The Greatest Lie

Bloodstained Victory

  Not every human was created equal. It was an unfortunate reality that people always had a hard time grasping. Intelligence, strength, and genetics were a spectrum that not everyone shared all the same traits. Some people were smarter than others, others were stronger than their peers, and some people drew the genetic short straw and were riddled with illnesses and struggle. The basics of life were not fair, it was a pure random chance where you were born and what family you were born into. A small percentage of people were graced with a greater intellect that was identifiable by the time they were a young child. Genetic defects left some people unable to ever fully integrate into society, always needing someone or something to help support and provide direction. The idea of everyone being treated the same, being given the same opportunities, and getting the same production from them out of society was a fallacy that only worked in your imagination. This indigestible truth was even more apparent when M Corp took control and the idea of propping up the weak in the name of fairness could not be implemented. If you couldn't follow their orders or perform the work assigned, you were let go. That was your only chance, and many people didn't live up to it. This created an imaginary line between the different classes of people that still existed on Earth. If you didn't work for M Corp, you were seen as a lesser person by the people employed by them. Employees higher up the ranks than the guards and menial laborers looked down on people in less important positions. The people who had bought their freedom and protection early on looked to the hired M Corp workers as their personal servants. There was no drive to succeed or try harder when everyone was equal and treated the same, envy was a useful tool that M Corp utilized to inspire their workers to try harder. Kim didn't want to chase this invisible future and instead wanted to create her own that would instill a fulfilling life in all that wanted to take part.

The anticipation to hear if Yao and the other men were successful was higher than it had ever been around the camp for the members of X. They were all optimistic that they would return with the spoils of victory, but it was hard for them to also wonder what would happen if they didn't return. Kim had already begrudgingly accepted that some people from the group would end up losing their lives during this attempt at a hostile takeover. She silently hoped that today would not be the first casualties, but the uncertainty of life she had experienced had told her that anything was possible. Jack was wound up with excitement from the news he had brought back to the camp, and all of the other members picked his brain for any possible details he might have left out. There was even more interest given to monitoring the radio channels they could pick up, in hopes that the other groups of X would start communicating with them over it.

It was getting into the evening and Kim knew that with the best case scenario, Yao would return within the next few hours. If they did not return by the morning then Kim would have to send people to see if they could determine what happened. They couldn't afford to lose any members at this point, and for Kim no was dispensable. Since this was their first physical assault on M Corp or their operation, Kim knew that once they got word that the group of X was trying to stop them, they would send more personnel to the area. They needed to get control of at least the local towns that they could reach within a day's travel before spreading their mission further across China. The larger cities were heavily staffed with armed M Corp guards and an engagement with them would not stop until they had hunted down every member of the group of X. M Corp could not risk losing any part of their control or disruption of their future plans.

M Corp only had so many workers to go around and had more strategic resource locations they needed to protect. Most of their manpower had been focused on the war effort in Europe, but the limited resistance that M Corp had experienced allowed them to use minimal security in the smaller towns to keep control. The only reason they had kept control in these smaller rural towns were because of the established farm lands that M Corp needed to keep their workers fed. It was much easier for them to take over already established businesses and areas than to try and break ground on new locations. The people left working for M Corp in these small towns around the base of the mountain where Kim and her group were located and had lived and worked the land for generations. Many of them were grateful that M Corp had come in to provide the stability for them to continue the only life they knew. Over time, the idea that M Corp had saved these people was erased from their minds. Each year they were left with less and less food for the people working the fields. Eventually their six day work week turned into seven and the people were forced to work from sunup to sun down. Kim hoped that if they were able to drive M Corp out from these towns that the innocent people left behind would eagerly latch onto their cause.