“We’re gunna fuckin' kill you!” cheers Ted, his brown eyes wild with animal-like hunger. He runs towards me and he aims his handgun at my throat. “Wot’s ya last words, pretty boy?”

“I want you to fuck off, that’s what.” I growl at him, aiming Fili Mi at his chest.

“Mouthy, ain’t you?” Ted says, tilting his head to the side. He suddenly launches himself forward, driving his gun into my throat, choking me. He punches my jaw and I let out a growl, swinging Fili Mi, catching the side of his head.

“Die, fucker!” Ted sneers, grabbing my throat, pressing the muzzle of his handgun to my temple.

“How would you feel if I shot you?” whispers Talyor, pressing his gun against Ted’s temple.

Ted’s eyes are wide with alarm as he hisses, “You wouldn’t, would you?”

Talyor gives a one shoulder shrug, saying in a cocky voice, “Who knows? Only I know and God knows.” His grin looks diabolic.

I study the scene unfolding in front of me. It would be an excellent painting, titled Guns Everywhere. It’s strange, though. Fili Mii is aimed at Ted’s chest, Ted’s handgun is aimed at my temple, and Talyor’s gun is at Ted’s temple. It’s interesting that no one is firing their gun yet.

“You leave this soldier alone and I won’t kill you.” Talyor whispers menacingly.

Ted considers. He’s probably weighing the options. I bet it goes like this: If I kill him, then that’s one less soldier. But if I kill him, then I’ll be dead. Should I? Or should I not.

Talyor taps his gun on Ted’s temple. “Tick tock,” he sing-songs.

Ted lowers his gun, grumbling. “Happy?”

Famous last word.

Talyor twists Ted towards him, cocking his gun to Ted’s forehead and firing.

My ears are ringing. I feel sick, watching the bits of what I am guessing is Ted’s brain scatter the area, his blood splattering my clothing and Talyor’s. I feel bile rising in my throat and I ignore the yellow and black dots floating in my vision. I sink to the floor, my hands out in front of me as I try to steady myself.

“You okay?” Talyor asks, his hands on my shoulder.

“Hell, I've never been better,” I sputter. I shudder, suppressing a moan as I squeeze my eyes shut, drawing in exaggerated breaths. I open my eyes and I can see Ted’s dead body.

“You’re weak to the stomach?" Talyor assumes.

“Yeah,” I gasp, standing up, facing away from Ted’s dead body.

“Hm. Well, let’s go and save the others. Just be grateful I came by because if I hadn’t, you’d be dead fo’ sho’.” Talyor pats my back. He says, “Onward to save our fellow soldiers and pray that no one we know is dead!” He runs off.

I fight back an eye roll and tail after him. Guns fire, people swing blades, and one crazy person tries to drive people down with his mini car. What the hell? Why do you have a car in the middle of a battle? You know what? Whatever.

“Cynthia! Cynthia!” screams Xentia, chasing down the female soldier. “You can’t go into the middle of a battle when you have an infant! You are also very weak!” Xentia’s hair is free from its loose bun and her brown eyes are wide.

“Daisy will be fine,” Cynthia says, grinning psychotically. Her blonde whips around her face as she shakes her head wildly, saying, “For Daisy! For Steven!” and she goes into the heart of the battle.

I feel someone hit the back of my head. “Don't just stand there!” Xentia cries to me. "Go after her!”

I groan and go after Cynthia, calling her name: “Cynthia! Cynthia! What are you doing? Cynthia!” I pause to punch a soldier who tried to tackle me. “God, this is pointless. This is why I don’t understand women. Cynthia! What about your child?”

Then I’m shoved to the floor by someone, and I feel their lips against my ear. I feel my face heat up as I hear the voice: Haden.

“You think you can get away from killing Ted?” Haden whispers, a snarl rising in his voice.

“Get off me,” I hiss, trying to squirm away but he holds me there. In fact, he lays on top of me completely. My face is burning as I snarl, “What the hell are you doing? Get off of me!”

Haden pats my head, snickering, “You’re uncomfortable?” He does the unthinkable to me. He presses his lips against my cheek.

I let out a scream of rage, trying to get away from him.

I feel the cold metal of a knife being pressed against the back of my neck. A gelid feeling rushes up my spine as I feel Haden’s fingers grab my hair. Something’s off. I hate it. No—I loathe it. I start shifting, trying to pull myself free from Haden’s grip. How come no one is seeing this?

Suddenly, there’s a loud banging noise and Haden screams in pain, rolling off of me, clutching the back of his head.

I face the person and find General Greenway.

“He didn’t do anything, did he?” The General asks, his gray eyes wide. I notice that he is holding a metal pan. Lovely. But he mustn’t hit Haden that hard because he’s only whimpering in pain. And trying to crawl away.

“N-no.” I stammer and Greenway looks relieved. He steps on Haden’s back and says, “Wrong idea for doing an attack, boy,” he swings the metal pan against his head and Haden’s out.

“You’re okay?” I ask General Greenway.

“Oh, yes,” he says, an enervated grin on his lips. “Now, we must fight, am I right?” He waves a hand in the air before saying, “Come now.” And he’s off, yelling commands to our group.

Someone tackles me, and I fall flat on my back, staring at the person.

Ugh, seriously? It had to be Kel, didn’t it?

“He-e-ey,” she purrs, her eyes gleaming as her yellow brown hair drapes over my face. “So, you killed Ted and hurt Haden? Naughty, naughty. How could you? Ready to die?” She slaps me and then horrible pain blasts throughout my body.

My entire vision goes white from the pain as I scream but Kel clamps her hand over my mouth, muffling the scream.

The pain subsides the tiniest bit as she gets off me, waving a bloodied knife in front of my face. “You like that?” She whispers. Her grin widens. “Now, bleed to death.” She blows me a mocking kiss and runs off.

I grab my side which is bleeding a hellish amount. I grunt as I try to sit up, sucking in a sharp breath, whimpering. It hurts so much as I hold my side, trying to steady my breathing. Grounding my teeth, I squeeze my eyes shut, praying for the pain to go away. My head is swimming and useless tears stab at the back of my eyes. Maybe it was a bad idea to go off to war. I should have stayed with my parents...who are both dead now.

“Joey!” I jerk my head towards the voice.

“J-J-J-Jesse?” Even speaking is painful.

Jesse crouches beside me, cupping my face. “What happened?” His eyes travel to where my hand is gripping my side. “Who did this?”

“A-a-a g-girl.” I stutter.

“Do you know her name? How does she look?” Jesse asks.

“K-K-Kel.” I grimace.

Jesse looks stunned, saying, “Oh.”

“W-what-what d-do you mean b-by ‘o-oh’?” I say, my voice shaking so much.

“Nothing,” Jesse says. He has a frustrated look on his face, but it dies so quickly that I’m second guessing.

“Y-you look angry,” I accuse him furiously.

“What?! No, no, no.” Jesse waves his hands. He’s trying to hide something. Does he know Kel...?

“You’re…you’re lying.” I glare at him. I try to move away but he grabs my wrist.

“Why would I lie?” Jesse won’t look in my eyes.

“Wait...” the breath leaves my lungs as I say in a shaky voice, “A-are you trying to kill me?” I feel the blood drain from my face.

“Screw that! Of course not! You’re my younger brother...my baby brother.” Jesse looks at me desperately. He bites his lower lip, a vulnerable look—is it a vulnerable look?—on his face.

“T-then h-how c-come aren’t you bringing me to medics then? I-I-I’m bleeding to-to death here.” I stutter, a snarl in my throat as I clutch my side tightly.

“Right.” Jesse helps me up and I lean against him.

“Wh-where are you lead-leading me?” I inquire, curious about why he’s leading me away from the camp.

“I know someone who’s good at healing.” Jesse says stiffly.

We stagger away from the camp to a different area. Huh? I look wildly around and notice that it looks like an abandoned campsite. Wait…isn’t this the enemies’ camp?

Jesse must sense my dread because he hisses in my ear, “Stop it. It’s not what you think. You’ll like this person. Super nice.” His voice is dense in a way I never heard before.

He walks into a tent and there is a person.

It’s a young woman. A very pretty one.

She turns around and shrieks, clapping her hands together. “Jesse!” She cries, running up to him and me. “Who’s he? Oh my gosh, is this Joey?” The woman grins at me, but it turns into a frown. “You’re bleeding! What happened? No worries, you came to the right person!” She grins. She removes my grip from Jesse.

“So...” says Jesse, his cheeks red, “How’s everything?” He asks the woman.

“Oh, thank you for asking, Jesse. It’s all good. I’m healthy, he’s healthy.” She laughs.

Who’s “he”? I wonder, eyeing the two.

“Thank God,” Jesse sighs, approaching the woman, swinging his arm around her waist.

“Wait!” I blurt out. “She’s your girlfriend?!” I scream at him. My vision blurs from the pain of my side and I wrap my arms over my head, trying to focus on my breathing.

“Wife, actually,” Jesse sounds defensive.

“D-did Mom and F-father know?!” I sputter out.

“No,” Jesse says, “and it doesn’t matter. We love each other.” Jesse grins at the pretty girl, kissing her neck.

“Let me tend your brother, Jesse,” the woman says, pulling away from Jesse. She goes to a corner and pulls out a first aid. “Sit on that bed, would you?” She points to a bed, and I sit there. “Remove your shirt for me. I need to check the wound.”

“Wait,” I say, and Jesse looks annoyed. “You’re pregnant?” I mutter to the woman, and she nods.

“Yes. And I think it would be nice if I introduce myself, huh? I’m Rachel.” Rachel has an easy grin that is infectious. She helps me remove my shirt and she sucks in a sharp breath. “Someone stabbed you real good, didn’t they?” She grabs a lying cloth and dips it into a bucket. “This will sting but it will help.” She presses the cloth against my side.

I yowl, thrashing but she holds me tight. God, she has a tight grip. I whimper, letting the tears fall. I grit my teeth and I sigh as the pain subsides. Rachel says, “Press the cloth tight against your side; I’ll get a binding bandage.” She leaves to the back of the tent and Jesse growls at me, “What is wrong with you? ‘You’re pregnant’? What the hell?” He shakes his head, shaking a fist at me.

“B-but Jesse. I thought...w-why didn’t you...when... how? Why? How long? My god, I have so many questions...” I say.

“Don’t say them. I won’t answer them.” Jesse snarls, jabbing a finger in my direction.

“Found them!” Rachel chirps, waving a roll of the binding bandage in the air. She comes to me and unrolls it. “You can move the cloth away.” She says and I drop the cloth beside me. Rachel bends down and begins to dig in the first aid, pulling out some medicine. She dabs that on me with cotton and wraps the bandage around me. Quite tight. 

She draws away, satisfied. “Try not to move around so much. You don’t want to tear that, do you? Come back tomorrow so I can change the wrapping.” She hugs me and then goes to Jesse, kissing him. “Be good. I’ll stay here like usual. Don’t die...” Her hazel eyes are warm with love.

Jesse slips his hand into Rachel’s black hair, murmuring, “I love you, Rache...”

“Oh, I know, Jess.” Rachel grabs Jesse’s hand and places it on her stomach. “Wish me good luck. No stress, right?”

“Of course,” Jesse murmurs, kissing her.

Rachel says goodbye to Jesse and me. Jesse then grabs my wrist and forces me to run.

“Jesse! Jesse! I-I can’t breathe!” I pant, trying to stretch my legs farther out.

“I will fucking kill you if you mention me or Rachel to anyone. I swear to God I will.” Jesse snarls at me, pressing his face close to mine.

“What? But I’m your brother!” I tell him, shocked.

“You think I give a shit about that?!” Jesse snarls. He sighs, letting me go. He pinches the bridge of his nose, saying, “Look, kid, I don’t want my pregnant wife to die. Okay? There are people—bad people—out there who will kill her and me for who we are. I don’t know what I would do without her. And the baby...a baby boy...oh.” Something changes in Jesse’s tone and expression, melting into something weak.

“You think you’ll be a good father?” I can’t believe I said that out loud.

Jesse looks outrageous. “Of course! I’ll be the best father than our father was to us. I will help my son, watch over him, support him for whoever he becomes... for who he loves...”

“Even if that means your son becomes a criminal?” Why am I speaking? Shut the fuck up, Joey.

My older brother promptly slaps me and then shakes me. “Why are you so fucked up? My son won’t be a criminal!” Jesse’s blue eyes are wild with rage. He lifts me the collar and whispers icily, “If you don’t want me to beat you to pulp, how ’bout you shut that pretty mouth of yours and no harm will be done?”

“Why do you threaten me, Jesse? Why? We’re brothers. It seems as if we’re actually sworn enemies and not brothers. Not flesh and blood. You look like you want to destroy me. Why? What did I do?” I look at my older brother, waiting for an answer.

“Of course you don’t remember. Eleven years ago. Fucking think about it. Then maybe you’ll know why I’m finally taking a little bit of revenge.” Jese whips around, stuffing his hands into his pocket. He leaves me alone, and then I remember.