(Gavin's PoV)

My legs ached. We had been walking all day.

"When can we take a break?" Tristan asked.

"Nightfall," Sgt. Blake replied without even looking back. He had answered that question numerous times today.

I groaned. "I wish I was in Lt. Jason's group."

"You guys need to focus," Holly hissed. "Offensive fighting within enemy territory is much more dangerous. You should always be on guard."

"Oh come on," I sighed. "What guerrillas are gonna want to mess with us? There's like a dozen of us."

"Maybe one with 13 bullets," Holly remarked.

As we kept walking my patience was growing even more worn out than my leg muscles. "Where are we even going?"

"Do you ever stop complaining?" Holly's glare narrowed in on me.

Tristan scoffed at her. "Oh, don't tell me you're not in pain."

"Of course I am," she retorted. "I just don't feel the need to advertise it every five minutes."

"I think we're all just tired since we haven't really done any exercise since Basic Training," Landon tried to explain.

Tristan paused in thought for a moment. "It's hard to believe that was almost a year and a half ago."

That statement resonated with me. We were taken away last February and it was already mid July of this year. I felt a drop of rain. "Figures," I muttered. Within the next half hour, it was pouring. It was currently what Justin called "monsoon season" again.

Holly looked down and sighed in annoyance. Her white dress was becoming rather see-through.

Thinking quickly, Landon unzipped his jacket and handed it to her. "You need it more than I do."

"I'll be fine," Holly said, somewhat stuttering.

"Take it," Landon offered again. "We don't need Kent going crazier."

After a moment, Holly reluctantly took the jacket and put it on. It was maybe a couple of sizes big for her.

Landon was probably doing himself a favor too. The humidity was making multiple layers even hotter.

"We just won't tell Sgt. Blake," Landon whispered to her.

Tristan elbowed me and made a mocking kissing face. I couldn't help but laugh.

Holly turned back. "What?" she said through gritted teeth.

Tristan and I looked away from each other. "Nothing," we said simultaneously.

Holly finished zipping up the jacket, still glaring at us.

The rain didn't let up, however that didn't stop Sgt. Blake, so there was just more walking.

(Logan's PoV)

Everything was much more relaxed without Sgt. Blake around. I mean sure, we were still in a war zone, but with only Lt. Jason to supervise, even Justin couldn't help but feel a little less tense.

He and I had found a dry spot underneath some trees and he was trying to teach me how to play chess. He drew a checkerboard outline in the dirt and small symbols to represent the pieces, swiping and redrawing whenever we moved.

     I wasn't very good at the game.

"So the pawns can move diagonally?" I asked.

"Only when they're taking a piece," he corrected. "Which you have no opportunity to do at the moment."

"Maybe not with a pawn," I heard a voice from over my shoulder. It was Clayton. "But if you take the Catholic dude and move him four spaces diagonally you can take his knight."

Justin sighed. "It's a bishop to be exact and..." His voice trailed off as he looked down at the board and pursed his lips. "Well I suppose he could." He shifted awkwardly. "That was a lucky guess," he said coolly.

"I know how to play chess." Clayton's tone was equally cold. "Logan, let me take over for you."

I glanced down at the board. Justin already had six of my pieces and I only had the opportunity to take one of his pieces this turn.

"How about you guys start over?" I suggested. "Create an even playing ground."

Both guys shrugged and Justin started redrawing the board and pieces. "Clayton can go first," he offered.

"Gladly." Clayton went ahead and moved a pawn forward two spaces.

I had no idea board games could be so intense. It was eerily quiet the whole time, even despite the fact that most of the other guys had crowded around to watch.

Clayton was able to keep pace pretty well. After almost a half hour, they were each down to about a half dozen pieces.

Justin deliberated for a moment and moved his castle to the left a few spaces. "Checkmate," he declared.

From what I had gathered during our earlier lesson, I think that meant Justin had won.

Clayton sighed. "Yep. But who's surprised?"

There was a moment of awkward tension, which Justin eventually broke.

"Hey Clayton. I just wanted to say that I haven't been challenged like that in a game for a long time. And also, I think that was the most fun I've had since being drafted...so...thanks." He stretched out his hand. "Good game."

Clayton took his hand and gave it a small shake. "You too."

(Landon's PoV)

I sat on a large rock, examining the terrain for guerrillas or other enemy soldiers. Ever since my last encounter with them, I had been more tense every time I looked outward.

I had the middle shift of the night. We had stopped to spend the night in an area dense with tall trees. The ground wasn't much more uncomfortable than our beds back at base.

I felt torn. On the one hand, I was semi-glad to be offense fighting--actually doing something, but part of me missed the comfort of the barricade. But I had gotten shot defense fighting, so I didn't exactly know why the base felt safer. Nevertheless, I knew the "safe" defensive base guarding wasn't going to bring us any close to the end of the war.

I heard something stirring behind me. I turned around with my gun clutched in my hands, but it was just Holly. She was still wearing my jacket.

"I can't sleep," she admitted.

"I could," I informed her. "But I can't right now."

She rolled her eyes and knelt down next to me. "I'll help then."

"Do you think we're going about this the right way?" I asked.

"What do you mean?" she pressed.

"The way we're offense fighting." I continued. "You've read a lot about military strategy. Is this the best idea?"

"Well," she began. "Wars can rarely be won without some kind of offensive fighting, but I don't see why we're going after guerrillas. They're disposable. It doesn't make a difference to the people in charge whether or not they're alive. They're not even official soldiers--less than pawns in their eyes. By trying to take out guerillas, we may be knocking out an inconvenience for us--"

"Ah, yes, because getting shot by guerrillas was merely an inconvenience." I interrupted.

She waved her hand. "You know what I mean. It might save us a headache, or chest-ache to put it in your terms, but it won't really do anything in the long run."

The more she spoke, the more I worried it would be several years before this war would end.

"If you really want to make your enemy crumble, you gotta take out their leader," she said. "No matter how popular they are or not--so many wars are coated in bureaucracy that neither side would really be able to function without central leadership. Especially somewhere like here where Emperor Xang-hao Li too power hungry and paranoid to even have a succession plan."

My tone grew serious. "We're gonna be here a while aren't we?"

Holly pursed her lips. "I can't say for sure, but most likely."

The scariest part of her statement was how uncertain I felt about it. I mean, sure, I hated war, but I had no idea if I could just adjust to life back at home. And this had only been about a year and a half. The longer the war went on, the more I missed out on, and the more I missed out on, the harder it would be to adapt back to "normal".

And then there was Holly, which was a whole other issue on its own.

"Are you scared about offense fighting?" she asked.

I just shrugged. "I wish I knew."

Neither of us could think of anything else to say, but we sat together silently, offering passive reassurance for the rest of my shift.

(Matteo's PoV)

We walked for several more hours than we did the day before. I tried to ignore the soreness in my legs, but I felt like I had just sprinted a 500-meter freestyle.

Despite the overall formation structure, we were all mostly split up into small groups within, out of our own accord. I had mostly been sticking with Daniel and Trevor.

"I hate walking," Trevor groaned.

Daniel struggled to keep his eyes open. "I got like no sleep last night. I can deal with the discomfort of the ground, but the dirt was giving me anxiety. I mean, I know this is the military, but still."

I think I may have responded something in agreement, but I was too out of it to be sure. I remained spaced out until we heard someone shout in pain from behind us.

"What is it now?" Sgt. Blake groaned.

"Gavin just stubbed his toe," Landon explained as his friend clutched his foot.

"Just get on with it." Sgt. Blake demanded.

"Wait," Holly stopped dead in her tracks. "That's weird." She crouched to the ground and began to search. "You don't just stub your toe on grass."

"Holly, we don't have time for this," Sgt. Blake scolded. "It's probably just a clump of dirt."

She looked up. "I know what I'm talking about." She patted her hand on the ground all around the immediate area. She stopped for a moment. "It's like concrete here," she observed. She began to brush away at the grass and her eyes widened. We all crowded around her, much to Sgt. Blake's dismay, but all I could see was a grey spot.

"What's that mean?" I asked.

She ignored me as she pushed away leaves. Landon tried to get her attention by touching her shoulder, but was caught off guard when she whispered "oh my god." She pressed her head against the ground.

"Holly, what's going on?" Landon pressed.

She didn't come up yet. "There's people in there," she stated.

We couldn't believe our ears. We began questioning her but she cut us off with a hissing shush.

After a pause, Landon asked. "Like our people?"

She finally brought her head back up. "Looks like American soldiers from what I can tell. There's some sort of underground room with a small opening for air that I could look into."

"I didn't think there was supposed to be a base this close to ours," Christopher pointed out.

Holly shook her head. "It's not a base. I think it's a prison camp."

Sgt. Blake came forward and shoved Holly aside. "Let me see," he said and he crouched to the ground. After several seconds, he said my name.

What could he possibly have to yell at me about now? I thought as I went over to him anyway.

"Get down," he ordered.

I felt too confused to argue as he pointed to the small opening Holly had mentioned.

"Is that your friend?"

I followed his hand to find a blond boy huddled up in a corner. His hair was much longer now, but that didn't stop me from recognizing him.

"Will!" I exclaimed.

"Not so loud." Sgt. Blake hit me upside the head, but I was too overjoyed to care.

I must've gotten the attention from the rest of the people in the cell because they all looked upwards to the small rectangular hole I was peering through. Will ran over to the hole. "Matteo?" he asked.

"Yeah, it's me," I responded. "Oh thank god, you're alive." I was nearly in tears from all the relief rushing through me. "I never thought I'd see you again."

"How did you find us?" he wondered.

"Half of us went off to do offensive fighting, but then Gavin literally stumbled upon this," I explained breathlessly.

A younger boy tugged on Will's arm. "Someone's coming," he whispered.

I felt my pulse race as I promised. "Don't worry, Will. We'll get you out of here, I-'' but my sentence was cut off by Sgt. Blake dragging me away by my shirt collar. He finally let go once we were all behind some bushes.

"We have to save Will," I pressed.

"Matteo," he started.

"But we have to-"

Even Connor stepped in on my behalf. "This is more important than offense fighting."

Sgt. Blake sighed through gritted teeth. "I never said we weren't going to free the camp, but we can't just go in there now. We have to be methodical about it. Otherwise, we'll likely end up inside there too, that is if we don't get killed in the process." He went on to explain how we would hide out and watch how the enemy soldiers got in and out. I tried my best to pay attention. I needed to focus. Will was alive and we needed to rescue him.

(Holly's PoV)

We spent the next several hours in hiding, keeping watch over the prison. I promptly elbowed Gavin in the ribs when he gasped upon seeing a person come out. Sgt. Blake motioned for us to move away to reduce the risk of being found. I made a mental note of my surroundings for when we'd return.

"All right," Sgt. Blake began. "We all saw the trapdoor-like entrance."

"It didn't even look like there was a lock," I pointed out. "I think they were counting on the fact that no one would find their underground prison in the first place."

"No one asked you, Holly." Sgt. Blake chided before continuing. "When it's darkest, we'll break in."

"How will we get past the guards?" Daniel asked.

"We'll have to kill them," Sgt. Blake replied matter-of-factly. Despite his unusually calm tone, his response didn't seem to sit well with most of the guys. I had to remind myself that they didn't sign up for this.

The orders were simple, but none of them could figure out how to feel about them. Matteo even sounded uncertain as he pleaded. "We have to do it. To save Will and the others."

We waited until dusk to carry out our plan. It was almost 0230 when Sgt. Blake ordered for us to move in. We remained silent as we searched the ground for the entrance. Trevor was the one who eventually found it. We held our breaths as he opened the trap door.

I looked inside to find two sleeping guards.

Sgt. Blake entered first and waved for us to follow. The floor was only about seven or eight feet below the entrance. It wasn't a long drop, but my feet still stung when they hit the ground.

Sgt. Blake went ahead and a few guys followed right behind him.

Tristan began to posture his weapon. "So do we just-"

I pushed his gun down. "Not yet. You have to disarm first and wait to shoot until necessary. We don't need to draw attention."

I grabbed the weapons that were leaning next to the sleeping guards, luckily without stirring them.

We heard shots from down the hall. Sgt. Blake and the others must have found the guards that were awake.

The two guards in front of us were starting to open their eyes.

"Now it's necessary." I told them.

But they all had total deer in the headlights looks on their faces. Landon just fidgeted with his gun and stammered.

Did I have to do everything? I aimed one of the stolen guns and fired two shots, one at each of the guards.

"How...how did you do that?" Landon stuttered.

I ignored him and pulled him along the hallway to see if the others needed help. Apparently not, seeing as there were three enemy soldiers at Sgt. Blake's feet.

"The only room past this is the cell," he said.

The prison was rather small, although I supposed the cramped quarters were intended to add to the misery. Still, five guards seemed low. We needed to act quickly in case more were coming.

Sgt. Blake stole the ring of keys off the belt loop of one of the dead soldiers and began to unlock the cell. He began to search for the highest ranking officer among the group to discuss how to move forward.

Matteo and Will hugged each other as we began to make our way back above ground.

One of the former prisoners thanked Landon for saving them.

Landon shifted uncomfortably. "It was mostly Holly."

I couldn't quite shake the look he was giving me.

(Will's PoV)

Both my platoon and fellow ex-prisoners were heading back to our base. Sgt. Blake was discussing with the top ranking official about how to go forward from our rescue. After several hours, it had been decided that the rest of the boys would be sent home, but I was allowed to stay here since I had been reunited with my platoon. Allowed was probably the wrong word, seeing as I didn't get a say, but I was glad to get to have more time with Matteo.

"I'm so sorry I left you behind," he told me.

"No, it's not your fault," I assured him. "We both panicked."

He gave a half smile. "I'm just so glad to have you back. I was so miserable without you. Although I can't imagine how awful it's been for you."

"Yeah, it was hard." My voice cracked from remembering Christian.

We walked for probably a solid day, not even stopping to sleep. The risks of getting caught were too high. Sgt. Blake had abandoned the search for guerrillas that Matteo had told me they were initially on.

I looked around at all the trees and bushes. Most of them were destroyed. You could hardly see any green.

Once we came across the barricade, familiarity swept over me. I couldn't tell whether it was bad or good, just something I was used to. It had been dark for several hours, so it made sense that the guys weren't out there aside from Justin, who was on guard duty at the time. He appeared puzzled when Sgt. Blake announced his presence. "I didn't think you were supposed to be back yet."

"There's been a change of plans," he declared as we all stepped forward.

Upon recognizing us, he brought his gun down and ushered us inside. It was cramped trying to fit everyone inside, but certainly better than the cell.

"What's with all these new people," Logan asked, but his face lit up when he saw me. "Will!" He ran up to hug me.

Clayton took a turn. "Dude, we thought you were dead." He paused for a moment. "I mean I'm really glad you're not, I'm just shocked."

"We rescued him and the others from a prison camp," Matteo explained.

All of the guys crowded around me at that point and began asking about my experience. I shifted uncomfortably as I spoke.

"It was awful," I could barely muster out. "I saw my cell mate die right in front of me."

"Did they torture you?" Logan asked softly.

"Beatings. Shock collars and rods. One guy even had his fingernails ripped off." Thinking of Christian made me choke up.

Sensing my pain, Clayton tried to change the subject. "Well, look at your hair." Mine now hung just above my shoulders and curled at the bottom into a tangled mess. "It's even longer than Landon's now." He grabbed a lock of it and twirled it between his fingers, graciously ignoring how often it got stuck.

Holly handed me a pair of scissors, and for a moment, I debated cutting it then, but then I remembered something. "I've got something I've gotta do first." I turned to Matteo. "Do you have any extra envelopes?"

He broke out into a smile and wrapped his arms around me. He then went over to grab an envelope out of his bag. After that, he pulled my bag out from under his bed. "Here's all your stuff. I wouldn't let anybody get rid of it."

"Thanks," I told him.

I tore off a blank sheet of paper from my notepad. My hands fidgeted as I attempted to write. I had to do this, I reminded myself. For Christian.

Rose--

I don't know if this means anything to you, but I'm back. I've just been rescued from a prison camp. I'm back with my platoon now. I'm okay.

But that's not what's important. Look, I'm really sorry for everything I did to you all those years ago. It was horrible--unforgivable. I wouldn't blame you if you didn't even want to read this. But if you're willing, I would want to move forward. I'm more worried about you at home. Sure I'm in a war, but I'm not alone here. If you don't absolutely hate me, would you want to keep in touch? I miss having you around, I care about you.

--Will