Chronicles of the Unknowns: Intervention

Chapter 16

The attack in China went smoothly. When we arrived at the border there were soldiers waiting, but we handled them with ease. It was almost too easy. Like we expected there to be more resistance more boots on the ground, but their army seemed spread thin.

It was especially weird, because it seemed like they waved their arms at us and were shouting things, but we couldn't really understand. I paused, wondering if we should stop and try to see what they were saying, but Sakima and Dziko charged forward. And of course Hunter too, because he lived for the fight. Ken and I looked at each other and shrugged and followed our hotheaded friends.

As we prepared to attack, it felt like the army had surrendered before it even began. They practically rolled over and exposed their bellies.

When their air force attacked they only deployed maybe a dozen, beat up looking aircrafts. Ken knocked them out of the sky without so much as raising a finger. For some reason that concerned me. Russia had put up every front they had to stop us, and we had every reason to expect the same from China. It just felt off. I didn't voice my concerns thought. Our job was easy, so why complain?

Sakima walked up to the soldiers we'd overpowered and gave them our spiel. He asked for an audience with the president and whoever else was in charge. The soldiers even seemed a bit confused by this, but they complied.

"Alright, nobody else is saying it so I will: doesn't this all seem a bit odd?" Timothy asked.

"I was thinking it, but I didn't want to say anything because it's the easiest our job has been so far," I admitted.

"Something is not right about this," Timothy said.

The soldiers returned and led us to where the President agreed to meet us. When we arrived there was an interpreter there.

"All we want is for you to release the Unknowns you have captive and to negotiate your surrender," I said.

The President spoke and then the interpreter turned to us.

"We have already negotiated these terms. Someone was supposed to take one of your colleagues about an hour ago. Is this why you Unknowns have attacked us again?"

"Again?" I asked bewildered. I looked at the others. They all shrugged.

"There must have been some confusion and miscommunication. We apologize. We don't mean to seem like we are backing out of our deal, but we are very passionate about our cause," Timothy said quickly.

More words between the interpreter and President. Then one of his soldiers walked toward us.

"We will take you to the camps where the prisoners have been held captive," the soldier said.

We followed him and decided this time around it was okay to get in their vehicle. They looked like they'd had the rug swept from underneath them. It didn't seem like they were going to attack again.

"Maybe other Unknowns caught wind of what happened in Russia. Maybe they started their own fight here and got the better of the humans," Ken whispered hopefully.

I nodded thoughtfully. It made sense. With us being so close, they could stand to fight back and get away with it. Even if they'd lost, with us being nearby to intervene, it was worth a shot. From the looks of things they'd succeeded. The worry I'd felt a few moments ago began to wash away. We were on the winning side of this fight.

The soldier who chaperoned us, dropped us off at a large building. A man was standing outside. He had on a lab coat and carried a clipboard, but looked disheveled. His hair was frizzy and several of the buttons on her coat was lopsided. Not to mention on of the heels on his dress shoes was flat out gone, so he stood at a slightly lopsided awkward angle.