Sacrifice

Chapter Three

Three days prior

Malik was running around the streets of his village where he had grown. He saw several trees that he remembered from years ago, one of which he experienced his first kiss. He passed by a meat vendor, taking in the smell of roasted chicken through his flared nostrils. When he was younger, he used to hang around the kiosk and ate the pieces that fell onto the ground. His brother always stole a few pieces for him, Malik, and their younger sister Aurelia.

When he got to his home, his mother and father were setting up dinner, however, there were no signs of Aurelia or his brother, Jericho.

"Where are your brother and sister, Malik?"

"I don't know mom, I thought they were here."

It wasn't long until bullets began flying through the air and shouts howling through the streets. Everyone was running around in a panic, families dragging their kids away from the trucks who were barging into their village uninvited. Malik ran outside where he saw a truck carrying six American soldiers and a boy wearing a burlap sack over his head. A tall blonde boy got out, dragged their prisoner to the ground where he laid with his hands tied behind his back by rope and the man removed his sack; that's when Malik recognized his brother, Jericho.

"This boy told us where to find your village." The man shouted as he held a gun to the boy's head, execution style. Malik's heart was beating so rapidly in his chest that he feared it would implode. The men reached into his pocket and pulled out a grenade, ripped its safety pin, and tossed it a few hundred yards from him. It landed beside their school and within a minute, the school was collapsing and dozens of children ran outside, a few caught on fire.

The other men in the truck each threw a grenade and the blonde man shot Jericho in the stomach before hopping back into the truck and they drove away, leaving Malik's village in flames. Quickly, Malik ran to his brother's side, pulling him onto his lap and the blood oozed from his stomach along with bile for the bullet had perforated his liver. Jericho's face was caked in dried blood, cuts all along his chest. Jericho's breathing was interrupted by bloody coughs but through his dried lips, he managed to mumble something.

Malik had to lean closer in order to hear it but, as Jericho laid motionless in Malik's arms, he whispered, "Save Aurelia."

Seconds later, his heart stopped and Jericho had left this Earth forever.

Present

Rowan was sweating as Dax stared directly into his soul. The only reason why he did what he did to Malik was that otherwise, they would have sent someone else due to the fact that he wasn't doing his job properly. But those cuts, they ought to show them he can be trusted to care for Malik. If this doesn't work than Rowan did this all for nothing.

"Dax, what's up?"

"Why the hell were you cleaning him up?" Dax asked, leaving Rowan fearful.

"I was just getting him wet..." Rowan was stumbling over his words, he had never been good at improv. "To fry him."

Dax raised an eyebrow in surprise, "Fry him? That's a great idea. Why don't we do that now."

Rowan's heart felt as if a dagger had pierced him and drained it of its blood. He couldn't do this, he wouldn't. But the reality was that he had no choice. This was war, things got ugly and you had to do this unthinkable in order to survive. Rowan had a choice to make: it was either him or Malik. One of them was going to be strapped in that chair and tortured, the difference was that if it was him that would mean Malik is dead. Rowan had been thought one thing: survival of the fittest. And that's exactly what he did.

"Let's do it." He said, his voice a different tone that Malik almost didn't recognize. It was as if the person he had gotten to know in the last twenty-four hours had been nothing but a cleverly constructed lie in order to break him down. Malik had learned something new, these soldiers had lost their humanity a long time ago and there was no more hope for him. He wasn't a human through their eyes, nothing but a bag of bones with important information.

It happened all so quickly and there was absolutely nothin Malik could do about it. He could feel everything, from the iced water on his skin to the metal clamps that were on his skin. The only place that hadn't been cut up on his chest was his nipples and that was exactly where Dax chose to attach the wires. It was terrifying and Malik could never have been ready for this sort of pain in a million years.

The first shock was the worst. In fact, Malik was certain that his heart had given up. It wasn't until the second shock at a higher voltage, that he regained consciousness and screamed at the top of his lungs. It seemed to last hours until they finally stopped. Malik had never been so grateful in his life to be alone in a room. When the door closed, there was nothing but silence and Malik knew he had to cherish it before it was over. So, he did. He thought of Amelia and her smile as he let himself fall into a deep sleep.

During lunch, Dax never stopped talking about how ruthless the new kid had been with the prisoner. He was gloating and Rowan appreciated the attention and the glory, but he felt disgusted with himself. Strategically, this was the best thing to do. Not only had he gained Dax's trust, but he had also asserted his superiority which was beneficial for Rowan. This was war and he had to survive. But at what price?

Throughout his afternoon shift guarding the armory, he thought about all of the things he had done to survive. He wondered if he even deserved to survive after every line he had crossed in order to get here. Rowan pondered this for hours. It was one thing to think about the right thing and wanting to do what's best, but it was a whole other story to actually do it and risk your life doing it.

He knew whatever decision he made, he had to do it for himself. After all, he is the only one that has to live with himself every second of every day. He had never expected this to be easy but he certainly hadn't planned for it to be this difficult. He was experiencing all kinds of feelings he had never felt before.

When he went to bed that night, Rowan promised he would do better tomorrow. He promised he would make it up to Malik no matter what it took and he had a feeling it was going to take a lot more than a few words to win his trust.