The Young Fighters

CHAPTER 29

The town hall was kept dark with the only light being that of the one above Andy's head shining down upon a table he sat down at. Sitting in the seat that once belonged to Caden, he looked down and into space with only thoughts of the town in mind. Not even wanting to move his face one bit, he kept still for what felt like forever.

As of this moment, he was now the highest authority in Georgetown. Caden and Evan were now dead, and Leah was snatched away by the opposition. He spoke to himself after moment of peace. All I would give not to be in this spot. I have to lead them. I did not choose any of this. How am I supposed to uphold us all?

Stepping out of the dark approached Snake all by himself and looking gloom under his camouflage face paint that he's yet to remove. He pulled up a chair and took a seat opposite of Andy as he continued staring into the dark. Snake felt weak at this point and knew the same feeling going through his new commander.

"I know how you feel." Snake spoke with a voice that echoed through the town hall. "I too have lost men in combat." By saying this, he hoped his empathies could help Andy know that he also knew of such losses.

"How many have you lost?" Andy spoke after spending most of the day silent. The time now was nearing nine at night. He moved his head to see the clock over in the corner and barely made recognition of the instance.

"I've lost three of them. All of them too good to lose." Snake fell silent. "How are you feeling?" A great pause broke out once again.

"Empty." Andy looked up at Snake. "Why did they have to take our Elders? They never brought any harm to them."

"There are some people out there who don't see human life as valuable as we see it. To them it's cheap while others see it as a miracle to be alive. We preserve it while they take it. We can't reason with them in any way. All we can do is show them what we stand for." Snake's words brought nothing but stillness into the air for a brief moment as Andy let it sink in.

"How are we supposed to do that?" Andy's voice sounded hazy. "We're nothing!" Snake took a moment to think of something he wanted to tell him for awhile that could change everything going though the young man's mind.

"We might be able to become something."

"How?"

"Liger knows Washington city well and he can help us. Don't forget, they kidnapped Leah and Mila. Both of them mean a lot to our town. They mean a lot to you. I say we strike back and rescue both of them before anything horrible happens to them." Snake waited for Andy to say something. "This isn't a time to sit around and do nothing. We have to stand up to Joel and show him that we won't tolerate his actions. This could even be your chance to redeem yourself as a general."

"He has more than one. We won't stand a chance." Andy shook his head.

"That doesn't matter. You have a trained army that's ready and could defend a town. All Joel has is a bunch of slackers and jokers running his men and in the end he treats them like animals and somehow they still fight on his side. We have the upper hand."

"I don't want to risk anymore lives." Andy's eyes grew wide and his face grew long while some tears slid down his eyes along his red cheeks.

"Those who risk, go down in history as heroes."

"Or failures."

"If George Washington didn't risk the lives of his own men, then he wouldn't have created America. If Abraham Lincoln didn't risk fighting the south, then the Emancipation Proclamation wouldn't have been written. And if George Patton didn't risk an army, than the Nazis would have never been stopped. Those are men who challenged their adversaries and proved to them that good triumphs over evil."