District 71: Battle Earth

Chapter 7 - The Tactics of Jonas Jimenez

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DISTRICT 71

BATTLE EARTH

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Chapter 7: The Tactics of Jonas Jimenez

At the rooftop, she saw some of her men discussing how they will go down from such height using only rope. Their dormitory was four-storeys high.

“Did someone already successfully went down?”

She asked her men.

“Santos and Yang, Captain!”

Answered one of her men.

“Then that’s good! That only means that it is possible to go down there using only this rope.”

She held the rope and called three of her men.

“Arnaiz! Fernando! Chan!”

The three grabbed the rope –one each and listened to their captain.

“If there are monsters in this rooftop, you only have two options –to just die here and let the monsters tear your body into pieces, or to use these ropes and go down there and find safety.”

“I will go now Captain!”

That was Fernando. He took a deep breath, firmly held the rope and jumped.

“Arnaiz! Chan!”

“Yes Captain!”

The rest of them carefully watched the three successfully reached the bottom. Another three men followed until only Ana and Dizon was left. They waited as the last three carefully reached the bottom. She let her men go down first. It’s not about who came there first, but it’s all about giving courage to her men. For her, finishing the course first was not her goal. Being able to make sure that all her men were able to finish the exercise was her goal. She saw Simon coming and waited for him.

“Dizon, go ahead.”

“Yes Captain!”

When Simon came, she gave him the other rope.”

“This is also part of your deadly exercise, so I will believe you don’t have fear in heights.”

She said to Simon and he gave a short laugh while firmly holding the rope.

They jumped down towards the bottom. She was still unable to catch sight of Jimenez and the other men that were left in the locker room. She guessed they were still doing push-ups or catching their breath.

When they reached the ground, a lot of people were cheering –civilians and other military men. They were watching the members of Platoon Six towards their deadly exercise.

The exercise continued with 6 more obstacle courses.

The goal of the last exercise was to defeat your opponent and get the flag from your opponent that everybody got during the previous course. There were two available battle spaces. The first pair who will arrive can use any of the spaces to fight each other. The winner will get their opponent’s flag (making them hold two flags) and put their name on the ranking list. The loser will have to wait for another opponent with a flag until he/she wins the fight. The loser also has the right whether to take a rest or to continue fighting on his/her next fight.

There were already six names in the ranking list when Ana arrived. The fight between Dizon and Yang was just finished. Yang won and Dizon proclaimed that he would take a rest since his next opponent will be Ana. Ana took a seat at the center of the battle space waiting for the next person to arrive to become her opponent. A few minutes later her opponent arrived. She grinned. It was her First Lieutenant –Jimenez.

“I believe I am lucky today Captain.”

Jonas said to Ana.

“You sure made your bet Lieutenant.”

Ana smiled and stood up to prepare for her fight with Jonas.

“I have been waiting for this moment to fight you Captain.”

Jonas smiled and took his position.

The crowd started to build up. It was a rare occasion to see their platoon’s top most officials fight each other. They knew Ana was a skilled martial arts fighter but Jonas’ firm and toned built would say much of his capability in fighting bare-handedly.

Ana started the fight with a right leg kick. Jonas was able to dodge the kick but just as he gained his composure, a sudden blow caught him to his chest from Ana’s right elbow. That was one of Ana’s techniques that she learned from their previous captain Megara –swift and fast moves like a wind. Jonas fell to one of his knees and after a few seconds, he stood up. Noise and cheers were heard from their platoon members. They were just warming up. He grinned and decided that he won’t make their fight longer. Ana waited for Jonas to attack. Jonas gave a right hand blow that Ana dodged but as long as Ana was about to give a counter-blow, Jonas docked and with a swift move, he was already behind her back. Ana was surprised. She have to make a distance or else Jonas will knock her down but she was already late. As soon as she turned her back, Jonas caught her right wrist and folded her right arm behind her back. She lost her balance and fell down. Jonas carefully guided her back with his arm so that she will fall gently. As soon as her back reached the ground, Jonas grabbed her left hand up towards her head while her right arm was still folded behind her back to lock her down. He was now facing her directly with just a few inches away from each other.

Ana was shocked and was unable to free herself from Jonas arms. There was silence. The crowd was even holding their breath not to spoil the moment. Ana looked at Jonas. His eyes were fixed to her. She cannot describe the feeling while she was looking at his eyes.

“If I were a monster, I would devour you now Captain but I am just a human and I still want to devour you.”

Jonas said to Ana.

Ana’s heart leaped and suddenly she can feel her cheeks flushing in red.

What was that Jimenez...

She was about to ask her lieutenant but words hardly escape her mouth.

“What... “

The words had completely stopped coming out of her mouth when Jonas kissed her.

Jonas released her and slowly stood up. He was smiling. He was waving a flag on his right hand. It was Ana’s flag. The flag was in her back pocket and she did not notice that Jonas had got it when he kissed her. It was a distraction after all. She smiled. The match was finished. The loud cheer and tease was heard from the watching crowd.

“Nice cunning move Jimenez.”

Ana said while getting up. Simon reached his hand towards Ana so that she can stand up. She was looking at Jonas writing his name at the ranking list.