A Partisan's Fight - COMPLETED!

Chapter Sixty-Five

"Keep your head up, Jyrgen. You are doing the right thing." A strong-willed young woman whispered to the young guard.

"Penny, you do not know what is being asked right now." He shook his head, frustration stressing him out.

"Stay focused." She spoke calmly, changing the cool rag on a sick woman's head.

"Focused?" He scoffed. "I am about to commit treason. We all will probably die."

"And you want to risk me dying? I thought you were my friend, Jyrgen. Do not second guess this plan." She glanced up to see if anyone was around before rubbing his arm.

The young man's eyes darted between hers before returning to watch the door. He'd escorted her to check on a sick prisoner. It had been a good excuse to spend some time with her before risking everything.

Sighing, Penny brushed a finger under Jyrgen's chin, turning him to face her. "We have a tunnel of weapons. We have more than enough prisoners willing to fight. We will make it out of this alive. Just stick with the plan."

Before being able to answer her, he felt her soft lips brush against his. Hungrily, he wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her in tightly. Forgetting his mission, he devoured every ounce of love she'd allot him. He didn't know what it was about the woman, but she could twist him around her fingers anyway she wanted to. She made him question everything he knew. And she was the reason he'd risk everything to help the cause.

"Jyrgen... Jyrgen... we will get caught." Penny pulled away, just as breathless as he was. "We only have a few minutes left before our world will change. Be ready."

"I am stupid for believing this is going to work. But somehow..." He paused, enraptured by her green eyes and dusty red hair hanging in a mess around her shoulders. "Somehow I trust you."

A small smile quirked up the edge of her mouth. "You should be trusting in the plan. Not me." Squeezing his arm gently, she sighed and pushed him away from her.

"What are you doing?" He asked her, slightly panicked at the suddenness of her motion.

"We have minutes before this plan takes effect and we are fighting for our lives. Get your head in the game, Handsome. There will be time for us expressing our... affection... for each other when we get out of this... alive. Go! Get to work!"

He knew she was right, but he didn't want to leave her. "How do I know you will be safe?"

"When you feel my lips brushing against yours again. Now go!" She hissed at him, a smile still playing at her lips and a teasing wink making her more beautiful than ever.

Nodding, Jyrgen found his way out of the barrack and stood guard in front of the door. His gun propped across his chest, he stood watch, ready for the assault to begin at any second. This wasn't a fight he was sure he wanted. Aldrik's compelling speech of recruiting him rolled through his mind, and, quite to his surprise, he knew what his answer would be if the speech was recited to him once again. He'd say... yes. He'd agree to put his life on the line again and again. Not because he was making the righteous choice, but simply because he was bored and... selfish. He took the guard job unsure what to expect. Unsure what his true purpose for being there was, but then he'd seen her. He'd met his match. And if there were one thing he could do, it would be to keep Penny happy. If joining the fight to liberate people who didn't deserve the cruelty that happened to them was the way to win her heart over... to bring him closer to her, then he was willing to join whatever fight was thrown his way. Why not feel what it was like to be both a traitor and a hero to the same country? His path had been forged and now, even with the uncertainty of being in a battle he wasn't sure he should really be a part of, he was ready.

All the courage he just summoned up meant little when the explosion rang through his ears, shaking the ground below him. It took only moments for the ground to go from shaking to crumbling beneath his feet. He could feel the debris hitting him as the building he was guarding crumbled apart from the ground splitting. In that single moment it wasn't the regret of joining this mission that flung its way through his mind. No, it was the sudden fear that Penny was in that crumbling apart building. The sudden fear that the only thing he felt was rubble flying toward him when she could be feeling the entire force of that building's roof caving in around her. It took only a moment for the world to go black and close in around him. Only one single moment for his heart to feel like it was stopping. Only one moment until...