Children's Draft

Chapter 19 (Part two)

(Landon's PoV)

    Holly approached my bed, holding a flashlight. "You ready?" she asked.

    "Not exactly," I responded. "But there's no use in waiting." I got out of bed rather quickly, but then again I hadn't slept at all, so there wasn't any actual waking up to do. My mind had been too preoccupied thinking about how the rest of the guys might react to the plan.

    I shook both Gavin and Tristan awake and told them to get the attention of the others.

    Gavin rubbed his eyes. "What's going on?"

    "I'll explain in a minute," I assured him.

    The other guys were just as groggy.

    "What the hell?" Clayton complained. "It's 2:00 in the morning."

    "Be quiet," Holly hissed.

    "Wait what's she doing here?"

    And suddenly they were all more curious as to why I woke them up.

    I sighed, my nerves growing larger. I needed to start before anxiety took over too much. "I have something to tell you. A proposition of sorts. We're going to end this war."

    Way to be vague, Landon.

    There was no response until Gavin spoke up after several seconds. "Well sure it's gonna end sometime, and we're all a part of–"

    I had to interrupt him. "I mean us. We're going to do it. This war won't end unless we personally do something about it." Despite my nerves, my voice didn't falter one bit.

    "What can we do?" Marcus asked. "We're just kids."

    "We're going to kill Xang-hao Li," I stated.

    Several of the guys went wide-eyed.

    "What are you talking about?" Michael questioned.

    Over the other interjections, I continued "I'm leaving for Hong-Kong with anyone who's willing to join."

"Like now?" Clayton exclaimed.

"Not now," Holly sushed him. "We leave in three days–after the MRE shipment comes in. We'll take as much food as we can carry. It's a week and a half walk to Hong-Kong."

"She's in on this?" Tristan inquired, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes," Holly replied matter-of-factly.

"Look," I continued. "None of you have to come, but I'm for sure going. All I ask is that you don't tell Sgt. Blake anything."

Gavin took me somewhat aside, "Landon, what's going on? Why are you doing this?"

I attempted to address both him and the group at large. "Because I have to," I answered honestly.

There was a long pause, which my brain seemed to take as a cue to keep talking.

"We are going to be stuck here for years upon years if we don't do something. This war has been going on for two and a half years already and the only thing that's changed is the age of the soldiers. I can't stay here. I don't know about you, but I would rather die than keep fighting for who knows how many more years. This is a risk that needs to be taken."

The guys stood there silent. I looked over to Holly, expecting it to be just the two of us making the journey, but then Tristan spoke up.

"I'm in."

Gavin followed suit. "Me too. This sounds dangerous, but we gotta stick together."

Within the next few minutes everyone had agreed to come along. Even guys like Justin and Alan, who I had feared even telling about the plan. No one looked secure while announcing their joining, but like me, they all knew it had to be done.