On December 21, 2012, there was a series of underground earthquakes that had destroyed oil pipelines in the sea, and oil wells on land, along with destroying all the infrastructure throughout all parts of the world. The world was essentially divided into two after that day, half of the world occupied North and South America, along with East Africa, and the other half of the world inhabited West Africa, Europe, Asia and Australlia. Africa was split into two during the earthquakes, and half drifted over to the eastern hemisphere of the world, and half drifted to the western hemisphere. Due to the explosion of the oil pipes and oil wells, there was a struggle to find sources of oil for three years, which made it impossible to rebuild society and infrastructure. Oil was needed to create energy, and without energy, the world was simply a desert of hopelessness and depression. This conflict is what caused North America, South Åmerica. and East Africa to become allies, and eventually become one race- the Ozlacks. Along with the creation of the Ozlack tribe came the Klonee tribe which consisted of Asia, Europe, Australlia, and West Africa. After the earthquakes occurred, both sides of the world spent the next three years searching for a reliable oil source that could help recontruct their destroyed societys, over those years hostility and tension grew between the Ozlacks and Klonees because they were both in dire need of oil. Evidently, if the world became united in the search for oil, and if oil was discovered, they woudntl have enough in order to rebuild society all over the world. Also, they both knew that if they had broken up into smaller groups then there would be less of a chance that they could find an oil source. On January 22, 2016, the Klonees found a large source of oil under the Pacific Ocean, and over the next year they built a large oil rig that went all the way down to the bottom of the ocean, and they were able to obtain their oil. By the year 2020, the Klonees had used all of their endless oil supply to build an advanced society, while the Ozlacks still lived in inescapable poverty. Each day that passed, Ozlacks would die to hunger and disease, the Klonees viewed oil as being sacred, and they wouldnt export any to the Ozlacks because they had nothing to trade with. The Ozlacks knew that they had to do something drastic, something that would turn their world around, so they acted.
PART ONE
For some strange reason, his senses were always intensified while he was on the fronts. Even at night, he would stand his ground like an owl, and once there was a single ruffling in the bushes, any noise that traveled to his sensitive ears, he would quickly place a round of ammunition into his M4 carbine and hold his weapon steady, not moving one single muscle in his six-foot frame. He had been in the depths of the jungle for six months, and each night death lingered over his head. Bullets would fly by his ear, and while each bullet nearly missed his body, he would drift farther and farther away from reality. Each bullet that passed by represented a memory of his past life, and as it missed him, that memory of his life would cease to exist in his mind. Each and every near death experience he encountered, he would become inhumane. There was one thing that was intrenched in his head, and that was to kill as many Klonees as possible. Each Klonee to him was simply prey, not a person, but a target in which his goal was to out a bullet through either their head or heart. Each night he stood his ground still, like a mother lion protects its young, he was protecting his fellow Ozlacks, for there weren’t many left to protect. Thousands of them fell everyday to the Klonee army, and they were falling fast. He would never sleep, for the thought of his sleepy eyelids closing, and a fleet of Klonees coming to blow them up before he could even open them up made him restless.
“I remember the day those fuckers came and took me, right away from my parents, I was thirteen years young,” said Riley to his friend Andy, another boy who was also sixteen years old. “They didn’t even tell us why, or where we were going, they just took me and the rest of the men in my village.” When the Ozlacks declared war on the Klonees in 2021, their main objective was to destroy as much of the Klonee population as possible, and take control of their oil plantation by surrounding it, and capturing the Klonee king, Samuel Bader, take him back to Ozlack territory, and threaten to kill him if they didn’t export billions dollars worth of oil to them. The leader of the Ozlack army, Anderson Gefferion, ordered all of his officials to invade all of the villages and capture all men that were 13 years of age to 55 years of age, and they took them to train them for battle and ship them off to East Asia to fight. Now, Riley Cooper, was sixteen years old and was already a Liutenenant in the 14th fleet of the Ozlack army. “I remember, when I was driving away in he back of the car, seeing my mothers face, she was crying. I didn’t know where I was going, but she knew. I knew that my people didn’t particurally like the Klonees, because their lives were so much better than ours, but I didn’t know we were going to go to war with them.”
“I didn’t have much of a family, I’m happy that I got away from my village. At least here I get to eat twice a day,” Andy said in a slow, depressing tone. “I need to get my rest, haven’t gotten much lately. You should think about getting some too, can’t kill Klonees’ all day on no hours rest.”
“I’ll try,” said Riley, “Were in for a good fight tomorrow, get ready.” As Andy fell asleep, Riley couldn’t sleep. He knew that nobody else would stay up too watch guard, he never knew if Klonees woud attack in the middle of the night. Riley though back to his first week out in the jungle, where he was a rookie. It was a rainy, dull day, and not much had happened. He remembered that he went through some training that day, then a small group of Klonees had attacked their base in the jungle, but they fought them off quickly and easily. That night he fell asleep quickly, and started to dream about his mother. He had a dream that he and his mother went swimming in the lake of their village, and she made him a nice dinner that had rice and some vegetables. It was good for him since he was used to barley eating anything at all. He dreamed of the hot summer sun beaming down on his freckled face, while he and his mom floated in the pool, not saying a word, but I was his idea of perfection. That night, while he was in the middle of a dream that he never wanted to wake up from, he heard a loud noise that immediately woke him up. The Klonees had just ran through their base, and threw semtex grenades in all of the trenches. One rolled right by the side of Riley, but with his instinctiveness he was able to pick it up and throw it as far as he could, as he watched it explode in the air. He knew that if he hadn’t have done that, all of the men in his trench would have died, along with the fifty other men that died that night. Since then, Riley always stayed awake, looking for any signs of Klonees. He was the protector, the soul guardian of his fleet. He had eyes like a hawk, if Klonees were ambushing them at night, he would be able to forsee the attack and wake up his troops in time to fight them off.
The night grew on him, his muscles ached of tiredness and he was having a hard time staying awake. It was no 5:30 AM, a half hour before wake up call. Riley sat there, in his trench, looking at all of his brothers. Then, a sudden thought came to his mind that he most certainlly didn't want, he was watching all of his soldiers sleep silently, then a beam of light flashed before his eyes and when his vision came back to him he saw all of his brothers lying dead in the trench. All of them bleeding, limbs dettached, some simply just piles of bones. He kept looking, he coudln't bare to take his eyes off of this site. At this moment, he didn't know if the Klonees had dropped a nuclear bomb on them or if he was having unwanted visions.
"Ah!" screamed Riley, as he woke up from this terrible nightmare. When Riley let go this scream of terror, death, and misery, he woke up the rest of the men in his trench.
"What the fuck are you screamin' like a girl for Cooper?" said Nick Williams, and older man on the fleet. He was a father figure to Riley, an old man of 43 years of age. He put Nick through training, and although they instantly liked each other, there was one day that really brought them close together. The Ozlacks were waiting for their reinforcements to come down to the Pacific, but they were taking longer than excpected. The Ozlacks were trying to avoid any more fighting with the Klonees, because they were heavily outnumbered. Tactically, they decided to move their base deep into the jungle off the coast of the ocean, a spot where they expected the Klonees would never find. However, a few days prior to their relocation, a Klonee soldier who had been severely wounded had grabbed the uniform of a fallen Ozlack soldier and put it on himself. Then, a group of Ozlack doctors had brought him into the infermary and repaired his wounds. He had sucessflly deceived the Ozlacks, and he overheard their strategy and where they would relocate due to their decerase in soldiers. He was then able to escape one night and retrun to his base with his fellow Klonees, and he had let his Admirals about the plans of the Ozlacks and they immediatley planned an attack on their base. The next day, the Klonees stormed into their base with heavy amounts of infanty and soldiers, and killed hundreds of Ozlacks. Williams and Cooper stood side by side, loading up their machine turrets in their attempt to fight off the Klonees, but as Riley was reloading the turret, he had been shot in his side and fell to the ground. A soldier that was crouching next to Williams said, "Forget him, keep firing!" as bullets whizzed right over their heads. Williams couldn't let Riley die, he was too young. He disobeyed the request of the soldier, and put Riley on his back and ran into the depths of the jungle. He was running through trees, bushes, and tall grass as bombs were still going off behind him. He ran all the way to a spot where there was a small lake, and nobody was near. He placed Riley down on his backside, and fell to the ground in tiredness. He was an old man, so despite the adrenalline rush he had, it wasn't easy on his aching body. He then removed the bullet from Riley's side, washed out the wound, then applied pressure and a bandage to stop the bleeding. Riley was saved, and at that moment he realized that Nick Williams would be a close friend forever.
It was evident that Riley was beginning to go insane. He knew that his vision had occured because of his lack of sleep, and life in the jungle had slowly been driving him mad. "Wake up! Breakfest time, we got a long day ahead of us so lets get ready," said Liutenant Havern loud enough to wake up all the men in the fleet.
“These eggs taste like shit, makes my miss my moms old cookin’ at home,” said Riley in disgust of the terrible breakfest he been eating.
“How can you be worried about the way your food tastes while we got to go fight all of them Klonies today?” asked Andy. Andy was always nervous, opposed to Riley who had always seemed to be collective.
“Well everyday starts out with a good breakfest, so if figure the more eggs I eat, the more Klonees I kill,” said Riley, which made all of the men sitting at his table laugh. However, that small moment of laughter and happiness couldn’t take their minds off of what they had ahead of them, a mission that seemed impossible.
“Anyways, how does Havern think that we can capture the commanding officer of the Klonees’ biggest fleet?” Andy asked Riley in a hopeless matter. “They probably got about 2000 of them lined up for us, heck, we don’t even know where to find the guy.” Liutenant Havern had previously told his men that they were to invade a large base of the Klonees and take their commanding officer, William Riech, into hostage in order for the Ozlacks to threaten the Klonees with specific demands.
“Hell, I reckon I’ll just find some coverage and shoot em’ till the sun goes down. Course it’ll be difficult, nearly impossible, but all of us know here that something needs to be done, something durastic. If we keep on going kill for kill with the Klonees, we will never rebuild our society and live the life that our parents, grandparents, greatparents, and even great-great grandparents want us to be living,” said Riley. Hours passed as the soldiers loaded their weapons, packed their belts, and made sure that they stayed hydrated since the heat was killing them. They figured it would take them a while to the base, so they got a head start and left early. The walk seemed like it took days, and all of the negative comments on the walk made it seem even longer. They kept moving, one foot in front of the other, through the jungle as they inched torward their destination.
“Forget it!” yelled a soldier, his face dripping with sweat from the long walk in the heat.
“Forget what?” asked Nick Williams as him and Riley started at the soldier in confusion.
“All of it! I’m sick and tired of all this bullshit. Aint know chance that we ever get that oil, the Klonees are just too strong, and too advanced, not a force to be reckoned with. I just wished I could of stayed back in my village, and lived the life I’ve been living until I die. We all know that were going to die anyways in this war, I just don’t see the point in fighting, and we all know none of us here actually wanted to come here and fight anyways,” said the inscrutable soldier.
“I did,” said Riley quietly.
“Shut up kid, all you do is bitch and moan about being taken away from your momma to come fight here. If you really think we stand a chance against them, your nothing short of stupid. We’ve practically hand crafted all of our weapons, and they are building nuclear weapons in those big ass factories they got. Stop dreamin’ kid, you’re a great soldier, but you gotta look at the facts,” said the soldier. The screaming and fighting between the two men had brought a hault to the the whole unit, since they were at the front of the line. People started to listen in, and hearing what the mysterious soldier had to say made them depressed.
“Well if they got those neucular bombs, then why haven’t that just blown all of us up into pieces?” asked Riley, thinking that his question had stumped the rebelling soldier.
“Are you dumb kid? First off, those sons of bitches wouldn’t only kill us, it’d probably kill their men too. Those things are so huge that they blow up nearly the whole jungle, and since there are fleets of soldiers consisting of both us and them Klonees, they couldn’t strategically do it. Also, a million dollars says that once they fight us off, and we wave the white flag, they come and capture us and make us their slaves. I can already see it, once this war in the pacific is over, they are going to come in to our house, stronger than ever, and make us all their slaves. Then, they are going to take over the world and revitaize our territory and make it their own. It’s the truth kid, we are all essentially dead.” After that unkown soldier spoke those words, a certain silence fell through the whole crowd, and it feels like the soldiers that were about 500 feet behind them could hear what he was saying too. “Now, I don’t know about the rest of you but I’m not taking one more step torwards their base, because whats waiting for me is my death, and I’m not even fighting for a reason.” The soldier then turned his body around, and started to walk the other way. At this moment, there was a sense of utter hopelessness throughout the Ozlacks. Nobody who heard the speech given by the unknown soldier no longer had any motivation to go complete the mission.
“Son, if you take one more step the other way I swear on this tribe that I will fire a bullet through your thin skull,” said Nick Williams. The soldier stopped and stared at him in shoch. “And for the rest of you, if I see another soldier with their head down I will also put a bullet through your skull.” Riley, who was standing next to him looked up to him in awe.
“Nick, what are you doing?” whispered Riley. Nick looked dead into his eyes, cupped his mouth with his right hand and whispered into his ear, “Somebody’s gotta save our world.”
Everybody was still staring at Williams, but nobody more intensely than the unknown soldier. They all awaited for what would happen next, as Williams raised up his M16, pointing it at the soldier. The anticipation of all of the Ozlacks was intense, they all patiently awaited the words. Each second that passed felt like an hour as emotions were increasing, until Williams said, “So what are you going to do? Die fighting for your people, or die being a coward and know that you parents, grandparents, great grandparents, and even great-great grandparents would look at you in shame?”
This inspirational moment made the soldier turn back around and face the right way, with the other thousands of men who were ready to fight with him for the Ozlacks. Williams, being old and wise, was always able to give good speeches before battle, but none were like the one he gave today. All of the soldiers listened in as he talked about their past, and what was ahead for them in the future. He talked about how if they approached the war strategically, step by step, they could actually win and eventually capture King Bader and begin reveiving oil exports. He began to talk about their families, and how they are what everybody is fighting for, a better life. The realness and intensity in his speech suddenly had soldiers clapping, cheering, and yelling. He ended his speech by saying, “Now, about 1000 yards ahead we have a few thousand Ozlacks waiting for us, and were killin’ each and everyone of them and taking home their highest ranked officer with us.” This last sentence of the greatest speech he had ever given set off a roar in the crowd. The men in the front of the pack, where Williams were, started running torwards their base. The thousands behind decided to do the same, the excitement was contagious. They ran those last one thousand yards like cheetahs bolting through open fields, and when they reached the Klonee base, they didn’t hesitate at all.
“Get down! Get down!” hollered Williams to Riley as he saw that the Klonees had initiated fire. Riley stumbled and was able to find cover behind a broken down car. Bullets shattered the windshields and hit of the steel of the car, but nothing could phase him. Hours passed as Riley moved from spot to spot, killing Klonees like they were flies. Thousands lay dead, and the fighting still continued, but even though the Ozlacks had killed plenty of Klonees in the battle, they still didn’t capture their commander. There was a heavy protected building at the battle site, and the commander was excpected to be at the top.
“Listen Cooper,” said Liueneant Havern loudly so he could hear his voice over the sounds of explosions and bullets. “Your going to go capture their commander and bring him to the roof of that building, I will meet you there with a stolen Klonee helicopter. Work fast, and be safe.”
Riley knew that if he tried to enter the building from the bottom and work his way to the top, he would die trying. He ran up to the side of the building, threw his rope to into a window and it clicked in. He climbed up the wall and entered the room in which he was awaited by two armed Klonees and the commander. He threw a flash bang through he window in order to delay the soldiers’ reaction to him, and when he stepped in the room, he quickly snatched his .44 Magmum and shot both guards in the chest, and right before the commander could fire a long sharp bullet from his M21 Sniper Rifle through his sixteen year old body, he shot him in the leg. The commander fell onto the floor, Riley ran up to him and kicked the gun out of his hand, and punched him in the face strong enough to completely knock him out of consciousness. He knew that he was supposed to take him and meet Liutenant Havern on the roof, but he couldn’t find the entrance to the roof. He knew he didn’t have time, and he knew that Klonees were most likely running up the stairs of the building to kill him and save their commander. He acted quickly by standing as far back as he could, and tossing a grenade to the wall. The grenade exploded completely taking the wall off the building, and he started to scream to try and get the attention of Havern and the men in the helicopter. The noise of the chopper blocked Rileys screams, he heard the Klonees running up the stairs to come find him. Riley pulled out his .44 Magmum and fired two shots at the helicopter, one hit the metal, and the other one shattered the glass. Havern looked down in what was left in the building and saw Riley screaming and waving his arms in desperate hope he would obtain his attention.
“Look! Its Cooper! Go get him, lower the chopper!” The pilot lowered the copper to their level, and Riley tossed the commander of the Klonee fleet into the chopper.
“Hurry up!” yelled Liutenant Havern, acknowledging Riley’s stall to jump in. Riley took three big steps back, took a running start, and leaped towards the chopper. He had came up an inch short, and was hanging on for his life, until Havern said, “Gotcha.” With his strong and buff arms, he was easily able to pull Riley into the helicopter. “Great work son. Thank you, I couldn’t have done it myself.” As they flew away, fighting still existed beneath them. They had been soaring over the jungle, when they had been hit. A Klonee had shot the helicopter with his javelin, a rocket luncher that could lock on to a moving target.
“We’ve been hit!” screamed the pilot. “Our tail is gone, were going down!” The pilot, Havern, and Cooper braced themselves as they rapidly spun toward the ground. The Klonee commander had just woken up, and since he was an immensely intelligent man, he immediately went to go grab a parachute for himself, since he knew where it was located because it was a Klonee helicopter. Out of the corner of his eye, Riley saw where he got the parachute and he went to grab three more for Havern, the pilot abd himself. Before the commander could jump out of the plane, Riley shot the parachute on the commanders back, they needed him for reasoning purposes with the Klonees, so they made sure he stayed alive.Then, Riley grabbed him and jumped out of the falling chopper, the two spun down together, Riley was holding on to the commander. When they were about 500 feet from the ground, the commander threw a punch at Riley and grabbed the gun from his belt. Both of them had their hands on the gun, and there was a struggle of possession. The commander wanted Riley dead, so he was attempting to shoot him, and Riley wanted the commander alive, so he was resisting it. With both of their hands raised in the air on the gun, the commander pulled the trigger and a bullet penetrated the parachute and they began falling down to the ground going along with the wind.
PART TWO
Riley woke up in a state of delusion, he wasn’t too sure where he was because his vision was blurry. He blinked his eyes a few times until his sight came back to him. “Where am I?” Riley asked himself due to his new unframilliar surroundings. He was cold, he looked down at his body and saw that his military clothes had been removed from his body and they were replaced with an orange shirt and orange pants. Then he looked up and saw that he was behind bars. He quickly scrambled to his feet and ran up to the bars and started screaming, “Hello! Where am I? Get me out of here?” He vigorously shook the metal bars with his bloody hands until a man wearing very nice clothes, and a golden badge that said “Klonee” came up to him.
“Sit down kid,” he camly said to Riley, followed by the man pointing a undefineable device at his chest. He pulled a trigger and a red laser appeared from what seemed to be a sort of shock gun, sending 3000 volts of electricity into Riley. Riley was knocked to the ground by the shock, and his body trembled and shook, like the body of a fish when taken out of the water. Drool form his mouth dripped to the cold and dirty floor. Riley was in a severe amount of pain, and it didn’t help when he heard the words, “Fuckin’ Ozlack,” from the man who shot him. Riley wasn’t a stupid kid, he was abnormally bright actually. Despite the trauma from the shock, he was able to realize where he was, and the terrible situation he was now in.
“The crash!” he yelled, quickly covering his mouth so the guard wouldn’t come back. “I must have been captured by the Klonees when I was unconscious after impact.” He sat there completely still for a few minutes, until he unwillingly let out a scream of terror caused by a sharp pain on the side of his head. This scream once again drew the attention of the guard, and with each footstep that he heard from the guard walking back to him felt like another shock of electricity to his brain.
“Now listen up boy,” said the guard, “We ain’t like you poor people. See this shock gun? This is something your people will never be able to have. You know why? Cause your all hopeless. You see, we got advanced technology, we were able to track Commander Corwitz’s location after you fuckers tried to capture him. That’s something you and your poor Ozlack people will never be able to do, cause yall ain’t ever winning this war our touching our precioius oil. When we found Commander Corwitz laying unconscious in the jungle, it didn’t take much time until we stumbled upon you, that’s when we put it all together, you were the one who shot him and took him away in our helicopter. By the way, you and your boys should of though before you stole our helicopter, ever wonder how we knew exactly where you were?
“Stop!” yelled Riley in frustration from what the man had been saying. “Tell me where I am.”
“Take a look out your window,” replied the guard. Riley walked slowly to a small window that was also covered in bars, but through the bars he saw something that he had been waiting to see for a very long time. Riley’s jaw dropped as he stared at largest oil base ever created in history. He saw thousands of Klonees working on the oil refinery, and he knew that this is what could save his people, he knew this was the reason he was brought into this war. “You can stare all you want kid, but you will never set foot out of this prison cell ever again. The more cooperation you give to us, the longer you will live. Oh, and just incase you were wondering, our king lives right up there in large building.” The guard pointed his finger to a luxurious palace located next to the oil rig. “I know he’s what you and your Ozlack people are trying to get your hands on, you think you can capture him and then we will start cooperating, well good luck. See all those men standing at the base of the building, they are highly trained guards who have a sole duty to protect him from people like you.” The Klonee king, Samuel Bader, was the man who discovered the oil source on the coast of the Pacific ocean. After this incredible discovery, he was crowned king of the Klonees and he had made the plans to build an advanved society and refuse to export any oil to the Ozlacks because he wanted to eventually take over the whole world. King Bader was sacred to the Klonee people, and they would do anything to save his sacred life.
Over the next few hours, Riley remained looking out the window. He watched as ships would sail off with boxes full of oil to other parts of the Klonee population. He knew he was now a prisoner of war, but the sight of oil, the thing his people needed to finally live the lives they all dreamed on living, put his mind into a daze. Not even a blink of an eye, or any sign of emotion on his face, he just stood there until the night grew upon him. Eventually, his eyes began to close and he took a seat on the cold and hard floor. He then rested his head on his arm, because for whatever amount of time he would be in here, his arm would serve as his pillow. Hours kept passing and Riley still couldn't get to sleep, all he could think about was his mother back at home. However, at approximately 3:30AM, those thoughts of his turned into a dream...
It was a rainy night in Riley's village back home, cold too. The fury of the winds was making it hard for some of the weakly structured cottages to even stay up in one piece. Outside, you couldn't spot a soul. Everybody was huddled together with their families by a fire inside their cottage. Although, in one of the cottages, there wasn't a family huddled together by a fire, there was a lone woman sitting in a chair by herself, not even moving a muscle. Ms. Cooper, Riley's mother, had been emotionally unstable ever since her son was taken away to war. In fact, she was approaching insanity. She had been having trouble sleeping, and one night, when she was up unusually late, she heard a loud bang at the door. This made her jump out of her chair and she lit a candle to see what was happening. A short moment of silence followed before another bang, louder than the previous one, came from the door of the cottage. This one completely knocked the door out of its hinges, and a large, dark figure stood at the door with another shorter man by his side. Ms. Cooper let out a scream of terror which caused her to drop her lit candle, and this followed with the room becoming completely pitch black. She wanted to let out another scream, but she scrambled and hid behind a chair in the corner of the cottage. She pressed her hand hard against her mouth to hold in the loud scream that she certainly wanted to let out. Sweat dripped down her nose, and her body was rapidly trembling. She heard the footsteps of the two unknown men coming close to her, and then, a beam of light hit her right in the face. It was a flashlight, and the two men casually walked toward her which caused her to spring to her feet and run to the door. The taller man was able to sprint to the door before she escaped and he took a stun gun and shot it at her side. This caused her to fall to the ground and then the shorter man pinched her pressure point which knocked her out. The two men picked her up and carried her outside to one of the cars, the whole village was being taken in these cars. The next morning, Ms. Cooper woke up in a state of immense confusion, she was in the back of the box car and it was still dark. A few minutes later, a man opened up the back of the box car and the light caused all of the Ozlacks in the car to cover their eyes. The man was clearly a Klonee soldier, and this scared everybody in the car. "Where are we!" What's going on!" "Let us go!" asked all of the Ozlacks that were crowded together uncomfterbally. "No questions!" responded the soldier as he was guiding them all out of the car into a line. All of the people, including Ms. Cooper, slowly walked through the entrance that was surrounded by a high powered electric fence. They all entered, and were stripped of all belongings and they were all told to go find a cabin to sleep in. At this point, the Ozlacks were frantic and scared to death. After the long process of entering the place, they were finally stripped of their clothing. Hours passed, Ms. Riley's fear was putting a virtual choke hold on her, and her fear swallowed her words. At about 6:00PM somebody said over a loudspeaker, "Welcome all Ozlacks to the first day of your new lives. This is the first step of our project, operation eliminate. What is operation eliminate you might be wondering? Well, since your people have been threathing us with the mobilization of large armies and threats to our kings life, we have decided to now only kill you in war, but to kill the rest of you in work camps. You will be fed once a day, and if you refuse to do work you will die immediatley. Here, you will help us build our weapons, and you will tell us everthing we want to know about your people. You have no choice, it's that our death. Every ay more of your people will enter, and also we will be building these camps all over your land. Since we are still working on having everybody getting cleared and entering, you will have today to think, and tomorrow you will all start work at 4:00AM sharp. Good bye." After this message played, a riot broke out. Men and women who had been in their cabins stormed out and tried to escape. All the guards were told to shoot anybody who was rebelling. Ms. Cooper didn't know what to do, she stood out the door and saw Ozlacks being shot and killed, and she saw a few trying to jump the wired fences. She hesitated, she knew if she ran she would probably be killed, and she knew that the Klonees wouldn't construct a defective elertical fence. She froze, other people in her cabin told her to come back inside or she would die, and others screamed for her to run. The situation was hectic, explosions were occuring all around the area of the camp, she was about to make a decision to go back inside but before she could a guard ran up to her and screamed, "This one is trying to esacpe!" She tried to yell back and tell her she wasn't, but the noise of the gun shots and explosions were too loud for the guard to hear. The guard fired a bullet, and it was heading straight between her two blue eyes, just like the eyes Riley had, and then...
"Wake up!" screamed the guard at Riley's prison, who also kicked him in the side of the head simultaneously.
"No! Mother! You asshole! You killed her!" Riley screamed frantically, still believing the dream he just had was real.
"Your just dreamin' kid, cut the bullshit, heres your breakfeast, enojoy," the guard placed a glass of water and a piece of bread in front of him and chuckled to himself as he walked away from Riley's cell. Riley was starving and scarfed down his meal in a matter of seconds. He spent the rest of the day just sitting there, thinking about his mother. Some Klonee officers came in to question him, and he struggled giving them answers and was beaten and tortured. This wasn't a rare occurance, he was often beaten ruthlessly by the guards for his lack of cooperativeness. The longer he had been in this prison, the less he would speak. Days went by slowly, and eventually, those days turned into weeks. Each day he would be questioned about the Ozlacks and their "ways" but he wouldn't speak. He was quite sick, actually. He rarley ever slept. The doctors at the prison told him he was suffering from insomnia, but he didn't say anything back. Sometimes, he would have trouble eating, which is surprising because he barley was foturnate enough to eat there at all. Each night he would sit there, alone, and stare at the blank ceiling. However, when he would stare at the blank ceiling, he wouldn't see the ceiling, he saw something else. As he would stare up at the ceiling, he saw his mother, and he would wonder how she was doing. He would see his friends from his old fleet; Andy, Nick... they were all there. That would make him think about the war, and that would make him sad because he knew that all of his men were probably dying. Then, he would think about the world. He would wonder if the Ozlacks would ever live life like the Klonees did. That thought would sometimes make him stand up, and look out the small barred window, where he would the source of all of the worlds oil. This sight made him angry. When he first entered the war he didn't essentially hate the Klonee people, considering he was forced to fight. Now, he hated them more than anything. He viewed them as savages, and destroyers of the world. There were times when he wished that the whole world was just gone, vanished form existence. He thinks that if his people don’t have happiness, then nobody should.
The only way Riley ever got to sleep was when he was knocked out by a Klonee guard. He has been in prison for two months now, and he has barley said a word. He has lost thirty pounds, and has suffered multiple broken bones and coincussions from his daily beatings. He had though about killing himself, but he had no way to do it anyways. Most nights were the same, except some of the nights he could hear bombs go off from a distance. Each night, he either hoped that he would be rescued, or he would hope that he would somehow fall asleep and never wake up again.
One night, Riley didn’t go to sleep at all. Most nights he would get about an hour or two, but this night he didn’t even blink. The Klonees didn’t kill much of their captives, because they weren’t able to capture many so they had to keep them all alive. The next morning, the head of the prison came in and talked to Riley, along with the guards.
“Hello, Riley,” said the man.
“Hi.”
“I hear you don’t talk much, is this true?”
“Yes.” The conversation proceeded slowly. The head of the prison was only here to observe Riley, since he was acting very strange compared to when he first arrived.
“I don’t like to sleep anymore,” said Riley.
“Well, that’s interesting,” replied the man, “What do you do at night if you don’t sleep?”
“I think. I imagine.” After this, Riley didn’t feel like talking anymore. He was surprised when the guards didn’t hurt him after he made that decision. They allowed him to return to his cell, and they handed him his lunch. He sat there, and as he stared into his soup, he saw his reflection. He didn’t see himself anymore, he saw a new person. This isn’t because of the bumps or bruises on his face, he felt like something changed inside of him. He wasn’t able to eat the soup, because he was much too fascinated by seeing his reflection and thinking about what has changed inside of him. When the sky became dark that night, and he no longer could see his relfection in the bowl of soup, he lied down on the floor and began looking at the celing again, like usual. Sometimes, he felt that his mind was asleep even though his eyes were open. It was 4:30 in the morning, and Riley was startled when he heard the words, “Hey, what’s your name?” Riley jumped to his feet, thinking that a guard was talking to him from outside of the cell. He started through the bars, nobody was there. He all around his cell, but nobody was there. He became scared, he wanted the person to speak again. “Over here buddy,” said the voice again. In the corner of the cell, a man was sitting down. He had light blonde hair, it almost looked gray. He had gentle blue eyes, and a bandage on his leg. “How are ya? My name is Thomas. Thomas Hayden, that is.” Riley, still amazed that somebody new was actually in his cell, wasn’t able to speak back. “Well, anyways,” said Thomas, “this place sure is a shit hole. But, what can I say, I’m sort of lucky to be in here anyways, I almost just died you know. One of those bastard Ozlacks stabbed me in the leg, that’s how I got his bandage. Hurts real bad to walk, but I figure I wont be doing to much walking in this place anyways. But guess what? You know that son of a bitch that stabbed me in the leg? I killed him! Shot him right threw his skull, it was real funny. Do you like killing people? I sure do, I hate them Klonees. I wonder if I’ll ever get out of this place, I want to go back and fight for my people again. Well, I bet you could of guessed this, if your smart and all, but after that bastard stabbed me I couldn’t walk very well. I kind of just sat there, we was somewhere in the jungle, just the two of us. Then, some of these Klonees found me and punched me right in the face! Then they took me away in this flying ship and brought me here! Isn’t that a wild story?!”
“Shhhh! Be quiet. You might wake the guards,” said Riley. “My names Riley Cooper, by the way.”
“Nice to meet you Riley Cooper. Can I call you Coop? I think that’s a funny nickname. Well anyways, Coop, I’m glad I at least get some company in this place. Did you ever get lonely being in here alone and all?”
“You could say that.”
“Coop, do you like talking much? I love talking to other people. I bet your wondering a lot about whats been happening with the war. Well, as much as I hate being the bearer of bad news, I think I ought to tell you that its only getting worse. We just cant compete with them, millions of us have died. I hate myself for saying this, but we don’t stand a chance in hell.” Riley hadn’t talked to anybody for a long time, and he wasn’t happy hearing this. “But anyways, I got a little plan of my own. Let me tell you about it. I figured, since we aren’t ever going to control the oil, and we are all going to die in this war and eventually, in the future, the Klonees will rule the world, I want to destroy their oil pipeline so they will never rule my grandchildren. Plus, it’ll be easy, all I got to do is break out of this place, go find that oil source and make the pipe burst.” Riley started laughing hysterically at his ignorance. What he had just said is nearly impossible, and Thomas didn’t even know that the oil source he was looking for was about 3000 yards away from his exact point.
“Why don’t you go take a look out that small window,” said Riley, still cracking up from what Thomas had said. Thomas got up and went to look out the window and his eyes lit up when he saw the oil rig. He was even more intreigued by the sight than Riley was a couple months back when he first saw it.
“Look, there is is!” cried Riley in amusement. “It’s actually right there, right in front of my eyes! I cant believe it. This is so easy, all we need is a spoon.
“A what?” said Riley, making sure that he was hearing things right.
“A spoon,” said Thomas. “At night, you can dig through this cheap plaster, and eventually we squeeze our bodies through the hole and go right out to the other side of the wall. Were both all skin and bones so I figure it wont be too hard. And… and… I got it! You can knock out two of the guards, and we will go on a ship out to the oil plantation and then all we have to do is put on their uniforms and go out on the next boat to the oil rig. Then from there, I’m not actually quite sure yet, but I’ll figure it out when we get there.
“If we get there,” said Riley in a depressing tone. “Your making that sound easy, how are we going to dig out of this place with a fucking spoon? You must be crazy. Plus, how are we going to disarm the guards, those sons of bitches can put up a fight you know.”
“Tell me this Coop, would you rather stay in here until you die, and wait while all of our people die and become slaves? Or be a hero, save millions of lives, and stop the Klonees from their reign of terror?
“How would I be a hero, and how would I be saving lives by doing that?
“Use your head Coop. If the Klonees cant get no more oil, then they wont be able to take over the world. How about we sleep on it, its very late.”
“I don’t sleep much, but good night anyways.” Thomas was able to instantly fall asleep, because he was very tired from fighting. Riley on the other hand still couldn’t keep his eyes closed. Tonight, he wasn’t thinking about his mother or the war, he was thinking about what Thomas had said to him. Was it worth it to die in this prison without at least trying what crazy Thomas had suggested. He stayed up all night thinking about it, and he realized it wasn’t worth it. There was no way in hell it could work. The next morning Riley woke up and noticed that Thomas was gone. He figured that he must have been talking to some guards or being questioned, considering it was his first day. Riley remained in his cell and stared at the wall for a few hours, the wall that Thomas thought he could get through with a spoon. When it was lunchtime, Riley got another bowl of soup. When the guard came to deliver it to him, Riley asked, “Sir, I want to know if my mother is alive?”
“Well, if she isn’t dead yet, hopefully she’ll die soon or else I might just have to go kill her myself.” The guard walked away chuckling at his comment, and Riley was enraged after hearing this. He wanted to kill the guard who just said that, but he knew he couldn’t. This anger made him think even deeper about what Thomas had said. He ate his soup, it had been the first time he ate anything in a while. A few minutes later when a guard came by and asked for his bowl and spoon, he handed him the bowl. The officer asked where the spoon was, and Riley said that he had given it to another guard a ways back, because he never liked using a spoon for soup, he thought it was pointless. The guard believed him, and when he walked away, Riley took out the spoon he had hidden and stared at his reflection he saw in the shiny metal. He saw a broken down, beat up, worthless young man who was paitently awaiting his death. Then he thought about Thomas, and what Thomas proposed to him, and he saw a hero, a person who would be remembered in Ozlack history forever. Thomas hadn’t returned all day, and Riley started wondering where he was. The night came upon Riley, as he sat there alone in his cell. He sort of missed Thomas, in a way. He thought he was nice, and he enjoyed listening to him even though he didn’t talk back to him much. He started to think that Thomas had been moved into a new cell, until he heard the words from that corner again, “Hey Coop. Man, those guards are ass holes, they really gave me a beating today. They broke each and every one of my fingers because I wasn’t telling them what they wanted to hear. Screw them, I’m not ever helping those bastards, they’ll have to kill me first.”
“Listen Thomas,” said Riley, “I thought about what you were saying earlier, and I guess I don’t want to die in this hell hole without giving it a shot.”
“That’s great Coop! We can start tomorrow!” Thomas was always very loud when he spoke. It surprised Riley because the guards never came over and told him to shut his trap.
“Nope,” said Riley, “We can start tonight.” Riley removed the spoon that he had cleverly stole from the guards out of his pocket and the two smiled at eachother.
PART THREE
Riley began digging with the spoon, and surprisingly, it was working. It was arduous, and extremely diffuclt, but it worked. They decided to dig at night and at night only so they wouldn’t be caught by the guards. They dug the hole behind the toilet in the cell so the guards couldn’t see it. Riley had spent all night digging, and his wrists began to endure a sharp pain.
“Can I please get some help?” asked Riley in desperation.
“How in the world am I supposed to help you with ten broken fingers? Those interrogators killed me man, I’ll just keep watch, it’s your job to dig. I figure at this rate, we will be able to finish this hole in a about a week or so. Heck, I’m just guessing, but I figure that’s about right.”
“We?” said Riley in disgust, considering he was the only one doing the work; in his point of view, at least. “I’m the only one doing a damn thing and this is supposed to be your plan.” Riley spent the rest of the night digging, and Thomas eventually fell asleep. Since Riley could never go to sleep, he kept on digging until the sun came up. At this rate, the job will be completed almost twice as fast. Riley began to daydream at about 5:00AM, and that’s when he finally took a break from digging. He was dreaming about the escape, and the seemingly impossible trip to the oil rig, and the destruction of it. Then, a thought suddenly came to his head and he went to wake up Thomas immediately. “Thomas! Wake up! I have something to tell you!” Thomas woke up and was extremely drowsy and grumpy. “Thomas, your plan won’t work. How could you have been so stupid? Were going to die at the end, when we blow up the oil rig along with everybody else working on it.”
“Well of course were going to die Coop. What did you think was going to happen? But, you will be dying a hero, instead of dying in this cell. Trust me, it’s all worth it, we have to go through with this.” Riley was finally convinced that the plan was necessary, and he was ready to take action. The next to nights were extremely diffucult for him, he was forced to stay up all night and dig while Thomas watched for guards and eventually fell asleep. The lack of sleep was starting to affect Riley, and he wanted to go to sleep, but he just couldn’t do it. He kept on digging, and digging and the hole was making rapid progress. Riley was impressed of how much a spoon could do. Riley was always hesitant of going through with the plan, and there were many moments when he felt like he wanted to just stop, but Thomas really got to him. By this I mean that Riley always wanted to listen to what he said. Spending time together all night made them really close, and since Thomas did most of the talking, Riley was able to learn about his interesting life and he grew a liking to him fast. He kind of thought as Thomas as his boss, not literally but he felt a need to listen to him even if he didn’t want to. Thomas was really convincing, and a very good speaker.
One night, Thomas said, “You know what stinks the worst about being in this place, and leaving home for war and all? Leaving my wife, I miss her more than anything. She’s got gentle green eyes and long brown hair. She’s got a great body I tell you, and she’s a smart one too. Smarter than me even, cooks a good meal too. Well, its my job to catch the food which is probably harder, but she sure does a hell of a good job making it.” Riley was nodding in agreement with everything Thomas was saying, which is what he usually did. “I got two kids also. Miss them like crazy. I got a boy named Stanley, he is five years old, or maybe six now? I don’t know, but what I do know is he is one great athlete, the best five or six year old football player you’ll ever see. And my girl, her name is Samantha, she’s beautiful I tell you. She’s thirteen years old, and she basically acts as Stanley’s mother. My wife has to do hard work all day long, so Samantha hangs out with Stanley and takes care of him really well, I’m so proud of my girl. She is going to be one hell of a mother some day, that is, if she lives that long. Things aren’t easy for us Ozlacks man, and they aren’t going to ever get any easier, only worse. That’s why we got to do this Coop! We can save our families from slavery.” Riley didn’t want to tell Thomas about his family, because he didn’t really have one except his mother. Plus, talking about his mother would make him miss her a whole lot. “Anyways, I kind of miss fighting. I loved to fight, when I heard that I had to go fight in a war I was so excited. I’ve never been much of a brain you know, so my mother always used to tell me that I would be a fighter. She gave me this really old book when I was a baby, its called Saving Private Ryan. She isn’t alive anymore, so this book is the most important possession I have. Here, I’ll read you some of it...
(Excerpt from Saving Private Ryan)
“**Private Jackson**: Sir... I have an opinion on this matter. **Captain Miller**: Well, by all means, share it with the squad. **Private Jackson**: Well, from my way of thinking, sir, this entire mission is a serious misallocation of valuable military resources. **Captain Miller**: Yeah. Go on. **Private Jackson**: Well, it seems to me, sir, that God gave me a special gift, made me a fine instrument of warfare. **Captain Miller**: Reiben, pay attention. Now, this is the way to gripe. Continue, Jackson. **Private Jackson**: Well, what I mean by that, sir, is... if you was to put me and this here sniper rifle anywhere up to and including one mile of Adolf Hitler with a clear line of sight, sir... pack your bags, fellas, war's over. Amen. **Private Reiben**: Oh, that's brilliant, bumpkin. Hey, so, Captain, what about you? I mean, you don't gripe at all? **Captain Miller**: I don't gripe to *you*, Reiben. I'm a captain. There's a chain of command. Gripes go up, not down. Always up. You gripe to me, I gripe to my superior officer, so on, so on, and so on. I don't gripe to you. I don't gripe in front of you. You should know that as a Ranger. **Private Reiben**: I'm sorry, sir, but uh... let's say you weren't a captain, or maybe I was a major. What would you say then? **Captain Miller**: Well, in that case... I'd say, "This is an excellent mission, sir, with an extremely valuable objective, sir, worthy of my best efforts, sir. Moreover... I feel heartfelt sorrow for the mother of Private James Ryan and am willing to lay down my life and the lives of my men - especially you, Reiben - to ease her suffering." **Mellish**: [chuckles] He's good. **Private Caparzo**: I love him.”
“How do you like it Coop?” asked Thomas. “I love it, this is my favorite book ever. I’ve practically read it about one thousand times. Every time I read it, it reminds me of my mother.” Coop said that he liked it, but didn’t show much enthusiam. The thing is, Riley was extremely fascinated by it, he just never liked to show emotion in general. Riley had never owned a book before, they were really rare, he didn’t know how to read. Thomas told Riley that his mother taught him how to read when he was young, and he was fascinated with books and became a great reader. Plus, Thomas was much older than Riley and he lived during a time where everybody had and could read books.
“Thomas, could you maybe read me a little bit more?” asked Riley.
“Sure Coop! Let me just find something good for you.” Thomas scrolled through the pages to the end of the book where he found the letter to James Ryan’s family written by Geroge C. Marshall.
(Excerpt from Saving Private Ryan) “My dear Mrs Ryan: It's with the most profound sense of joy that I write to inform you your son, Private James Ryan, is well and, at this very moment, on his way home from European battlefields. Reports from the front indicate James did his duty in combat with great courage and steadfast dedication, even after he was informed of the tragic loss your family has suffered in this great campaign to rid the world of tyranny and oppresion. I take great pleasure in joining the Secretary of War, the men and women of the U.S. Army, and the citizens of a grateful nation in wishing you good health and many years of happiness with James at your side. Nothing, not even the safe return of a beloved son, can compensate you, or the thousands of other American families, who have suffered great loss in this tragic war. I might share with you some words which have sustained me through long, dark nights of peril, loss, and heartache. And I quote: "I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the alter of freedom." -Abraham Lincoln. Yours very sincerely and respectfully, George C. Marshall, General, Chief of Staff.”
Thomas said, “That’s one of my favorite parts of the book, I just love everything about that letter. I wonder how happy Ryan’s parents must have been when they opened that letter and found out that their son is going to be coming home. I wish I could write a letter to my family, don’t you? Im sure they are all thinking about me.” For the rest of the night, Riley took a break from digging and listened to Thomas read him parts of the book all night long. After Thomas finished reading he said, “Well, I don’t know about you but I need to get some sleep, see you in the morning Coop. Thomas dazed off into a deep sleep and Riley kept on staying up thinking about the book that was being read to him. Thomas explained that he had to sneak the book into the prison since they always take all of your belongings. Thomas would have given the guards his limbs before he would give him that book, it meant the whole world to him. The next morning, after Riley had gone into one of his daydreams, he noticed that Thomas wasn’t there when he woke up. Thomas was often gone during the day, and usually appeared in the night time. When the guards would come and Thomas was with Riley, they never even acknowledged him. Thomas always talked about how he had a really bad attitute and about how the guards hated him. Riley started to get terrible wrist aches because of all the digging he had to do, but he was so close to being done that he ignored the pain.
“I guess this is our last night, I figure were almost at the other side of the wall so I figure one more night of digging will get the job done,” said Thomas. Riley was relived when he heard this because he was ready to do what he needed to do. That night Riley kept on digging while Thomas read him more parts from his book, and that kept Riley entertained through the night. Riley was had been digging through the wall and he knew he was close, so he clenched a fist with his hand and punched right through the thin wall. He poked his eye out of the hole he made with his punch and looked outside.
“We did it,” said Riley, in a very proud manner. Riley looked at Thomas and they both smiled smiles of pride and accomplishment. Then, Riley repeatidly hit the wall with his elbow until there was a hole big enough for their bodies to fit through. The next morning, a guard walked by and began to glance at the area behind the toilet and sink. Riley quickly noticed what was happening and he started screaming in pain. The guard was startled and yelled to get medical help. Doctors rushed into his cell and took him away to observe him. Riley was always a quick thinker, weather it was on the battlefield or in a situation like the one he just encountered. Riley eventually returned to the cell after he told the doctors that he felt better, and he was relieved when the same guard didn’t return and discover the hole. Riley had a rough day that day, he didn’t know where Thomas was. Guards had been coming in and beating him, and the funny thing is, they didn’t even ask him questions. They came in and beat him for no reason and they laughed as blood dripped off of Riley’s face onto the floor. Things like these really ticked Riley off, and increased his hatred of the Klonee people which fueled his passion of blowing up their oil rig. Riley was lying down in pain on the floor, and he couldn’t get up. Actually, he didn’t even want to get up in the first place, he just wanted to lie there until Thomas came back. The letter from the book Saving Private Ryan, where General Marshall sent a letter to Ms. Ryan about her sons safety and his return to America, made Riley miss his mom. He wanted to write his mom a letter, but he didn’t have a pencil or paper to do it. Hell, he couldn’t even write in the first place. Riley began to talk out a letter to his mother, hoping that in some magical way, she was able to hear what he was saying.
(Excerpt from Saving Private Ryan)
“Dear Momma,
It’s me, Riley. I’ve never really made a letter before, but I miss you more than anything and I wanted to tell you that I’m still alive. I won a purple heart Momma, they gave me one because they said I was the bravest soldier they’ve ever seen. I was a great soldier Momma, they wasn’t lying. I also became a Lieutenant of my fleet, it was pretty cool because I got to boss all the older people around. Anyways, do you think I’m seventeen yet? I hope so, that would be pretty awesome and I have no idea how long I’ve been in this place. Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you that I’m not fighting anymore, I’m a prisoner. Mr. Havern told me to go capture one of these commanding officers of the Klonees. It wasn’t easy, but I did it. I got him in this funny thing called a helicopter and we were flying in the air. But, it wasn’t long before one of them Klonees shot us down. The pilot and Liutenant Havern died in that crash, but I had a funny thing called a parichute, haha, that’s a funny name, p-a-r-i-c-h-u-t-e. Anyways, me and the Klonee guy were falling down and when I hit the ground I got knocked out. I don’t know what happened to the other guy who was falling with me but long story short, when I woke up I found myself behind bars. They beat me up pretty bad here Momma, I wish I was back home with you more than any place in the world. I don’t even want one of them big houses that Klonee people have, I just want to go back home with you and have everything be normal. Oh, I have a friend here who lives with me. His name his Thomas Hayden, he is my best friend in the whole world. You would really like him Momma, he is nice and is very fun to listen to talk to. I don’t really talk back to him that much, you are the only person in the world that I like to talk to. Now I have to tell you something important Momma. Tonight, me and my friend Thomas are going to sneak out of this underground hole I made, and we are going to go blow up the oil rig that the Klonees have. This was Thomas’s idea, and at first I didn’t want to do it, but he convinced me and now nothing can stop me. If life is never going to get better for our people, then why should we have to watch the Klonees live their great lives. If you ever stare at a Klonee right in the eyes, and watch them as they torture you to a point where you almost aren’t breathing anymore, you would understand why I’m willing to do this. I figure at about 3:00AM, when all the guards in this place are asleep, we are going to do it. I hope you can here me Momma. I am going to die tonight. I love you.”
Riley began to cry a little after he spoke his last words to his mother. Riley hadn’t cried in a very long time, not even when he was being tortured. After about a month in this place, Riley didn’t even feel pain since he was so used to it. Riley cried for a while, and it became worse and worse as the night progressed. His eyes were so teary, that he couldn’t even see his own hands when he stuck them out in front of his face. Then, when the night grew dark, Riley heard Thomas speak, “Whats wrong Coop?”
“Nothing Thomas. I’m alright. When did you get in here?”
“A few minutes ago, I’ve just been sitting here watching you cry and wondering what was wrong. Anyways, are you ready to do it tonight?”
“More than ever,” said Riley. Riley and Thomas waitied patiently in their cell, trying to draw any sort of attention to the guards. They were even more nervous to pull off this stunt compared to when they were on the fronts of the battlefield facing thousands of Klonees ahead of them. Time was moving by very slowly, and the anticipation of their breakout was increasing heavily. The two men thought it must have been about 3:00AM, so they decided it was time. They looked at eachother for a while, and in their eyes they both saw confidecnce, and while one hero looked back at another hero, they both rose to their feet and began the process. Thomas proceeded first, and he first put his legs through the whole, and eventually he was able to squeeze his whole body through it. Next, Riley went and it was even more easy for him since he was extremely skinny because he never ate food in prison. Both of them stood outside, and looked out into the ocean where they saw the large oil rig. They were standing on grass, and it was the first time that they had stood on grass in a very long time. It felt good on there feet, and Riley said, "Damn, it's been a long time since i've set foot on grass, I almost forgot it existed." They figured they had about three hundred yards until they would reach the barbed wired fence that help them in. Over that, there was a territory with a search light coming from a lighthouse and a few guards roaming around the area. They tried to stay low to the ground as they walked cautiously to the wired fence. As they walked up to it, Riley said, "How the fuck are we going to get over this fence? We really didn't think this plan thorugh. God dammit! I cant believe we put in all that work and all of that time just to be stopped by some stupid electrical fence."
"Don't be dumb Coop. These Klonees might be rich, and they might be strong, but they are not smart. Look right there," Thomas pointed to a small gap at the bottom of the fence where they could easily fit their skinny bodies through. The only way you could be shocked was by trying to climb the fence. The two men were able to fit themselves under the fence, and they only came out on the other side with a few cuts and scratches. They spotted two guards about two hundred feet ahead. "Listen up Coop, take this rock," Riley took the large rock that Thomas placed in his hand. "You need to go sneak up on these guards, knock them over the heads, then we will sneak into their clothing and pose as them." This reminded Riley about the time when Liutenant Havern would bark orders at him, and Riley respected Thomas just as much, so he listened. They slowly approached the guard and they made sure they were as quiet as possible so they wouldn't alarm them. Riley clenched the rockn in his fist just like he used to clench his M16 when he was at war. He crept right behind them and hit one of them square in the head with the rock. After that, the second guard quickly screamed and turned around, but not before Riley took that rock and bashed him over his temple. They quickly stripped the men of their clothes before the blood that was dripping from their faces leaked down onto their clothes. They took off their raggity old clothes and replaced them with the new, fresh ironed military clothes that the guards wore. Thomas checked in his pockets and he found forms of identification and a pocket knife. Riley reached into his pockets and found two Cuban cigars along with a few matches. They had about two more hours until the next boat that shipped the Klonee workers off to the oil rig left, so they sat down on a hill and they lit the two cigars as they looked up in the night sky. They saw each star as an innocent Ozlack that they would be saving from a life of slavery. They both didn't sleep that night, they stayed up until they saw that a few guards and workers were being sent off to the oil rig. They aboarded the boat and didn't make much eye contact with anybody else because they were worried that they would be identified as prisoners. It took about twenty minutes for them to reach the oil rig, and as they walked up the ramp and boarded the rig, they both had faces of stern determination and courage.
Some of the guards that were on the boat just found a place near the edge of the rig to stand guard on, so thats exactly what they did. They stood there with their guns in hand, and golden Klonee patches intrenched on their chests.
"What are we going to do now?" whispered Riley.
Thomas always had bright ideas, so he whispered back, "Go up to one of the guards and say that we workers here. Then, introduce ourselves and ask him to show you around the famous oil rig since it your first time being on it." Riley didn't hesitate, he and Thomas walked right up to a guard that was standing by himself.
"Uh, hello sir. My name is John, I'm new here and I was just uh wondering if you could perhaps show me around the rig a little. It's really amazing being here in all, its the most famous wonder of our modern world so I'm excited to see it," said Riley. He was so nervous that he even forgot to introduce Thomas, but the guard seemed to be a very nice man and he agreed to show him around.
"Alrighy folks, what do you want to see?" asked the friendly guard.
"Uh, I'm most interested in seeing the pipeline sir," said Riley.
"No need to call me sir, just call me Pat. I'll take you right there, follow me." Riley and Thomas followed Pat down a few flights of stairs and they went down into a small room that had a large metal object in the middle. "This here is the pipeline boys, its what's been sacred to us for all these years and made our lives possible." Riley looked at Thomas, and Thomas simply nodded his head at Riley. Riley felt that he heard what Thomas wanted to tell him to do, its like they were connected in some strange way. Riley cocked his gun and shot a bullet right through the head of Pat. Then he pointed his gun at the pipeline and shot at that. Oil started to leak out of the small bullet hole. Riley then took out the matches he used to light the cigars and he lit one of them. He then threw the lit match down the pipeline and right away he started to hear explosions in the pipeline, all the way from the bottom of the ocean.
Riley knew that he was going to die in a matter of seconds, so he turned to Thomas and said, "We did it Thomas, we're heroes."
Thomas then looked back sharply at Riley and said, "No Coop, you did it. I dont even exist."
No more than two seconds later, a huge explosion occured and the whole oil rig lit up in flames. All of the oil bursted out into the ocean and made the ocean black. Riley did it, he saved his people from slavery. Even though he died in that moment, Thomas would still live on in his mind forever.
On December 21, 2012, there was a series of underground earthquakes that had destroyed oil pipelines in the sea, and oil wells on land, along with destroying all the infrastructure throughout all parts of the world. The world was essentially divided into two after that day, half of the world occupied North and South America, along with East Africa, and the other half of the world inhabited West Africa, Europe, Asia and Australlia. Africa was split into two during the earthquakes, and half drifted over to the eastern hemisphere of the world, and half drifted to the western hemisphere. Due to the explosion of the oil pipes and oil wells, there was a struggle to find sources of oil for three years, which made it impossible to rebuild society and infrastructure. Oil was needed to create energy, and without energy, the world was simply a desert of hopelessness and depression. This conflict is what caused North America, South Åmerica. and East Africa to become allies, and eventually become one race- the Ozlacks. Along with the creation of the Ozlack tribe came the Klonee tribe which consisted of Asia, Europe, Australlia, and West Africa. After the earthquakes occurred, both sides of the world spent the next three years searching for a reliable oil source that could help recontruct their destroyed societys, over those years hostility and tension grew between the Ozlacks and Klonees because they were both in dire need of oil. Evidently, if the world became united in the search for oil, and if oil was discovered, they woudntl have enough in order to rebuild society all over the world. Also, they both knew that if they had broken up into smaller groups then there would be less of a chance that they could find an oil source. On January 22, 2016, the Klonees found a large source of oil under the Pacific Ocean, and over the next year they built a large oil rig that went all the way down to the bottom of the ocean, and they were able to obtain their oil. By the year 2020, the Klonees had used all of their endless oil supply to build an advanced society, while the Ozlacks still lived in inescapable poverty. Each day that passed, Ozlacks would die to hunger and disease, the Klonees viewed oil as being sacred, and they wouldnt export any to the Ozlacks because they had nothing to trade with. The Ozlacks knew that they had to do something drastic, something that would turn their world around, so they acted.
PART ONE
For some strange reason, his senses were always intensified while he was on the fronts. Even at night, he would stand his ground like an owl, and once there was a single ruffling in the bushes, any noise that traveled to his sensitive ears, he would quickly place a round of ammunition into his M4 carbine and hold his weapon steady, not moving one single muscle in his six-foot frame. He had been in the depths of the jungle for six months, and each night death lingered over his head. Bullets would fly by his ear, and while each bullet nearly missed his body, he would drift farther and farther away from reality. Each bullet that passed by represented a memory of his past life, and as it missed him, that memory of his life would cease to exist in his mind. Each and every near death experience he encountered, he would become inhumane. There was one thing that was intrenched in his head, and that was to kill as many Klonees as possible. Each Klonee to him was simply prey, not a person, but a target in which his goal was to out a bullet through either their head or heart. Each night he stood his ground still, like a mother lion protects its young, he was protecting his fellow Ozlacks, for there weren’t many left to protect. Thousands of them fell everyday to the Klonee army, and they were falling fast. He would never sleep, for the thought of his sleepy eyelids closing, and a fleet of Klonees coming to blow them up before he could even open them up made him restless.
“I remember the day those fuckers came and took me, right away from my parents, I was thirteen years young,” said Riley to his friend Andy, another boy who was also sixteen years old. “They didn’t even tell us why, or where we were going, they just took me and the rest of the men in my village.” When the Ozlacks declared war on the Klonees in 2021, their main objective was to destroy as much of the Klonee population as possible, and take control of their oil plantation by surrounding it, and capturing the Klonee king, Samuel Bader, take him back to Ozlack territory, and threaten to kill him if they didn’t export billions dollars worth of oil to them. The leader of the Ozlack army, Anderson Gefferion, ordered all of his officials to invade all of the villages and capture all men that were 13 years of age to 55 years of age, and they took them to train them for battle and ship them off to East Asia to fight. Now, Riley Cooper, was sixteen years old and was already a Liutenenant in the 14th fleet of the Ozlack army. “I remember, when I was driving away in he back of the car, seeing my mothers face, she was crying. I didn’t know where I was going, but she knew. I knew that my people didn’t particurally like the Klonees, because their lives were so much better than ours, but I didn’t know we were going to go to war with them.”
“I didn’t have much of a family, I’m happy that I got away from my village. At least here I get to eat twice a day,” Andy said in a slow, depressing tone. “I need to get my rest, haven’t gotten much lately. You should think about getting some too, can’t kill Klonees’ all day on no hours rest.”
“I’ll try,” said Riley, “Were in for a good fight tomorrow, get ready.” As Andy fell asleep, Riley couldn’t sleep. He knew that nobody else would stay up too watch guard, he never knew if Klonees woud attack in the middle of the night. Riley though back to his first week out in the jungle, where he was a rookie. It was a rainy, dull day, and not much had happened. He remembered that he went through some training that day, then a small group of Klonees had attacked their base in the jungle, but they fought them off quickly and easily. That night he fell asleep quickly, and started to dream about his mother. He had a dream that he and his mother went swimming in the lake of their village, and she made him a nice dinner that had rice and some vegetables. It was good for him since he was used to barley eating anything at all. He dreamed of the hot summer sun beaming down on his freckled face, while he and his mom floated in the pool, not saying a word, but I was his idea of perfection. That night, while he was in the middle of a dream that he never wanted to wake up from, he heard a loud noise that immediately woke him up. The Klonees had just ran through their base, and threw semtex grenades in all of the trenches. One rolled right by the side of Riley, but with his instinctiveness he was able to pick it up and throw it as far as he could, as he watched it explode in the air. He knew that if he hadn’t have done that, all of the men in his trench would have died, along with the fifty other men that died that night. Since then, Riley always stayed awake, looking for any signs of Klonees. He was the protector, the soul guardian of his fleet. He had eyes like a hawk, if Klonees were ambushing them at night, he would be able to forsee the attack and wake up his troops in time to fight them off.
The night grew on him, his muscles ached of tiredness and he was having a hard time staying awake. It was no 5:30 AM, a half hour before wake up call. Riley sat there, in his trench, looking at all of his brothers. Then, a sudden thought came to his mind that he most certainlly didn't want, he was watching all of his soldiers sleep silently, then a beam of light flashed before his eyes and when his vision came back to him he saw all of his brothers lying dead in the trench. All of them bleeding, limbs dettached, some simply just piles of bones. He kept looking, he coudln't bare to take his eyes off of this site. At this moment, he didn't know if the Klonees had dropped a nuclear bomb on them or if he was having unwanted visions.
"Ah!" screamed Riley, as he woke up from this terrible nightmare. When Riley let go this scream of terror, death, and misery, he woke up the rest of the men in his trench.
"What the fuck are you screamin' like a girl for Cooper?" said Nick Williams, and older man on the fleet. He was a father figure to Riley, an old man of 43 years of age. He put Nick through training, and although they instantly liked each other, there was one day that really brought them close together. The Ozlacks were waiting for their reinforcements to come down to the Pacific, but they were taking longer than excpected. The Ozlacks were trying to avoid any more fighting with the Klonees, because they were heavily outnumbered. Tactically, they decided to move their base deep into the jungle off the coast of the ocean, a spot where they expected the Klonees would never find. However, a few days prior to their relocation, a Klonee soldier who had been severely wounded had grabbed the uniform of a fallen Ozlack soldier and put it on himself. Then, a group of Ozlack doctors had brought him into the infermary and repaired his wounds. He had sucessflly deceived the Ozlacks, and he overheard their strategy and where they would relocate due to their decerase in soldiers. He was then able to escape one night and retrun to his base with his fellow Klonees, and he had let his Admirals about the plans of the Ozlacks and they immediatley planned an attack on their base. The next day, the Klonees stormed into their base with heavy amounts of infanty and soldiers, and killed hundreds of Ozlacks. Williams and Cooper stood side by side, loading up their machine turrets in their attempt to fight off the Klonees, but as Riley was reloading the turret, he had been shot in his side and fell to the ground. A soldier that was crouching next to Williams said, "Forget him, keep firing!" as bullets whizzed right over their heads. Williams couldn't let Riley die, he was too young. He disobeyed the request of the soldier, and put Riley on his back and ran into the depths of the jungle. He was running through trees, bushes, and tall grass as bombs were still going off behind him. He ran all the way to a spot where there was a small lake, and nobody was near. He placed Riley down on his backside, and fell to the ground in tiredness. He was an old man, so despite the adrenalline rush he had, it wasn't easy on his aching body. He then removed the bullet from Riley's side, washed out the wound, then applied pressure and a bandage to stop the bleeding. Riley was saved, and at that moment he realized that Nick Williams would be a close friend forever.
It was evident that Riley was beginning to go insane. He knew that his vision had occured because of his lack of sleep, and life in the jungle had slowly been driving him mad. "Wake up! Breakfest time, we got a long day ahead of us so lets get ready," said Liutenant Havern loud enough to wake up all the men in the fleet.
“These eggs taste like shit, makes my miss my moms old cookin’ at home,” said Riley in disgust of the terrible breakfest he been eating.
“How can you be worried about the way your food tastes while we got to go fight all of them Klonies today?” asked Andy. Andy was always nervous, opposed to Riley who had always seemed to be collective.
“Well everyday starts out with a good breakfest, so if figure the more eggs I eat, the more Klonees I kill,” said Riley, which made all of the men sitting at his table laugh. However, that small moment of laughter and happiness couldn’t take their minds off of what they had ahead of them, a mission that seemed impossible.
“Anyways, how does Havern think that we can capture the commanding officer of the Klonees’ biggest fleet?” Andy asked Riley in a hopeless matter. “They probably got about 2000 of them lined up for us, heck, we don’t even know where to find the guy.” Liutenant Havern had previously told his men that they were to invade a large base of the Klonees and take their commanding officer, William Riech, into hostage in order for the Ozlacks to threaten the Klonees with specific demands.
“Hell, I reckon I’ll just find some coverage and shoot em’ till the sun goes down. Course it’ll be difficult, nearly impossible, but all of us know here that something needs to be done, something durastic. If we keep on going kill for kill with the Klonees, we will never rebuild our society and live the life that our parents, grandparents, greatparents, and even great-great grandparents want us to be living,” said Riley. Hours passed as the soldiers loaded their weapons, packed their belts, and made sure that they stayed hydrated since the heat was killing them. They figured it would take them a while to the base, so they got a head start and left early. The walk seemed like it took days, and all of the negative comments on the walk made it seem even longer. They kept moving, one foot in front of the other, through the jungle as they inched torward their destination.
“Forget it!” yelled a soldier, his face dripping with sweat from the long walk in the heat.
“Forget what?” asked Nick Williams as him and Riley started at the soldier in confusion.
“All of it! I’m sick and tired of all this bullshit. Aint know chance that we ever get that oil, the Klonees are just too strong, and too advanced, not a force to be reckoned with. I just wished I could of stayed back in my village, and lived the life I’ve been living until I die. We all know that were going to die anyways in this war, I just don’t see the point in fighting, and we all know none of us here actually wanted to come here and fight anyways,” said the inscrutable soldier.
“I did,” said Riley quietly.
“Shut up kid, all you do is bitch and moan about being taken away from your momma to come fight here. If you really think we stand a chance against them, your nothing short of stupid. We’ve practically hand crafted all of our weapons, and they are building nuclear weapons in those big ass factories they got. Stop dreamin’ kid, you’re a great soldier, but you gotta look at the facts,” said the soldier. The screaming and fighting between the two men had brought a hault to the the whole unit, since they were at the front of the line. People started to listen in, and hearing what the mysterious soldier had to say made them depressed.
“Well if they got those neucular bombs, then why haven’t that just blown all of us up into pieces?” asked Riley, thinking that his question had stumped the rebelling soldier.
“Are you dumb kid? First off, those sons of bitches wouldn’t only kill us, it’d probably kill their men too. Those things are so huge that they blow up nearly the whole jungle, and since there are fleets of soldiers consisting of both us and them Klonees, they couldn’t strategically do it. Also, a million dollars says that once they fight us off, and we wave the white flag, they come and capture us and make us their slaves. I can already see it, once this war in the pacific is over, they are going to come in to our house, stronger than ever, and make us all their slaves. Then, they are going to take over the world and revitaize our territory and make it their own. It’s the truth kid, we are all essentially dead.” After that unkown soldier spoke those words, a certain silence fell through the whole crowd, and it feels like the soldiers that were about 500 feet behind them could hear what he was saying too. “Now, I don’t know about the rest of you but I’m not taking one more step torwards their base, because whats waiting for me is my death, and I’m not even fighting for a reason.” The soldier then turned his body around, and started to walk the other way. At this moment, there was a sense of utter hopelessness throughout the Ozlacks. Nobody who heard the speech given by the unknown soldier no longer had any motivation to go complete the mission.
“Son, if you take one more step the other way I swear on this tribe that I will fire a bullet through your thin skull,” said Nick Williams. The soldier stopped and stared at him in shoch. “And for the rest of you, if I see another soldier with their head down I will also put a bullet through your skull.” Riley, who was standing next to him looked up to him in awe.
“Nick, what are you doing?” whispered Riley. Nick looked dead into his eyes, cupped his mouth with his right hand and whispered into his ear, “Somebody’s gotta save our world.”
Everybody was still staring at Williams, but nobody more intensely than the unknown soldier. They all awaited for what would happen next, as Williams raised up his M16, pointing it at the soldier. The anticipation of all of the Ozlacks was intense, they all patiently awaited the words. Each second that passed felt like an hour as emotions were increasing, until Williams said, “So what are you going to do? Die fighting for your people, or die being a coward and know that you parents, grandparents, great grandparents, and even great-great grandparents would look at you in shame?”
This inspirational moment made the soldier turn back around and face the right way, with the other thousands of men who were ready to fight with him for the Ozlacks. Williams, being old and wise, was always able to give good speeches before battle, but none were like the one he gave today. All of the soldiers listened in as he talked about their past, and what was ahead for them in the future. He talked about how if they approached the war strategically, step by step, they could actually win and eventually capture King Bader and begin reveiving oil exports. He began to talk about their families, and how they are what everybody is fighting for, a better life. The realness and intensity in his speech suddenly had soldiers clapping, cheering, and yelling. He ended his speech by saying, “Now, about 1000 yards ahead we have a few thousand Ozlacks waiting for us, and were killin’ each and everyone of them and taking home their highest ranked officer with us.” This last sentence of the greatest speech he had ever given set off a roar in the crowd. The men in the front of the pack, where Williams were, started running torwards their base. The thousands behind decided to do the same, the excitement was contagious. They ran those last one thousand yards like cheetahs bolting through open fields, and when they reached the Klonee base, they didn’t hesitate at all.
“Get down! Get down!” hollered Williams to Riley as he saw that the Klonees had initiated fire. Riley stumbled and was able to find cover behind a broken down car. Bullets shattered the windshields and hit of the steel of the car, but nothing could phase him. Hours passed as Riley moved from spot to spot, killing Klonees like they were flies. Thousands lay dead, and the fighting still continued, but even though the Ozlacks had killed plenty of Klonees in the battle, they still didn’t capture their commander. There was a heavy protected building at the battle site, and the commander was excpected to be at the top.
“Listen Cooper,” said Liueneant Havern loudly so he could hear his voice over the sounds of explosions and bullets. “Your going to go capture their commander and bring him to the roof of that building, I will meet you there with a stolen Klonee helicopter. Work fast, and be safe.”
Riley knew that if he tried to enter the building from the bottom and work his way to the top, he would die trying. He ran up to the side of the building, threw his rope to into a window and it clicked in. He climbed up the wall and entered the room in which he was awaited by two armed Klonees and the commander. He threw a flash bang through he window in order to delay the soldiers’ reaction to him, and when he stepped in the room, he quickly snatched his .44 Magmum and shot both guards in the chest, and right before the commander could fire a long sharp bullet from his M21 Sniper Rifle through his sixteen year old body, he shot him in the leg. The commander fell onto the floor, Riley ran up to him and kicked the gun out of his hand, and punched him in the face strong enough to completely knock him out of consciousness. He knew that he was supposed to take him and meet Liutenant Havern on the roof, but he couldn’t find the entrance to the roof. He knew he didn’t have time, and he knew that Klonees were most likely running up the stairs of the building to kill him and save their commander. He acted quickly by standing as far back as he could, and tossing a grenade to the wall. The grenade exploded completely taking the wall off the building, and he started to scream to try and get the attention of Havern and the men in the helicopter. The noise of the chopper blocked Rileys screams, he heard the Klonees running up the stairs to come find him. Riley pulled out his .44 Magmum and fired two shots at the helicopter, one hit the metal, and the other one shattered the glass. Havern looked down in what was left in the building and saw Riley screaming and waving his arms in desperate hope he would obtain his attention.
“Look! Its Cooper! Go get him, lower the chopper!” The pilot lowered the copper to their level, and Riley tossed the commander of the Klonee fleet into the chopper.
“Hurry up!” yelled Liutenant Havern, acknowledging Riley’s stall to jump in. Riley took three big steps back, took a running start, and leaped towards the chopper. He had came up an inch short, and was hanging on for his life, until Havern said, “Gotcha.” With his strong and buff arms, he was easily able to pull Riley into the helicopter. “Great work son. Thank you, I couldn’t have done it myself.” As they flew away, fighting still existed beneath them. They had been soaring over the jungle, when they had been hit. A Klonee had shot the helicopter with his javelin, a rocket luncher that could lock on to a moving target.
“We’ve been hit!” screamed the pilot. “Our tail is gone, were going down!” The pilot, Havern, and Cooper braced themselves as they rapidly spun toward the ground. The Klonee commander had just woken up, and since he was an immensely intelligent man, he immediately went to go grab a parachute for himself, since he knew where it was located because it was a Klonee helicopter. Out of the corner of his eye, Riley saw where he got the parachute and he went to grab three more for Havern, the pilot abd himself. Before the commander could jump out of the plane, Riley shot the parachute on the commanders back, they needed him for reasoning purposes with the Klonees, so they made sure he stayed alive.Then, Riley grabbed him and jumped out of the falling chopper, the two spun down together, Riley was holding on to the commander. When they were about 500 feet from the ground, the commander threw a punch at Riley and grabbed the gun from his belt. Both of them had their hands on the gun, and there was a struggle of possession. The commander wanted Riley dead, so he was attempting to shoot him, and Riley wanted the commander alive, so he was resisting it. With both of their hands raised in the air on the gun, the commander pulled the trigger and a bullet penetrated the parachute and they began falling down to the ground going along with the wind.
PART TWO
Riley woke up in a state of delusion, he wasn’t too sure where he was because his vision was blurry. He blinked his eyes a few times until his sight came back to him. “Where am I?” Riley asked himself due to his new unframilliar surroundings. He was cold, he looked down at his body and saw that his military clothes had been removed from his body and they were replaced with an orange shirt and orange pants. Then he looked up and saw that he was behind bars. He quickly scrambled to his feet and ran up to the bars and started screaming, “Hello! Where am I? Get me out of here?” He vigorously shook the metal bars with his bloody hands until a man wearing very nice clothes, and a golden badge that said “Klonee” came up to him.
“Sit down kid,” he camly said to Riley, followed by the man pointing a undefineable device at his chest. He pulled a trigger and a red laser appeared from what seemed to be a sort of shock gun, sending 3000 volts of electricity into Riley. Riley was knocked to the ground by the shock, and his body trembled and shook, like the body of a fish when taken out of the water. Drool form his mouth dripped to the cold and dirty floor. Riley was in a severe amount of pain, and it didn’t help when he heard the words, “Fuckin’ Ozlack,” from the man who shot him. Riley wasn’t a stupid kid, he was abnormally bright actually. Despite the trauma from the shock, he was able to realize where he was, and the terrible situation he was now in.
“The crash!” he yelled, quickly covering his mouth so the guard wouldn’t come back. “I must have been captured by the Klonees when I was unconscious after impact.” He sat there completely still for a few minutes, until he unwillingly let out a scream of terror caused by a sharp pain on the side of his head. This scream once again drew the attention of the guard, and with each footstep that he heard from the guard walking back to him felt like another shock of electricity to his brain.
“Now listen up boy,” said the guard, “We ain’t like you poor people. See this shock gun? This is something your people will never be able to have. You know why? Cause your all hopeless. You see, we got advanced technology, we were able to track Commander Corwitz’s location after you fuckers tried to capture him. That’s something you and your poor Ozlack people will never be able to do, cause yall ain’t ever winning this war our touching our precioius oil. When we found Commander Corwitz laying unconscious in the jungle, it didn’t take much time until we stumbled upon you, that’s when we put it all together, you were the one who shot him and took him away in our helicopter. By the way, you and your boys should of though before you stole our helicopter, ever wonder how we knew exactly where you were?
“Stop!” yelled Riley in frustration from what the man had been saying. “Tell me where I am.”
“Take a look out your window,” replied the guard. Riley walked slowly to a small window that was also covered in bars, but through the bars he saw something that he had been waiting to see for a very long time. Riley’s jaw dropped as he stared at largest oil base ever created in history. He saw thousands of Klonees working on the oil refinery, and he knew that this is what could save his people, he knew this was the reason he was brought into this war. “You can stare all you want kid, but you will never set foot out of this prison cell ever again. The more cooperation you give to us, the longer you will live. Oh, and just incase you were wondering, our king lives right up there in large building.” The guard pointed his finger to a luxurious palace located next to the oil rig. “I know he’s what you and your Ozlack people are trying to get your hands on, you think you can capture him and then we will start cooperating, well good luck. See all those men standing at the base of the building, they are highly trained guards who have a sole duty to protect him from people like you.” The Klonee king, Samuel Bader, was the man who discovered the oil source on the coast of the Pacific ocean. After this incredible discovery, he was crowned king of the Klonees and he had made the plans to build an advanved society and refuse to export any oil to the Ozlacks because he wanted to eventually take over the whole world. King Bader was sacred to the Klonee people, and they would do anything to save his sacred life.
Over the next few hours, Riley remained looking out the window. He watched as ships would sail off with boxes full of oil to other parts of the Klonee population. He knew he was now a prisoner of war, but the sight of oil, the thing his people needed to finally live the lives they all dreamed on living, put his mind into a daze. Not even a blink of an eye, or any sign of emotion on his face, he just stood there until the night grew upon him. Eventually, his eyes began to close and he took a seat on the cold and hard floor. He then rested his head on his arm, because for whatever amount of time he would be in here, his arm would serve as his pillow. Hours kept passing and Riley still couldn't get to sleep, all he could think about was his mother back at home. However, at approximately 3:30AM, those thoughts of his turned into a dream...
It was a rainy night in Riley's village back home, cold too. The fury of the winds was making it hard for some of the weakly structured cottages to even stay up in one piece. Outside, you couldn't spot a soul. Everybody was huddled together with their families by a fire inside their cottage. Although, in one of the cottages, there wasn't a family huddled together by a fire, there was a lone woman sitting in a chair by herself, not even moving a muscle. Ms. Cooper, Riley's mother, had been emotionally unstable ever since her son was taken away to war. In fact, she was approaching insanity. She had been having trouble sleeping, and one night, when she was up unusually late, she heard a loud bang at the door. This made her jump out of her chair and she lit a candle to see what was happening. A short moment of silence followed before another bang, louder than the previous one, came from the door of the cottage. This one completely knocked the door out of its hinges, and a large, dark figure stood at the door with another shorter man by his side. Ms. Cooper let out a scream of terror which caused her to drop her lit candle, and this followed with the room becoming completely pitch black. She wanted to let out another scream, but she scrambled and hid behind a chair in the corner of the cottage. She pressed her hand hard against her mouth to hold in the loud scream that she certainly wanted to let out. Sweat dripped down her nose, and her body was rapidly trembling. She heard the footsteps of the two unknown men coming close to her, and then, a beam of light hit her right in the face. It was a flashlight, and the two men casually walked toward her which caused her to spring to her feet and run to the door. The taller man was able to sprint to the door before she escaped and he took a stun gun and shot it at her side. This caused her to fall to the ground and then the shorter man pinched her pressure point which knocked her out. The two men picked her up and carried her outside to one of the cars, the whole village was being taken in these cars. The next morning, Ms. Cooper woke up in a state of immense confusion, she was in the back of the box car and it was still dark. A few minutes later, a man opened up the back of the box car and the light caused all of the Ozlacks in the car to cover their eyes. The man was clearly a Klonee soldier, and this scared everybody in the car. "Where are we!" What's going on!" "Let us go!" asked all of the Ozlacks that were crowded together uncomfterbally. "No questions!" responded the soldier as he was guiding them all out of the car into a line. All of the people, including Ms. Cooper, slowly walked through the entrance that was surrounded by a high powered electric fence. They all entered, and were stripped of all belongings and they were all told to go find a cabin to sleep in. At this point, the Ozlacks were frantic and scared to death. After the long process of entering the place, they were finally stripped of their clothing. Hours passed, Ms. Riley's fear was putting a virtual choke hold on her, and her fear swallowed her words. At about 6:00PM somebody said over a loudspeaker, "Welcome all Ozlacks to the first day of your new lives. This is the first step of our project, operation eliminate. What is operation eliminate you might be wondering? Well, since your people have been threathing us with the mobilization of large armies and threats to our kings life, we have decided to now only kill you in war, but to kill the rest of you in work camps. You will be fed once a day, and if you refuse to do work you will die immediatley. Here, you will help us build our weapons, and you will tell us everthing we want to know about your people. You have no choice, it's that our death. Every ay more of your people will enter, and also we will be building these camps all over your land. Since we are still working on having everybody getting cleared and entering, you will have today to think, and tomorrow you will all start work at 4:00AM sharp. Good bye." After this message played, a riot broke out. Men and women who had been in their cabins stormed out and tried to escape. All the guards were told to shoot anybody who was rebelling. Ms. Cooper didn't know what to do, she stood out the door and saw Ozlacks being shot and killed, and she saw a few trying to jump the wired fences. She hesitated, she knew if she ran she would probably be killed, and she knew that the Klonees wouldn't construct a defective elertical fence. She froze, other people in her cabin told her to come back inside or she would die, and others screamed for her to run. The situation was hectic, explosions were occuring all around the area of the camp, she was about to make a decision to go back inside but before she could a guard ran up to her and screamed, "This one is trying to esacpe!" She tried to yell back and tell her she wasn't, but the noise of the gun shots and explosions were too loud for the guard to hear. The guard fired a bullet, and it was heading straight between her two blue eyes, just like the eyes Riley had, and then...
"Wake up!" screamed the guard at Riley's prison, who also kicked him in the side of the head simultaneously.
"No! Mother! You asshole! You killed her!" Riley screamed frantically, still believing the dream he just had was real.
"Your just dreamin' kid, cut the bullshit, heres your breakfeast, enojoy," the guard placed a glass of water and a piece of bread in front of him and chuckled to himself as he walked away from Riley's cell. Riley was starving and scarfed down his meal in a matter of seconds. He spent the rest of the day just sitting there, thinking about his mother. Some Klonee officers came in to question him, and he struggled giving them answers and was beaten and tortured. This wasn't a rare occurance, he was often beaten ruthlessly by the guards for his lack of cooperativeness. The longer he had been in this prison, the less he would speak. Days went by slowly, and eventually, those days turned into weeks. Each day he would be questioned about the Ozlacks and their "ways" but he wouldn't speak. He was quite sick, actually. He rarley ever slept. The doctors at the prison told him he was suffering from insomnia, but he didn't say anything back. Sometimes, he would have trouble eating, which is surprising because he barley was foturnate enough to eat there at all. Each night he would sit there, alone, and stare at the blank ceiling. However, when he would stare at the blank ceiling, he wouldn't see the ceiling, he saw something else. As he would stare up at the ceiling, he saw his mother, and he would wonder how she was doing. He would see his friends from his old fleet; Andy, Nick... they were all there. That would make him think about the war, and that would make him sad because he knew that all of his men were probably dying. Then, he would think about the world. He would wonder if the Ozlacks would ever live life like the Klonees did. That thought would sometimes make him stand up, and look out the small barred window, where he would the source of all of the worlds oil. This sight made him angry. When he first entered the war he didn't essentially hate the Klonee people, considering he was forced to fight. Now, he hated them more than anything. He viewed them as savages, and destroyers of the world. There were times when he wished that the whole world was just gone, vanished form existence. He thinks that if his people don’t have happiness, then nobody should.
The only way Riley ever got to sleep was when he was knocked out by a Klonee guard. He has been in prison for two months now, and he has barley said a word. He has lost thirty pounds, and has suffered multiple broken bones and coincussions from his daily beatings. He had though about killing himself, but he had no way to do it anyways. Most nights were the same, except some of the nights he could hear bombs go off from a distance. Each night, he either hoped that he would be rescued, or he would hope that he would somehow fall asleep and never wake up again.
One night, Riley didn’t go to sleep at all. Most nights he would get about an hour or two, but this night he didn’t even blink. The Klonees didn’t kill much of their captives, because they weren’t able to capture many so they had to keep them all alive. The next morning, the head of the prison came in and talked to Riley, along with the guards.
“Hello, Riley,” said the man.
“Hi.”
“I hear you don’t talk much, is this true?”
“Yes.” The conversation proceeded slowly. The head of the prison was only here to observe Riley, since he was acting very strange compared to when he first arrived.
“I don’t like to sleep anymore,” said Riley.
“Well, that’s interesting,” replied the man, “What do you do at night if you don’t sleep?”
“I think. I imagine.” After this, Riley didn’t feel like talking anymore. He was surprised when the guards didn’t hurt him after he made that decision. They allowed him to return to his cell, and they handed him his lunch. He sat there, and as he stared into his soup, he saw his reflection. He didn’t see himself anymore, he saw a new person. This isn’t because of the bumps or bruises on his face, he felt like something changed inside of him. He wasn’t able to eat the soup, because he was much too fascinated by seeing his reflection and thinking about what has changed inside of him. When the sky became dark that night, and he no longer could see his relfection in the bowl of soup, he lied down on the floor and began looking at the celing again, like usual. Sometimes, he felt that his mind was asleep even though his eyes were open. It was 4:30 in the morning, and Riley was startled when he heard the words, “Hey, what’s your name?” Riley jumped to his feet, thinking that a guard was talking to him from outside of the cell. He started through the bars, nobody was there. He all around his cell, but nobody was there. He became scared, he wanted the person to speak again. “Over here buddy,” said the voice again. In the corner of the cell, a man was sitting down. He had light blonde hair, it almost looked gray. He had gentle blue eyes, and a bandage on his leg. “How are ya? My name is Thomas. Thomas Hayden, that is.” Riley, still amazed that somebody new was actually in his cell, wasn’t able to speak back. “Well, anyways,” said Thomas, “this place sure is a shit hole. But, what can I say, I’m sort of lucky to be in here anyways, I almost just died you know. One of those bastard Ozlacks stabbed me in the leg, that’s how I got his bandage. Hurts real bad to walk, but I figure I wont be doing to much walking in this place anyways. But guess what? You know that son of a bitch that stabbed me in the leg? I killed him! Shot him right threw his skull, it was real funny. Do you like killing people? I sure do, I hate them Klonees. I wonder if I’ll ever get out of this place, I want to go back and fight for my people again. Well, I bet you could of guessed this, if your smart and all, but after that bastard stabbed me I couldn’t walk very well. I kind of just sat there, we was somewhere in the jungle, just the two of us. Then, some of these Klonees found me and punched me right in the face! Then they took me away in this flying ship and brought me here! Isn’t that a wild story?!”
“Shhhh! Be quiet. You might wake the guards,” said Riley. “My names Riley Cooper, by the way.”
“Nice to meet you Riley Cooper. Can I call you Coop? I think that’s a funny nickname. Well anyways, Coop, I’m glad I at least get some company in this place. Did you ever get lonely being in here alone and all?”
“You could say that.”
“Coop, do you like talking much? I love talking to other people. I bet your wondering a lot about whats been happening with the war. Well, as much as I hate being the bearer of bad news, I think I ought to tell you that its only getting worse. We just cant compete with them, millions of us have died. I hate myself for saying this, but we don’t stand a chance in hell.” Riley hadn’t talked to anybody for a long time, and he wasn’t happy hearing this. “But anyways, I got a little plan of my own. Let me tell you about it. I figured, since we aren’t ever going to control the oil, and we are all going to die in this war and eventually, in the future, the Klonees will rule the world, I want to destroy their oil pipeline so they will never rule my grandchildren. Plus, it’ll be easy, all I got to do is break out of this place, go find that oil source and make the pipe burst.” Riley started laughing hysterically at his ignorance. What he had just said is nearly impossible, and Thomas didn’t even know that the oil source he was looking for was about 3000 yards away from his exact point.
“Why don’t you go take a look out that small window,” said Riley, still cracking up from what Thomas had said. Thomas got up and went to look out the window and his eyes lit up when he saw the oil rig. He was even more intreigued by the sight than Riley was a couple months back when he first saw it.
“Look, there is is!” cried Riley in amusement. “It’s actually right there, right in front of my eyes! I cant believe it. This is so easy, all we need is a spoon.
“A what?” said Riley, making sure that he was hearing things right.
“A spoon,” said Thomas. “At night, you can dig through this cheap plaster, and eventually we squeeze our bodies through the hole and go right out to the other side of the wall. Were both all skin and bones so I figure it wont be too hard. And… and… I got it! You can knock out two of the guards, and we will go on a ship out to the oil plantation and then all we have to do is put on their uniforms and go out on the next boat to the oil rig. Then from there, I’m not actually quite sure yet, but I’ll figure it out when we get there.
“If we get there,” said Riley in a depressing tone. “Your making that sound easy, how are we going to dig out of this place with a fucking spoon? You must be crazy. Plus, how are we going to disarm the guards, those sons of bitches can put up a fight you know.”
“Tell me this Coop, would you rather stay in here until you die, and wait while all of our people die and become slaves? Or be a hero, save millions of lives, and stop the Klonees from their reign of terror?
“How would I be a hero, and how would I be saving lives by doing that?
“Use your head Coop. If the Klonees cant get no more oil, then they wont be able to take over the world. How about we sleep on it, its very late.”
“I don’t sleep much, but good night anyways.” Thomas was able to instantly fall asleep, because he was very tired from fighting. Riley on the other hand still couldn’t keep his eyes closed. Tonight, he wasn’t thinking about his mother or the war, he was thinking about what Thomas had said to him. Was it worth it to die in this prison without at least trying what crazy Thomas had suggested. He stayed up all night thinking about it, and he realized it wasn’t worth it. There was no way in hell it could work. The next morning Riley woke up and noticed that Thomas was gone. He figured that he must have been talking to some guards or being questioned, considering it was his first day. Riley remained in his cell and stared at the wall for a few hours, the wall that Thomas thought he could get through with a spoon. When it was lunchtime, Riley got another bowl of soup. When the guard came to deliver it to him, Riley asked, “Sir, I want to know if my mother is alive?”
“Well, if she isn’t dead yet, hopefully she’ll die soon or else I might just have to go kill her myself.” The guard walked away chuckling at his comment, and Riley was enraged after hearing this. He wanted to kill the guard who just said that, but he knew he couldn’t. This anger made him think even deeper about what Thomas had said. He ate his soup, it had been the first time he ate anything in a while. A few minutes later when a guard came by and asked for his bowl and spoon, he handed him the bowl. The officer asked where the spoon was, and Riley said that he had given it to another guard a ways back, because he never liked using a spoon for soup, he thought it was pointless. The guard believed him, and when he walked away, Riley took out the spoon he had hidden and stared at his reflection he saw in the shiny metal. He saw a broken down, beat up, worthless young man who was paitently awaiting his death. Then he thought about Thomas, and what Thomas proposed to him, and he saw a hero, a person who would be remembered in Ozlack history forever. Thomas hadn’t returned all day, and Riley started wondering where he was. The night came upon Riley, as he sat there alone in his cell. He sort of missed Thomas, in a way. He thought he was nice, and he enjoyed listening to him even though he didn’t talk back to him much. He started to think that Thomas had been moved into a new cell, until he heard the words from that corner again, “Hey Coop. Man, those guards are ass holes, they really gave me a beating today. They broke each and every one of my fingers because I wasn’t telling them what they wanted to hear. Screw them, I’m not ever helping those bastards, they’ll have to kill me first.”
“Listen Thomas,” said Riley, “I thought about what you were saying earlier, and I guess I don’t want to die in this hell hole without giving it a shot.”
“That’s great Coop! We can start tomorrow!” Thomas was always very loud when he spoke. It surprised Riley because the guards never came over and told him to shut his trap.
“Nope,” said Riley, “We can start tonight.” Riley removed the spoon that he had cleverly stole from the guards out of his pocket and the two smiled at eachother.
PART THREE
Riley began digging with the spoon, and surprisingly, it was working. It was arduous, and extremely diffuclt, but it worked. They decided to dig at night and at night only so they wouldn’t be caught by the guards. They dug the hole behind the toilet in the cell so the guards couldn’t see it. Riley had spent all night digging, and his wrists began to endure a sharp pain.
“Can I please get some help?” asked Riley in desperation.
“How in the world am I supposed to help you with ten broken fingers? Those interrogators killed me man, I’ll just keep watch, it’s your job to dig. I figure at this rate, we will be able to finish this hole in a about a week or so. Heck, I’m just guessing, but I figure that’s about right.”
“We?” said Riley in disgust, considering he was the only one doing the work; in his point of view, at least. “I’m the only one doing a damn thing and this is supposed to be your plan.” Riley spent the rest of the night digging, and Thomas eventually fell asleep. Since Riley could never go to sleep, he kept on digging until the sun came up. At this rate, the job will be completed almost twice as fast. Riley began to daydream at about 5:00AM, and that’s when he finally took a break from digging. He was dreaming about the escape, and the seemingly impossible trip to the oil rig, and the destruction of it. Then, a thought suddenly came to his head and he went to wake up Thomas immediately. “Thomas! Wake up! I have something to tell you!” Thomas woke up and was extremely drowsy and grumpy. “Thomas, your plan won’t work. How could you have been so stupid? Were going to die at the end, when we blow up the oil rig along with everybody else working on it.”
“Well of course were going to die Coop. What did you think was going to happen? But, you will be dying a hero, instead of dying in this cell. Trust me, it’s all worth it, we have to go through with this.” Riley was finally convinced that the plan was necessary, and he was ready to take action. The next to nights were extremely diffucult for him, he was forced to stay up all night and dig while Thomas watched for guards and eventually fell asleep. The lack of sleep was starting to affect Riley, and he wanted to go to sleep, but he just couldn’t do it. He kept on digging, and digging and the hole was making rapid progress. Riley was impressed of how much a spoon could do. Riley was always hesitant of going through with the plan, and there were many moments when he felt like he wanted to just stop, but Thomas really got to him. By this I mean that Riley always wanted to listen to what he said. Spending time together all night made them really close, and since Thomas did most of the talking, Riley was able to learn about his interesting life and he grew a liking to him fast. He kind of thought as Thomas as his boss, not literally but he felt a need to listen to him even if he didn’t want to. Thomas was really convincing, and a very good speaker.
One night, Thomas said, “You know what stinks the worst about being in this place, and leaving home for war and all? Leaving my wife, I miss her more than anything. She’s got gentle green eyes and long brown hair. She’s got a great body I tell you, and she’s a smart one too. Smarter than me even, cooks a good meal too. Well, its my job to catch the food which is probably harder, but she sure does a hell of a good job making it.” Riley was nodding in agreement with everything Thomas was saying, which is what he usually did. “I got two kids also. Miss them like crazy. I got a boy named Stanley, he is five years old, or maybe six now? I don’t know, but what I do know is he is one great athlete, the best five or six year old football player you’ll ever see. And my girl, her name is Samantha, she’s beautiful I tell you. She’s thirteen years old, and she basically acts as Stanley’s mother. My wife has to do hard work all day long, so Samantha hangs out with Stanley and takes care of him really well, I’m so proud of my girl. She is going to be one hell of a mother some day, that is, if she lives that long. Things aren’t easy for us Ozlacks man, and they aren’t going to ever get any easier, only worse. That’s why we got to do this Coop! We can save our families from slavery.” Riley didn’t want to tell Thomas about his family, because he didn’t really have one except his mother. Plus, talking about his mother would make him miss her a whole lot. “Anyways, I kind of miss fighting. I loved to fight, when I heard that I had to go fight in a war I was so excited. I’ve never been much of a brain you know, so my mother always used to tell me that I would be a fighter. She gave me this really old book when I was a baby, its called Saving Private Ryan. She isn’t alive anymore, so this book is the most important possession I have. Here, I’ll read you some of it...
(Excerpt from Saving Private Ryan)
“**Private Jackson**: Sir... I have an opinion on this matter.
**Captain Miller**: Well, by all means, share it with the squad.
**Private Jackson**: Well, from my way of thinking, sir, this entire mission is a serious misallocation of valuable military resources.
**Captain Miller**: Yeah. Go on.
**Private Jackson**: Well, it seems to me, sir, that God gave me a special gift, made me a fine instrument of warfare.
**Captain Miller**: Reiben, pay attention. Now, this is the way to gripe. Continue, Jackson.
**Private Jackson**: Well, what I mean by that, sir, is... if you was to put me and this here sniper rifle anywhere up to and including one mile of Adolf Hitler with a clear line of sight, sir... pack your bags, fellas, war's over. Amen.
**Private Reiben**: Oh, that's brilliant, bumpkin. Hey, so, Captain, what about you? I mean, you don't gripe at all?
**Captain Miller**: I don't gripe to *you*, Reiben. I'm a captain. There's a chain of command. Gripes go up, not down. Always up. You gripe to me, I gripe to my superior officer, so on, so on, and so on. I don't gripe to you. I don't gripe in front of you. You should know that as a Ranger.
**Private Reiben**: I'm sorry, sir, but uh... let's say you weren't a captain, or maybe I was a major. What would you say then?
**Captain Miller**: Well, in that case... I'd say, "This is an excellent mission, sir, with an extremely valuable objective, sir, worthy of my best efforts, sir. Moreover... I feel heartfelt sorrow for the mother of Private James Ryan and am willing to lay down my life and the lives of my men - especially you, Reiben - to ease her suffering."
**Mellish**: [chuckles] He's good.
**Private Caparzo**: I love him.”
“How do you like it Coop?” asked Thomas. “I love it, this is my favorite book ever. I’ve practically read it about one thousand times. Every time I read it, it reminds me of my mother.” Coop said that he liked it, but didn’t show much enthusiam. The thing is, Riley was extremely fascinated by it, he just never liked to show emotion in general. Riley had never owned a book before, they were really rare, he didn’t know how to read. Thomas told Riley that his mother taught him how to read when he was young, and he was fascinated with books and became a great reader. Plus, Thomas was much older than Riley and he lived during a time where everybody had and could read books.
“Thomas, could you maybe read me a little bit more?” asked Riley.
“Sure Coop! Let me just find something good for you.” Thomas scrolled through the pages to the end of the book where he found the letter to James Ryan’s family written by Geroge C. Marshall.
(Excerpt from Saving Private Ryan)
“My dear Mrs Ryan: It's with the most profound sense of joy that I write to inform you your son, Private James Ryan, is well and, at this very moment, on his way home from European battlefields. Reports from the front indicate James did his duty in combat with great courage and steadfast dedication, even after he was informed of the tragic loss your family has suffered in this great campaign to rid the world of tyranny and oppresion. I take great pleasure in joining the Secretary of War, the men and women of the U.S. Army, and the citizens of a grateful nation in wishing you good health and many years of happiness with James at your side. Nothing, not even the safe return of a beloved son, can compensate you, or the thousands of other American families, who have suffered great loss in this tragic war. I might share with you some words which have sustained me through long, dark nights of peril, loss, and heartache. And I quote: "I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the alter of freedom." -Abraham Lincoln. Yours very sincerely and respectfully, George C. Marshall, General, Chief of Staff.”
Thomas said, “That’s one of my favorite parts of the book, I just love everything about that letter. I wonder how happy Ryan’s parents must have been when they opened that letter and found out that their son is going to be coming home. I wish I could write a letter to my family, don’t you? Im sure they are all thinking about me.” For the rest of the night, Riley took a break from digging and listened to Thomas read him parts of the book all night long. After Thomas finished reading he said, “Well, I don’t know about you but I need to get some sleep, see you in the morning Coop. Thomas dazed off into a deep sleep and Riley kept on staying up thinking about the book that was being read to him. Thomas explained that he had to sneak the book into the prison since they always take all of your belongings. Thomas would have given the guards his limbs before he would give him that book, it meant the whole world to him. The next morning, after Riley had gone into one of his daydreams, he noticed that Thomas wasn’t there when he woke up. Thomas was often gone during the day, and usually appeared in the night time. When the guards would come and Thomas was with Riley, they never even acknowledged him. Thomas always talked about how he had a really bad attitute and about how the guards hated him. Riley started to get terrible wrist aches because of all the digging he had to do, but he was so close to being done that he ignored the pain.
“I guess this is our last night, I figure were almost at the other side of the wall so I figure one more night of digging will get the job done,” said Thomas. Riley was relived when he heard this because he was ready to do what he needed to do. That night Riley kept on digging while Thomas read him more parts from his book, and that kept Riley entertained through the night. Riley was had been digging through the wall and he knew he was close, so he clenched a fist with his hand and punched right through the thin wall. He poked his eye out of the hole he made with his punch and looked outside.
“We did it,” said Riley, in a very proud manner. Riley looked at Thomas and they both smiled smiles of pride and accomplishment. Then, Riley repeatidly hit the wall with his elbow until there was a hole big enough for their bodies to fit through. The next morning, a guard walked by and began to glance at the area behind the toilet and sink. Riley quickly noticed what was happening and he started screaming in pain. The guard was startled and yelled to get medical help. Doctors rushed into his cell and took him away to observe him. Riley was always a quick thinker, weather it was on the battlefield or in a situation like the one he just encountered. Riley eventually returned to the cell after he told the doctors that he felt better, and he was relieved when the same guard didn’t return and discover the hole. Riley had a rough day that day, he didn’t know where Thomas was. Guards had been coming in and beating him, and the funny thing is, they didn’t even ask him questions. They came in and beat him for no reason and they laughed as blood dripped off of Riley’s face onto the floor. Things like these really ticked Riley off, and increased his hatred of the Klonee people which fueled his passion of blowing up their oil rig. Riley was lying down in pain on the floor, and he couldn’t get up. Actually, he didn’t even want to get up in the first place, he just wanted to lie there until Thomas came back. The letter from the book Saving Private Ryan, where General Marshall sent a letter to Ms. Ryan about her sons safety and his return to America, made Riley miss his mom. He wanted to write his mom a letter, but he didn’t have a pencil or paper to do it. Hell, he couldn’t even write in the first place. Riley began to talk out a letter to his mother, hoping that in some magical way, she was able to hear what he was saying.
(Excerpt from Saving Private Ryan)
“Dear Momma,
It’s me, Riley. I’ve never really made a letter before, but I miss you more than anything and I wanted to tell you that I’m still alive. I won a purple heart Momma, they gave me one because they said I was the bravest soldier they’ve ever seen. I was a great soldier Momma, they wasn’t lying. I also became a Lieutenant of my fleet, it was pretty cool because I got to boss all the older people around. Anyways, do you think I’m seventeen yet? I hope so, that would be pretty awesome and I have no idea how long I’ve been in this place. Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you that I’m not fighting anymore, I’m a prisoner. Mr. Havern told me to go capture one of these commanding officers of the Klonees. It wasn’t easy, but I did it. I got him in this funny thing called a helicopter and we were flying in the air. But, it wasn’t long before one of them Klonees shot us down. The pilot and Liutenant Havern died in that crash, but I had a funny thing called a parichute, haha, that’s a funny name, p-a-r-i-c-h-u-t-e. Anyways, me and the Klonee guy were falling down and when I hit the ground I got knocked out. I don’t know what happened to the other guy who was falling with me but long story short, when I woke up I found myself behind bars. They beat me up pretty bad here Momma, I wish I was back home with you more than any place in the world. I don’t even want one of them big houses that Klonee people have, I just want to go back home with you and have everything be normal. Oh, I have a friend here who lives with me. His name his Thomas Hayden, he is my best friend in the whole world. You would really like him Momma, he is nice and is very fun to listen to talk to. I don’t really talk back to him that much, you are the only person in the world that I like to talk to. Now I have to tell you something important Momma. Tonight, me and my friend Thomas are going to sneak out of this underground hole I made, and we are going to go blow up the oil rig that the Klonees have. This was Thomas’s idea, and at first I didn’t want to do it, but he convinced me and now nothing can stop me. If life is never going to get better for our people, then why should we have to watch the Klonees live their great lives. If you ever stare at a Klonee right in the eyes, and watch them as they torture you to a point where you almost aren’t breathing anymore, you would understand why I’m willing to do this. I figure at about 3:00AM, when all the guards in this place are asleep, we are going to do it. I hope you can here me Momma. I am going to die tonight. I love you.”
Riley began to cry a little after he spoke his last words to his mother. Riley hadn’t cried in a very long time, not even when he was being tortured. After about a month in this place, Riley didn’t even feel pain since he was so used to it. Riley cried for a while, and it became worse and worse as the night progressed. His eyes were so teary, that he couldn’t even see his own hands when he stuck them out in front of his face. Then, when the night grew dark, Riley heard Thomas speak, “Whats wrong Coop?”
“Nothing Thomas. I’m alright. When did you get in here?”
“A few minutes ago, I’ve just been sitting here watching you cry and wondering what was wrong. Anyways, are you ready to do it tonight?”
“More than ever,” said Riley. Riley and Thomas waitied patiently in their cell, trying to draw any sort of attention to the guards. They were even more nervous to pull off this stunt compared to when they were on the fronts of the battlefield facing thousands of Klonees ahead of them. Time was moving by very slowly, and the anticipation of their breakout was increasing heavily. The two men thought it must have been about 3:00AM, so they decided it was time. They looked at eachother for a while, and in their eyes they both saw confidecnce, and while one hero looked back at another hero, they both rose to their feet and began the process. Thomas proceeded first, and he first put his legs through the whole, and eventually he was able to squeeze his whole body through it. Next, Riley went and it was even more easy for him since he was extremely skinny because he never ate food in prison. Both of them stood outside, and looked out into the ocean where they saw the large oil rig. They were standing on grass, and it was the first time that they had stood on grass in a very long time. It felt good on there feet, and Riley said, "Damn, it's been a long time since i've set foot on grass, I almost forgot it existed." They figured they had about three hundred yards until they would reach the barbed wired fence that help them in. Over that, there was a territory with a search light coming from a lighthouse and a few guards roaming around the area. They tried to stay low to the ground as they walked cautiously to the wired fence. As they walked up to it, Riley said, "How the fuck are we going to get over this fence? We really didn't think this plan thorugh. God dammit! I cant believe we put in all that work and all of that time just to be stopped by some stupid electrical fence."
"Don't be dumb Coop. These Klonees might be rich, and they might be strong, but they are not smart. Look right there," Thomas pointed to a small gap at the bottom of the fence where they could easily fit their skinny bodies through. The only way you could be shocked was by trying to climb the fence. The two men were able to fit themselves under the fence, and they only came out on the other side with a few cuts and scratches. They spotted two guards about two hundred feet ahead. "Listen up Coop, take this rock," Riley took the large rock that Thomas placed in his hand. "You need to go sneak up on these guards, knock them over the heads, then we will sneak into their clothing and pose as them." This reminded Riley about the time when Liutenant Havern would bark orders at him, and Riley respected Thomas just as much, so he listened. They slowly approached the guard and they made sure they were as quiet as possible so they wouldn't alarm them. Riley clenched the rockn in his fist just like he used to clench his M16 when he was at war. He crept right behind them and hit one of them square in the head with the rock. After that, the second guard quickly screamed and turned around, but not before Riley took that rock and bashed him over his temple. They quickly stripped the men of their clothes before the blood that was dripping from their faces leaked down onto their clothes. They took off their raggity old clothes and replaced them with the new, fresh ironed military clothes that the guards wore. Thomas checked in his pockets and he found forms of identification and a pocket knife. Riley reached into his pockets and found two Cuban cigars along with a few matches. They had about two more hours until the next boat that shipped the Klonee workers off to the oil rig left, so they sat down on a hill and they lit the two cigars as they looked up in the night sky. They saw each star as an innocent Ozlack that they would be saving from a life of slavery. They both didn't sleep that night, they stayed up until they saw that a few guards and workers were being sent off to the oil rig. They aboarded the boat and didn't make much eye contact with anybody else because they were worried that they would be identified as prisoners. It took about twenty minutes for them to reach the oil rig, and as they walked up the ramp and boarded the rig, they both had faces of stern determination and courage.
Some of the guards that were on the boat just found a place near the edge of the rig to stand guard on, so thats exactly what they did. They stood there with their guns in hand, and golden Klonee patches intrenched on their chests.
"What are we going to do now?" whispered Riley.
Thomas always had bright ideas, so he whispered back, "Go up to one of the guards and say that we workers here. Then, introduce ourselves and ask him to show you around the famous oil rig since it your first time being on it." Riley didn't hesitate, he and Thomas walked right up to a guard that was standing by himself.
"Uh, hello sir. My name is John, I'm new here and I was just uh wondering if you could perhaps show me around the rig a little. It's really amazing being here in all, its the most famous wonder of our modern world so I'm excited to see it," said Riley. He was so nervous that he even forgot to introduce Thomas, but the guard seemed to be a very nice man and he agreed to show him around.
"Alrighy folks, what do you want to see?" asked the friendly guard.
"Uh, I'm most interested in seeing the pipeline sir," said Riley.
"No need to call me sir, just call me Pat. I'll take you right there, follow me." Riley and Thomas followed Pat down a few flights of stairs and they went down into a small room that had a large metal object in the middle. "This here is the pipeline boys, its what's been sacred to us for all these years and made our lives possible." Riley looked at Thomas, and Thomas simply nodded his head at Riley. Riley felt that he heard what Thomas wanted to tell him to do, its like they were connected in some strange way. Riley cocked his gun and shot a bullet right through the head of Pat. Then he pointed his gun at the pipeline and shot at that. Oil started to leak out of the small bullet hole. Riley then took out the matches he used to light the cigars and he lit one of them. He then threw the lit match down the pipeline and right away he started to hear explosions in the pipeline, all the way from the bottom of the ocean.
Riley knew that he was going to die in a matter of seconds, so he turned to Thomas and said, "We did it Thomas, we're heroes."
Thomas then looked back sharply at Riley and said, "No Coop, you did it. I dont even exist."
No more than two seconds later, a huge explosion occured and the whole oil rig lit up in flames. All of the oil bursted out into the ocean and made the ocean black. Riley did it, he saved his people from slavery. Even though he died in that moment, Thomas would still live on in his mind forever.