Prologue
All throughout history, there has been conflict, whether it'd be between a white blood cell and a virus, or two nations warring for land. Usually, conflict ends with one side in ruins, and the other side victorious, although not without some loss. The greatest war in history, World War II, had over 50 million losses from almost every country on this Earth. A man fighting cancer will never be the same, even if he lives. The story I am about to tell you is just one of these conflicts, except on a larger scale even than World War II. One side fueled by the want to do justice and good, and the other driven by hatred and greed. Although millions were brought into this conflict, I am going to tell you how it affected just one, a young man named Joe, just a student in a suburban high school on the east coast of America.
You may ask why such an unimportant character was chosen for my story, well, you'll just have to see for yourself. Also in this book are a few other men, just the same as Joe, Mike, who has a will to challenge himself beyond his limits and achieve what no one else does, Brian, who has the unrelenting will to do whatever it takes for there to be good in the world, and Mark, who changes disadvantages to be an advantage. Each character will play an important role in this war, every decision they make will affect billions.
There is also the ever-important mentor in a story, it happens to be Cortez, a brilliant and clever leader, he will open Joe to more opportunities to end this war than any one else Joe will meet. There are many others Joe will meet on this course, but all of them pale in comparison to the influence Joe will receive from the girl who loves him.
Love is the greatest mystery of man, its strength is un-matched, its determination un-contested, nothing can stand in the way of a man in love, not even life-threatening circumstances.
Now read on to live through the greatest conflict in history, through the eyes of one soldier.

Read on to relive Hell.

Chapter 1
The School

Opening his eyes, Joe could see the bright blue hue of his wall as he awakened from a deep sleep. Sitting up and rubbing his eyes, he grinned at the thought that summer was only a few hours away. He stood up, stretched his arms and back, shook his head violently, and walked out of his room.
His mother was standing in the kitchen, the faint smell of bacon floating towards him.
"'Morning mom" he said
"Good morning, honey, I made you some bacon, and there's cereal in the cabinet if you want some"
"Thanks."
Taking out the almost empty box of Froot Loops, Joe sat down at his kitchen table, his chair squeaking under the weight. He poured the cereal into his bowl on the table, added Milk and a few cut up banana pieces to the cereal, and put Milk into his coffee.
He quickly ate his breakfast and wondered what today's history final was going to be like, he loved History, so he was confident that he was going to ace it. He could recite the whole Constitution from memory, and could tell the entire Soviet maneuver at Stalingrad during World War II.
After finishing his last drop of coffee, he stood up, thanked his mom, and walked through the hallway to his bathroom. He stared at himself in the mirror.
"I need more sleep" he said to himself
Under his crystal clear blue eyes, were dark circles, the obvious sign that someone needs more sleep, he had more definition in his cheek bones, his nose was becoming more slender, and his mouth had thin lines forming from the corners. He rustled his wavy brown hair, always a rebel and never wanting to stay straight, he hated his hair. Still recovering from a hurtful relationship, he hadn't smiled in weeks. He didn't eat much, and sleep was tormented by vivid nightmares. He opened up the mirror to his medicine cabinet and took out his toothbrush and Crest toothpaste. He stared at his nearly, pearl-white teeth as he snarled at himself in the mirror. Perfectly straight after having braces taken off just a few years before. He finished brushing his teeth, gargled a small amount of water and walked to his room.
Ripping a pair of shorts from a hanger in his closet, he sat down on his bed and changed. Once he had his shorts on, he looked for a shirt that wouldn't get too hot in the humid June weather. A collared white and blue-striped shirt suited him just fine. He kissed his mom goodbye, and asked her to say the same to his father, who was at work.
He jumped off his back stoop and went into his garage. Inside was his bike, a small BMX bike that was sleek black with silver spokes, it was almost invisible at night, just the way Joe liked it.
Joe climbed onto the bicycle seat and pushed off with his foot, he turned right on his street, and then made a sharp left onto Bloomfield Ave. He passed his good friend Chris's house and caught him just as he was stepping out his front door.
"SUMMER!" yelled Chris, pumping his fist into the air
Joe risked crashing, and did the same, narrowly missing an on-coming car, which was loudly blowing its horn. Joe just laughed at his idiocy and continued on past Lincoln school, and then down to Franklin. Ave.
He took a left and saw kids from all grades walking to school, few kids waved to Joe, others just stared, but Joe didn't wave back to anyone and continued on to school.
He rode to the park near the high-school and threw his bicycle into nearby shrubbery. He was walking up the stairs to his school, when his phone rang.
"Hey Joe, it's me, Chris"
"What's up?"
"Apparently there's been a threat against school, some sort of attack happened over in Europe and the board of Ed. wants all schools to do a mandatory check of all students bags today, because supposedly whoever attacked the group in Europe has said that today is "D-Day" so...yea, people are pretty scared today."
"Alright thanks" Joe said, hitting the end button his phone.
As he walked into the school's lobby, there were makeshift metal detectors set up, with a line forming behind them. Joe reluctantly stood at the end and listened to the monotonous tone of the metal detector as the principal confiscated hundreds of cell phones and keys. Finally it was his turn, he took out his cell phone, put it onto a plastic tray, and walked through the metal detector.
"All clear" said Joe's gym teacher, Mr. Fuzim.
Joe was still too early for his final, so he sat down in the lobby and used his time for some last minute studying. Finally the bell rang, and it was time for Joe to head to his history class for the Final he so wanted over.
Joe ran to his locker, picked up a few pencils, stuffed them into his pocket, and ran to his history class. Walking in, he sat down in his usual seat in the back, and waited as his teacher arrived.
Mrs. Stagrid was a young, fun teacher. She had long black hair, which was a little curly. She followed every rule to the point where she was one of the strictest teachers in school, but her teaching methods were fun. She taught Math and she let her students engage in all sorts of different activities in projects, and every Friday was a math contest, and the winner won a free homework pass.
Mrs. Stagrid handed out the sheets of paper that was Joe's ticket to freedom for three months. He quickly wrote his name down and got to work, all the questions were based off what they learned during the year, but just basic knowledge, Joe knew almost everything about every issue they talked about. He quickly flew through the Crusades, the plague, the colonization of new worlds, early America, the Civil War, the First World War, the Depression, and then finally, his favorite, World War II.
Joe had finished in less than 15 minutes and had over an hour and a half to relax. So he cracked open the "Da Vinci Code" and started reading its falsehoods about the Catholic faith. With only a little while left in class, Joe's best friend, Mike, finally finished.
"Hey Joe, how much time left until we get out" whispered Mike.
"Not sure, I think 15 minutes, so what are you doing after school?"
"Might go to Guitar center, I hear they got some more Fender basses in, I wanna go check them out, you?"
"Eh, depends, if I'm not tired, I'll probably go out and play some ball with Mark or go to Brian's and just chill"
"Any plans for the sum...?"
Mikes sentence was cut short as Mrs. Stagrid cleared her throat, obviously telling Joe and Mike to be quiet. So both of them just faced forward and shut their mouths. Aside from a few people coughing, or the crumbling of paper, the room was silent. There was Mike, who although one of the nicest guys you could know, was very big and muscular, since he played football. He had straight brown hair and a radiant smile that could brighten a room. Then there was Mark, who was short standing at only 4'11, with long blonde hair and glasses, he was extremely smart; but seemed to lose his mentality in a crisis. Last, is Brian, who has straight brown hair, and is always quiet, but people liked him since, when he did talk, seemed to be a very good listener and always knew what to say. They were all best friends since elementary school.
There were a few other people in the classroom, but it was a relatively small class. Due to the fact that it was the last day of finals and must people either cut, or were exempt from them. It was around 90 degrees and every window was open and the fan was on. Some classes, such as the computer class were lucky enough to have A/C. This year had been unusually warm.
Joe could see that Mrs. Stagrid was reading the "Star Ledger" newspaper. He could see the front page, but could only read the title which read "Mysterious band of rebels kill 26". Joe raised his hand and asked if he could read the newspaper, but Mrs. Stagrid just shook her head, and went back to reading. So, defeated, Joe put his head down and drifted off to a light sleep, he was wakened with a start by a loud bang outside the classroom, in the hallway.
Everyone in the class room jumped up and ran to the doorway, but Mrs. Stagrid yelled for them to stay seated, they didn't listen and ran to the door. George, a student in class, opened the door, and screamed as the glass window on the door exploded in hundreds of glass shards. George was so stunned that he couldn't move and a second later there were two bangs and George fell to the floor in a heap. The whole class screamed as they saw two holes in George's head.
Mrs. Stagrid closed the door and pushed all the children into the closet that housed all papers and books. It was crammed, but all seven students left and Mrs. Stagrid managed to fit inside the closet and waited in darkness. There was an eerie silence for a few seconds until the classroom door was violently opened. No one could see anything but they heard muffled voices.
"Don't waste...have to find...hostages"
Was all the students could make out through the heavy door. Michelle, a small blonde girl, broke down and started to cry. Brian hugged her and told her to keep quiet. Joe opened the door a slit and looked through.
The classroom was empty, but Joe could make out shadows in the hallway. He opened the door slowly and quietly, just enough so he could slip out. Once he was out, he motioned for Mike to follow him. When they were both out, they dropped to their stomachs and crawled to the door. The door was slightly ajar and Joe could make out a tall figure with a black buttoned shirt that was ripped at the shoulders. The figure had tattoos on both arms and a black bandana on his head. He had a bloody bandage on his right arm, and both of his arms were scratched and bruised, he was also carrying a heavy assault rifle, clearly this man had seen a lot of action in his life, this wasn't some psychotic kid on a rampage, this was something else.
Joe and Mike crawled back to the closet and told Mrs. Stagrid what they had seen quietly. Mrs. Stagrid's eyes widened and she pointed to the clump of newspaper on the floor. Joe crawled towards it, picked it up, and brought it back. Joe was horrified by what he read on the front page.
"Mysterious Band of Rebels kills 26"
Today, at a private high school in England, a group of rebels took the lives of 26 students. The name of the high school is confidential for numerous reasons regarding the English government. Although not much is known, what is known is that a group of rebels raided a school, killed 26 students, and held the rest hostage. There is no known answer as to how 60 armed men got into a school without suspicion, or what their motives are.

Joe then handed the paper to Mike, and his face was identical to Joe's.
"Do you think it's some foreign terrorist organization?" said Joe
"Well, they can't be foreign since we heard men speak in perfect American accents, and the guy out there looked American, but I could be wrong."
"So, what do we do?"
"I have no idea"
No one had any idea how to escape, so as quickly and quietly as they could, all the students and Mrs. Stagrid barricaded the door with desks and book-cases. They couldn't escape out the windows since they led to the inner courtyard, which was surrounded on all other sides by other classrooms and no way to get out of school.
Joe then realized there was a door next to the closet that led to the next classroom. Joe pointed to it, and Mike nodded. They walked up to the door, and through the glass they could see the room was empty. Joe, remembering he brought his baseball bag with him, got his aluminum bat. Mike showed a hint of smile on his face as they both opened the door carefully. As Joe entered the door, a giant man, who seemed to have come from the shadows, grabbed Joe and put two hands on his assault rifle and strangled Joe with it.
Joe dropped his bat on the ground once the man attacked, and since Mike was still in the other classroom, the man had not seen him. Mike grabbed the bat and swung as hard as he can, hitting the man in the back. The contact made a sickening crack as the man screamed in agony, and then was quiet as Joe kicked his head, knocking him unconscious.
Since Mike now had the bat, Joe took his gun. Since Joe watched as many shows about the military as he could, he knew all about the gun and how to work it, though he never actually held or fired any gun in his life. He fished around for some ammo in the unconscious man's pockets, and found two cartridges. The gun was a FAMAS, which was notable by its sight, which looked like a handle the stretched from the stock to the barrel. The gun was extremely powerful, and was usually only used by military units.
Someone must have heard the man scream, because in a few minutes foot steps were heard racing down the hall. Both Mike and Joe ran into the back of the room and waited in the shadows after turning the lights off.
Two men burst in, the tattooed man that Joe had seen earlier in the hallway and a shorter Asian man with a baseball cap on backwards.
"Looks dead to me" said the Asian man
"He's still breathing" said the tattooed man as he checked his pulse
"Think some students attacked him?"
"Not likely, what student can take down Lucas?"
The tattooed man was right; Lucas was a big muscular man, who weighed almost 300 pounds, with not an ounce of fat. He stood at 6'1 and was extremely muscular. He obviously worked out with all of his free time.
The Asian man then turned around and faced the two teenagers.
"What the?...FREEZE" he yelled aiming his gun.
"SHIT! WHAT DID YOU JUST DO?" yelled Mike as he heard Joe fire a burst from his gun.
Joe put three bullets though the Asian man's torso. He fell to the ground yelling in agony. Joe wasn't expecting the amount of recoil and flew back and landed on the ground, bruising his back. The tattooed man then shot at Joe but missed by a good five feet being so startled. Joe crawled under a nearby desk and Mike jumped behind a book-case.
"WE'RE UNDER FIRE, JOHN IS DOWN AND I'M UNDER FIRE I NEED HELP" yelled the tattooed man into his walkie-talkie.
Three men then ran into the room seconds later, all wearing balaclavas and full body armor. They all had their guns aimed in front of them and scanned the room. Since Mike and Joe were hiding, they could not see them so they started to walk towards the back of the room.
Joe put his head down, hoping that with the lights out, they could not see him. As the three heavily-armed men advanced, Joe crawled under the next desk, hoping he could escape. As he reached the door without being seen, his stomach knotted as he realized Mike was still back there.
"HEY WHAT ARE YOU..." screamed one of the men at Mike, but was cut short as Joe opened fire wildly. None of the shots hit, but they made the men dive for cover as Mike sprang up and ran towards Joe. The man that screamed at Mike then jumped out of cover and was about to shoot Mike, when Joe fired in his direction hitting him in the arm and causing him to drop his gun. Joe and Mike ran into the hallway when a group of men talking spotted them.
They all yelled for others in the hallway to shoot them. Miraculously, a hail of bullets was shot at the two teens, but not one hit their mark. Since Joe and Mike were on the first floor, they ran into the main hallway and jumped into the main office. The principal, Mr. Raidon, was tied to a chair while three men were torturing him, by slapping and punching him.
Joe opened fire at one of the men, while he dropped; the other two cursed and ran for cover. Joe shot one man while he was running, and the other fired at Joe, missing, then Joe ran at him, firing, and two of the bullets went into his head. When all three were dead, Joe was amazed at how well he could shoot, and how easily he became accustomed to the recoil of the powerful weapon. They untied the principal and they asked him who these armed men were and what they wanted. As the principal told them, they barricaded the door and locked it, but luckily, no one saw them jump into the office, and the door was so heavy, the gun shots were probably never heard.
The principal told them that these armed men were the same that had killed the students in England since he heard them saying things about that school. All he knew is that they call themselves "Red" and that they had taken over the town, and most of the neighboring towns. He said they kept asking him where the Spanish teacher, Mr. Narci, was. They wouldn't tell him why, but he figured he was important.
The trio decided to fight their way out of the school, it was very risky, but it was their only option. Mike and Mr. Raidon took the guns from the corpses scattered around the room. Outside the main office was the main hallway, it was the longest hallway in the school and had fifteen classrooms. The safest way to get past would be to sneak past every room, since there were rebels in every room.
Joe knew the most about military tactics, so he was made the un-official leader of the three. He snuck up on the first classroom, crouching as to not be seen through the windows each door had. He peered over the edge of the window to see two men smoking cigarettes with their back turned; each one was muscular and very tall.
"They must have a tough recruitment program" whispered Joe, trying to lighten everyone's mood a little.
"I know, seriously" whispered Mike, offering up a small chuckle.
After sneaking down the long hallway and peering into every room, they finally reached the southern exit which led to a small street that housed a church, a few houses, and a Carvel. It was always a quiet street, teenagers usually hung out in the back of Carvel smoking cigarettes. Small children were always walking with their parents, enjoying the sweet taste of an ice cream cone or milk-shake. Today, the scene was entirely different. One of the houses was on fire; the church had people banging on the door to be let in while a priest was talking from a window on the upper floor, trying to calm them down.
What was being said was un-intelligible since everyone was screaming. The Carvel building had craters in its roof and an armored vehicle was stationed on the street. A U.S. Soldier was sitting in the gun turret, intent on looking for targets.
As the U.S. Soldier spotted the two students and Mr. Raidon, he wheeled the turret around and trained his sight on the trio.
"Yo, who are you?" yelled the soldier.
Joe spoke first.
"We're two students who escaped" he said, pointing at himself, then at Mike. "And this man is the principal, Mr. Raidon"
"Hurry up and get in here" yelled the soldier, beckoning them to come inside the vehicle
Inside the vehicle, the U.S. soldier dropped from the turret and offered some water to the tired students and to Mr. Raidon.
"How the hell did you get past all those armed men" asked the soldier
"We...we really have no idea, all luck...and our guns" said Joe, pointing to the three FAMAS rifles they were all holding.
The soldier offered a little chuckle
"Well, I have to stay here and watch the school, so your gonna have to find your own way home, sorry"
Joe looked at Mike and knew they were both thinking the same thing, their friends.
Joe asked the soldier
"Do you have any idea how many students were killed? We saw one get shot in the head, so he's dead."
"Well, to be honest, from the massacre in England, I would have to say probably more than just one."
Both Joe and Mike looked at the floor for a few moments, hoping that everyone they knew were alright. Mr. Raidon then spoke up to break the silence.
"I heard that almost all of Nutley is under siege, is that really true?"
The soldier nodded and answered.
"We evacuated most of Nutley's citizens, but we're fighting for every inch of this damn town, but we turned a house into a field HQ on Plymouth Road and the area around there is ours, and we're keeping it that way."
Joe's head snapped up when the soldier told him where the field HQ was.
"That's my street, what number is the house?"
"I think it was seventeen, not sure"
"That's my house! Is my family alright?"
"Yes, everyone on that street was safely evacuated to the Meadowlands."
Joe was relieved, but then a few more questions entered his head
"But, why Nutley? It's just a small suburban town, there's no point in attacking us"
"It's not just Nutley, the entire East Coast is under attack, they even took over Washington but President Bush is alright, he's in some base in California, away from the enemy. We really don't know what the rebels' motives are, but we're sure they're American, which doesn't make any sense, like, how could an organization amass so many weapons, vehicles, men, even airpower right under our noses? No one knows right now."
The four of them sat there for a while, all around them there were explosions, gun shots, and people screaming. It was hell on Earth. Overhead were U.S. Airplanes dropping bombs on anywhere they were told was a target, one missed the four of them and just hit the street over. During the few hours they sat there, the soldier introduced himself. He was PFC. Amaril; he grew up in Wildwood which is a beach resort in Southern New Jersey. Wildwood was Joe's favorite place, he visited it every year with his family, and some of his fondest memories were there. He hoped he could still go back some day. After high school, he went to college, but he knew it wasn't for him, and since he loved to work out and push himself, he figured the army was the best course for him, and it was.
At 4:30, PFC. Amaril's radio came on.
"Amaril, this is Cpt. Cortez speaking, what's your status?"
Amaril answered him
"I have two students here, sir, and the principal; they are safe inside the Bradley."
"How did they escape?" yelled Cortez
"I'm not sure, but they had three automatic Rifles, FAMAS sir, they took them from the rebels."
"I'll be damned..." said Cortez, trailing off "I'm sending a Humvee evact to pick them up, I'm sorry soldier, you'll have to stay."
"That's alright, sir, it's my duty"
They sat in silence as they waited for the Humvee.

Chapter 2
Home, Sweet, Home

The Humvee arrived at 5:00 P.M. Joe, Mike, and Mr. Raidon entered the Humvee. Inside, the soldier driving introduced himself as Sgt. Roy. He asked if one of them wanted to man the .50 Cal turret. Mike was the first to say he wanted to do it.
"Mike, you sure you want to, its risky." said Joe
"Hell, you got to be all badass in school, I want a chance to be badass too!" said Mike, they both laughed.
Once Mike had a helmet on and some body armor which was stored in the back of the Humvee, the Humvee turned around and went down Franklin Avenue, which was where Nutley High School was. As they went down a block, a rebel tank was in front of Franklin Middle School.
"How did they get an Abrams!" yelled Sgt. Roy as they swerved up Church Street. The Rebel Abrams shot at the Humvee, but the shell missed and hit Giovines Music Store%u2122. Blasting a crater into the front of the store. They sped up Church Street, and a pair of rebels walking down the street turned and fired at them. Mike quickly spun the 50. Cal and aimed at them. He fired three bursts and the two rebels were down.
They made their way down the road, amazed at how their town had been ruined. Houses that were standing there only a few hours ago; were now pieces of burning wood and rubble, or piles of ash. Down the hill, Church Street ended by a Mansion that took over a big plot of land, and it was crossed by Bloomfield Ave. The mansion was now what seemed to be a rebel barrack; there were tanks, vehicles, and infantry spread out all over the big plot of land.
Luckily before anyone spotted the speeding Humvee, it was around the corner and out of sight. They sped down Bloomfield Ave. and were happy to see U.S. military troops walking around, they were in friendly territory. They passed a destroyed gas station; a few men were stationed around there, across the street was an apartment building, which was also damaged with craters and fires, down the street were a few blocks of suburban houses, and then there was a park, with three baseball fields. It was the American League. Joe had played there when he was a kid. He remembered almost every season, the good, the bad, and the horrible. Most of his teams had lost most games, but a few seasons, they had almost won the championship, he had played there for seven years.
Across the street from the biggest, and most built up field, was Plymouth Rd. The sight was breathtaking. There were tanks in front of every house, soldiers rode ATVs up and down the streets, Humvees much like their own, were riding up and down, there were sandbags, artillery pieces, heavily armored men walking everywhere. The thing that bothered Joe the most was that his neighbor's house didn't exist; it was just a small square of bricks. He hoped his neighbors had gotten out soon enough. They were a young couple with three children, and a fourth on the way.
Last, but not least, was his house. Every window was either reinforced with a machinegun, or was boarded up. His house was relatively small, but with all the men, sandbags, and tents around his lawn; it looked bigger than usual.
The Humvee stopped in front of the house. A man about average size walked up. He had a Marine officer's uniform on, fitted with ribbons, and medals. He had short brown hair and very sharp facial features. He had a small fresh bandage on his left cheek, which showed he was in some sort of battle, whether it was this one or not, didn't matter.
"I'm glad to see your safe Sgt. Roy, and Mr. Raidon, now who are these two famous kids who everyone at HQ is talking about?"
Joe spoke
"I'm Joe" he said, and then pointed at Mike "and this is my best friend, Mike"
He shook hands with both of them
"It's an honor to meet you both; I am Cpt. Cortez, in charge of protecting Nutley, Belleville, Bloomfield, and Clifton. This is your house, is it not?"
"Yes, it is"
"Well, once this battle is over, which I do hope it is soon, we will fully restore it to its old quaint self."
Cpt. Cortez seemed to be very old-fashioned, which was rare in 2007. He talked like it was the early 1900s, which Joe thought, was a lot better than the way people spoke now. He didn't use a hint of slang, but he gets straight to the point, which Joe found very respectable.
"I made sure we had provisions for you three when you got here. We have some food and water, and I saved all the food in both your refrigerators, so you can have some soda if you wish" he offered up a small chuckle
The three of them thanked him and walked up what used to be Joe's side steps, now it was a machine gun nest, with two men working a stationary .50 Cal. Joe felt as if this were a dream. They entered his basement which was now set up with dozens of computers, and tables with maps. A good twenty-some soldiers were here, a few were eating something in a can by Joe's fridge, three were crowded around Joe's T.V., watching the news, and the rest were running around, looking at papers, or talking to each other.
As soon as the trio descended the stairs, every eye was on them. Some cheered, others whistled, and a few more just stood there with blank expressions. A Puerto Rican man came up to them and gave them their food, Joe thanked him and they sat down to eat watching the T.V.
What they saw was, although sickening, amazing. It was CNN News%u2122, since it was 5:00; they had their daily news-cast on. No other story ever had gotten this much media attention since 9/11. The head-line read
Breaking News! A mysterious band of rebels has taken over almost the entire East Coast of America!
The newscaster, who was an older woman, probably in her fifties, with a beige suit on, started to talk about it.
"This afternoon, a group of rebels, simply known as "Red", have taken over the East Coast today, we have almost all of our troops that are stationed at home in the fray, the situation does not look good."
A few of the soldiers cursed and yelled at the T.V.
"What the Hell? We're doing great, this fight should be over anytime now."
"Yea, who do they think they are, saying it doesn't look good, are they over here fighting? No!"
Joe and Mike looked at each other and just laughed. Once a commercial came on for Subway%u2122, Cortez came down the stairway, once down; he looked at the two boys and Mr. Raidon and smiled.
"Good news, we have troops inside Nutley High School now, and it seems that there are only two serious injuries, and George was the only death. They have amassed a few vehicles to escort the students back here, we need all the man power we can get, so we need a few of them to fight, as you are."
"Ok, sir, that's a relief" said Joe
"Oh, and one more thing, Joe, we want you to hand-pick the fighters"
"What? Me? But...I don't know whose a good soldier"
"It's really not that hard, pick your friends, really, that's all"
"Alright, thank you, sir"
"And one more thing, PFC. Amaril is coming back too; he's going to stay with us for the remainder of this fight"
The fact that all of his friends were alright, and that Amaril was safe too, made Joe feel more relieved then he ever had before. Mike suggested that they all get some rest, so they walked over to a few make-shift beds in a corner, and as best as they could, blocked out all the noise and went to sleep.
A thundering noise woke them up a few hours later, something was moving overhead. Joe jumped out of the bed, and it seemed no one but the trio was fazed by the loud noise. Joe ran up to a nearby soldier and asked what the noise was.
"Oh, it's just the Bradley's carrying the students from NHS."