Chapter 10: Perspective
“Did you see the way I cut up the underbelly? Well, you probably couldn’t, from up there. You all should have come and fought with me. Why didn’t you?”
It was the evening of the same day, and Drake boasted about his heroic fight with the Lizard to his classmates in the courtyard. Rein watched from afar.
“Never mind that.” One spoke. They knew they wouldn’t be able to explain to Drake that they were actually too afraid. He would just go on to berate them for joining the militia when they didn’t want to kill Mayhems. “But you were really cool killing that thing. You got up even after getting hurt.”
“I know, right?” Drake said, falling for the change in topic.
“Almost as cool as Commander Rein was,” another said.
“Wait, what?” Drake asked. “How was he cool? I was the one who killed a Mayhem.”
“He managed to fend off eight of them from near you low in the air. That too without getting hurt,” the person retorted.
“Aww.” Drake accepted defeat. The commander was too cool.
Speaking of getting hurt, Drake’s arm was quite hurt, and he had to go to the doctor earlier that day. He’d apparently nearly fractured his humerus, whatever that meant.
“That thing was quite powerful. It makes sense, though. How else would they have destroyed the world? We had armies. We lost because we weren’t prepared. But now, we are. This was just my first kill. No need to celebrate it. I’ll be killing so many more from now on!” Drake anticipated.
Rein listened in on the conversation from a few yards away. He had black hair, thick eyebrows, and was of average height. He was in his late thirties. He didn’t have much muscle. He instead relied on speed, his quick thinking, and his ability to adapt to new situations to win his battles. He sighed. It was becoming a habit of his, from watching the new generation of soldiers. It wasn’t even that they were young; they varied of all ages. It was their lack of confidence and ability to fight. They weren’t suited for the enemies they had to face. On the other hand, there was Drake. He didn’t think much and jumped into action. Rein never understood Drake’s interest in Mayhems.
The Commander left the scene, allowing the trainees to be at ease. He met up with General Arthur, a long-time friend of his. They sat in a balcony on the interior side of the Defense Militia building, simply referred to as the Quarters. They watched the students have fun.
“I still can’t believe that both of us got to survive here,” General Arthur said.
“Me neither. But I still wish the others could have made it.” Commander Rein replied. It was sad that their other friends, in the rest of the country’s military, didn’t get the opportunity to go to Rencia as they did. But by this point, both soldiers were used to seeing their friends die. That’s why, even if it was too hard to accept the Apocalypse, they of all people in the city could at least remain faithful to their duties.
“Yeah. The more surprising thing may be the number of people that actually turned up to join the Militia.” Arthur opened a bottle of whiskey; it was one of the last in existence. He offered a glass to the Commander, who turned it down. Arthur gulped some down. He looked down.
“What are we doing, Gunther? We’ve been in service for almost twenty years together, now. Even before that, I had served another ten years. We fought so much. We saw so much. And yet we never quit. Why is that? To this day, I still wonder why I joined the military. No normal man would continue to go through all that we’ve been through. And even now, to find out all our sacrifices were pointless, because humanity was wiped out anyways. Why do I continue to fight? I wanted to retire before this. When the space wars were over, I thought, ‘Finally, it’s all over. No one needs to die anymore’. When the deaths continued, I began to think: what cost justifies all this fighting? Is all of this death and destruction really worth it? Is there really no other way, one where we can settle things peacefully? I was prepared to quit, before all this happened. But now, we have to continue to fight.”
“For everyone here, except that idiot Drake, myself included, we chose to join the Military because we wanted to protect our communities. No matter how vain our efforts would be, we wanted to try, with all our might and will, to protect. I guess it can be seen as idealistic, but we all thought that we had to try and do something, and we wouldn’t leave until it was solved. I joined during the Space wars, and they, during this Apocalypse, but we share the same goal. Knowing you, you continued to fight because you knew the problems weren’t over yet. You wanted to keep fighting until We achieved a utopia, however impossible that may be. That may not have been the best dream, but it is an honorable one.”
Arthur smiled. “Perhaps you’re right… But now, we face an enemy that we know we can’t beat entirely. I don’t know why an old man like me continues to fight. I don’t think I can stand off against Mayhems. When the time comes, I’ll inevitably die in battle, a death that I’m not sure I’m fine with, not having used my life for much.”
“Don’t say that. You’re quite smart. You can figure how to survive…” They both knew that the leader had to step into battle. He couldn’t just figure out ways to evade doing so. “You are quite powerful too. You can easily beat me in a fight. I remember the days I used to challenge you because you were the first one to beat me.”
“I remember too. You were an egoistic brat back then. But I was young back then also. I’ve gotten old, weak. I doubt I can beat you anymore. You, on the other hand, are young and healthy.”
“It doesn’t matter.” Rein tried to lift his spirits, “You’re still excellent at one-on-one.”
“But the enemies we’re facing now aren’t humans. A one-on-one fight against a person is nothing like a fight against those monsters. You, a flexible fighter, are more useful in these fights. You’ve already adapted your fighting style to using the jetpacks.”
“Well, you have your strategy, your own strength. You’re great at it. It got you this far. Even if you can’t fight very well, the Defense Militia can win, and I can protect you during battle.” He didn’t mean the last part as an insult to a soldier’s honor.
“That worries me too.” Arthur took another sip of whiskey. “We’re not facing enemies we’re used to. My experience and strategy don’t mean nothing against Mayhems.”
“Sheesh. You’ve got quite the inferiority complex, you know that?”
Arthur nodded.
“But even with it, you’ve managed to get this far. You must be good at your job.” Rein smiled. “Sure, we’re facing enemies that we don’t know how to take on, and our soldiers so far seem pretty weak, but you’re still the most qualified man on Earth to lead the Defense Militia.”
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