"Once you're put out on the field, you'll have to deal with war. However hard war is, the waiting will always be harder. Don't let the anticipation get the best of you, my darling. "

We march down the tunnels in relative silence. The lead commander assigned to this group leads the Pack. I walk with all the others. The commander has light brown skin and bright green hair. He walks with confidence. I nudge the person next to me with my elbow.
"Who's that?" I whisper, pointing forward to the commander.
"Oh yeah, you're the wolf cub."
"The what?"
"The newbie. To answer your question, that's Commander Tristan. He's not the most vocal leader, but he's a good strategist. Behind us is Commander Marina. She's the one who executes his plans." I turn to the person I've been talking to. He has ginger hair and tan skin. He seems like a nice guy.
"I'm Taria." I say.
"Desta," he introduces himself. He puts out a hand and I shake it. "So, you're a medic?"
"Yeah. You're a soldier?" He nods. I decide to bring the conversation back to the first topic. "How many commanders are there in the Wolf Pack?"
"Seven. There used to be eight but..." he trails off and looks away. I change the topic.
"And the General, does she normally fight alongside us?" I ask.
"Yeah. She'll show up later I'm sure. She never lets her troops go into battle without her." We talk about more little things for about an hour.
We eventually get to a point where we're in a large tunnel with many smaller tunnels branching out. Commander Tristan raised his arm to show halt and we all stop. He turns around and waits for everyone to stop talking.
"At this point, the tunnels are ascending. We must be silent so that nobody on the surface can hear us. Understood?" We all nod. "Good. We will now go two by two through the tunnel. Let's go."
He's about to turn back around when I hear a familiar voice shout, "Commander! Where exactly are we going?" I turn around and see Satica as she finishes talking. I smile. I've only known her for a day, but I can already tell she's curious. Commander Tristan bites his lip. He looks like he's about to respond when another voice sounds from the back of the room. I assume it's Commander Marina.
"Quiet, cub. We have a plan and that's all that matters. Now, be a good soldier and do as you're told." She commands. A few people chuckle. As they're turning back around, I catch a glimpse of the Commander. She has dark brown skin and pixie cut black hair. She has amber eyes and is wearing all black. She has a hand resting on her gun in its holster. Then, I look at Satica. She has her head down in shame. I get angry. Nobody should speak like that to Satica! I clench my fists. Desta puts a hand on my shoulder and I try to explain my reaction as we wait for our turn to enter the tunnel.
"She's one of my roommates. She doesn't deserve to be talked to like that." I say.
"The Commanders don't enjoy questions. They tell us all we need to know when we get where we need to go. They may be harsh about it, but they get their point across. You know, your roommate's pretty new too. This is only her second time on the field," Desta tells me.
"Really?"
"Yeah. She made it through the last battle fine though. She'll be okay."
"I'm not worried about that." I laugh. "When I first got into my room back at base, she was in the middle of hand-to-hand combat with one of my other roommates, Roni."
"Roni's one of your roommates?" Desta asks.
"Yeah, why?" I ask. He laughs.
"Whoever brought you in put you in the right room. There should always be a medic where she's concerned." He shakes his head with amusement. I laugh.
"Tell me about it. I challenged her to a fight yesterday. That's where I got this." I say, pointing to my black eye. He chuckles.
"I take it your fight didn't go well?"
"That's an understatement. She didn't even get a scratch." We laugh. We're now next in line to enter the tunnel, so we stop talking. I see why silence is key. Every sound in here echoes, and we're going up a gentle but constant incline. The beat of footsteps echoes and pounds in my ears. Eventually, the tunnel starts to even out. We walk a few minutes more, then we walk out into an old factory. Commander Tristan peers out of a shattered window and nods. I look out another window and see the night sky. We were in those tunnels longer than I thought. When we're all done filing out, he gathers us together.
"Okay everyone, we're here. In a few hours, we're going to join up with the other two groups and form an assault from all sides on a building at the top of the hill about a mile from here. There's a few more of us on this attack than there normally are, so we'll have to be more careful about noise this mission. We need to catch them by surprise. Until then, rest."
I sit down and lean against a wall. Desta sits next to me. Satica sits over with some other girls. I don't think she knows I'm in this group yet.
"Are any of your roommates in this group?" I ask him.
"No. Three of my roommates are special assets. The fourth one is back at base." Concern fills his face.
"Why?" I ask softly.
"He was injured in the last fight pretty significantly. We don't know if he- we're afraid that he's not-." I get the point.
"I can check on him when we get back, if you want."
"Thanks for the offer, but it's probably too late to help him." He looks at me and smiles. "I'm going to get some rest before tomorrow, but if I don't get the chance to say it to you then, good luck."
"Thanks. You too." I respond. He closes his eyes. I sit there for a while, then walk over to Satica.
"Taria? Where have you been?" She asks.
"I've been here the whole time!" I respond.
"Oh. I didn't see you. You ready?"
"I don't know. Physically, yes. I'm not sure if I am mentally ready yet though."
"Me neither. I hate fighting." She sees the surprised expression on my face.
"You hate fighting? You're a soldier in a rebellion! When I got to our room yesterday, you were in the middle of a fight!" She chuckles.
"That was because I lost a bet."
"Remind me not to lose a bet to Roni." I murmur. She smiles.
"I believe in the cause, but I don't like what we have to do to get there. Those people, most of them didn't have a choice but to fight for the government! They have families and friends and I don't want to take that away." She shakes her head, then looks up and smiles. "I guess we all have to do some hard things for our beliefs." I think of Mom. She saved me and risked her life in doing so. All because she believed in the Rebellion.
I was back in the clinic."Why do I always have to work!" I shouted in a tantrum. "Nobody else my age has to work! I hate it!" My mom crouched in front of me, level to my height. Her long blond hair was done up in a bun as it always was, with only a few grey hairs poking out. She had light brown eyes like mine, the color of caramel. She was always smiling, never complaining.
"Because, my darling, we have to help people." She stroked my hair. "Now, it's time to get up. We have a patient." She kissed my head and I got up. I didn't question working again after that. That was ten years ago.
I try to hold back tears. "I'm going to try to get some sleep. See you in a few hours." I say. She nods.
"You too." She says. I walk back to the wall with my supplies. I lean my back against the wall, keeping one hand on my bag and the other one on my gun in it's holster. I try to fall asleep, but I can't shake off the feeling of anticipation. I turn over and over, trying to get comfortable. I eventually give up on trying to sleep and start cleaning my gun to pass the time. I have a strange feeling about the battle. I'm not scared, at least, I don't think I am. I'm a bit worried for all the soldiers who are risking their lives fighting. I'm actually a bit excited to finally get on the field. I've been hiding my distaste for the government for as long as I can remember. I stay sitting in thought until Commander Marina claps her hands.
"Soldiers! At the ready!" All around the factory, the rebels jump up. All joking set aside, they have stern expressions. Some look worried, some look excited. Everybody is fingering whatever weapon they have. Nobody is talking. I look around. Desta is standing next to me, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. Satica is across the room. We make eye contact and she nods, as if to tell me good luck. I nod back. Then, we all focus on the Commander Tristan. He put a finger over his mouth, then turns and starts walking while gesturing for us to follow him. The commanders seem to be the only ones who know where we're going. Though I understand the need for secrecy with spies around, I dislike being kept in the dark. If we're marching to our death, I'd at least like to know where. I silence this thought for now
We walk a few miles. Nobody says a word. The only noises are the constant slap of feet on the ground and the thumping noise of my heart. Marching is better than waiting, but there's still that feeling of raw anticipation. We all know what's going to happen and we're ready. A knot continues to form in my stomach. If the action doesn't start soon, I might scream. All the people around me seem to be recalling all the pain this country has brought them. In the eyes of all of us, sharp, brittle anger stands out. I see the fire burning behind the eyes of even Satica, the last person I would expect to show hatred in any way. I tune in to the monotonous rhythm of marching. Each step represents us getting closer to our destiny. Each step gets the Rebellion closer to success.
After a while, I see other groups of people in the distance. We're all marching to the same place. Eventually, we get close enough and it gets bright enough for us to see where we're marching to.
On top of a hill, there's a building of some kind. It flies the red flag of our country, Jinan. We get within half a mile of it and spread out. We're now surrounding the hill. Commander Tristan makes eye contact and gestures for me to back up and get ready behind a pile of boulders. I do so. The landscape all around is rocky. There are boulders everywhere. It looks as if they had to roll all of them down the hill to make the structure. The sun peeks over the horizon. Upon the hill, we hear shouting and the clanging of metal. They've spotted us. All of a sudden, the whole army leaps into action. About half of them spring up the hill while the other half stays back to hold a line. People from the edifice on the hill are coming out. Bullets are being shot down at us. This, I realize, is war. Earlier I could have sworn we were ready, but now, I wonder, are we?