsule.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Oh, what's that?" he asked, pointing at the capsule and then running over to it and picking it up. "is this edible?"

<p style="text-align:left;">Tommy was pointing at a bunch of weird looking pills inside the capsule. He was apparently trying to make sure if it was edible. I wasn't so sure. "I wouldn't eat that if I were you."

<p style="text-align:left;">But Tommy was already picking up a glass of water. "I wonder if this is edible.  Can I eat it?"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Um, I wouldn't eat that-" I began to say, only to see Tommy open up that thing and pop one of the pills into his mouth. "Tommy, NO!" I screamed.

<p style="text-align:left;">But he'd already grabbed a water bottle and swallowed the whole thing down. "Tommy, you'll get sick!" I screamed. "We need to-!"

<p style="text-align:left;">

<p style="text-align:left;">My jaw hung open as Tommy suddenly began to feel dizzy. He started walking around in circles and then, after a little yawn, collapsed onto a dirty old mattress. "Oh, no!" I screamed, picking the little guy up. "Tommy!" I rushed him back to the house, then snatched my phone and was about to call 9-11, when Tommy suddenly awoke, sputtering and gasping, as if he was having a severe asthma attack. However, he calmed down later and looked at me.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Hi, Teresita," he said, his voice unusually normal again. "Are you, um, okay?"

<p style="text-align:left;">I froze; this guy suddenly began talking like an adult! And it was all because of that freaking pill! I dropped the phone. "How are you able to-?"

<p style="text-align:left;">"What, that thing?" Tommy asked, jumping up in the air. "Oh, that's just some weird thing some jerk dropped!  Um, are you feeling okay?"

<p style="text-align:left;">"You're talking like an adult..." I stuttered.

<p style="text-align:left;">And then Tommy said, "What's an equation?"

<p style="text-align:left;">What the fudge? I thought. That pill gives five-year old kids the ability to think and act like adults?

<p style="text-align:left;">"What's an equation?" Tommy asked again.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Uh, an equation is...err, a set of mathematical symbols that represent a relationship," I stammered. "Uh, Tommy...how did that pill-?"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Oh, I don't know," said Tommy. And then he yawned again. "I'm getting tired.  Is it nap time yet?"

<p style="text-align:left;"> <h3 style="text-align:left;">Chapter 3: The craziest things are made possible by the weirdest people

<p style="text-align:center;">Yucatan, Mexico

<p style="text-align:center;">May 21, 2027

<p style="text-align:center;">Olivia Coonz

<p style="text-align:center;">

<p style="text-align:left;">"Coonz?" I heard a voice whispering near me. "Coonz...they say this is your name.  You know something about Knudsvig.  They know that you know something....about Knudsvig...about Daddario.  They know of your mission to rescue the President's daughter in Switzerland, which you undertook seven years ago." I groaned; the past few hours were spent enduring beatings, tasings, and pokes from red-hot iron sticks. My whole side was hurting and I felt like my insides were on fire.

<p style="text-align:left;">Literally on fire.

<p style="text-align:left;">"AAARGH!!  W-who are you?" I gasped painfully. "What's your name?...My side!  AAAGH!"

<p style="text-align:left;">I felt a hand on my throbbing shoulder and I winced in pain. "GAAH!-It hurts so much!"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Hey, it's okay," another voice said. "Olivia?  Olivia, can you hear me?  Are you okay?"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Back off," said a third voice. "She's hurt.  Let me-!"

<p style="text-align:left;">"AAAGH!" I screamed and sobbed at the same time, feeling someone touching my throbbing leg. "My leg!  Whoever's doing that, please stop!  It hurts so much!"

<p style="text-align:left;">Another hand was on my back, and a voice said soothingly, "You're going to be all right, my friend."

<p style="text-align:left;">I opened my eyes, flinching in pain, and looked up at the person talking to me.

<p style="text-align:left;">The first person I saw was...VIKTOR REZNOV!

<p style="text-align:left;">No way, I thought. ''Either this guy walked through that time bridge, or he came back from the dead, or both! I thought he was dead!''

<p style="text-align:left;">"How long's she been in here?" asked none other than Frank Woods (who apparently also walked through the time bridge from Call of Duty: Black Ops and Black Ops II).

<p style="text-align:left;">I looked to the right of Frank and came face to face with another character, this one from a book written by the guy David Baldacci. To be honest, however, this guy looked more like the actor Jeremy Renner or something, because of his facial design, his hairdo, his voice.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Fudge," said Will. "She's too injured to help us out with our little revolt.  She'll hinder our escape!"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Escape?" I asked through clenched teeth.

<p style="text-align:left;">"I thought you comrades remembered the plan," said the second voice. I turned and saw that it was none other than Tatiana Chirkova, AKA Emma Wideman. I recognized her because of the blue eyes and the blonde hairdo. "We grab any prisoners in the cell, including newcomers like her, and get out as a team."

<p style="text-align:left;">Woods swore. "That's a lousy plan. We're talking about the Anarchist army here. They come at you with brute force, which means strength in numbers and heavy armor. Are your men ready for that?  More importantly, is she ready for that?"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Ready for what?" I gasped through the pain. "Are you planning to break out."

<p style="text-align:left;">"Yeah, until the whore showed up.  That's you," hissed Woods, thrusting a finger at me.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Hey!" I gasp-barked. "Watch your language, you idiot!"

<p style="text-align:left;">

<p style="text-align:left;">Oh, stink, I thought. I crossed the line. Woods' face twisted into a fiery rage and he started yelling. "What did you call me?!" Suddenly, he threw a table and started advancing toward me like a raging bull. It made me shoot up out of the bed, ignoring the pain in my shoulder.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Woods!" screamed Will, but Woods threw him aside.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Did you call me an idiot?!  Huh?  Did you call me an idiot?!" Frank started throwing chairs and tables all over the place until he got to me. And then, he punched me right in the freakin' face!

<p style="text-align:left;">"Dirty whore!  Get up!  I said, get up!" The guy was on top of me, clobbering my face and body despite my already burning wounds. "Get up!" Woods hauled me to my feet, and that was when I gave him a piece of my mind.

<p style="text-align:left;">"AAAAARGH!!!!" I screamed bloody murder, grabbed Woods and-with my awesomeness-lifted him five feet off the floor and slammed him into the back wall while holding his neck. "I could crush you, you hear me?"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Stop it-!" Woods started choking, and the rest of the prison inmates in my cell looked at me with mixed expressions of surprise and disbelief.

<p style="text-align:left;">"I could CRUSH YOU!" I cried, and then threw him really hard to the floor across the room. The man's body slid across the floor and then stopped inches from the back wall, leaving the other prisoners flabbergasted and staring at each other-and eventually at me-with weird looks.

<p style="text-align:left;">There was about two minutes of silence before Will suddenly spoke up, "How in the blazes were you able to pull that off, kid?  You're only a teen, yet you threw him, like, five feet across the floor!  You could've killed him!"

<p style="text-align:left;">"The cocksucker almost broke my ribs!" Woods groaned on the floor.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Now we definitely need her!" said Reznov. "If she could do that to Woods, she could do that to anybody!"

<p style="text-align:left;">"What about Luke?" said another voice-a Scottish one. I turned and saw none other than John "Soap" MacTavish emerging from the darkness. He'd apparently been watching the whole scene from behind the sidelines.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Soap, stay out of this, kid!" spat Woods, getting up while groaning in pain. "You got no part in this plan!"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Actually, I do," Soap said, smiling. "And I think we have a way of getting our already-burnt rear ends out of here.  But we'll need her help."

<p style="text-align:left;">I looked at Soap, gasping for breath (throwing a guy who is ten times heavier than you takes a lot of force, just so you know). "You need my help?  But you heard what the other guy said.  I could've killed him!"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Exactly," said Soap. "With power like that, you could brutalize anyone.  Even that merchant banker Luke Knudsvig."

<p style="text-align:left;">"You sure?" I said, clutching my stomach in pain.

<p style="text-align:left;">Soap smiled. "Guarantee it, mate.  That evil merchant banker's days are numbered!"

<p style="text-align:left;">

<p style="text-align:center;">San Diego, California

<p style="text-align:center;">May 22, 2027

<p style="text-align:center;">Teresita Killmade

<p style="text-align:center;">

<p style="text-align:left;">When I awoke the next morning, I heard a car horn beeping and Tommy Cheng laughing outside. I got up out of bed and after walking outside, I saw the little guy himself standing up with a pair of car keys in his hand. He'd apparently learned how to honk the horn on the car with his parents' keys!

<p style="text-align:left;">"Hey, would you turn it down!" I heard someone-presumably a neighbor-screaming outside. "I'm trying to sleep!"

<p style="text-align:left;">Almost immediately, Tommy shut the horn off. I looked at Tommy. "How'd you do that?"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Um, I tried the button with the horn on it and it worked," Tommy said, shrugging. "You don't want me pressing that button?"

<p style="text-align:left;">"You shouldn't do that!" I said exasperatedly. "C'mon.  Let's get you some breakfast."

<p style="text-align:left;">"Okay!" Tommy cried, putting the keys down on a table. "Let's go!"

<p style="text-align:left;">After pouring Tommy his Cookie Crisps with milk, I popped a waffle into the toaster and as I waited, I turned on the TV. I felt like it was the only way I could kill time while waiting for the waffles to get done. The first channel I came to was GNN (Global News Network), and the headlines on the news startled me.

<p style="text-align:left;">

<p style="text-align:left;">I was soon staring at footage of what appeared to be people rioting in the streets of various cities in the Middle East and Northern Asia, carrying signs and chanting in foreign languages. The headlines read: WIDESPREAD RIOTS ACROSS THE MIDDLE EAST AND ASIA! The footage also showed people being gassed by cops and mass arrests occuring in various different countries in Southeast Asia, North Africa, and the Mediterrannean region of Europe.

<p style="text-align:left;">"...Now the mysterious Anarchist Coalition has crowdsourced numerous simultaneous protests and sparked violent riots in both the Middle East and Southern Asia..." The reporter droned on and on.

<p style="text-align:left;">What the fudge? I thought. Luke Knudsvig is rallying followers to rebel against their governments?

<p style="text-align:left;">"Never before seen in public, who really is the leader of the Anarchist Coalition?" the reporter kept on going. "He's just recently revelaed himself as Luke Knudsvig."

<p style="text-align:left;">''Luke Knudsvig? How'd he rally up that many followers in such a short itme period?''

<p style="text-align:left;">I heard the toaster ringing and shut off the TV to eat my breakfast. As I put syrup on my waffles, I began to think about Luke Knudsvig and how he was able to rally up two thirds of the world to his leadership. However he did it, he must've had help. Maybe he had a lot of ads that people just couldn't ignore?

<p style="text-align:left;">I had to admit that this was going to be one question that would stump me for a while.

<p style="text-align:left;">

Chapter 4: Plan of Retaliation
<p style="text-align:center;">Yucatan, Mexico

<p style="text-align:center;">May 22, 2027

<p style="text-align:center;">Olivia Coonz

<p style="text-align:center;">

<p style="text-align:left;">"Oh, my gosh!" I gasped after seeing a beat-up Lexy Mae Kuper being thrown into my cell one day later. Last night was torture because I had to listen to Lexy's tormented screams all night as the guards interrogated her endlessly. I overslept later in the night and woke up at 11:00 A.M. (and was beaten up by the guards for showing up late for work as a result). Now seeing her beat-up and bloody like this made me sick. Lexy had apparently been beaten so much that she'd broken a tooth, her nose was smashed, and her lower lip was swollen. Her eye was all black and blue and her dark blue jumpsuit was bloodied and riddled with holes. Her brown hair, normally tied back nicely, was all messy and matted with blood.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Lexy, what'd they do to you?" I cried.

<p style="text-align:left;">Lexy couldn't respond. She just groaned and moaned painfully as Viktor Reznov and Will Robie looked at her pitifully.

<p style="text-align:left;">"She looks even worse than you," remarked Viktor, looking at me and then at Lexy. "Are you all right, American?"

<p style="text-align:left;">"AAUGH!  My name is Lexy...!" My beat-up, tormented friend gasped in pain and then tried to get up, only to fall down screaming in pain. "Guys, a little help?!"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Here," said Will, helping Lexy up and sitting her on the bunkbed.

<p style="text-align:left;">"T-thanks," she gasped painfully. "Ow!  My arm!  My side!  Everything...!"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Lexy...you look like hammered crap," said Woods. "What'd they do to you, kid?"

<p style="text-align:left;">"They beat me up, okay?" Lexy said between painful grimaces. "They beat me up for information." Then she looked at me. "Oh, my gosh!  Olivia, they did the same thing to you too?!"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Yeah," I admitted, hugging Lexy's fragile, wounded body. "But the good news is that someone has a plan to escape."

<p style="text-align:left;">"Who does?" Lexy asked, almost on the verge of tears.

<p style="text-align:left;">"I do," Soap said, walking up to the two of us. "I'm John MacTavish, but please call me Soap.  And, err, I'm sorry for what happened to both of you girls."

<p style="text-align:left;">"T-thanks," Lexy said, holding Soap's hand with her own, scratched palm. "Um...I'm Lexy."

<p style="text-align:left;">Woods walked up to Lexy, his face showing disapproval at first, but then curiosity. "She's your friend?  How long have you two known each other?"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Seven years," I said. "We've been friends for seven years."

<p style="text-align:left;">"I've known John Price longer than that," said Soap, looking at both of us. "You know John Price, right?"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Um, yeah," said Lexy.

<p style="text-align:left;">

<p style="text-align:left;">And then, Will Robie spoke up. "Okay, one of you guys tell me how this plan's gonna work again?"

<p style="text-align:left;">"We'll fake a brawl," said Viktor. "Miss Kuper, you might want to listen in on this if you want to join."

<p style="text-align:left;">Lexy nodded ethusiastically. "I'll do anything to get out of here.  Tell me what to do, okay?"

<p style="text-align:left;">"First, take this," said Soap, plopping a little pill into her hand and putting a glass of water on a table. "It's a painkiller.  Lasts a whole day.  Even in your injured state, you can still fight."

<p style="text-align:left;">"Thanks." Lexy took the pill, popped it into her mouth and gulped down the glass of water ethusiastically. "I haven't had anything to drink in a long time.  My lip feels so dry..."

<p style="text-align:left;">"Okay, you guys fake a brawl," I said. "Any other ideas, guys?"

<p style="text-align:left;">"I will fight you," said Viktor. "Well, the original plan was for Woods and I to argue and fight, but seeing that you have the potential to brutalize anyone, like Mr. Robie mentioned, I've changed it so that you are the one fighting me.  This is to attract the attention of the guards."

<p style="text-align:left;">"And?" Lexy asked ethusiastically.

<p style="text-align:left;">"You, Miss Coonz, will kill the guard that tries to attack me." Viktor continued. "And then I will showcase Step One."

<p style="text-align:left;">"Step One?" I asked.

<p style="text-align:left;">Viktor then directed my attention to a section of the wall, where someone had written on it.

<p style="text-align:left;">It looked like Russian graffiti, mixed with spraypaint or something.

<p style="text-align:left;">"I will translate," Viktor said, pointing to the wall. He then said while staring at the first Russian phrase on the wall, "Step One: Secure the keys.  When we secure the keys, we will unlock the other cells and allow our brothers and sisters to escape and fight the guards too."

<p style="text-align:left;">"I like the sound of that." Lexy began licking her lips, as if savoring the idea. She apparently wanted some hardcore payback for the abuse she and I both received during our years here.

<p style="text-align:left;">"That reminds me," said Soap. "Lexy, Olivia, do you have any other friends imprisoned in this facility, or is it just you two girls?"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Um, there's another guy," said Lexy. "Sam Kuper.  He's my brother.  And he's only thirteen.  He and I were captured together."

<p style="text-align:left;">"And there's a girl," I said. "Madison Young, Cordis Die leader.  She, um, was captured trying to rescue me a few years ago.  Now she wants revenge because her own inmates kept telling her I was being abused frequently.  She doesn't know of the plan though."

<p style="text-align:left;">"You can tell her later," said Soap. "Anyway, Reznov, you were saying?"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Step Two," said Viktor, pointing at another Russian phrase. "Ascend from Darkness.  We go out and kill everyone in the prison to avenge our own dead, our own abused, our own tortured friends."

<p style="text-align:left;">"Oh, yeah!" Lexy was beaming. "I love this plan!"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Step Three is Rain Fire," Reznov said, pointing at the third Russian phrase on the wall. "By that, we mean to burn the guards in their posts."

<p style="text-align:left;">"They have guard towers?" I asked.

<p style="text-align:left;">

<p style="text-align:left;">Soap nodded. "They have the towers posted all over the prison.  We must destroy them by burning them up, so that the prison will be blind in terms of overwatch."

<p style="text-align:left;">"Okay," I said. "What's Step Four?"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Unleash the horde," Reznov said proudly. "We unleash the wrath of the entire prison upon the guards and destroy everything in our path.  Step Five is skewer the winged beast.  That means that we destroy any helicopters the guards use to take us down."

<p style="text-align:left;">"What's Step Six?" asked Lexy, fighting the urge to run out and beat up every guard in the prison already. "What's Step Six?  I have to know Step Six!"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Step Six is to wield a 'fist of iron'," Soap said. "From what I've heard, I think it means we're supposed to fight with iron fists or something.  I may be wrong, though."

<p style="text-align:left;">"Actually," said Reznov. "You are right, my friend.  Wielding a fist of iron means to fight with an iron fist.  Well, that can also mean hijacking an armored vehicle and using it to fight the guards that way.  That's how the rest of the prisoners interpreted it when I first discussed this plan with them, but you can do whatever you can, as long as it involves iron."

<p style="text-align:left;">"You want us to fight the guards with materials made of iron?" asked Lexy. "Isn't that a little redundant.  I think it's the same as 'unleash the horde.'"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Well, the two steps can be combined," said Reznov. "As long as there are plenty of iron weapons lying around, you can use the two steps together."

<p style="text-align:left;">"What's Step Seven?" I asked. "And is there a Step Eight?"

<p style="text-align:left;">"No, there is no Step Eight!" Reznov laughed. "There's only Step Seven: RAISE HELL!"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Raise Hell!" Lexy cried. "Yeah!  I love it!  When are we doing this?"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Tomorrow," said Soap. "Tomorrow morning, when the guards make us work to death like they always do in the morning."

<p style="text-align:left;">"But why can't we do it today?" asked Lexy, a bit disappointed.

<p style="text-align:left;">"It is too dangerous to do it now," said Reznov, patting Lexy on her good shoulder. "It is too dangerous.  The guards will surely overpower us.  The afternoons are when the security is heaviest."

<p style="text-align:left;">"And, um, what time is it now?" asked Lexy.

<p style="text-align:left;">"It is 12:44 P.M." Soap said. "Noon already.  You girls apparently overslept."

<p style="text-align:left;">"When's the next work shift?" I asked.

<p style="text-align:left;">"12:00 is when the prisoners one floor above us are rallied up so the guards can work them to death," said Reznov. "At 1:00 P.M. the prisoners below us start their brutal working shift.  At 2:00 P.M. it is our turn."

<p style="text-align:left;">"They divide the work by time?" I asked.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Yes," said Reznov. "And the good thing about that was that it gave us plently of time to discuss our escape conspiracy."

<p style="text-align:left;">"Do we do it first thing when we get up?" I asked.

<p style="text-align:left;">"No, we're doing it as we're getting up for work," said Soap. "Our shift starts first thing in the morning, as you girls already know.  The next shift starts at noon and the last shift-and the most brutal shift-is during hte evening."

<p style="text-align:left;">

<p style="text-align:left;">Lexy took a deep breath. "If anyone else comes in before that day, are we allowed to invite them into our little escape group."

<p style="text-align:left;">"Of course, comrade!" Viktor laughed. "The more, the better!  We need as many people-both veteran prisoners and fresh newcomers-as possible to build this army.  Half of the prison is already riled up because of it.  I managed to keep everyone's spirits up today because of the plan."

<p style="text-align:left;">

<p style="text-align:left;">I took a deep breath. "I hope to God this works." I looked around at Reznov, Soap, Woods, Robie, and Wideman\Chirkova. She was apparently smiling because she liked my ethusiasm about the plan to escape. I was willing to do anything to get out of here in one piece and I could tell Emma wanted the same exact thing.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Wait," spoke up Lexy. "Who is going to lead this whole army?  You?"

<p style="text-align:left;">"I will lead the Russian prisoners," said Reznov. "Sergei Kamov, who has been in this prison longer than all of us, will help me."

<p style="text-align:left;">"Who's Sergei?" I asked.

<p style="text-align:left;">"I am!" cried a booming voice. I turned and saw an enormous guy in his thirties with big muscles and a formidable 6'6" frame with a shaven face. He walked up to me, and then looked at Lexy with the look of ferocity, which sacred us girls.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Don't hurt us!" Lexy begged. "Please!  Don't hurt us!  We're with you!  Okay?"

<p style="text-align:left;">"You do not need to fear him," said Reznov. "He is normally a kind-hearted person, even friendly.  Especially to Americans like you.  He only brutalizes those whom he deems deserve punishment.  Like the guards here in Mexico!"

<p style="text-align:left;">I gave a sigh of relief. "Thanks, um, Sergei."

<p style="text-align:left;">"My real name is Sergei Abramovitch Kamov, but you can call me Sergei." The guy's tone took on a friendlier tone this time as he spoke to us both. "I am, according to most people, the Russian Monster of Moscow.  I have beaten many enemies of various nationalities, but I never brutalize civilians.  Or children, like you."

<p style="text-align:left;">"Um, we're teenagers," said Lexy. "College students, acutally.  We're both eighteen."

<p style="text-align:left;">"Hmm.  I am twenty-seven," Sergei said.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Reznov told us you were serving here longer than any of us.  Is this true?" I gave him a skeptical look.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Da, this is true." Sergei smiled. "I know the brutality of the guards.  I even almost lost a close friend of mine at their hands."

<p style="text-align:left;">I suddenly got sympathetic. "I'm sorry.  Were you and this guy close?"

<p style="text-align:left;">Sergei nodded. "And you, Miss Lexy Kuper, may know this boy.  In fact, he tells me you are his sister."

<p style="text-align:left;">"Sam Kuper?" she asked, suddenly concerned. "You know what those guys did to him?  You saw him suffer at their hands?  Is he okay?"

<p style="text-align:left;">Sergei nodded. "They treated him like dirt.  Like an animal.  One of them tried to beat him to death with sticks and fists, but I was quick to defend him."

<p style="text-align:left;">"You looked after him for me?" Lexy began to tear up again. "You protected him for me?"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Da," said Sergei. "I treated him like he was my own son."

<p style="text-align:left;">"Whoa!" I cut him off. "Sorry for interrupting, but you have kids?"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Yes.  My oldest son, Dima, was sent here at the same time as me.  We were both brutalized by the same Anarchist Coalition and, well, he is now dead."

<p style="text-align:left;">"Dead?" I asked. "They killed him?"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Yes, for trying to instigate a riot," said Sergei. "Luckily, my youngest daughter, Katya, survived the ordeal.  She sucessfully escaped a day before you two Americans came here.  When did you get here?"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Um, we first arrived on January 2, 2025," I said. "We were, um, sixteen years old.  High school kids, actually."

<p style="text-align:left;">"My family and I," Sergei continued. "We came two days before you.  When was your brother captured, Lexy?"

<p style="text-align:left;">"They got him a day after us," said Lexy. "January 3, 2025.  When I first heard of incidents of prisoner abuse, I began to fear for Sam's life.  Then one of my inmates told me he was dead...!"

<p style="text-align:left;">She started to cry and Sergei hugged her. "Well, rest assured, American.  Sam is alive, and he wants to see you.  Well, he wanted to see you right after he heard from me about your arrival here on that day, January 2.  But I would not let him, for fear that he would be the next one to instigate a riot and go down like my son."

<p style="text-align:left;">"Thanks," Lexy said quietly as Sergei embraced her. "Thanks for protecting him, Sergei.  You're a good friend."

<p style="text-align:left;">"Okay, so you meet Sam, and you start to treat him like he was a family member of your own.  What then?" I asked, itching for more information about Sergei. I began to think that this guy could potentially be my sidekick, aside from Lexy that was.

<p style="text-align:left;">"When was the last time you defended him?" asked Lexy. "Did he survive another abusive guard?"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Da," said Sergei. "Last week, one of the guards tried to kill Sam after he refused to work on the grounds of being tired, when he was really being outright defiant after the guards denied him permission to see you, Lexy.  The guards were about to beat him when I killed two of them.  As a result, I was put in solitary confinement for the rest of the week.  They just released me last night."

<p style="text-align:left;">"Um, any idea why Sam Kuper was itching to see me so much?" Lexy asked, now sitting on the bed.

<p style="text-align:left;">"He was probably freaking out because of your situation," Sergei answered. "But don't worry.  He is in good hands with the others.  I, um, left him with my other friends back in my own cell."

<p style="text-align:left;">"How'd you get here?" I asked.

<p style="text-align:left;">Sergei didn't answer, so I just kept my mouth shut.

<p style="text-align:left;"> <h3 style="text-align:left;">Chapter 5: We (accidentally) started World War III <p style="text-align:center;">

<p style="text-align:center;">San Diego, California

<p style="text-align:center;">May 22, 2027

<p style="text-align:center;">Teresita Killmade

<p style="text-align:center;">

<p style="text-align:left;">Tommy Cheng wanted to go to the San Diego Museum of Man or something, and apparently so did I. Being couped up in that house kind of bored me to death. Besides, I wanted something to read and look at instead of just sitting around and watching TV. The San Diego Museum of Man was located at 1350 El Prado, Balboa Park in San Diego, and getting there was easy, since the Chengs lived five minutes away from that place. In addition, I always wanted to visit the Museum of Man.

<p style="text-align:left;">

<p style="text-align:left;">Once inside, Tommy and I started having a blast; we walked through the Footsteps of Time, which apparently displayed the replicas of skulls and reconstructions of early hominids, which apparently promoted human evolution (I thought the idea of humans evolving from monkeys is completely bogus). And then, we looked at Kumeyaay (ancient Native American tribe that apparently lived in Southern California) stuff, you know things about the Native American Kumeyaay tribe. Tommy apparently learned a bit about the ancestors of today's Californians.

<p style="text-align:left;">

<p style="text-align:left;">But Tommy was a little freaked out by the stuff about Ancient Egypt. Yeah, the stuff about mummies, funerary massks, and mummification kind of scared him. I think it was because of that movie starring Brendan Fraser where a mummy was resurrected. Either that, or he just heard scary stories about mummies or something.

<p style="text-align:left;">Anyway, we explored the San Diego Museum of Man and from there we went to the San Diego Aricraft Carrier Museum, which was apparently on the USS Midway itself. I had no idea how they converted a whole aircraft carrier into a museum, but I was amazed at the fact that they did it.

<p style="text-align:left;">The main exhibition area of the Midway was pretty cool. Tommy and I got to see airplanes and fighters from World War II and other conflicts in US history. I got to watch Tommy pretend to fly various airplanes from different eras in US history, from World War II to the Vietnam War.

<p style="text-align:left;">Soon after that, we went to eat lunch at Quiznos, right next door to my place.

<p style="text-align:left;">And then, the weirdest thing happened: Tommy, being the curious five-year old kid genius, suddenly found something that caught his attention as he was scoping around for something to do after sitting at a table, eating his sandwich (he apparently ordered it himself with money from his own piggbank).

<p style="text-align:left;">But then I found out that it was something entirely different: it was a laptop! And Tommy apparently wanted to play with it.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Um, I don't think playing that laptop's a good idea," I said. "We should leave it." But then I looked at the screen and saw that Tommy was staring at the screen showing the whole world with green and red dots all over it. And the top left hand corner of that screen said, Property of L.K.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Who is L.K., anyway?" Tommy asked, munching on his sandwich and savoring the juicy meat and tomatoes. "And why did he leave his video game here?"

<p style="text-align:left;">"I don't know," I said, totally clueless as to what this laptop was doing here in Quiznos anyway.

<p style="text-align:left;">Tommy grabbed the little mouse and moved the cursor to one of the green circles, which was apparently sitting on top of the city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia (AKA the Holy City of Islam). Tommy looked at me and shouted, "Look at me!" Then he pressed the button.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Uh-oh," I gasped. "I think you just blew it up."

<p style="text-align:left;">Suddenly, a bright red box filled the screen and then there came the words TARGET LOCKED! LASERS AWAY!

<p style="text-align:left;">"I destroyed Mecca with lasers?" Tommy gasped. "AWESOME!!  I LOVE THIS GAME!"

<p style="text-align:left;">The next dot he pressed was resting over the city of Hamburg, Germany. Once again, the words TARGET LOCKED! LASERS AWAY, appeared on the screen. Tommy started laughing. "Yes!  Goodbye, Hamburg!"

<p style="text-align:left;">BEEP! The next button he pressed was over the city of Luxembourg, Luxembourg. Another TARGET LOCKED! LASERS AWAY, message appeared on the screen. I was looking over Tommy's shoulder, sipping my Coca-Cola and watching him press random buttons selecting European and Middle Eastern cities and pressing FIRE, all while laughing like some gamer who knew what he was doing. It didn't feel real, the interface, the buttons, and all that.

<p style="text-align:left;">The next place Tommy toasted was Tehran, Iran's capital city. And after that Tommy blew up the city of Kandahar, Afghanistan. Later, he toasted some random place in the middle of the Sahara Desert in Egypt. However, pretty soon Tommy began blowing up random places instead of specific cities, ranging from a coal mine in a French forest, a part of the Empty Quarter in Saudi Arabia, and a random spot in the Gobi Desert, Mongolia.

<p style="text-align:left;">And then, he saw the message LASERS HAVE OVERHEATED! CANNOT FIRE! I looked at him and then at the random numbers at the bottom of the screen, which got Tommy really excited.

<p style="text-align:left;">"YES!  I GOT A HIGH SCORE!" Tommy began laughing while pointing at the numbers. However, I realized that the numbers weren't part of a scorekeeping box. Rather, they were part of a DEATH TOLL! The numbers amounted up to 35 million estimated casualties. Tommy was apparently happy that he killed thirty-five million people in what he thought was a video game.

<p style="text-align:left;">In truth, I had no idea what this laptop was. But I had a feeling that I was about to find out soon.

<p style="text-align:left;"> <h3 style="text-align:left;">Chapter 6: Extreme forms of aggression <p style="text-align:left;">

<p style="text-align:center;">Mexico City, Mexico

<p style="text-align:center;">May 22, 2027

<p style="text-align:center;">Gaylina Raskova

My name is Gaylina Ivanovsky Raskova. I am twenty-six years old and I'm an MI6 operative. Now, most people-especially the American Yanks-would joke about me and say that I'm too "smart" for the average spy. But let me tell you: that is wrong! I am Russian, true, but I ended up working for MI6 when I moved to London. Apparently my family was grieving my brother, Lev, who was reported MIA, or missing in action, although my aunt and uncle believed that he was dead. However, I knew what'd happened to him: he was on that mission two years ago, in 2025, with Olivia Coonz. Unfortunately, he was compromised and later captured by Mexican drug cartels and sent to the same prison camp that his American friends were now rotting in. But the surprising thing was that Olivia had no idea that Lev was in the same exact fudging prison as she was! Neither did Mason Davidson, Lev's other friend. I was dying to rescue him, because I felt like he was the only thing I had in the world-aside from Dima, of course.

MI6 was apparently planning a rescue op for months. I was told today that they'd reached a decision. I was going in! Last week, I was sent into Mexico, but intelligence was slow and that meant I had to wait a whole week to rescue my brother. Now, I was really excited because intelligence finally came through. And to make things better, the intelligence was verified correct!

My colleague, fifty-eight year old Howard Stivey, was looking upon me today with a smile. He was apparently happy about something and I had no idea what it was. I had a feeling he was going to tell me about a mission to rescue my brother, but I chose not to ask him.

Not yet anyway.

My handler, forty-six year old Preston Alderidge, entered the room after Howard. The man looked fierce, with a dark-colored hairdo and hazel eyes, as well as a pretty intimidating 6'4" frame.  He looked like he could easily strangle me to death, given his muscular appearance.

"Is this about my brother, Mr. Alderidge?" I asked meekly. "I mean, it has been days, no?  And Lev-he is still in captivity.  Shouldn't we rescue him?"

"Yes, I believe so, but first let's think about something." Preston unfolded a map and laid it out on the table before us all. The map apparently showed the prison, and it had arrows moving toward various different sides of the place. Preston pointed at one part of the prison, the part where there was a guard tower to the right, which he circled with a blue Sharpie. "This guard tower's active all night, but the guards take shifts.  The one on the left, which you see here..." He circled the one to the left. "This one is unguarded."

Then he started pointing at different spots inside the prison facility, located on the second floor, and circling them. "These cells hold the members of Olivia Coonz's assault team." He said. "But the prison has a security system that people claim to be foolproof.  Our tech guys claim to have discovered a weakness in the system, but we are not sure if it will actually give us an advantage."

"What's the weakness?" asked Howard.

"The prison's automated security systems can be shut down with a virus.  I've had the Israel Defense Forces work together with our men to create a nasty bug.  But we don't want to create too much attention or we'll get Lev and his friends killed." As he was saying this, Preston looked concerned and so did I.

"I don't want anything that will get Lev killed," I said sharply. "I want him out and I want him out alive, sir."

"I know, which means we're going to have to go to plan B," said Preston. Then he used his Sharpie to draw a line from a hilltop to the left of the prison and drew an arrow pointing to the front entrance. "You, Mr. Stivey, will infiltrate the prison from this area and create a diversion for Miss Raskova.  She will then move in and take out all the guards in her way and get Lev out.  It's pretty easy and it looked appealing to the other guys in the SAS, who'll watch your backs out there in the field."

"And when are we doing this?" I asked. "At what time?"

"7:00 A.M. tomorrow," said Preston. "Seven o'clock sharp.  So I recommend going to bed early tonight, okay?"

"Um, yes sir." I smiled awkwardly. "Personally, I'd rather go to bed early than watch Lev die in prison."

Howard pat me on the back. "Don't worry, mate.  Your brother is a strong person.  I'm sure he can survive another night in that jail."

But as I walked into my quarters, I started to cry. I began to fear for Lev's safety, for the safety of his friends. I began to think that maybe my aunt and uncle were right, that Lev was already dead. But as much as I wanted to think about the possibility, I broke it off. I wanted to be strong.

For Lev, assuming he was alive.

<p style="text-align:center;">Yucatan, Mexico

<p style="text-align:center;">May 22, 2027

<p style="text-align:center;">Olivia Coonz

<p style="text-align:center;">

Well, this was embarrasing. My buddies and I had been sedated and moved to a different room. No, this wasn't a room. This was a large chamber of some kind. The past ten hours were just pure horror. The guards came in, dragged a bunch of us from the cell-including Lexy, Viktor, Will, Sergei, and Dima, as well as Lexy's brother Sam Kuper-and dumped us into a large room. I had a gut feeling that this was another attempt to get information out of us. Another attempt to beat the information out of us.

I heard a couple of people yelling in Spanish and chains rattling, as well as Lexy whimpering as she was brought to the center of the room where the chains were. I saw handcuffs dangling from the ceiling, and a couple of chairs in the center of the room. Then the two of us girls screamed in pain as the Mexican gunmen and Anarchist guards shackled our wrists to the ceiling and slammed Dima, Sam, Will, Sergei, and Viktor into the chairs, their wrists tied behind them.

I yelped as I heard an abrupt scream from Lev, followed by a Mexican guy-a Latino in his thirties with dark hair and brown eyes-slapping Lev while screaming angrily, "What was your mission in Switzerland?!?"

"L-Lev Ivanovich...Raskov...!  Lieutenant...!" Lev rasped, only to scream when the Mexican slammed a taser into his ribcage. "AAARGH!"

I began tearing up. "Stop it!  Please...!  Don't kill him!"

The Mexican just looked up at us girls, now joined by a Chinese guy dude in his twenties with dark hair and brown eyes. "Won't you make me....Captain?" The man spat.

The Asian turned to Sam Kuper, holding a taser of his own. Lexy, sobbing her eyes out, cried, "Leave him alone, you sick dirtbag!"

"Make me, Captain!" The Asian screamed before grabbing a baton and swinging it right into Sam's face. I heard Lexy bawling and Sam screaming as the Chinese guy began to beat Sam with the baton, much to the outrage of Viktor, Dima, Will, and Sergei!

"No!  No, leave him alone!" Sergei was struggling violently against the chains, but despite his muscular strength the chains held him tightly. "I'll kill you, you hear?!?"

"Curse you!" Viktor swore. "Go burn in Hell, and suck on the Facist leader Mussolini's face while you're at it!"

"I'm gonna rip your face off!" Lexy spat. "I'm gonna rip your rotten arms off and beat the crud out of you with 'em!  Do you hear me?!?  I'm gonna beat you with your own fists!  Do you like that?!?  I'm gonna kill both you and that insane Asian dude with your own arms unless you leave Sam alone!"

But the Asian guy kept on beating Sam Kuper with the baton, much to our outrage, and I began to scream at him too. "I'll kill you, you hear me?!  I'll kill you, you son of a toad!  I'm gonna kill you!  Monkey-fighter!"

"Lexy...!" Sam rasped before being hit with the Asian's baton once again, this time on top of the head. The guy looked like he was going to kill Sam with the baton next, but was stopped when another Chinese guy screamed at him in Mandarin, before looking at me.

The guy looked like Mao Zedong, only younger. He appeared to be in his late twenties or early thirties. He was wearing a two-piece suit, something you'd wear at work or something, complete with dress slacks and dress shoes. His nametag on his suit read CHANG JING.

"Chang...Jing...!" I rasped, my throat dry. I apparently hadn't drunken anything in a long time, with the only time I remember consuming water being last night.

"Olivia Bernard Coonz," Chang mused, repeating my name quietly. "You are the one who is causing all this trouble, no?  You and your American and Russian friends?"

"Leave her alone, psycho!" Will roared at him, only to be zapped by the other Chinese dude, the guy with the taser. Chang looked at him and barked in Chinese, causing the crony to back down, pocketing the taser.

"Senor Jing, why?" asked the Mexican. "Why, if I may ask, are you preventing us from getting the information we need?"

Chang looked at the Mexican coldly and said, "I know everything." Then he punched me hard across the face. Smiling, he turned to his Asian crony and waved him off.

"Why, if I may ask?" The Mexican shot Chang a confused glance. "Do you really know their mission?"

"Of course...not only was I aware of the Swiss Alps operation...I engineered it!" Chang barked. Then he started laughing. "I am so smart, am I not?  I even knew Olivia Coonz and her dastardly assault team would show up!  I planned every move!  I even knew that Alejandro Rojas, the Red Hand leader, was going to die with his friend!  How could I not send my crony Alexandra Daddario to finish the job?"

I looked at him with a mix of anger, surprise, and total disblief. This guy ordered the kidnapping of the US President's daughter seven years ago. And he was the guy who sent Alexandra Daddario after me after Jack Reacher killed Alejandro Rojas and Pedro Santos.

"You did all that!" gasped Lev. "You planned the whole fudging operation to kidnap the US President's daughter?  You used Rojas?!?  You planned everything?!?"

"It's complicated." Chang laughed, his tone somewhat quieter. "But yes, I did plan everything you dealt with seven years ago.  It started with that attempted tradeoff Bhutan was trying to make with China."

"You did that...?" Lexy gasped. "Oh, my gosh!  It was you?  Why was it you?  I thought it was Kaylyn!"

"You thought it was Miss Bigley, but it was actually me," said Chang. "I talked the Bhutanese into making that deal with the People's Republic of China to sell half of the nation's rare earth minerals.  And I arranged for Solomon's Chechens to abduct Svetlana Price and her friend Brooke Connor, as well as you, Miss Coonz." He shot a glance at me.

"You told Solomon to capture me seven years ago, after I'd rescued Brooke Connor?" My jaw hung open. "But..what about the President's daughter?  My cousin?  That French girl Diana?  Yuri Gavrilov's girlfriend?  Why'd you do all of that?"

"To get to you," said Chang with a smile. "I did all of that to get to you, Olivia, after you escaped Solomon's grasp."

"And you did all those things to kill me," I said. "You engineered everything that I went through seven years ago, just so you could kill me?  But I'm awesome!  I can't die!"

Chang looked at me coldly, his smile gone. "I know your strengths and weaknesses, Miss Coonz.  I know everything you tried to do because someone fed me the information.  Someone else who knows you."

"Knudsvig?" I asked.

"Alexandra Daddario," Chang corrected.

I felt like I was going to throw up. He turned to his Mexican associate. "Tase them again, and send them back to their rooms!"

The Mexican nodded and started jamming the taser into my ribs. I began to scream again. "AAAAH!!!!"

"NO!  NO, PLEASE!  STOP!" Lexy begged, crying hysterically. "Liv!  Liv, stay with me!  Stay with me, Liv!"

I suddenly blacked out.

<p style="text-align:center;">Mexico City, Mexico

<p style="text-align:center;">May 22, 2027

<p style="text-align:center;">Gaylina Raskova

<p style="text-align:center;">

<p style="text-align:left;">

<p style="text-align:left;">I started to cry again as I sat at my desk in my quarters at the British Special Air Service base in Yucatan, watching the horrifying scene on the computer before me. Staring right at my face was video footage of my brother and his American friends being tortured by that Chinese Anarchist nut Chang Jing. Howard Stivey couldn't talk either; he just stood mesmerized at the screen, with Preston Alderidge shaking his head disapprovingly at the footage. He then looked at me and pat me on the shoulder, as if trying to comfort me.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Like I said earlier," Preston said. "Lev will survive.  Chang Jing is one nut-case of a man.  Never even cares about innocent lives in danger."

<p style="text-align:left;">"I just want to save him!" I sobbed brokenly. "I-I want to tear Jing's face open!"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Calm down," said Preston. "Chang is just one man.  We will get your brother out, and bring Chang to justice.  Just be patient and you will see."

<p style="text-align:left;">"But what if they kill him?" Howard asked. "Won't it be too late by then?"

<p style="text-align:left;">"No, no, no." Preston shook his head again, and then looked at the ceiling. "Chang does not just capture random operatives in the field and kill them immediately.  He waits until they prove their worthiness.  If they are kept long enough and still prove unworthy of further sparing, he kills them.  If they're kept long enough and they become useful, Chang spares them for a later time." I looked at Preston and then at the screen, my jaw dropping at the parts where Lev was tortured.

<p style="text-align:left;">"He is not going to make it, is he?" I asked, almost timidly. "I mean, will Chang eventually kill him?  Will Chang kill my brother before we get to him?"

<p style="text-align:left;">"He shouldn't make that decision that quickly," said Preston. "He doesn't.  It just isn't him."

<p style="text-align:left;">

<p style="text-align:left;">I kept watching until the video of Lev's torture ended and then closed the laptop. I looked at Preston, who was now sitting across from me with Howard. Both of them looked at me with apologetic expressions, as if they truely felt bad for what I was going through. I wiped the tears away and then looked down at the floor, while Howard reached over and patted my shoulder gently. When I looked up at him, he was offering an apologetic smile. "I'm sure your brother will be all right, mate."

<p style="text-align:left;">"Are you sure?" I asked. "I mean, are you really sure?  How do you know that Chang won't kill Lev so quickly?  Do you have any background information?  How did this man even become an Anarchist?"

<p style="text-align:left;">In response, Preston gave me a dossier, which included a mugshot of Chang. The profile stated that his name was Chang Jing and he was thirty-four years old. His height was 6'" and his hair was black.  He was described as Asian with the nationality of Chinese.  His mini-biography below stated that he was born on 1993 in Nanjing China and in 2011, he joined the People's Liberation Army.  He remained there until 2020, where after a recent promotion to Lieutenant General in the year 2022, he was captured on the front lines during a mission to kill Alexandra Daddario, one of Luke Knudsvig's lieutenants in the Anarchist Confederation.

<p style="text-align:left;">Luke later brainwashed him, effectively turning him into a weapon against his own countrymen. Luke was the one who turned Chang Jing into a brutal military commander, a merciless tyrant of a man. Luke was the one who instilled inside Chang a brutal personality. He taught Chang how to torture POWs and conduct the most brutal interrogations. He even made Chang kill civilians, which he did unhestitantly during missions with the Anarchist military.

<p style="text-align:left;">Luke had basically turned Chang Jing into a madman.

<p style="text-align:left;">

<p style="text-align:center;">Yucatan, Mexico

<p style="text-align:center;">May 22, 2027

<p style="text-align:center;">Olivia Cooonz

<p style="text-align:center;">

<p style="text-align:left;">I couldn't see anything-a dirty bag had been slammed over my head. But I felt myself being thrown violently through the air. And then, I hit my head off of some kind of wall and crumpled to the ground, screaming in pain. However, I felt that something was wrong with the surface upon which I'd landed. It felt lumpy.

<p style="text-align:left;">It was...moving!

<p style="text-align:left;">

<p style="text-align:left;">I sucked in a deep breath and then let out a muffled cry as I scrambled up, only to whack my head on some metallic object-a pipe, perhaps? Pain spiked up my head and back, slicing through my side and spreading across my back. In less than ten seconds, my back felt like it was on fire.

<p style="text-align:left;">"OW!" I screamed. "The pain...!  Make it stop!  Please!" I struggled to calm myself. I apparently landed on something that wasn't a blanket. It wasn't a pillow or some dirty mattress that someone left in the room. It wasn't just the wall.

<p style="text-align:left;">Because walls didn't scream like the object I landed on. And then, I had a startling realization: I'd landed on a person. It wasn't Lev Raskov, because it sounded too high pitched, and it wasn't Lexy because the voice sounded younger than this voice.

<p style="text-align:left;">It sounded like a child!

<p style="text-align:left;">"A-a-are you all right?" A terrified, quiet-but unmistakably feminine-whimper suddenly arose from the dark void. "A-a-are you okay?  W-what happened?  Are you hurt?"

<p style="text-align:left;">I wished I could rub my head, but I couldn't with my wrists tied behind me with nylon cables. "I'm fine.  Are you okay?" There was another whimper as I sucked in a deep breath. I felt so weak, so thirsty, that I could barely move. I was denied food and drink for the past several agonizing hours during that interrogation and my lips felt so dry, I thought that I was going to die of thirst at any minute. I could barely move, not only because of the pain but because of the intense hunger. My stomach growled and I wished that the guards had at least given me a decent meal before torturing me like that earlier.

<p style="text-align:left;">"I'm okay," the other girl whispered. She sounded so young, so little, so terrified just like I was. She didn't sound a year over eleven or twelve. I could only guess her age, and I suddenly had a startling thought: Chang Jing was more than a monster. He was a sadist, not even caring if the people he tortured were young children!

<p style="text-align:left;">Distress and panic suddenly filled my voice. This guy Chang Jing apparently made a living out of torturing young people-even kids! Judging from the sound of this other girl that had just started talking to me, I felt like my theory was right. Chang was a real sadist, pleasuring himself in inflicting pain and suffering on anyone-even young children.

<p style="text-align:left;">"What's your name?" asked the other girl.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Olivia," I said quietly, my rapid breaths hot against the bag. I found it hard to slow my breathing, to conserve oxygen and prevent suffocation. "What's your name?"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Kyra," The other prisoner sniffled. "My name is Kyra."

<p style="text-align:left;">I was quiet as I tried to assess the situation and process my thoughts while staying calm all at the same time. This child sounded so terrified, so weak with fear that it made me want to break down into hysterics. I wasn't the only one in this prison anymore, save for Lev, Lexy, Sam, Sergei, Will, and Viktor. I didn't know how many others had been imprisoned in this place, let alone how many friends of mine were being kept here.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Are there others?" I asked, struggling to keep from breaking into a full-scale panic attack, though it was really hard, considering that I couldn't stop crying. "Do you know anyone else?  Did you see others?"

<p style="text-align:left;">"T-there are two others," Kyra sobbed brokenly. "I land-I landed on one of them when I was-when I was thrown in here.  Both of them were unconscious at first, but one of them started moving, started crying for you.  He claimed to know you."

<p style="text-align:left;">''Was she talking about Lev? ''I thought.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Is he a Russian?" I asked.

<p style="text-align:left;">"No, he's American," said Kyra, still crying. "He calls himself...Davidson!  His first name's Mason."

<p style="text-align:left;">I gasped. "Mason Davidson?" I knew that Mason had been taken to this prison cell! I remembered seeing the Mexican cartel guys beating the crud out of him years ago!

<p style="text-align:left;">And then, I heard a groan and felt someone else moving. Almost immediately, I felt like I was going to have a freaking heart attack: it was Lev!

<p style="text-align:left;">"Slava Bogu," I heard my friend groaning while I felt him moving. "Olivia....you are-you are alive!"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Lev?" I gasped. "Is that you?"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Yeah, it's me." Lev sounded unusually calm, which was pretty weird given our situation. "Kyra, you good?"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Y-yes," I heard Kyra whimpering shakily. "Lev, how do you...?  How do you and this 'Olivia' know each other?  Because I've known her for, what, only two and a half seconds?"

<p style="text-align:left;">But Lev ignored her question, answering her first one instead. "We're...we've known each other for seven years."

<p style="text-align:left;">"Really?" Kyra whimpered. And then, I felt fingers clawing at the bag over my head.

<p style="text-align:left;">Ten seconds later, it was gone and I was flooded with light! We were apparently in a dark cell and a dying lightbulb hung over my head. I turned and saw Kyra in her full form.

<p style="text-align:left;">

<p style="text-align:left;">She really did look no older than twelve or eleven, with blonde hair and a baby(ish) face and light green eyes. Kyra seemed really surprised to see me, an eighteen-year old girl-looking at her. Something told me she never saw any other girls above the age of twelve before, assuming that there were other girls and boys around the age of twelve that Chang was keeping in this prison.

<p style="text-align:left;">"You're in college?" Kyra's eyes went wide as she stared at me.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Um, no.  I'm actually a high-school graduate," I said, then tried to move my bound wrists. "And my wrists hurt.  Can anyone, um, cut me loose?"

<p style="text-align:left;">Lev pulled out a small knife. "Don't move."

<p style="text-align:left;">SNAP! I heard something snapping loose and pretty soon I could move my wrists. I quickly brought them to my face and rubbed them before looking around the prison again, getting up. Kyra looked at me curiously, while Lev just looked on in silence.

<p style="text-align:left;">"What are you doing?" Kyra whispered, trying to be as quiet as possible. "Do you have a plan to get us out of here?"

<p style="text-align:left;">I thought for a moment as I scanned the room. "No.  Well, I mean kind of.  I'm actually looking for any, like, openings.  You know, places where we can sneak out.  That is, assuming that Viktor Reznov ditched the plan to get us out of here."

<p style="text-align:left;">"Who's Viktor Reznov?" asked Kyra, walking towards me. "Is he a friend of yours?"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Um, yes," I admitted. "We befriended each other during our time in the prison...well, during the time he was in prison."

<p style="text-align:left;">"Where is he?" Kyra asked.

<p style="text-align:left;">Suddenly, I heard a window break and pretty soon, the whole room was filling up with gas!

<p style="text-align:left;">

<p style="text-align:left;">"AAH!" Kyra screamed, grabbing me tightly. "Olivia, what is that?"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Gas," Lev hissed. "Get down and hold your breath if you can!"

<p style="text-align:left;">But I'd already passed out.

<p style="text-align:left;"> <h3 style="text-align:left;">Chapter 7: Tortured...again

<p style="text-align:center;">Yucatan, Mexico

<p style="text-align:center;">May 22, 2027

<p style="text-align:center;">Olivia Coonz

<p style="text-align:center;">

<p style="text-align:left;">I heard myself breathing rapidly as my eyes floated open and closed. While I drifted in and out of consciousness, I heard Lev getting beat-up (just like I'd heard when we were first captured) and Kyra crying her eyes out, screaming for me. I wanted to scream out too, but I was too scared.

<p style="text-align:left;">Hours later, I heard the unmistakable voice of Chang Jing saying, "Good, you're awake." I later heard him laughing and when I opened my eyes, I was staring right at him!

<p style="text-align:left;">"Nice to have the team back together, huh?" Chang laughed. I looked toward Lev, but then screamed when I saw that Viktor Reznov and Mason Davidson were with him too! We were all tied up, strapped to chairs and facing each other!

<p style="text-align:left;">And Kyra: she was right in front of me, tied up between Viktor and Lev! Turning to my left and right side, I saw Lexy Kuper tied up right beside me, sobbing quietly while exchanging horrified glances with Lev and Viktor.

<p style="text-align:left;">"We're just missing our other friend," said Chang. "Where's the other person?  Hm?  Where are your parents?" He was now looking at Lev.

<p style="text-align:left;">"You know I'm not telling you a darn thing," Lev hissed.

<p style="text-align:left;">BANG! In ten seconds, Chang had a Sig Sauer out and suddenly shot me right in the stomach! Kyra screamed bloody murder and I began gasping in pain, trying hard not to cry in front of my buddies.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Easy, American, I haven't even started with you yet," Chang said slowly, but sinisterly.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Liv...look at me!  Look at me, comrade!" Viktor squealed.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Yes...look at her," Chang taunted. "Show her how much pain she's causing you all.  Funny thing about your Russian friends...they let their men to save their own butts."

<p style="text-align:left;">"Are you serious?" Lev exploded with anger. "Chang, you're a sadist!  You're crazy!  You're fudging crazy!"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Well, that's 'cause I'm better than you!"

<p style="text-align:left;">WHAM! Chang's fist smashed into Viktor's face! "I've always been better, been smarter than you!"

<p style="text-align:left;">BANG! Chang's fist hit Viktor's face again. "But you...you call yourself loyal?" BANG! Chang hit Viktor a third time.

<p style="text-align:left;">By this time, I was struggling so much, I could feel the ropes break.

<p style="text-align:left;">Eventually they did and I charged, throwing myself on Chang's back in an attempt to strangle him! "I'll kill you, you hear me?  I'll kill you, you son of a toad!  I'm gonna find that sucker Tariq, I'm gonna tear his arms off and I'm gonna beat the crud out of you with 'em!"

<p style="text-align:left;">WHAM! Chang's fist swung into my face again and I fell to the ground. I heard him laughing at me again. "You got fire in you...and I like it!  Risking your life to protect your friend.  You, mister Reznov, could learn something from her!"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Chang, stop it!" I begged. "Reznov...he didn't do anything!  He didn't deserve this!  None of us deserve this!"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Did you know?" Chang taunted. Then he reloaded his gun and emptied the entire magazine into Viktor's stomach!

<p style="text-align:left;">"No!" Mason and Lev both screamed. Lexy, Kyra, and I started crying out eyes out while Chang threw Viktor's shot-up body to the floor and I started cursing at him.

<p style="text-align:left;">"To heck with you!" I cried. "Burn in Hell, sucker!  I'm gonna tear your head off!"

<p style="text-align:left;">Viktor was gasping in pain, and he was looking at me with hard, angry eyes. I could tell he wanted vengeance, but it was obvious that no one was going to fulfill his wish to kill Chang.

<p style="text-align:left;">No one, that was, except the rest of us.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Olivia...remember...!" Viktor gasped. "E-every journey begins with a...a single s-step...As long as you live, the heart of this army can never be broken.  Things will change my f-friend...as heroes, you will return to America's embrace...Remember me!"

<p style="text-align:left;">Suddenly, the gun was pressed to Viktor's head. "You will all suffer with me!"

<p style="text-align:left;">BANG! The gun went off and I felt myself scream again.

<p style="text-align:left;">

<p style="text-align:left;">Ten minutes later, when I came to, I was in a large chamber with a crowd of prisoners and guards. The prisoners were looking at us in completel horror and the guards were laughing. To make matters worse, one of Chang's guys had his gun pointed to Kyra's head! But this time...I was ready!

<p style="text-align:left;"> <h3 style="text-align:left;">

Chapter 8: Heart of steel
<p style="text-align:center;">Yucatan, Mexico

<p style="text-align:center;">May 22, 2027

<p style="text-align:center;">Kyra Sheridan

<p style="text-align:center;">

<p style="text-align:left;">I felt like crying; here I was, being pinned to the ground with a guy pointing a gun at my head, with a bunch of prison guards laughing and the prisoners watching in absolute horror. In front of me, I saw Olivia, surrounded by the big guy with the muscles-whom Olivia called "Sergei", and getting beaten up, while the guards were cursing and swearing at us all.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Come on!  Work, bar stewards!" I heard one guard screaming.

<p style="text-align:left;">I saw Sergei as he kept on hitting Olivia and I began screaming-begging, actually-for him to stop. "You hit like a child!" I heard Sergei scream.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Or do you only understand through force?  DOGS!!!" I heard the guard spitting on the ground and the gun was soon lifted from my head. Sergei turned to the guard holding me to the ground, and then began to approach him.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Hey, there, ty idiot!" Olivia spat. "Eban'ko!  You jerk!" I froze; I had no idea Olivia could speak Russian.

<p style="text-align:left;">The guy with the gun turned to her. "You always, d'yavol zechenschina!  You devil woman!"

<p style="text-align:left;">

<p style="text-align:left;">Suddenly, both guards were upon my friend, restraining her and beating her with clubs and fists! I began to cry again, as I felt helpless. I was only twelve, although I believed in self defense. I didn't care that my friend was being assaulted-I was too scared to do anything, let alone defend myself. I felt like I was going to scream my eyes out at the sight of Olivia getting brutalized when...

<p style="text-align:left;">SNAP! I heardf a snapping nosie and when I looked up, one of the guards had slumped to the ground in a heap. He was dead; Olivia had apparently broken his neck or something. The second guard jumped back in surprise, but at the last minute, I charged.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Get off her!" I screamed, throwing myself at the guy. Grabbing the club from the other man, I swung it at the assailant like a baseball back! "NOOO!"

<p style="text-align:left;">CRACK! I heard something break and pretty soon, the guard was at my feet in a bloody mess, his head having apparently been cracked open. I recoiled; I had killed someone for the first time! And even though I'd saved my friend, it still felt wrong.

<p style="text-align:left;">I'd still taken another person's life!

<p style="text-align:left;">"Oh, man...!" I almost gagged at the sight of the dead guy's broken head as I turned to Olivia and held her hand out. "Hey, pal.  Olivia, I...."

<p style="text-align:left;">"Kyra." I had a feeling Olivia was smiling at me for what I'd done, which prompted me to give her a weird look.

<p style="text-align:left;">"But-but I just killed him!" I almost started to cry. "I killed a person!"

<p style="text-align:left;">Olivia gave me a friendly pat on the shoulder. "But he was going to snap my neck.  Don't feel guilty because of what you did.  That guy was evil.  He was working for Chang." Olivia then looked at the dead men and took a pistol from the dead man's belt.

<p style="text-align:left;">She then handed it to me. When she spoke again, I suddenly cringed. It sounded nothing like Olivia's girlish voice. Rather, it sounded less feminine and more...demonic and sinister. As Olivia spoke, she took a pistol-which I recognized as an MP-443 Grach-from the dead man's belt and gave it to me. "This is war now, Kyra.  And remember what Reznov said.  He said every journey began with a single step." Then she turned to the rest of the crowd. "This is Step 1!" She bent down and secured another MP-443 Grach from the second guard.

<p style="text-align:left;">"SECURE THE KEYS!" The rest of the crowd erupted into a cacaphony of foreign voices as Olivia gestured to me, and then sprinted down the hallway. I followed her, with Sergei right next to me.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Step 2?" Olivia asked the crowd as she suddenly began shooting the other guards.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Ascend from darkness!" The crowd chanted!

<p style="text-align:left;">"What is the third step?" Olivia asked, this time in Russian. "Chto yavlyayetsya 3-y shag?"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Rain fire!" I joined the crowd in their response.

<p style="text-align:left;">"4?" Liv asked in English.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Unleash the horde!" I chanted along with the crowd.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Five?" Olivia sounded ecstatic as she continued shooting the guards.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Skewer the winged beast!" The crowd chanted.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Six?" Olivia was now looking at me.

<p style="text-align:left;">Trying my best not to break down crying like a little girl, I screamed, "Wield a fist of iron!"

<p style="text-align:left;">"And the final step?" As Olivia said this, she kicked down a door and shot one guard dead.

<p style="text-align:left;">"FREEDOM!!" I screamed, now happy again. This felt weird; earlier I felt sad about killing a guard. Now I felt happy to be going home!

<p style="text-align:left;">What was going on with me?

<p style="text-align:left;">

<p style="text-align:left;">I kept on following Olivia, keeping track of how many soldiers she was shooting to death. Eventually, Sergei ran ahead of me, tackling three guards at once. Holding the first two up in the air, he snapped the first man's neck and then violently hurled the other two into a wall, breaking every bone in their bodies.

<p style="text-align:left;">I cringed; there was so much death, so much violence, that I felt like I was going to throw up. But Olivia, however, didn't seem to care. Neither did Sergei. It apparently became clear that these two were becoming sadists like Chang. They wanted so much to inflict pain and suffering onto others.

<p style="text-align:left;">And it was all because Chang did it to them first.

<p style="text-align:left;">

<p style="text-align:left;">Suddenly, Sergei grabbed a pair of double doors and with his bare hands, he ripped them open. I was soon met with a very-much surprised Lexy Mae Kuper! And to her left, was her brother Sam Kuper! Sam apparently looked close to nothing like Lexy-not even close, despite the fact that they were siblings. Lexy had brown hair and blue eyes, kind of like Sam, but Sam had freckles and apparently, Lexy didn't.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Sergei!" Sam exclaimed upon seeing Sergei. "Nice to see you were finally able to break us out!" And then, he turned to me. "And who's that?"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Um, hi.  I'm Kyra," I said timidly. "Nice to meet you, um, Sam and Lexy.  I know the big guy-Sergei-looks intimidating.  But trust me: he isn't."

<p style="text-align:left;">"Yeah, I know," said Sam, grabbing a pair of pistols from one of the dead men. "Sergei protected me."

<p style="text-align:left;">I looked at Sergei, but he just ignored me. Instead, he just followed Olivia and the other prisoners into an elevator.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Hey, Kyra!  You comin' or what?" Olivia looked impatient and was hurrying me along. So I shrugged and joined her inside the elevator with the rest of the prisoners.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Hey, Olivia, you sure you can trust this girl?" asked a Russian prisoner. "She is only a child!"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Hey, she's twelve," said another man, who I'd recognized as Lev Raskov. "Give her some time, comrade."

<p style="text-align:left;">"Stow it, Lev," Olivia said. Then she turned to the other man. "I can trust this girl with my life.  I don't care 'bout age.  Kyra and I...we aren't so different. We are all soldiers without an army, kids without families.  Betrayed.  Forgotten.  Abandoned.  In this prison, we are a family."

<p style="text-align:left;">When the elevator door opened, Sergei and Lev both grabbed axes and began slaughtering the guards by the dozens. Olivia turned to me. "You have that Grach handy?"

<p style="text-align:left;">"I-I don't want to kill people...just to kill," I said. "It's just not in me."

<p style="text-align:left;">Olivia took my hand in hers. "I felt the same way when I was first introduced to the rules of war too, Kyra.  But you have to be strong.  Sometimes you have to fight back against the enemy-kill the enemy, even-to achieve your goal of going home.  We're all going to be free, Kyra.  We'll just have to fight our way to freedom, okay?"

<p style="text-align:left;">I nodded. "But it still seems wrong!"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Now it doesn't." Olivia said firmly, and then pointed to a heavy steel door. "Okay, guys, we're going to have to force this gate open."

<p style="text-align:left;">"Olivia, there are machineguns outside, waiting to cut us down!" I heard a voice screaming from the crowd. Searching the crowd, I suddenly found another man-an American, though he wasn't Mason Davidson-pointing at a small TV hanging from the ceiling. The screen showed a bunch of people manning heavy machineguns.

<p style="text-align:left;">I walked over to her. "Olivia, this is suicide!"

<p style="text-align:left;">Lev pat my shoulder, and so did Sergei. "Victory cannot be achieved without sacrifice, Kyra.  We Russians know this better than anyone." Sergei smiled at me.

<p style="text-align:left;">Then he forced down the door with his fists, only to be met with machinegun fire from the guys on the balconies.

<p style="text-align:left;">"GET DOWN!" A Russian prisoner screamed, pulling a British guy and a German woman to the floor. "GET DOWN, OR ELSE YOU WILL DIE!"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Kyra!" I felt Sergei's hand latch onto mine and soon I was being dragged over to a large coal cart, along with members of the enormous mob taking cover from the huge machineguns from the balcony.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Get down, sweetie!" Olivia screamed as we all pushed the cart. "You show your head to those guns, you're dead in an instant!  Stay down!"

<p style="text-align:left;">"The tower's gonna rip us to shreds, mates!" A British guy was screaming bloody murder. "What're we going to do?"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Have faith, guys!" Olivia screamed. "Keep pushing the cart!"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Left flank!" Olivia screamed. I turned and saw guards shooting at us, so I just shot back. But my gut was telling me this stil lfelt wrong.

<p style="text-align:left;">That was, until the guards began shooting back at us! I suddenly remembered Olivia's words from earlier and then began shooting the guards quickly, downing most of them. Reloading my gun, I turned to Olivia. "You sure I'm doing the right thing?"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Of course, honey!" Olivia smiled. "C'mon!  There's more of 'em on the right!"

<p style="text-align:left;">I turned and saw more guards taking potshots at us with high-powered rifles from the next balcony. I aimed my Grach and slowly dropped them.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Step 3?" asked Olivia, looking at me.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Rain fire!" I answered, now more confidently. "Rain fire, Olivia!  Wait!  How do we rain fire?"

<p style="text-align:left;">"This way!" Sergei squealed, and then smashed open a pair of doors leading to a building. As I followed, I noticed a bunch of prisoners gathering on the rooftop of the building, loading up a slingshot and then firing a burning glass bottle at the tower, blowing it to smithereens!

<p style="text-align:left;">"Oh, wow," I gasped. Then I turned and was met with another girl-this one with brown hair and hazel eyes. She looked a little shorter than Olivia, about 5'2".

<p style="text-align:left;">"Bella, meet Kyra!" I heard Olivia bark as she gestured to me. "Kyra, this is Bella!  Well, she was adopted by another family after being orphaned, and they gave her the name Madison Elizabeth Young.  But her real name is Bella Stewart Atkin!"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Um, hi," I said awkwardly. "Yeah.  I'm Kyra.  Nice to meet you, Bella."

<p style="text-align:left;">"Nice to meet you too, Kyra." Bella smiled at me. As she spoke, I noticed that her voice had some kind of accent; she always pronounced the letter t whenever she spoke.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Okay," I said. "Step four...unleash the horde."

<p style="text-align:left;">"I'll rally the men!" Olivia screamed. "Bella, help Kyra with the slingshot."

<p style="text-align:left;">"That's a definite can-do," said Bella. Then she pointed up the stairs while Olivia ran through a door. "Kyra, this way!"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Uh, okay," I said, following Bella to the roof.

<p style="text-align:left;">One of the prisoners-a Bulgarian man-said, "The slingshot is ready!  Kyra, let's go!"

<p style="text-align:left;">As I manned the slingshot, I could hear Olivia on a loudspeaker, shouting, "Brave comrades of this Mexican prison, the time has come to rise against our opressors!  Today, we will show them the true hearts of soldiers!  Guards of this Mexican hellhouse, a ring of steel surrounds your wretched prison!  We will crush all who dare to resist the will of the United American Federation and her allies!  Abandon your posts!  Abandon your homes!  Abandon all hope!  URA!"

<p style="text-align:left;">BOOM! The first tower went down.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Nice!" I was surprised to see that Olivia was staring right at me through the window of the building directly ahead of me. "Keep firing on the other ones, Kyra!  You are doing a good job!"

<p style="text-align:left;">BOOM! I launched the slingshot again and another tower went up in flames!

<p style="text-align:left;">"One more left!" Bella screamed. "Kyra, burn it to the ground!"

<p style="text-align:left;">BOOM! The third tower was down and I began laughing. "This is fun!"

<p style="text-align:left;">"I thought you hated war," said Bella.

<p style="text-align:left;">"I do, but I guess I have no other choice," I said, finally heeding Olivia's command.

<p style="text-align:left;">

<p style="text-align:left;">I joined Olivia at the foot of the stairs. "This way!  Arm yourselves!  Reinforcements'll arrive soon to defend the main armory!  We'll confront the guy who put us here!"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Chang?" I asked.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Yep," said Olivia. "Move, Kyra!  To the main armory!"

<p style="text-align:left;">At the last minute, however, my friend smashed open a cabinet and handed me some kind of wierd portable machinegun, called a machinepistol by the adults. "What is it?" I asked her.

<p style="text-align:left;">"It's called an MP7A1," Bella said. "You know how to work it?"

<p style="text-align:left;">"I think so," I said. "Thanks, Olivia."

<p style="text-align:left;">"No problem," Olivia said with a smile while breaking another weapon's cabinet and getting an assault rifle she called the XM8A1 assault rifle.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Don't be afraid," said Bella to the other prisoners. "Kyra, the main hall!"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Got it!" I screamed, entering the indicated door to a large room in the next building up ahead. Heading up the stairs to another hallway, I screamed. "Guys, they're trying to lock down the main armory!"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Don't let them!" Bella and Olivia both screamed-apparently in unison. "KYRA, GO!!!"

<p style="text-align:left;">

<p style="text-align:left;">Sprinting for the door, I slid underneath it-when Sergei suddenly grabbed the door. "Sergei!" I yelled. "Thank God!"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Just go," Sergei cried. "I'll be okay.  GO!!"

<p style="text-align:left;">Suddenly, I heard someone scream and ten seconds later, I heard the door slamming shut. A hand touched me and I momentarily recoiled, thinking that a guard had caught me.

<p style="text-align:left;">But it was only Sergei and Lexy! "Upstairs," Sergei barked. "Let's go!  For Reznov!"

<p style="text-align:left;">I took up the cry as I raced up to the door and, with Lexy's help, forced it open. "For Reznov!"

<p style="text-align:left;">"The roof!" I heard an American prisoner scream. "I can hear them on the roof!"

<p style="text-align:left;">"They too will be lambs to the slaughter!" I momentarily jumped at the sight of Olivia Coonz, who was now right next to me. I don't know how she managed to get back downstairs in such a short time period, but I chose not to ask her at this moment.

<p style="text-align:left;">After reaching a stairwell, I looked up and I felt like my heart was sinking; the vault was sealed shut by the guards!

<p style="text-align:left;">"Stink!" Lexy barked, pointing up at the door. "Now what?"

<p style="text-align:left;">"It matters little," Sergei said. "Kyra, step six!"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Wield a fist of iron," I said, but then drew a blank again. "Wait, what does that mean again?"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Follow me!" Olivia pointed to a door to my right. "They're trying to breach!"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Do not let them in here!" Sergei barked. "Kyra and Sam, go with Lexy and Olivia to the garage.  I'll fend off the attacking guards."

<p style="text-align:left;">"But Sergei-!" Sam argued.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Listen!" Sergei roared, but then his tone softened again. "Sam, you have been the son I never had.  But I have to do this...so that you and your friends can escape.  Remember my sister?"

<p style="text-align:left;">I could hear Sam sobbing as he nodded. I began to cry too; losing Sergei would be like losing a best friend. I felt that he was so strong, so bold, that he was almost like my dad.

<p style="text-align:left;">The dad I never had!

<p style="text-align:left;">"If I don't make it," Sergei said. "Tell my sister that at least you, my friend, made it out.  Tell her that I love her, okay?"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Yeah, I'll do that," Sam said, trying to hold the tears back. And then, in a split second, he was all business again as he turned to me. "Kyra, let's go!"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Wait," I argued as I followed Sam. "What about him?  We can't leave Sergei!"

<p style="text-align:left;">"I'll be fine," Sergei argued, grabbing an axe from off the nearest wall. "Go!  Move!  All of you!  I do not want you to die here in vain like animals!"

<p style="text-align:left;">"He's right!" Sam grabbed my hand and began pulling me toward Olivia and Lexy. "Let's go, Kyra!"

<p style="text-align:left;">

<p style="text-align:left;">I took one last glance at Sergei as he faced the back door, preparing for what was coming for him, and then whispered, "I'll never forget you," before running after Sam.

<p style="text-align:left;"> <h3 style="text-align:left;">Chapter 9: Escaping the prison

<p style="text-align:center;">Yucatan, Mexico

<p style="text-align:center;">May 22, 2027

<p style="text-align:center;">Kyra Sheridan

<p style="text-align:left;">

<p style="text-align:left;">"More reinforcements are on their way, mates!" I heard a British POW screaming as Olivia and Lexy led us through the door. "What are we going to do?!?"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Keep moving!" Olivia screamed as she and Lexy worked together with the army of rebels to force the door open. "Kyra, the blowtorch!" Lexy directed my attention to a large blowtorch on the floor. I recognized the device because I'd seen my dad use it before.

<p style="text-align:left;">"You want me to use that?" I squealed.

<p style="text-align:left;">Lexy nodded and I reluctantly picked it up. Lexy pointed at Olivia. "Give it to her!"

<p style="text-align:left;">

<p style="text-align:left;">I nodded back and handed Olivia the blowtorch, and then looked back at Lexy as she opened up another weapons locker and grabbed an assault rifle called a CZ 805 BREN.

<p style="text-align:left;">"I'm jealous," I said. "Bella gave me an MP7 and you get the big guns!"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Yeah, I know," said Lexy. "Sometimes I get jealous of Olivia 'cause she handles the bigger guns."

<p style="text-align:left;">"Keep me covered," Olivia screamed. "Bella, grab a weapon and help Kyra and Lexy watch my back!"

<p style="text-align:left;">Bella nodded and broke open another cabinet, grabbing an AK-12 assault rifle. "I got your back, Liv!"

<p style="text-align:left;">We then led the other prisoners across the walkway to a large security office, where I could see Olivia trying to open the vault with the blowtorch. "Concentrate your fire on the guards," Lexy screamed, directing my attention to armed guards on the catwalks above. "Keep them off of Liv's back!"

<p style="text-align:left;">Nodding, I raised my MP7A1 and opened fire. As I did, I felt like vomiting; I was still killing another human being, and it felt wrong. Even though I was in a war setting, my instincts inside me were screaming at me, trying to get me to stop firing at the baddies that were trying to blow my head off.

<p style="text-align:left;">But I just couldn't stop. What Olivia had said was apparently burned into my memory.

<p style="text-align:left;">"They've broken through!" A Russian prisoner cried. "Pull back, comrades!  We have to pull back NOW!"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Olivia, hurry!" I cried. "Oh, my gosh!  They're coming!  Hurry!  Hurry!"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Hey, this takes time," Liv said. "If I rush, it won't open."

<p style="text-align:left;">"If you don't they'll catch us," One pretty blonde-haired female prisoner begged. "Please hurry!  I think I can hear them!"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Almost there," I heard Liv barking. "Stand your ground!  Kyra, Bella, and Lexy, keep 'em off me!"

<p style="text-align:left;">Ignoring my gut's cries to stop the slaughter, I continued shooting the guards on the catwalks. As I did, I began to feel that we weren't going to make it out; we were destined to die here in this prison.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Kyra!" I heard a voice scream amongst the crowd and then I felt someone touch me. I turned and saw that it was Mason, armed with an assault rifle he called the SC-2005 (the latest iteration of another gun called the FAL, according to Lev and Olivia).

<p style="text-align:left;">"Mason!" I almost screamed upon seeing him. "I forgot!  Where were you?!?"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Helping Sergei," Mason said. "Olivia, you got that vautl open!"

<p style="text-align:left;">"They're going to catch us!" The blonde woman from earlier screamed. "Hurry it up, Olivia!  Please!"

<p style="text-align:left;">Wow, I thought. ''Olivia seems to be familiar with everyone in the prison. Either that, or everyone else in the prison's known her for too long to forget who she is''.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Almost there," Olivia repeated. Suddenly, I heard her scream, "Yes!" I looked forward and saw that she'd managed to open the door. And just in time too; I heard what I thought was a whole army of prison guards forcing their way through the back door.

<p style="text-align:left;">And I thought about Sergei again!

<p style="text-align:left;">"MOVE!" Mason grabbed me and pulled me forward, slamming me into the blonde lady's back! We both fell forward, with myself atop the blondie's body!

<p style="text-align:left;">"Sorry," I said. "The other guy pushed me.  Are you okay?"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Yeah," I heard the other woman gasping as I got off her and helped her to her feet. "C'mon.  Let's go!  Follow the others!"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Olivia, wait!" I began panting as I continued running-or sprinting, actually-toward my buddies. My legs weren't used to this much exercise, and apparently I could feel it in the other woman too. She looked to be in her twenties, yet she looked as if she never exercised at all.

<p style="text-align:left;">Charging through the vault, I suddenly saw a large cannon lying on the ground. "I got it!" I heard Mason scream and pretty soon, he was grabbing that minigun and lifting it off the ground like he was Arnold Schwarzenegger or something.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Wow," I commented. "You have big muscles, Mason!"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Yeah, thanks!" Mason said. "So, guys, you want me to wreak havoc?"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Step seveon, comrades?!" I heard Olivia chanting.

<p style="text-align:left;">"RAISE HELL!" The crowd screamed.

<p style="text-align:left;">"For honor!  For revenge!  FOR OUR FALLEN BROTHERS!!!" Liv and Lexy both chanted, seemingly in unison. Then Olivia screamed, "Mason, use that minigun and wreak havoc on the enemy!"

<p style="text-align:left;">"I got it!" Mason replied and I gasped as Mason unleashed a bullet barrage upon the guards. Getting out of the vault, we continued down the main road, which seemed to be the main entrance of the prison.

<p style="text-align:left;">As I looked around, this seemed to be the case; I saw more guard towers and a barbed-wire fence lining the huge steel door.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Unleash fury!" Olivia screamed, firing her gun into the crowd. "Kill all of 'em who stand in our way!  Kill them all!  Show no mercy!  Burn this place to the ground, my friends!"

<p style="text-align:left;">I heard someone speaking in Chinese before a smoke cloud exploded right in front of me. I heard people coughing and Mason collapsed. The blonde woman whom Mason pushed me into fell on top of me.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Tear gas!" Olivia cried. "They are using tear gas!"

<p style="text-align:left;">"I got her!" I heard the blonde woman screaming, before I felt her dragging me away from the gas, and into a clear area, where I saw more prisoners running on foot.

<p style="text-align:left;">

<p style="text-align:left;">More and more of the prisoners began helping the blonde woman. I saw her turn to another prisoner and speak in another language-which I guessed was German or Polish or some other kind of European language-and pretty soon they began to help me too.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Move!" I heard Olivia screaming. "Get on the motorcycles!  Let's go!"

<p style="text-align:left;">"M-motorcycles?" I muttered. "They have motorcycles?"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Kyra, get on that motorcycle!" I heard the European woman screaming. "Let's get the blazes out of here!"

<p style="text-align:left;">"W-what?" I asked, dazed. "What motorcycle?"

<p style="text-align:left;">Suddenly, I felt another man grab me and slam me into the seat of one of the motorcycles. I turned and saw that it was Sergei!

<p style="text-align:left;">"You made it!" I gasped.

<p style="text-align:left;">"You it," said Sergei. "Sam, over here."

<p style="text-align:left;">Sam Kuper came running, and pretty soon, he got put on a motorcycle with Lexy. The European woman got a seat right behind me.

<p style="text-align:left;">"You want me to drive?" I asked.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Yes," Olivia said, taking a spot in front of the European. Suddenly, I heard more guards yelling and Olivia started to panic. "Go, Kyra!  NOW!"

<p style="text-align:left;">I looked at the handlebars and pushed the right one down. Almost immediately, the engine roared to life. I suddenly was speeding down the road, with the entire prison guard army on my tail.

<p style="text-align:left;">"More bad guys to the rear," I heard Olivia screaming. "Kyra, just outrun them!  Don't slow down!  Keep moving, or you're dead!  Go!  Go!  GO!"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Come on!  Come on!" The European screamed. Then she screamed something that made me realize that she was indeed German. "Kommen!  Hurry up, Kyra!  Sich beeilen!  Bitte!  They will catch us!"

<p style="text-align:left;">"You're German?" I asked.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Just go!" Olivia cried. "Move!  The key to step eight-freedom-is just ahead!"

<p style="text-align:left;">I suddenly saw a truck laden with guns up ahead, and gasped. "You want me to believe that this truck is the key to Step Eight?"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Jump on the truck!" I heard Lexy scream. "Jump on the truck!  Get on the machinegun!"

<p style="text-align:left;">"What?" I cried. But then I jumped anyway, with the German woman following me.

<p style="text-align:left;">"OOF!" I screamed, and then I heard someone else screaming, as well as bones breaking.

<p style="text-align:left;">I turned and saw that Olivia Coonz-with a little help from Sergei's axe-had snapped the guard's neck while Lexy was pointing at the machinegun.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Kyra, use the machinegun!" I heard her scream. Nodding, I got on the machinegun, and noticed that there was one little piece of metal located on the machinegun, and figured that to fire it I'd have to push the metal object down.

<p style="text-align:left;">"FIRE!" Lexy began pointing at the oncoming army of guards pursuing us with trucks. "FIRE, KYRA, FIRE!"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Kyra, what are we doing here?!" The German demanded. "You heard her!  Fire!"

<p style="text-align:left;">I suddenly pushed the metallic object down with all the strength I had remaining.

<p style="text-align:left;">BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! The weapon roared to life, and I began riddling the trucks with bullets, laughing with glee while watching some of them swerving and others crashing into each other.

<p style="text-align:left;">Wait, I thought. This isn't right!

<p style="text-align:left;">Suddenly, I heard a train's whistle blowing. I turned and saw that there was indeed a train up ahead, and Sergei-who was now inside the truck-was driving up alongside it.

<p style="text-align:left;">"THERE!!" Sergei cried. "Everyone's going to be okay!"

<p style="text-align:left;">I nodded and turned to the German. "You ready to go home?"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Yes!" I could hear her crying tears of joy. "Finally, we are going home!  Gott sei Dank!"

<p style="text-align:left;">"JUMP!" I heard Olivia screaming.

<p style="text-align:left;">And then-just when things wouldn't get anything worse-the truck exploded! I felt myself fall forward, and then-just like that-I blacked out.

<p style="text-align:left;"> <h3 style="text-align:left;">Chapter 10: The Hunters and the Hunted

<p style="text-align:center;">Yucatan, Mexico

<p style="text-align:center;">May 22, 2027

<p style="text-align:center;">Ella Coonz

<p style="text-align:center;">

<p style="text-align:left;">I joined Shadow Force as soon as I'd learned of Olivia's capture in the Yucatan Peninsula. Liz Johnson offered me the job, and I took it. Now call me crazy for joining an elite force of female soldiers at the age of twelve, but Mom was the one who came up with the idea. If you have issues, blame her. Anyway, duringthe months where Shadow Force had planned a mission to rescue my sister I had been training. And when I said training, I meant training! I learned to shoot guns, I was taught how to toughen up when it came to running ling distances, and I learned cool fight moves like piledrivers and stuff like that. I also got to learn how to ride a jet ski and a speedboat, as well as shoot a machinegun!

<p style="text-align:left;">Also, I really got close to the other Shadow Force members, as well as their allies. One of them was Task Force Viper operative Gabi Wagner. Gabi was kind of like me, with blonde hair and blue eyes. But she was both older and taller than me. I was only five-foot-one, compared to Gabi who was five-foot-four. I was twelve and Gabi was fifteen. I had a fairly athletic-looking body and Gabi was slightly more msucular than I was.

<p style="text-align:left;">But we were both tough.

<p style="text-align:left;">

<p style="text-align:left;">Gabi's friend Baily Ploch, however, was a completely different story. Bailey and Gabi had apparently been friends since fourth grade. Bailey and I, however, had a lot of differences. Even though I was just beginning to get to know Bailey, I was already discovering that even though she was fifteen, she was already tougher than I was. Bailey could kill any bad guy and not even flinch. I would always flinch and even scream at the sight of death. I was prone to breaking down into hysterics upon seeing someone-a close friend to be exact-die in front of me. Bailey was the same way, only she didn't go into full-blown panic mode whenever situations like that happened.

<p style="text-align:left;">Audrey Hoving was different too; she was raised a peacemaker in a Christian family. She'd always talk to me about religion and how God sent His son, whom the Christians called Jesus Christ, to die for His children. Yeah, I've heard that before, but who knew that a part-Dutch blonde girl with hazel eyes and freckles knew so much about religion? I had to admit, that I was not only combat-ready, but I also had my first dose of religious stuff. Audrey was about 5'5.5", a bit the same as eighteen year old Jamie Nicole Gebauer.

<p style="text-align:left;">Jamie Nicole was kind of like Audrey, only she had curly hair, brown eyes, and she looked to be my sister's age or something. She was Native American, coming from the Cherokee tribe. I was told that she and Audrey were friends since childhood, but I was also told that they'd been friends a lot shorter than that. Jamie and Audrey were alike in that they were always the "take-charge" kind of women. They apparently knew what dangers lurked in any mission's location and made sure that the team was ready.

<p style="text-align:left;">

<p style="text-align:left;">Sadye Weible, aged eighteen with a height of 5'7" and dark brown hair and blue-green eyes, was Liz Johnson's secondary commander.  She supervised my drills, and apparently she and I got pretty close too.  Sadye apparently was a fighter pilot, which made me jealous 'cause I didn't get my pilot's license yet.  However, I did prepare for the operation to rescue my sister!

<p style="text-align:left;">

<p style="text-align:left;">Now, in May of 2027, I was ready for action-thanks to the help of Liz Johnson, Bailey Ploch, Jamie Nicole Gebauer, Audrey Hoving, Gabi Wagner, and my own brother, who led Task Force Viper. Hours ago we'd suceeded in grabbing that Anarchist jerk Chang Jing from his hideout in Mexico City; Chang was apparently plotting something against my sister for something she did seven years ago, and we'd brought him aboard Shadow Force's Antonov An-225 airplane, where we tied him up good.

<p style="text-align:left;">But interrogating Chang Jing and attempting to get information about this plot was a totally different story altogether. The guy just wouldn't talk. We were obviously at the last straw with this Asian dude.

<p style="text-align:left;">

<p style="text-align:left;">"That's enough!" Liz Johnson, my reddish-brown haired, blue-eyed, eighteen year old commanding officer, had apparently been punching Chang like crazy for the past several hours. "What'd they do to you, Chang?"

<p style="text-align:left;">"The same thing China did," hissed Chang. "They set me free."

<p style="text-align:left;">POW! My fist slammed into Chang's face. "Answer me, Chang!  Where's my sister?"

<p style="text-align:left;">Chang didn't say anything  Instead he smirked.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Okay, you know what?" My brother, Sam Coonz, hissed. "I've had it with this jerk-hole!  Grab his chair!"

<p style="text-align:left;">Bailey and I looked at each other, and then back at Sam. "Um, what?" I asked."Grab his chair!" Sam roared angrily. "Bring that bastard over here!" I froze; it wasn't like Sam to swear in his anger. I guessed it was because he had anger spasms like Olivia did. It was all because of our cousin, Sophie Isabelle Steiner, who was killed by Anarchist forces while assisting Olivia in the mission that got her captured. I was told that Olivia was forced to watch that idiot of an Anarchist leader Alexandra Daddario kill Sophie Isabelle in front of her, and then she and her buddies were beaten and sent to a concentration camp in the midst of the Yucatan Peninsula.

<p style="text-align:left;">And I was told that Chang had a connection to that, which was why we captured him to begin with.

<p style="text-align:left;">

<p style="text-align:left;">Sam suddenly pressed a button on the side of the plane and watched as we pushed his chair toward the cargo door, which was opening! Chang started to laugh. "You think you will break me that easily by threatening to drop me off this plane?" Now I understood Sam Coonz's intentions by telling Bailey and I to grab Chang's chair; he wanted to throw Chang off the plane if he didn't talk! Almost immediately, I was seized with anger and hatred towards the guy. I wanted to kill him for ordering my sister's abudction. That and the killing of my cousin.

<p style="text-align:left;">"You're gonna tell me all about where you've taken my sister!" Sam and I both screamed, practically in unison.

<p style="text-align:left;">"What, and you will drop me if I do not say anything?" Chang said mockingly. "Bring it on!  C'mon!  Here I am!"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Answer me, Chang!" Sam screamed.

<p style="text-align:left;">"You really think you can break me with threats to throw me off this aircraft?" Chang demanded.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Sam, give him to me!" With the anger and frustration rising inside me, I grabbed Chang and punched him hard in the face, his head a mere inches from the edge of the open cargo door of the aircraft. I then shoved him really hard on the floor. "It's over, Lieutenant General!" I hissed. "We beat you!"

<p style="text-align:left;">But Chang just laughed it off as he smiled at me. "You haven't beaten me, American...you just made my job a heck of a lot easier for me." Suddenly, a huge Anarchist cargo jet, escorted by two or three jets, emerged from the clouds in full view of our airplane! The fighters did not have Chinese markings, indicating that they were not from the Chinese Air Force or anything like that. Rather, they were Anarchist planes, as evidenced by the markings on their fuselages.

<p style="text-align:left;">

<p style="text-align:left;">Their appearance was so sudden, I almost screamed bloody murder. "Back!" Sam and Liz both screamed. "Get back!  BACK!" And then, we lurched forward and our plane jerked backwards as huge hooks and cables started shooting out of the Chinese cargo plane. And then, I had the most startling realization; we, as the hunters, suddenly became the hunted!

<p style="text-align:left;">Chang looked down at me and smiled, "Hey, if you make it out of this, American, come find me.  There's always room for one more!"

<p style="text-align:left;">Two Anarchist gunmen suddenly dropped down from the Chinese cargo jet, suspended by cables, and then grabbed Chang. I watched as the gunmen jumped back up and the hooks reeled them back into the Chinese cargo jet, taking Chang with them.

<p style="text-align:left;">

<p style="text-align:left;">And then, I suddenly felt myself falling through the air! I was in the air, surrounded by pieces of broken aircraft falling all around me.

<p style="text-align:left;">"AAH!" I screamed. "Help me!" I felt like I was going to die.

<p style="text-align:left;">And then, I remembered my parachute; I yanked at it and the parachute opened.

<p style="text-align:left;">WHAM! My face slammed into a piece of our Antonov's wing and I blacked out. Seconds later, I slammed through the tops of trees and the next thing I knew, I was hanging from the trees in the midst of a jungle!

<p style="text-align:left;">"OW!" I screamed, looking around. I turned to the left and to the right and saw birds flying around, as well as monkeys calling and animals screeching.

<p style="text-align:left;">I was alone; I couldn't see Liz, Audrey, Bailey, or anyone else.

<p style="text-align:left;">I was alone for real.

<p style="text-align:left;">And then I remembered my knife. Bringing it out, I sliced through the ropes attaching me to my parachute.

<p style="text-align:left;">And I fell into a thorn bush!

<p style="text-align:left;"> <h3 style="text-align:left;">

<h3 style="text-align:left;">Chapter 11: Hunted by mercenaries <p style="text-align:center;">

<p style="text-align:center;">Yucatan, Mexico

<p style="text-align:center;">May 22, 2027

<p style="text-align:center;">Olivia Coonz

<p style="text-align:center;">

<p style="text-align:left;">I started drifting in and out of consciousness and the first thing I could feel as my own chest rising and falling and I could hear nothing but what I knew were birds singing. I tried to move my arm...

<p style="text-align:left;">"Ouch!" I suddenly screamed. I felt a searing pain in my stomach and suddenly gritted my teeth. My ribs felt like they'd been smashed with a red hot iron hammer five times in a row. I felt something warm oozing down my lower lip and the side of my head. I put my hand to the left side of my face.

<p style="text-align:left;">Blood.

<p style="text-align:left;">I'd been cut by glass and was bleeding. "AAH!  Aw, stink!  Sergei?" I searched the vehicle. Then after ten seconds, I found him-strapped into the driver's seat iwth his head slumped forward. I painfully reached over and tried to feel a pulse.

<p style="text-align:left;">He had none.

<p style="text-align:left;">Sergei Kamov-one of my only friends, and one of Sam and Lexy's only friends-was dead.

<p style="text-align:left;">The others had apparently run off-Mason, Lev, and most of the prisoner survivors. That left only me, Kyra, and the other German woman whom I heard talking with Kyra.

<p style="text-align:left;">And then, I remembered Kyra Sheridan.

<p style="text-align:left;">

<p style="text-align:center;">Yucatan, Mexico

<p style="text-align:center;">May 22, 2027

<p style="text-align:center;">Kyra Sheridan

<p style="text-align:center;">

<p style="text-align:left;">I awoke to find myself lying on my back. The truck had apparently flipped over on its left side during the explosion and I ended up inside the cab. Lev, Mason, and the other prisoners were gone and apparently, I was the only one left.

<p style="text-align:left;">Except for the German woman.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Kyra?" A weak voice rasped. "Are you all right?  Can you hear me?  Konnen sie mich horen?"

<p style="text-align:left;">A hand touched me and I turned to see the German blondie, only now I got to see more of her face. She had green eyes, as pretty as a jade. She looked older than Olivia-maybe twenty or even thirty. She had apparently been thrown through the cab too, and her face was cut by glasss just like I was.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Oh, it's you!" I gasped painfuilly. "Can you move?"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Y-yes," she rasped. "Are you okay?"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Yeah," I rasped. "You?"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Alles okay," she said weakly. "Hold on, okay?  Ich komme.  I'm coming." I tried to find Sergei, only to hear what I recognized as Olivia crying.

<p style="text-align:left;">

<p style="text-align:center;">Yucatan, Mexico

<p style="text-align:center;">May 22, 2027

<p style="text-align:center;">Olivia Coonz

<p style="text-align:center;">

<p style="text-align:left;">"Kyra...?" I groaned. "Kyra?  Oh, God...please be okay.  Kyra?" I started crawling toward the smashed passenger side door, which was hanging open. I suddenly screamed again. There was another blast of pain in my left arm and when I looked at it, I saw that it had been bruised and bleeding too.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Kyra?" I called out in the crashed vehicle.

<p style="text-align:left;">Nothing.

<p style="text-align:left;">Then a weak groan. A really weak groan. Later, I heard the German woman from earlier speaking, "It's you.  Sie sind es.  Kyra, where...?  Where's your friend?"

<p style="text-align:left;">"I don't know," I heard Kyra whimpering. "I can't see her, um..."

<p style="text-align:left;">"My name is Emilie," I heard the German speaking. "Emilie Hofmann."

<p style="text-align:left;">"OW!" I screamed again, flinching at the pain in my leg. "E-Emilie...? Um, I-OW!"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Is your friend okay?" I heard Emilie speaking again. "Hey, what's your name?"

<p style="text-align:left;">"AAUGH!  I'm Olivia," I rasped between painful gasps. "Olivia...Stanely...Coonz!  Kyra, are you okay?"

<p style="text-align:left;">"OW!  I hurt all over," Kyra groaned.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Liv...Olivia?" Another whimper came from the back of the truck. And then, I heard a cry of pain. "AAH!  My leg!  Olivia, where are you?"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Kyra, hold on!" I was frantic. "I'm coming!  Keep talking to me, sweetie!"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Is that you?" Kyra's painful sobs erupted from the back of the truck, and I could hear Emilie talking to her softly in both German and English. "Are you there?"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Yeahl, it's me," I said, dragging my beaten, bloody body out of the truck. "Are you okay?  Can you move everything, honey?"

<p style="text-align:left;">"I-I don't know-I don't know." Kyra's response was suddenly interrupted by a cry of pain. "I think one of my fingers-or maybe my whole hand-broke!  But I don't know which one...!" Moments later, Kyra screamed again. "AAH!  Emilie...!"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Oh, stink!" I was now desperate to get to Kyra and see if she was okay. I was now out of the vehicle and in a clearing. I could hear voices in the distance, voices yelling in Spanish.

<p style="text-align:left;">I suddenly ducked. "Kyra?"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Yes?" Kyra sobbed from the back. "Emilie, stay with me!"

<p style="text-align:left;">"I'm here," I heard another soothing voice musing in German. "I won't leave you."

<p style="text-align:left;">"I'm coming." I made my way to the back of the vehicle and sure enough, there was Kyra with her friend Emilie.

<p style="text-align:left;">Emilie had blonde hair and green eyes, much like mine except she didn't have freckles. She also looked older than me, maybe twenty or thirty. She and Kyra were both banged up, but Kyra looked worse. The left side of Kyra's face was bleeding and her left wrist looked like it'd been dislocated. Emilie had glass injuries on her face, and a bloody bruise on her arm.

<p style="text-align:left;">"She is okay, right?" I asked her.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Y-yes," she replied, her voice posessing a moderate accent. "She is okay, Olivia."

<p style="text-align:left;">"W-where did everyone go?" I asked. "Did everyone run off?"

<p style="text-align:left;">"I guess," Emilie said. "But I am not sure."

<p style="text-align:left;">I looked at Kyra. "You're a mess.  Honestly speaking, you're even more banged up than me."

<p style="text-align:left;">"OW!" Kyra screamed in response. I nodded towards Emilie and the two of us crawled in and delicately took Kyra in our arms before pulling her out from the truck.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Who are those people?" Kyra whimpered as the voices got louder, closer. "Are those...?"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Come on," I said softly. "Come on, sweetie, let's go."

<p style="text-align:left;">

<p style="text-align:left;">With one arm warpped around my waist, Kyra nervously followed me into the jungle, with Emilie watching her back. I kept my fingers wrapped around the Bowie knife I'd kept sheathed on my waist. The Spanish voices kept getting louder and I began to hear footsteps.

<p style="text-align:left;">Suddenly, I froze; a Latino guy decked out in a black ops commando BDU appeared, a suppressed MTAR (Micro-Tavor) in his hands. He was scanning the forest, watching for any movements.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Oh, stink," I whisper shouted. "Bad guy up ahead.  Kyra, Emilie, stay low!"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Is he a member of the military?" Kyra asked. "Maybe he can help us!"

<p style="text-align:left;">

<p style="text-align:left;">However, a few seconds later the gunman opened fire on a hidden person trying to crawl away from him. I froze; he was no member of the Mexican Armed Forces. He wa an Anarchist!

<p style="text-align:left;">No, wait. Anarchists didn't have insignias depicting red and black flags with twelve stars arranged in a circle.

<p style="text-align:left;">These weren't Feds, 'cause Feds were on our side. This guy apparently had his own insginia-one that depicted a wierd looking flag with red bars on the top and bottom. A circle of twelve stars was located in the middle of the insignia logo, against a jet-black background.

<p style="text-align:left;">The backpack the man was wearing had the words FEDERACION DE LA ANNA HOFF written on it.

<p style="text-align:left;">"No way," I muttered. "Anna Maria Hoff leads her own Federation?"

<p style="text-align:left;">

<p style="text-align:left;">The soldier turned around and suddnely screamed in Spanish while pointing at us! He was yelling for his buddies, apparently because the minute he started talking, a whole bunch of his men-all wearing the same black ops commando BDUs with Kevlar helmets-appeared. However, some of them were wearing ballistic face shields, making them look more like riot control policemen than soldiers!

<p style="text-align:left;">

<p style="text-align:left;">Kyra started to cry. "We're gonna die, guys!  We're gonna die!  They'll kill us all!" The man with the MTAR gestured to one of his men, who was wielding a suppressed AAC Honey Badger rifle. He nodded and walked forward, pressing the barrel of the weapon against my head as the man with the MTAR pressed the barrel of his own weapon to Kyra's head. Everyone else trained their guns on Emilie.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Olivia!" Kyra almost screamed, even though she was crying. "Please!"

<p style="text-align:left;">The guy holding Kyra hostage suddenly barked a command in SPanish that I recognized in English: "Kill them!  Kill both of them!"

<p style="text-align:left;">WHAM! I swung around and drove my leg into my captor's groin. I pulled out my knife and, while grabbing the soldier's rifle, I slashed it across the man's neck!

<p style="text-align:left;">"Kyra, Emilie, get down!" I raised my captured rifle and opened fire on the man holding Kyra hostage. The other guys raised their weapons, but I shot them dead as Kyra rushed to me, hugging me tightly with blood and gore from the dead soldier on her face. She was obviously tramautized at the sight of so much violence, so much blood.

<p style="text-align:left;">So much death.

<p style="text-align:left;">Emilie put a protective arm around Kyra. "Ssh!  Ssh!  It's okay," I heard her whispering. "It's okay sweetheart.  you're okay."

<p style="text-align:left;">"You s-shot him!" Kyra blew at me. "Y-you shot-you shot him!" She started crying so hard she could barely speak. I brushed some of her hair back and wiped the blood from her face, though little could be done about the blood on her clothes.

<p style="text-align:left;">"It's okay," I said. But I was mentally kicking myself for shooting the man and sending his blood on Kyra.

<p style="text-align:left;">What were you thinking, girl? I hissed at myself. Now Kyra's goping to get nightmares! However, she seemed to understood what I had to do, considering what I said to her back at the prison.

<p style="text-align:left;">"I'm sorry," I said. "He was going to shoot you and I had to do that thing earlier just so he wouldn't kill you."

<p style="text-align:left;">"B-blood!  Y-you got blood on me!" Kyra gasped and sobbed at the same time.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Sorry," I said. Then I reloaded my rifle. "But I'm a soldier.  It's what I do."

<p style="text-align:left;">"Olivia is right," Emilie said. "Soldiers have to do that in order to protect both their comrades and themselves.  It will be hard to get used to, but trust me: you can get past it."

<p style="text-align:left;">Kyra nodded, but the tears wouldn't stop flowing. She sat against a tree and looked around at all the dead men around us, the men I'd killed to save our own skins!

<p style="text-align:left;">"Who are these people?" she cracked. "I mean, why do they want to kill us?  What did we ever do to them?"

<p style="text-align:left;">"I'm not sure," Emilie said. "But c'mon.  We have to go.  They'll come back and get to us.  From the fact that they just threatened us and one of them told his comrades to kill us, I can tell that they are enemy soldiers."

<p style="text-align:left;">"I'm scared," Kyra said as she wrapped her arms around Emilie while following me. As she followed me, her sobs gradually quieted, only to get louder as she began to tremble violently.

<p style="text-align:left;">As if to calm herself, she let go of Emilie, ran to me, and buried her face in my waist. She began whispering to herself, "It's okay, Kyra.  You're going home.  Yolu're gonna be okay." I looked down at her, pitying her immediately. For a moment, she made me think of my own sister Ella, who would do the exact same freaking thing.

<p style="text-align:left;">

<p style="text-align:left;">And then I started to get this awful feeling that Ella was in the same situation that I was ; injured, tired and lost. All while being hunted down by mercenaries from Anna Hoff's own Federation.

<p style="text-align:left;">

<p style="text-align:center;">Yucatan, Mexico

<p style="text-align:center;">May 22, 2027

<p style="text-align:center;">Ella Coonz

<p style="text-align:center;">

"Ouch!" I landed butt-first in a thorn bush and screamed, the spiny plants digging into my skin and leaving bloody scratches on my arms, face and legs. I looked around; I was in a heavily forested areas with birds singing, which did little to keep me company.

I was alone; Bailey, Sam, Liz, or anyone from Task Force Viper or Shadow Force-they were gone. I was truly by myself and frankly, it scared me.

"Guys?" I called out into the forest. "Sam?  Liz?  Bailey, you there?"

"Everyone report in," said Sam's voice. I breathed a sigh of relief; my brother was still alive.

"I'm okay.  Sadye's with me." Liz said. "You good, Gabi?"

"Yeah, I'm okay," said Gabi on the radio. "But we lost Audrey!  I think she got captured after getting snagged!  I heard some enemies beating the crud out of Audrey while she was trying to report her coordinates so we could rescue her!  She's activated her emergency transponder!"

"Where's Bailey?" I asked into the radio. "Guys, where's Bailey?"

"I saw her getting snagged on some trees when we landed," said Sadye. "Ella and Bailey, if you can hear us try to find the crash site.  We are just up the hill, okay?"

"I got it," I said breathlessly and pulled out my standard issue Sig Sauer P226 pistol with silencer and tactical knife, with a sensor in the form of a wrist pad attached to my left wrist to alert me of incoming enemies.

As I advanced down the path, I suddenly heard people talking amongst each other in Spanish. Looking up ahead, I saw a guy wearing a black battle dress uniform with a ballistic face shield attached to his Kevlar helmet. He was holdinga suppressed assault rifle.

"Ella?" cracked Bailey's voice on my radio set. "Ella, can you hear me?  Are you okay?"

"I-I guess," I said shakily. "There's a guy right in front of me and I can't tell if..."

"Stink," Bailey interrupted! "I see him too.  You see the insignia on his uniform?"

I nodded as I looked closely at the guy's shoulder patch. I was staring at a flag with red borders and a black background. There were twelve stars arranged in a circle in the center of the flag. To be honest the flag reminded me of the flag of the European Union, which was recently renamed the European Confederation.

"Stink," I heard Liz gasp on the radio. "They're members of Anna Hoff's dictatorship.  They're members of the Communist Federation of South America!"

I drew a blank. "Anna Hoff has a Federation?  She's a dictator?"

"No time to explain now," saidf Liz. "All I can tell 'ya is that they're evil.  All units, you are cleared to engage if they see you."

"I'm right next to the guy," said Bailey. "Hold on..."

Suddenly, Bailey Ploch burst out from the bushes to the right of the guy, grabbing him and stabbing him in the side of his neck while dragging him into the roots of a strangler fig tree. I ran forward, watching his legs disappear into the shady tree and there, I saw Bailey Ploch.

Bailey's brown-red hair was flowing to her shoulders, wet. She apparently had landed in a pond or something, because her clothes were wet too. Her waterproof boots were streaked with water. However, I was just glad she didn't cut herself on the thorn bushes like I had.

"Good to see you," said Bailey, grabbing a suppressed AK-12 assault rifle and an AAC Honey Badger off the guy's corpse, throwing the Honey Badger over to me. "You look like a mess.  Hopefully those thorns didn't cut you open."

I laughed. "Very funny, Bailey.  C'mon." I grabbed several magazines off the guy's body and then helped my friend up and looked ahead. "You know about Anna's Federation?"

"Yeah," said Bailey. "I overheard Liz talking about it one time.  Now follow me."

However, as I followed Bailey I began to think of my sister Olivia. If she'd gotten out of that prison, only to have to deal with these guys, I was seriously worried about her. I became determined to reach that prison-assuming that she was still there-and get her out. If she already got out, I was determined to get to her before these other Feds belonging to Anna Hoff got to her first.

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<p style="text-align:center;">Yucatan, Mexico

<p style="text-align:center;">May 22, 2027

<p style="text-align:center;">Olivia Coonz

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<p style="text-align:left;">Blood and terror followed us everywhere we went. Kyra was clinging to me as if I were her only source of comfort, and I could tell that the other German woman-Emilie-was just as paranoid as she was. I was not severely panicked, but I still felt creeped out. Every tree's shadow seemed to hide an enemy soldier. Every puddle on the forest floor, I imagined as blood. Every time I looked at the other two girls, all I could envision in my head was a dead body.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Where are we, exactly?" Emilie asked after a few minutes of quiet. This was the first time anyone had spoken since we started out from the crashed truck minutes earlier. I didn't say anything either as we made our way through the seemingly endless jungle. I began to realize that the weight of our situation was bearing down on us so fast, some of us were beginning to act crazy with fear.

<p style="text-align:left;">"We're in a jungle in the middle of nowhere," I muttered, my hand gripped on the assault rifle in my hand. "We're miles from home in a jungle in the middle of nowhere."

<p style="text-align:left;">"Hey, do any of you feel just as scared as me?" Kyra whispered. "This place freaks me out!  It makes me think of some horror movie I've seen a long time ago."

<p style="text-align:left;">"Hey, save it," I said. "What happened back there with the truck probably attracted the attention of every one of those South American gunmen.  I think the Anarchists must be helping them.  We need to move."

<p style="text-align:left;">Suddenly, Kyra asked me the randomest question ever: "Are you sixteen?  You look seventeen or eighteen.  Maybe you're nineteen!"

<p style="text-align:left;">"I'm eighteen," I said, quietly so that no one could hear us. "Emilie, how old are you?"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Same as you," Emilie said, smiling. "I'm eighteen."

<p style="text-align:left;">"I'm twelve," Kyra whispered. "I'm the youngest of us all...and I'm so scared!  I'm so young!"

<p style="text-align:left;">Emilie's jaw suddenly dropped. "What the fudge?  What's wrong with these people?  I thought that those devils were demented enough when they kidnapped us teenagers?  But a twelve-year old girl?  She is just a child!"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Hey, keep it down," I hissed quietly. Apparently, I was mentally screaming at the Anarchist Coalition jerks, who apparently thought it'd be fun to just grab a twelve-year old girl from the street and stick her in a prison to rot!

<p style="text-align:left;">"Liv-Olivia?" Kyra whimpered against me. I looked down at her, my face displaying both shock and anger at her situation. "D-do you think there are other twelve-year-olds out there?  O-or am I the only one?  I-I feel better w-when I find out-when I find out there are others nearby-others that are near my age range."

<p style="text-align:left;">I thought for a moment. "I don't know, sweetie.  I don't care about age.  I just care that you are a child and need to get home." And then, a thought hit me, and I asked, "How'd these Anarchists manage to get you all the way to Mexico?  Were you walking alone at the border or something?  How'd they get you?"

<p style="text-align:left;">Kyra looked up at me with terrified eyes. "My mom and I took a vacation to Tuscon, Arizona, a few weeks ago.  They got me three weeks earlier.  I was kidnapped alongside my friend, a girl from Mexico named Eva Vasquez.  She is only nine, three years younger than me."

<p style="text-align:left;">"What happened to her?" I asked. "Did they kill her?"

<p style="text-align:left;">Kyra shook her head. "She managed to escape last week, but promised that she would come back for me if she ever got help.  I never heard from her again."

<p style="text-align:left;">Emilie gave her a sad look. "I'm sorry.  If she got lost out here...I don't know if we can ever find her again."

<p style="text-align:left;">"Y-y-you think she's dead?" Kyra uttered a muffled cry. "If they killed her, I don't think they would have...left her body out."

<p style="text-align:left;">"Yes, Anarchists don't leave their victims' bodies out to rot in the sun," Emilie said. "They feed them to the piranhas."

<p style="text-align:left;">At this, Kyra almost screamed, but she uttered a quiet cry of surprise and terror instead. "W-what are p-p-piranhas?"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Ugly, vicious river-dwelling fish," I said. "I was told they feed in swarms and shred their victims to pieces."

<p style="text-align:left;">"No...!" Kyra started crying. "Not Eva!  She's too young to die!  She's only nine!"

<p style="text-align:left;">At that same exact moment, we came across a pathway that led up to a large village up ahead, a few miles up the pathway that went uphill. There was an antenna sticking out of the roof of one of the buildings, indicating that it was a radio tower of some kind.

<p style="text-align:left;">Kyra gasped. "Is that a-a radio tower?  And is that a town or small village or something?"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Yeah," I whisper-shouted, beaming with excitement. "We can call for help!" But then I remembered Lev, Lexy, Sam, and the other prisoners-assuming that they'd escaped the truck wreck alive. "But we can't forget the others," I said later.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Maybe the others reached the village and already called for help." Emilie suggested. "Maybe we should, uh, go find out?"

<p style="text-align:left;">"I'm scared," Kyra whisper-shouted. "For Eva!  She probably made it out, but was killed by enemies in the village!"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Assuming the village is guarded by Anarchists," I said, approaching the village.

<p style="text-align:left;">And then, I heard voices shouting in Spanish. Kyra gasped, and almost immediately Emilie and I both pulled her to the ground before scurrying behind a large rock, seconds before I heard rustling coming from the bushes up ahead. Then a large foot emerged and seconds later, we were peering through the grass at a large patrol of those same soldiers that threatened us earlier. There seemed to be two-no, three-of them and they all carried guns.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Búsquenlos, están aquí por algún lado!" I heard one of them barking. " Avisen cuando el área este despejada!"

<p style="text-align:left;">"Si, senor!" Another one of the soldiers barked and in seconds the soldiers burst out in different directions, disappearing into the jungle to the left of the village.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Who are these people?" Kyra asked, her voice strained with fear. "Do they want us?"

<p style="text-align:left;">"No time," I said. "Quickly, guys, head for the village!  But stay in the grass."

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<p style="text-align:left;">The other girls nodded and I crept toward the village, hiding in the grassy area to avoid detection. When I reached the wall, I suddenly stopped cold and backed up against it, ducking down low. Up ahead, I saw another South American soldier, barking to two other soldiers in Spanish.

<p style="text-align:left;">"Los vimos cerca del río. Uno de ellos estaba herido. Empiecen la búsqueda en el puesto uno y desplácense hacia el oeste. Si no los encontramos antes de que caiga la noche, no los vemos de nuevo. Cuando los encuentren avisen por radio''!" The guy who appeared to the senior commander of this regiment of soldiers sounded frustrated and angry. He was apparently looking for a group of people, and we didn't know who they were.''

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