Freedom or Death

"Freedom or Death" is the third chapter of Converge.

Freedom or Death
When the resistance reached the outer perimeter, there was an immediate exchange or fire. The Zel soldiers guarding the perimeter were all shot, but several dozen resistance members were cut down. Samantha ducked behind cover. There were a huge number of Zels returning fire and taking down resistance members everywhere. Samantha saw a large group hiding behind a large jeep. They were three soldiers firing at them, preventing them from moving. Samantha quickly rose above her cover at shot the two soldiers. She ducked behind cover just as shots were fired toward her, narrowly avoiding death. The group behind the jeep advanced and took out several Zels. Samantha ran forward as well, reaching more cover further up ahead. They were gaining ground, but suffering heavy casualties. A young woman took cover next to Samantha.

"There are three soldiers in front of us." She said, "If we take them out we can advance."

She emerged from cover.

"NO!" Samantha yelled.

The woman as shot repeatedly and collapsed.

Samantha saw several resistance members to her right.

"Cover me!" She shouted.

They began firing and the three Zels took cover behind a traffic divider. Samantha took a huge risk and ran forward. She dove over the divider and landed on her back behind them. As she did, one of the soldiers opened fire on the men giving Samantha cover, killing them all. The soldiers pointed their guns at Samantha, but she was faster, shooting all three of them. To Samantha's right, a group took out a large number of soldier. To her left, several people were wiped out by a group of Zels. Samantha and two others fired and took them out. The resistance continued to advance. A grenade landed at Samantha's feet. She quickly grabbed it and threw it forward, just as it went off. Samantha fired into the cloud of smoke in front of her, hitting four soldiers. Samantha moved to their location and saw that one had a grenade on his belt. She grabbed it and continued. Suddenly, several soldiers emerged with a Gatling gun. They opened fire, killing about a half dozen resistance members. Samantha took cover with several others. She noticed Joey next to her.

"We've lost a lot of our people." He said, "I don't think we're going to make it."

As Samantha was about to respond, a radio transmission came in, "This is Peter Cach from Lon. We did it! The Zels are retreating, we drove them out!"

Samantha smiled and looked at Joey, "It's too late to turn back, it's victory or death now."

Samantha looked over to see another group taking cover from the Gatling gun.

"We need you to cover us." She said, then turned to her group, "On my signal, charge."

Samantha griped her gun, "Now!"

Samantha's group ran forward while the other group opened fire. The Gatling gun fired back, killing the other group. Samantha's team shot at the Gatling gun operators, taking them out. However, several more Zels came from behind the Gatling gun and shot at Samantha's group. Samantha dove to the ground, narrowly avoiding getting shot. Bodies fell all around her. Samantha pulled the pin from her grenade and threw it. It exploded, destroying the Gatling gun and all the soldiers surrounding it. Samantha got up, and saw Joey's riddled corpse on the ground. Samantha looked down sadly, but when she looked back up she saw that they were almost at the prison wall. There were still many soldiers surrounding it, but there wasn't much more ground to cover. Samantha picked up her rifle and advanced. There was a massive amount of firepower being exchanged. The number of both sides had dwindled, and each was giving it everything they got. Samantha heard a loud rumbling as the ground shook. She looked over and saw down the barrel of a tank. Samantha ran as fast as she could as it fired. As the shell hit the ground, the blast threw her back. She tried to get up, but felt extreme pain from shrapnel in her hip and shoulder. She looked up and saw the tank fire and annihilate a large group.

"What have I done?" Samantha thought, "I've lead these people to their deaths."

Then Samantha saw someone approaching her. She recognized him, it was Mark Aaronson. Samanta tried to reach her gun, but it was too far away and Mark's gun was trained on her.

"You must be Samantha." He said, "I didn't think I'd get a personal opportunity such as this, but I'm glad I did. I think this is all is a prime example of why America shouldn't get involved in foreign politics."

Samantha closed her eyes.

"You can't keep a people down forever."

Samantha heard the voice of a young woman.

"The more you push them down, the harder they'll fight back."

"Who's voice is that?" She thought.

Another voice spoke, "So you think we shouldn't do anything about North Korea?"

"I'm not saying we shouldn't do anything, I'm saying we can't do anything." Samantha realized that the voice was hers.

"But the people can. They can choose to fight back and overthrow their oppressors."

In high school, Samantha's history teacher had asked what the U.S. could do about the oppressive North Korean government. Samantha believed that people had to fight for their own freedom. That was part of the reason she joined the army.

Samantha opened her eyes and looked directly at Mark. She picked up a rock and threw it right at his head. As it hit him, Mark was stunned by the injury. Samantha quickly got up and ran towards him. As Mark pointed his gun at her, she grabbed onto it. There was a brief struggle and the gun was thrown out of their reach. Mark drew a knife and swung at Samantha. It grazed her arm, but she blocked the second strike and hit Mark in the head twice. She then ran towards Mark's gun and grabbed it. At the same time, Mark lunged forward and tried to stab her. Samantha raised the rifle and shot Mark directly in the chest. His lifeless body collapsed. Samantha picked up his knife, and noticed he was carrying a small device. She examined it and noticed that it's was a flash grenade. She picked it up and looked toward the tank. The barrel was pointing away from her. Samantha ran towards the tank and jumped on top of it. It's door opened up and a soldier tried to shoot her, but she was faster. Samantha dropped the flash grenade inside the tank and looked away. Light blasted out from inside, and Samantha jumped in. She found herself between two soldier. Samantha kicked one it the chest and quickly stabbed the second in the throat. The first soldier pointed a handgun at her, but she stabbed him through his arm and grabbed it out of his hand. Samantha then shot him in the head. Samantha examined the tank's controls. It was currently loaded, but Samantha couldn't reload on her own. She had one shot. She took control of the tank, and saw a group of Zels near the prison wall. She fired, obliterating the group and blasting a hole straight through the wall. A large portion of it collapsed. Samantha exited the tank and joined a group of resistance members in charging towards the opening. They shot several soldiers along the way. As they reached the opening, an explosion collapsed another portion of the wall. There were two more explosions, and Samantha knew that the assault had been successful. Reaching the inside of the prison, Samantha took out a few soldiers and finally found a large group of prisoners.

"Don't worry." She said, "You're safe now."

11 minutes later, Samantha received a call on the radio.

"This is a transmission from Neta, we're here to report that the Zels are surrendering. We won!"

Samantha responded, "Good job defeating the Zels in Neta. The attack here in Darla was successful as well."

"I don't mean just in Neta. The Zels found out about the death of their leader, and after suffering three simultaneous loses, they've decided to give up."

Samantha looked at her watch. 10:50. Pretty short of a war. A young man approached Samantha.

"So it's really over huh?"

Samantha smiled, "That's right. You're free."

"So what do we do now?"

"I guess you return to business as usual."

"That might be difficult. The Zels executed most of Azla government."

"Well your government wasn't very popular to begin with right? There was a lot of corruption and inequality. This is your chance to build a better government, a better country."

Several people listened to the conversation.

A young woman spoke up, "You should lead us."

A lot of people around agreed.

"What?" Samantha said.

An older man spoke, "When the zels captured us and we were stuck in the prison, I thought it was all over. You rescued us, you rallied Azlas all over the country, you're the one that defeated the Zels." Samantha was shocked, "I'm not a leader."

"What are you talking about?" The young man said, "You convinced a bunch of civilians to fight back, and you lead us to victory."

"I still don't think I'm fit to lead a country."

"We'll organize a democratic election." The young woman said, "But you should run for the highest position. If we're going to continue, to thrive, we need a leader like you.

Samantha thought about the proposal.

4 years later, Samantha's assistant approached her.

"President Martin, I have the reports for the conference."

"Thank you Rachel." Samantha said, "Is there any news on the missing military supplies?" "Sorry, but no." Rachel replied.