Chapter 2 - Ben
I knew I made a mistake in waiting this long to tell Seth. The resistance had been going on for at least 5 months now, but I just never thought he would be ready to know. The way he has been speaking lately led me to believe that fighting the government would be something he'd support. Obviously, he wasn't ready.
When I started the resistance, it was just me. I really didn't have any goals set; I just knew I needed to take action. The NASR, or NewAxis-Soviet Republic, should not be in power. The war was only won because of dirty tactics. The war first started when North Korea launched a nuclear bomb to destroy their neighbors to the south, South Korea without declaring war or giving any warning. That date will be engraved in my mind forever: September 2, 2023. Russia soon joined and annexed the Ukraine. The rest of the world cried out inwrath, and the third world war was started. North Korea allied with China, Iran, Iraq, India, and Russia, and formed the Axis Powers. The Axis powers used nuclear weapons to wipe their smaller enemies completely off the map. The larger countries, such as the United States, were treated to a bombardment of chemical and biological attacks against their citizens. I remember the mustard gas that hit Chicago. We lived outside the city, but my mother was a nurse and was called in to help. I saw people with their faces literally peeling off their skull. The United States actually surrendered in 2027, but the Axis Powers wouldn't take prisoners. When the U.S. surrendered, all of the Military was rounded up and executed, experimented on, made to work, or tortured for "secrets" the Axis Nations said they were hiding. That's how my father died. Seth thinks he died in the war, but he really died by being forced to dig his own grave, and then shot by an Axis soldier. The reason I know this is because I was forced to watch. They rounded up the families of the soldiers and forced them to watch their loved ones die. They have no limits to their cruelty.
On June 27, 2028, the Axis Powers had completely obliterated the world's governments, and made a new nation, the United Nations of Axis Freedom. They used freedom in their name so that we would think they were really our salvation, not our oppressors.
Somehow, me and Seth have survived this long. I don't know how, and I don't think our good fortune will last long, which is why I started the resistance.
I rounded up a few of the people from around our district who felt the same way as I did. It was hard, because you don't know who you can trust. The NASR is always on the lookout for treason. If you report people who are planning on harming the government, you will be handsomely rewarded. The temptation is a great one, considering we live in shacks and have to hunt for our food.
We haven't had any great advances, but tomorrow is our big chance. There is a big military convoy heading through our district en route to the Provence Building. One of the government officials that are on our side tipped us off. Our plan is to intercept it and capture the high profile official inside. We don't know who it is, because they are so important even our rat doesn't know. We are planning on holding the official ransom, and luring their rescuers into a trap. It's not fool proof, but it's all we got.
Morgan is still very weary of the officials tip. Which I understand. The officials that work with us tend to keep a low key. A lot of times, they prefer to go anonymous and almost never meet with us personally. The official that gave us the information about the convoy is one of the low key ones. He sent a child with a note to give to me.
Why would an official even help us though? Well, after the war, there were heavy casualties on each side. I'm not sure of the exact numbers, but I know that it was at least a third of the population. So when the NASR came out on top, it was bittersweet for them because they had lost so many. Dictator Chu was actually a low ranking general in the NASR army. The only reason he came to power was because he was basically the only one left that could still function normally.
You see, seeing so many people die really changes people. I heard a story of one american soldier that had seen 3 platoons of men die all around him during a NASR ambush. It had been in a newspaper when there was still free press.
"It's hard to completely explain what happened. We were on a simple patrol around Nellis. It was completely routine and no one was even on high alert. Then...it all...happened. A patrol about 300 feet in front of me started droping like flies. I ordered my squads to hold. Then one of them said 'My god...<censored> gas!'. I yelled masks and we scrambled to put on our gas masks. A few men started running, and a canister of gas exploded right in front of them. I...I've never seen anything like it before. They screamed and...they...melted! I mean their skin practically melted off their faces. Then came the explosions. My men and I ran to a wall and tried to contact main base. They told us to stand by. Stand by while the men on the outside were being slaughtered..."
Things like that happened all the time. People went crazy. Dictator Chu was one of the only "sane" ones left. Because they didn't have many soldiers left, they used civilians to take small government official roles. The NASR treated the officials as their own, giving them extreme extravagance. That is why most officials were loyal. If they weren't lucky enough to be an official, they'd be just another one of us, the scum of the earth.
However, once in a while, an official would go rouge. Some get depressed and figure its a way to die with valor. Some get greedy and don't think they get enough. Most however remember the way it used to be,before the war. Typically, any plans were foiled by the NASR and the official, along with his family, would be publicly executed. The executions always attracted a lot of attention. Everyone hated them. They were traitors as far as we were concerned.
I understand what Seth was feeling. Killing a person is not something that is going to be easy, but the future of the world is a lot more important than my conscience. Even though Seth is 16, he is still naive. He doesn't realize how corrupt our government is. This is what he has known since he was young, he thinks it's normal to live in a shack and hunt for his food. He doesn't understand that the government has no interest in our well being. They would kill us all, but what is a ruler with no one to rule over.
