"Alright!" Lina exclaimed, she leaned toward Dana's face "so the question is obviously this, what are your real intentions?"She frowned as if she didn't understand what she was talking about. "Don't play dumb with us, maybe you still don't realize in which situation you are trapped," Natasha said with an annoyed tone, she was obviously tired of her turning around the bush, "look, with a single pressure of my fingers I could break your neck, so if you continue acting like you don't understand what she is saying I will rephrase it one last time for you so you better be sure to give us an answer"."You said wanting to meet Jamal, we won't ask you to give us the reason for you to see him, what we want to know, instead, is what are you looking for to do after seeing him?" she asked, the face severe.Dana's cheeks turned red and her tears restarted overflowing and running on them, she wasn't able to control her emotions anymore at the thought of how cornered she was. She managed to articul
"What have you decided about me?" Dana asked after minutes of silence, with her sights fixed on the floor, she was waiting for her sentence. Lina and Natasha looked at each other, sharing a mute conversation then they turned to the young girl, it was Natasha who took the talk as she told her, "you will live with us, more precisely with me, until the day after tomorrow".The young girl raised her head and gazed at them in surprise, "you will not kill me?""No," Lina said, "you gave us an answer without lying even though, I have to admit, your answer was weird and unclear it was enough for us, so there is no need for us to eliminate you," she paused and looked at her suspiciously for a short moment before she added, "unless... there is still something important you're hiding from us?"But she didn't reply anything and just bowed her head and Lina didn't insist. [She can't keep her secret forever anyway] she thought."Well, in her house you will find all that you will need, clothes, food
Before she walked down the stairs to leave the house, Natasha decided to pass by what used to be Matteo's room, which was now temporarily Dana's room, to check how she was doing. It was not like she was scared that she escaped or at least she tried to, she just thought it would be good to do so as she intended to leave without alerting her.Thanks to their discussion of yesterday night, they were close enough for her to know that she would never attempt to run away. Even though Dana didn't confess to her the reason why she needed Jamal to save have or what was he supposed to protect her from, she shared a lot with her. For example, she talked about her social complex which caused her to lose control of her emotions when she was involved in a too stressful situation.She confessed that despite her miserable childhood with neither family nor friends she had managed to survive without diving into criminality or evil in general. Contrary to Matteo, who was firstly raised in an orphanage a
That day was the day where everything would be decided and Lina opened up her eyes that morning with that state of mind. She stroked the empty part of her bed with a sense of nostalgia, trying to remember the warmth of the man who used to occupy that place before she slowly left the bed, [it's just one day since he left, stop acting like a crazy junkie] she said to herself while she was heading to the bathroom, [today is an important day, so interdiction for you to be down, stay focus and confident] she kept motivating herself while tapping her cheeks to wake herself up.After her shower, she returned to the bedroom, picked up appropriate clothes for the event, and went down to the living room. On the coffee table, surrounded by the three couches and the television on its pedestal, was lying a little stack of papers in which were written many versions of her speech. In the end, they finally achieved to find one which satisfied her, it was the only paper separated from the pile of pape
He had to roll for two hours at full speed with his motorbike before he could see the shape of the city, the more he was getting close and the more the buildings, the houses, and the monuments which composed the city became clear. At a moment, he could conceive the shapes of the men and women who were waiting for him at the entrance, ahead of him."Welcome to our dear Short-river!" said joyfully a man who seemed to be the leader of this small group. "My name is Donald Carson but you can call me Don and there you have my unit". Jamal stepped forward to go greet them, it was a group of only seven members; four men including Don, and three women, they formed a line and came one by one to shake his and introduce themselves."Brad March," said the most brawny of the men."Axel Becker," a woman with red hair said, she went on to give more details on the origin of her name "my parents didn't know if they wanted a boy or girl so they chose a name which suits both"."I'm still convinced Axel i
Gunshots were resonating in his ears. In all the buildings around him, people were targeting him, a rain of bullets was falling on him but he was too fast for them to attain him. Although he could stop somewhere safe or directly penetrate one of the buildings to counterattack, he didn't do so as he knew there was something more important to do at the moment first, and going directly for the counterattack would have probably been a waste of his time. [I have to do it quickly, the others may not be able to resist for too long] he recalled himself.What Jamal wanted to do first was to determine the number total of the group of enemies who came to kill them and he thought the best way to do so was to roll around by attracting their attention for him to draw a perimeter of their action zone and by counting the number of times he was shot on he could estimate an idea their number and establish a plan. After 2 minutes of rolling along the streets, he arrived at, what seemed to be, the limit
Though he said that he would be fast to come back after escorting the group which was transporting the wounded, it took several minutes for Jamal to join back the rest of the team. Two of them were sitting recklessly behind their vehicle while the others had their weapons in their hands, surveying the surrounding in case an enemy appeared.[Seems like at least half of them are still vigilant] he thought after he swept a quick glance while stopping before their eyes."What has taken you so long? I thought it would be quick as you've said," they were getting near him while Sania asked this question."Yeah I know, you may excuse me," he stroked the back of his head while taking a look at his back, "in fact, on my way back I happened to see the rest of the enemies on the streets, it seemed that they were ready to attack you as they were fully armed and were running in this direction, so...""So you took the chance to eliminate them all," they all said in one voice. They glanced at him wit
Jamal patted Brad's cheek while shouting at him to wake up. When he finally opened his eyes, he started gazing around him to try to recognize where he was and he found out that he was in a little room enlightened by a single neon hung on a low ceiling. Then, his sight landed on Jamal's face. Brad's face was deformed by the anger, he tried to jump on him many times in vain before he realized that his arms and legs were chained to the chair he was sitting on. Jamal didn't want to waste his time waiting for him to calm down, so he began his interrogation while he was still struggling."Listen, at the other side of this door," he pointed to the only door, the only entrance and exit of the room, which was behind him, "there is a guy who is waiting with a lot of tools I can use to torture you, all that for you to understand that sooner or later you will talk so let's save our time and tell me right now what I want to know".Brad tried to spit on his face, but Jamal dodged it so he went on c
What was convenient was that Natasha's home was near the place of the gathering which meant that they didn't need cars to go there which, anyway, would have not been possible since the cars couldn't move due to the huge crowd present there. They just had to walk for a few minutes and they soon arrived in front of the house.Lina didn't even reach the door yet it got opened from inside. Matteo passed his head outside and took his time to stare at all the faces of each of the people before him before he opened wide the door and stepped aside to let them pass. He made an effort to keep an indescribable expression but Jamal could, without an effort, tell that at that moment he was feeling so much relieved.Carla was the first one to enter followed by Nelson, Sania, Don, Volga, and last Jamal and Lina, who was clinging to his arm and didn't want to let him go.Lina indicated to Carla the direction of Natasha's room and guided the rest of the group to the living room, she served each of the
All around him, Jamal could hear the cheers of the people who had been his allies during the last few days, battle after battle they had been putting their lives on the line for the sake of those who were not capable of protecting themselves. Every one of them probably lost a friend or someone dear during those wars and even their memories had been lost for the majority of them, though they have slowly started to recover. Jamal understood that euphoria, they couldn't contain themselves they had the conviction then that their sacrifices were not a waste.Jamal looked up at the sky, whose brightness, was one of the biggest pieces of proof that showed that indeed they had survived another night.The dawn, which was symbolizing their victory."Let me help you put her in the car," Volga proposed to Jamal while he was carrying the exhausted Natasha."Thank you," he said as he was handing her the girl in his arms."Don't say it," Volga replied while she was laying Natasha on the back seat of
Back on the Battlefield, her sword in hand Natasha could feel a new load of strength flowing in her body, and in a sense, she was convinced that it was thanks to the arrival of Jamal. Even though she didn't want to admit it, the bad thoughts on what could have happened to him had kept bugging her, she had done her best to focus on the enemies before her but it was not easy to get rid of those thoughts from her mind.That was why even surrounded by fearful adversaries animated by the only desire to kill them, she couldn't stop smiling joyfully. Having the chance to fight side by side with the man she admired the most was giving her such wonderful emotions that she would be incapable of explaining. All the worries that were invading her heart immediately vanished away by the only sight of his face.[Since he is here we have already won this war] she couldn't help but tell herself.Besides the fact that she could feel her exhaustion diminishing, she also sensed that it became easier for
Natasha slammed the door of her home after entering in a hurry.While she was running towards her room, Dana, who had been surprised by the loud noise, followed her to inquire about the situation. She stopped at the entrance of Natasha's room, which had been left wide open, and stared at her while she was changing clothes, "what is happening?"The latter glanced at her surprised but didn't pay her much more attention though. After she put on her boots, she stood up and, hopped twice before she stared at Dana. The young girl analyzed her from top to bottom and by looking at her outfit she concluded that something important happened, she frowned after she decided to not let it go."Hey, tell me what is wrong, why do you seem so pressed to go out? And by the way, where is Ja-""Listen, I really don't have time to waste," Natasha stopped her coldly, she got a thoughtful expression for a very short moment, then, she told her, "Look, stay here and wait, I'm sure Lina will come to take you t
That morning Lina woke up unusually early, she sat up slowly on the bed and stretched out enthusiastically with a joyful smile illuminated by the orange color of the sun's rays.When she turned her head she saw Natasha in the corner of the room just next to the window in a way that she was hidden from the sunlight. She was sitting on a stool while wearing a tracksuit and it seemed like she stopped all her movements when she felt Lina's gaze on her as if she had just gotten caught red-handed. She was immobile with the shoelaces in her hands while she was about to tie her shoes and didn't move at all even to raise her head when Lina asked her "What are you doing?"She lifted her head slowly and with a forced smile, she gazed away as if she was looking for a good excuse before she said with an uncertain tone " I-I... I woke up surprisingly early and I felt like going outside, you know... to do some jogging".Lina's smile faded away, and she stared at Natasha with an annoyed expression,
"Our role is quite simple but very important, we have to, first, choose the venue for the fight," Lina started to expose her plan step by step while accompanying her speech with gestures of the hands, she tried to be as clear as possible, "a place afar from the residences zone, in order to avoid that the citizens get a clue about it since we don't want to create any sort of panic"."Since I arrived in the city, I have worked along with Natasha and Matteo and we have started to look for the venue," Brad said after he rose his hand and Lina gave him the talk, "though you have already told me that we still need some more precision about the characteristics that place should have".Lina gazed at Natasha and Matteo confused, she then told them, "you both should be able to determine the best spot for the fight, so I don't understand why I have my word to say".The two people glanced at each other."Hmph!""Hmph!"They suddenly turned away as if they just came out from a quarrel.Lina stared
•••Lina hung up and walked silently toward the sofa of her office and let herself fall on it and released a long sigh, "thank God it will all soon be over," she mumbled, her face buried in the sofa.She suddenly heard the door being opened, she didn't have to turn her head to know who were the people who were entering as she directly recognized them by the rhythm of their footsteps. "You're late, I already hung up," she said after she turned slightly her head, so they could hear her voice clearly."What? You have told me you will wait for us to come," Natasha complained while putting her hands on her waist to show her disappointment."Sorry but you were taking too much time," Lina replied not sincere at all, "I have tried to hold him on as long as I could but he has his duty"."I'm sorry, it's my fault if we're late, I have the habit of not noticing the time passing when I'm with my patients," Donald apologized to Natasha while stroking the back of his head."Don't worry," Natasha qu
•••"I will try to convince them tonight but I won't promise you it will be easy. It's not something easy to believe in and even if they do it's still not certain they will accept it, after all the horrors they went through since that abominable night they may not be mentally ready for what I'm about to ask them," Jamal explained through the phone in a steady voice."You don't need all them to be in, even though it would be better if they could all accept, neither you need to tell them in detail what that mission is all about," Lina outlined, "looking at the actual situation even the 10% of the whole army will be a great help and you know that"."Yeah, I know. I will do my best," he promised.There was a short moment of silence before Lina chuckled, "but I swear, when you said that you will make it in 6 days, I didn't expect you will seriously do it. I should learn to believe more in you"."To be honest I was just trying to act cool. Those battles have been so quick but yet so complic
•••Nelson had remained silent sitting next to Sania waiting for her to tell him something however since the moment she told him to stay, she didn't open up her mouth. He couldn't stop feeling anxious due to that mysterious tension he could feel in the air at that moment while wondering what she was about to tell him. Minutes passed until he couldn't take it anymore and decided to initiate the discussion himself."If... if you want to tell me how much you loathe me you can go ahead, though I probably already know how you feel. Don't hold back I deserve whatever you will say, after all the things I have done to you".Until then Sania had her arms crossed around her knees while leaning her head on them, without saying a word or turning her head, she slowly released her left hand, and let it wander a little bit until she reached Nelson's right hand and she held it timidly."How?" she said with a little voice smothered by her forearm in front of her mouth."How... ?" Nelson repeated confu