Monster (Ryeji)

Blood, toil, tears and sweat pt.3

A sudden a bang sounded and a whirring, clunking robotic arm holding a gun appeared round the corner. Both girls gasped.

"Yeji do it now!" Ryujin all but shouted.

Yeji spun and aimed the gun at Ryujin's head, the younger girl winced and closed her eyes. Yeji knew she had to do it now. Or else who knew what would happen if the hybrid killed Yeji and took Ryujin. Her finger trembled on the trigger. But it wouldn't move.

"I... I can't." Yeji whimpered.

"Two survivors." She heard the hybrid soldier speak, surprisingly softly, to something behind them. "But we have a situation." Its footsteps trudged closer, but still Yeji was frozen. Ryujin's eyes flew open, pleading.

"It's not killing us Yeji! You need to kill me now!" Ryujin whispered.

Yeji's breathing quickened, she could hear the monster somewhere close behind her now, still not attacking, relaying some kind of instructions to its comrades. Why couldn't it just kill her? Why couldn't it make this easy? But no, the moment was still Yeji's to decide. Her promise was still hers to keep. But how could she? When the person she was about to kill was the only person she'd ever loved? Tears pooled in the corners of her eyes and blurred her vision. So much so that she couldn't see that Ryujin was also silently crying.

"Drop your weapon!" The cyborg raised its voice, speaking to Yeji now. "Do not fire! You will not be harmed!"

Slowly the tears leaked down Yeji's face and her arms felt weak. Her gun slowly lowering of its own accord.

"Yeji!" Ryujin wheezed out once more as the cyborg carefully confiscated Yeji's gun from her without resistance. "Please!"

"Please don't hurt her." Yeji said quietly, defeated, as the enemy soldier grabbed her and a couple more cyborg soldiers crowded around Ryujin.

She could hear Ryujin calling out to her as she was led away by strong robotic arms.

"YEJI! NO, PLEASE YOU PROMISED!"

But her mind had gone blank.

"I'm sorry. I... I couldn't." She whispered. But no one heard her.

It was at that moment a stinging pain on her side made her almost double over. She touched her hand to cover her gunshot wound and breathed heavily. Everything was going wrong. Why couldn't they just kill her?

"Come with us, soldier." A low pitched voice said from beside her.

Yeji carefully marched after a long line of young girls and boys in front of her, careful not to step out of time even by a second. She could sense Ryujin a pace behind her but dared not look back lest her helmet fall off again. The one the men had given her was too big, but they had told her she'd grow into it, same as everyone else. It was slightly scary, no one said anything, not even Little Man, who would usually be shouting orders at them by now.

Slowly, but as efficiently as possible, they all lined up one by one in a big square at the centre of their encampment, it was where all public spectacles at the camp were held. Last time she'd only been watching from off to the side with Ryujin. She'd tried to cover the younger girl's eyes just before the axe came down on the traitor's neck, but she was so shocked herself she'd accidentally covered Ryujin's nose instead. Yeji gulped thinking about it now. Fortunately this was not an execution, this was a promotion.

"Soldiers!" Came a shout from the front somewhere. It sounded like one of the commanders. "You have all completed your training and are now ready to contribute your skills and bodies towards our glorious revolution. The tide of the war is turning and soon the government will no longer hunt us down with their man-made monsters. You are the change. You are the movement. You are the future." A cheer went up among the men watching from the sidelines and a chill travelled its way down Yeji's spine. She then saw the commander's hand fly up, signalling for silence before he continued. "ARE YOU WILLING..." he yelled, "... TO FIGHT AND DIE FOR THE CAUSE?!"

"We will fight and die!" Yeji, and the fifty or so other children echoed. She glanced beside her and noticed Ryujin's stony, yet fierce expression. She had never seen her look so scary before and a strange feeling twisted in Yeji's stomach.

"Take these and use them as you have been taught." The commander said, opening his arms as a few of his soldiers handed round various guns to each of them. "You are all now soldiers of the Revolution. Let no one tell you otherwise."

Another cheer went up just as Yeji was handed her gun. It felt heavy in her hands, despite the fact it weighed the same as their practice ones. She wondered if one day it might become more familiar to her. She glanced over at Ryujin again who was already looking at her, smiling. Yeji tried to smile back but her cheeks felt like they were being pulled downward  by some unknown force. She should be happy. This was what she'd been working toward for the last nine months. It was supposed to be a day of celebration. So why did it feel like she was surrendering herself? Like she had finally given up?

Because you did, idiot. You let them take her.