World War 3

2

2

I turned on the light and walked into the laundry room. I began to separate the huge pile of clothes on the floor and clean them. Damn Jay for punishing us this way. She could have just not fed us dinner, but NO. She had to be a bitch and make me do the one thing I hated more than bathroom cleaning duty: doing laundry. The worst part about it was the bitching that came with the mistake of putting a red sock in a load of whites. "Looks like you got this covered," I heard a voice come from the doorway, "so I'm just gonna-" "you gonna just stand there like a dumbass or are you gonna help me? After all, you got us into this mess." Drake sighed and walked into the room. I handed him sone clothes and continued to work. "Hey Mav?" "What?" "I have a question I've been meaning to ask for a while." I looked at him. "Why do we call you Mav?" I chuckled and continued to work. "You really wanna know? Oh, all right.

"Less than 10 months into the war, Jay and I decided to educate ourselves in the adult world, like cussing and drinking and all that shit. So we decided to watch the Tom Cruise movie "Top Gun." After it was over, Jay compared me to Tom Cruise's character, Maverick, and her to Mongoose. I said that Maverick would be a cool nickname, so she started calling me that, and I've been Maverick ever since. Mongoose never really caught on, though." He listened intently, his hands continuing to work. "So you knew Jay when the war started?" "Pretty much. She came to my place after my parents abandoned me." "So, what happened to them?" I shrugged, shutting the washing machine and turning it on. "They left. They were actors, so they could have relocated to Montana. They could be dead. Who knows?" "Well, what happened to you before the war?" I sighed and ran my hands through my hair. But before I could answer, Jay ran into the room. "Mav? You're gonna wanna see this."

We left the laundry room and walked up to Drew's room. Sadie and Drew were in there, sitting on his couch. The TV was on but it was paused. Drew saw Drake and me come in and pressed the play button on the remote. "Breaking news coming from Washington DC," a news reporter said into the camera. "Unknown attackers ambushed our nation's capitol this evening, killing several men and women and kidnapping our leader. The family of President Wyatt Wilson is devastated and has ben relocated to a more populous area. Let's get a look at what's going on up there." The picture changed, and I covered my mouth with my hand. It was the Capitol building, on fire. Men and women were running around screaming as gunshots were heard through the TV set. Unknown men were running around, shooting their guns at innocent Congressmen and Senators. It was unbearable, almost disgusting. I was about to make a move to turn off the TV when a recognizable face caught my eye.

"Pause the TV," I commanded. Drew did as he was told just in the nick of time. A man's face stood out amongst the crowd of men and women. But why was he there? He was supposedly missing, then found dead, murdered senseless in combat. Why was his face showing up on my TV? I stepped a bit closer to the TV, squinting just to be sure I had the right guy. "...Mason?" "That's impossible," Jay turned to me, "you and I both read the letter from the General. He went MIA, you know that." The room erupted with questions, but I just stood there with one arm around my stomach and the other resting on it, my left hand stroking my chin. "Drew," I finally said. He turned around to face me. "Get out your laptop. I want you to run your facial recognition program on the TV." He nodded, a grin sweeping onto his face. "Sure thing," he got up and got his laptop. When we found Drew, we didn't really know that he was a little tech savvy. To sum it up, he was a major hacker. I turned my attention back to the rest of the group. "If anyone thinks about touching that TV or the remote, I'll shove one of my combat boots so far up your ass that you'll have to have surgery to get it removed." The surprised-yet-scared looks in their eyes told me they weren't gonna touch anything.

I walked out of the room as Drew started the process on his laptop. I walked upstairs to my room when I heard someone call my name. Drake came bounding up the stairs after me. "Okay, what's going on?" I stopped in my tracks but still didn't turn to face him. "Mav, you can trust me," he said, grabbing my shoulder. I turned to face him and peered around him to see if anyone else was with him. "Okay. That man I saw on the TV...I think he's my brother." His eyes widened slightly. "Back before the war," I explained, "Mason was a misbehaving kid, and my parents were dicks who didn't care about us. So when they had had enough of his attitude, they decided to ship him off to military school. When the war started, he was sent into action. And after about two years into the war, Jay and I got a letter saying he went MIA but had been announced dead. But I swear I saw his face on the TV and..." I was on the verge of crying from anger and confusion. But I couldn't do that. I never cried in front of anyone anymore to seem tough and fearless. But when it came to my brother, I just couldn't contain emotion. Drake swept me in a hug before any emotion got to me. I melted into him, calming myself before my past got the better of me. I backed away from Drake. Without saying a word, I knew he understood. "Mav? The scan's finished!" Drew called from downstairs. I was about to walk past Drake when his hand wrapped around my wrist. "I know you wanna seem tough in front of the others," he whispered, "but if you ever wanna talk and let it all out, you where to find me." I smirked and nodded. He let go and we headed back downstairs. "Results?" "All the information's there for the people in suits, but I think that there's a malfunction in the system." "What do you mean?" Sadie inquired. "Well," Drew explained, his eyebrows knitting themselves together, "all the people with guns have a background, but according to this, they've either been proclaimed MIA, POW, or deceased."

"You mean those are all people that have gone missing in action?" "Or prisoners of war," Jay proclaimed from the behind the couch. "What about him?" Drake pointed to a familiar face. I cringed in anger. He looked at me, knowing by my reaction that he had found what I had been looking for. "Name's Mason Carter Macalister. Born August 19th, 2009. He was sent to military school at 13 so he had to fight in the war when it came around a year later. He was reported missing in action about 8 years ago. Cynthia's his mother's name, and his father's name's Brent. He also had one sibling named..." He turned to face me, a surprised look on his face. Sadie and Jay also turned to face me after they had read my name off of the computer screen. "Mav? Your brother...he-" "He attacked DC," I nodded, disappointment filling me up like I was drowning in a sea of sadness. "So what does this mean?" Jay asked. "It means that someone set them up. I know Mason and he would never have done this...not unless someone else is behind this and is holding a gun to his head." "So what are we gonna do?" I thought for a minute. I only had one option...just one...that would make me feel good about myself.

I turned back to face them. "We're gonna save the president."