A good soldier never gives up

Trust needs to be earned

  Every night ever since I was captured from my mission, General Kingston has came to see me. He would bring me some candy and showed me pictures of his family. He wanted me to be able to trust him. "William, will you answer my question if I ask who your father is? You mentioned before that your father is the one who gave you your training."

I shook my head no, figuring Father would be mad if I told them. "I'm sorry, but I cannot discuss that information with you. I could tell you my mother's name though." He nodded, and signaled for me to go ahead. "I have only met her once when I was six years old, but I remember father saying that her name was Elizabeth. I remember her having golden brown hair and green eyes. She had told me that I looked just like my real father but I didn't know what she meant. I still don't know what she means."

He frowned as he tried his best to explain. "She means that your birth father past away. The one who was raising you now is your step father."

I shook my head no. "Father is my dad. He told me that I was his... No. That can't be true!" I started to shake as I struggled to hold back tears. Suddenly, everything began to make sense. All the lies he had sold me were finally coming out. Father has done nothing but used me for his own personal gain. General Kingston pat my shoulder as if to comfort me as I began to cry. "This whole time. I was living in a lie. My mother is sitting in a prison because of that man! Although I don't really know her, I want her to be happy away from him. She can straighten all of this out!"

"Tell me where she is and I promise you that we will get her out of there," he told me. I shook my head no, clearing away tears.

"It's not just her in there. The prison holds many women inside. Every battle my father and I return from, the amount of women and children begin to grow." I look up at him. "Sir, I now realize that I have done many bad things in my life. I would like to repent for the crimes that I have committed. "

He nodded and gestured for me to follow him. "Tell you what I'll do. I'll get a team together and help free all of those people, but you have to help us by telling us where they are. We promise no harm will come to the women or the children, but we'll need your help to get them out of there."

Father will be angry about this, but I want to listen to mother instead. I want to know who I was truly supposed to be. "I'll accept your mission. I need a map to reveal the location of the guerrillas." He nodded and pulled out a large map of the surrounding area. I looked for the desert that has been my home for so many years and marked the location of both camps. "This area surrounding here is heavily guarded twenty four hours a day by professional snipers. Your best chances to have an advantage would be to come around this side of the desert at night and strike while every adult's asleep. I'll go down to round up the children while your troops are fighting. Once we get all the kids away from the battle, I can lead the troops to the prison my father had built."

"Alright, that sound like a plan. Prepare to leave immediately, William." He stood up and saluted me. I saluted back, this time, with a smile.

"I don't need to prepare. I'm ready to fight for something good," I told him. He handed me a rifle as he ordered the Sergent to prepare a team and to give me a bullet proof vest. I rejected the vest, "I won't need it. I trained along with these people. I know they won't hurt me."

"You'll be safer if you wear one of these vests. Not only that, but it will make me feel more confident in you if you wear one." There's something about this man that made me feel... As if I wasn't bad. I took the vest and placed it over my clothes. "Good luck men. Remember, if you die, you'll die with honor."

It was somewhere around midnight when we landed back in the desert. I walked over to Janet's tent and carefully wake her up, knowing that she sleeps with a knife in her hand. As soon as she woke up, she tries to stab me with the knife, accidentally slicing my cheek. "William? I thought you were captured. How did you escape?" She whispered to me. I grabbed her hand and led her outside of the tent before explaining to her what had happened. She seemed to understand what was going on and agreed to help me get the children out.

I held two infants in my arm as Janet took one from me. "Let's go. They're waiting behind the barrier." With the help of my team, we quietly led the kids out of the camp. The soldiers waited until we arrived before going in as three stayed behind to load the kids into the large helicopter. When everybody was loaded into the helicopter, it began to fly off toward the HQ. My friends stayed behind to help me get their parents out of the prison and to protect them. "All right. When we step back in there, it will be bloody. The military is equipped with state of the art weapons which could exterminate the whole armada. Protect yourselves as well as each other and good luck."

We raced across the battlefield, shooting our now enemies as we go. The guerrillas were not only firing at the military but as us as well. I avoided getting hit easily, as well as the others. We were halfway there when Father stepped out in front of me. "What are you doing, William? This isn't what I raised you to do." From the sound of his voice, he wasn't too happy to see me.

I glared at him, "actually, it is what you raised me to do. You raised me to kill people and to see no harm in it. Well, now I'm fighting for good." He socked me before grabbing my arm and holding a gun to my head. My team automatically raised their weapons at Father, knowing he will kill his son. "Do you have the courage to kill the boy you raised since infancy?"

He came closer to my ear and whispered, "I killed your father, didn't I? I''m also going to kill your mother, once I get rid of you." I elbowed his chest and swiped the gun from his hand.

"Your not killing anyone tonight. Goodbye, father." I pulled the trigger and watched as the man who raised me fell to the ground, dead. "Come on, we still have work to do." We raced towards the prison, killing the men who once fought along side us and swiped the keys. I tossed the keys over to Janet as she began to open the cells. Five by five, the women were all free and herded outside. There was only one door left. Mother's. Janet tossed me the keys and I rushed to unlock the door.

As soon I pushed the door open, I saw her. Mother was sitting on her bed, looking over to see who had entered. "Will-William? Is that you?" she asked me. I nodded and grabbed her hand. We ran out of the camp, towards the pick up, glad to have had very little trouble. "William, what's going on?" Mother asked me.

"We're free. The military is rescuing us from this dreadful place, mother. Aren't you happy?" I asked her, a bit confused. She nodded and gave me a big, loving hug.

"Of course I'm happy. After all these years, I finally get to be a part of your life." I smiled at her as she pulled away. This time there were two helicopters that came. One for the soldiers who fought in the battle, and the other for the victims of the guerrillas. I joined my mother on the victims helicopter as the others began searching for their mothers. "Oh, William, how I wish you could've met your father. He was a great man who loved you very much." mother was telling me.

"He did? Can you tell me about him?" I asked her. I listen to her explain everything she knew about my real father with fascination. The man she describe was unlike the father I grew up with. The father I grew up with was cruel. He never showed me any affection. When we returned to hq, I was welcomed back by General Kingston.

He smiled at me as I helped my mother off the helicopter and pat me on the back. "You did it. You saved more lives than I did when I was your age." I couldn't help but smile back at him.

"How many did you save?" I asked him.

"None. I was a kid," he said before he burst out laughing. I turned to mother to see her expression. She looked at the man with familiarity. It's as if she knew him in the past.

Mother raised a finger at the general before asking, "Are-Are you Andrew's father? Gabriel Kingston?" I didn't know what was going on anymore as the general nodded, clearly wondering how she knew that. She gestured to herself and I before saying, "sir, I'm Elizabeth Kingston, your son's wife, and William here, is his son."

His expression lighted up to her words. "So it was true. My son was married and I have a grandchild. I had a feeling this was true just by looking at William. He looks so much like his father. If only he was still alive to see what a wonderful son he has." Unexpectedly, the general pulled me into a hug, leaving me unsure of what I'm supposed to do. I wasn't raised with this kind of emotions, only trained to kill.

When he pulled away, he was smiling a me. "I'm going to make sure that you and your mother are safe from now on. Would you like to move into my house back in California?" I shook my head no.

"I'm sorry sir, but I want to continue fighting for the good of the people. Is there a way that I can continue to accomplish this task?" I asked him. I don't want to stop fighting completely. I want to be of use to people if I know that I'm capable of completing just that. "Sir, please. I want to fight at your side."

he sighed a bit and frowned. "William, your only fifteen years old. Don't you want to settle down in a safe place and be like all the other children?" he asked me. When I shook my head no, he said, "I'll see what I can do and if there is a mission open for you."

When he left mother gently took my hand. "Son, you don't have to fight anymore. You do know that, don't you? You can go to school and make some friends. You could be happy."

"Mother, I am happy when I'm fighting. All my scars mean that no matter who I face, I'll come out victorious. Can you try to understand why I want to accomplish this mission? I want to continue fighting until I die." She began to shake her head no, but I dropped her hand. "Are you ashamed of my decision? Or are you ashamed of me?"

"Never of you son. I had loved you ever since I first heard your cries. I'll never give you anything but love," she said sadly. "I just wish you would reconsider your decision. I didn't want you to be like this when I had you."

I shook my head no. "I will not reconsider anything, mother. This is what I grew up doing. It's the only thing I know how to do. Will you please allow me to continue?" I waited for her answer that never came. Instead, she looked over at a letter that was left on a desk.

"This young woman is being targeted as a result of her father's experiments. Her father has created massive weaponry that was supposed to help the U.S. in future wars but the weapon was hidden. In order for the enemy to get their hands on a powerful weapon, they decided to kidnap and possibly murder Young Juliet Peterson. Approximately 15 years of age, average height of 5'6, Average weight of 100 lbs. ..."

"Why don't you go for something simpler like this. You could become the girl's body guard"