The Fight for Freedom (Book One in the EDSOR Military Academy Trilogy)

Chapter 34- The Price of Life

This time, I showed no mercy. I quickly dashed towards him with my shield held to the center of my body, my hara (the source of all my energy and lifeforce) with my left hand and my good ol’ trusty sword with my right hand. I was ready to die.

Thwack! The swords clashed against each other. His strength was overpowering my own. I flicked his sword away and rolled on the ground. I think there was dried blood on my forehead. I bruised it. Great.

He swung his long katana around so I wouldn’t be able to get up. In a fraction of a second, I was able to parry his blow by striking at the handle. It loosened from his grasp and he was obliged to dash and get it. As he ran, I threw more shurikens at his ankle, where his armor did not cover completely. He winced in pain and came back to me limping.

“Finish him!”, Thomas yelled at me. I knew I had to..I did this to one person. If I could do it, why couldn’t I get to move my trigger finger. One shot will save us and redeem us all. My fingers were trembling with fear, not excitement.

I looked at his eyes; that was my greatest downfall. For a moment, I stalled. He had a family to protect, children to nurture. I couldn’t take his life away. Not even when I am equipped with the best and high quality machine guns must I think about killing. This man….he looks like someone I know…his eyes. There was something familiar in his eyes.

He looked into my soul and smiled. “Jesse Hope or should I say Jesse Fairmeadow, you have proven yourself to me”

I did not take my eyes off him. “Any last words?”, I asked as I forced myself to point the shot gun at him.

He stood up before I touched the trigger. “I am your father”

I had a mini-heart attack. Kazim? The super evil Militician leader who challenges me to a fight is my father? What if he really is? No, he can’t be. I mean my parents abandoned me. They said I was adopted; that’s why I was a pain in their asses. I don’t know why the heck they even bothered adopting me. The same year I was adopted by my cruel foster parents, they received an award for being “Charitable Parents”.

But what if he were my real father? Would it really matter that I’d kill him? He’s hurt so many innocent civilians. I can’t just spare him from justice just because he’s my father. I swore to the EDSOR code that I’d kill the man responsible for the deaths of many people. It won’t matter anyway, right? We’ll all die sooner or later. It just so happened that I was in a position to become the Reaper.

“Jesse Hope. I am so glad to meet you!”, he smiled as he walked towards me. He’s gonna kill me if he gets any closer.

I did not spare one more second looking at his face. In the corner of my eye, I saw a shuriken scintillate into the air. It was now or never. It was headed towards me. My mind started functioning quickly. I move and Kazim gets away or I could shoot then take the shuriken. It was as simple as that.

I mustered up all my energy to pull the trigger. The bullet entered his forehead and he fell on the ground. I closed my eyes so I wouldn’t see the shuriken. Whoosh! The shuriken hit something. My heart started beating so fast. As I slowly opened my eyes, I was surprised that I didn’t feel pain at all.

Thump. A body fell. My ears pricked to the sound of it. My heart was racing. Who got hit?

When I inched closer to the body, I really wanted to cry. Of all people, why did it have to be....