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Leaders of Hope, Part 1, Chapter 2

2

That was Gordon 2 years ago, alive on the inside and waiting for an opportunity to express his opinions but otherwise quiet and watching the world and its beauty. Admiring the sheer contrast of a simple flower blossoming in between the buildings, a butterfly fluttering from plant to plant, both filling him with joy to still see nature in this mechanized world that he lived in. Whilst still being himself that life of his was long gone now. Ever since the bombing of Iran by the USA, the Middle East became a strategic point turned upside down through United States occupation and the Iranian Conflict.
Although Gordon’s house still stood after the first bombing, his parents were killed whilst out shopping for food. Learning this from a phone call from the hospital froze Gordon’s mind and body for 3 days. On the forth day he realized he would have to leave the Middle East after 16 years there. Gordon’s only home was now in rubble and a major staging point for the US Empire. This was not a good place to be in the short future with the local government tired of being a puppet to both sides; it seemed to have rising tensions between the USA and within itself.

Packing his suitcase of what little clothes he could fit in it and what majority of essentials he believed he needed, Gordon zipped up the large grey suitcase which rolled on wheels. Rummaging through the house’s 7 rooms Gordon looked for money and totaled about 1,500 USD by the end of the search Gordon continued to look for valuables that he could sell or barter with in emergencies. Jewelry was an essential part of this. Gordon took his passports (Canadian and Polish) and did a final sweep of the house looking for anything that could be useful. Already packed with cans of food his suitcase could not hold any more, but perhaps his back pack could. Inside with the money, passport and jewelry was a box of matches, pens, pads of paper, 2 cans of food, a mobile, small patches of rope, a kind of Swiss army knife, a large 12 inch bladed knife, a pair of socks and a calculator which Gordon found no reason to take out of his school bag, now turned survival bag.

During his sweep, Gordon’s mind wandered on how his world turned for worse so quickly. The newly elected United State’s President McKenzie, a man of 50 but with the heart of a revolutionary teenager; McKenzie’s approach to the Middle East situation was simple “it’s a terrorist base and must be destroyed” to paraphrase his words. Iran feeling threatened took charge into Iraq and liberated the country from the United States and NATO forces and quenched the long lasting conflict between Iran and Iraq, whilst rallying other Arab nations to its side.

The USA retaliated with full force from air bases in Saudi Arabia, Yemen and the United Arab Emirates. Bombing Tehran was thought to cripple the Iranian nation and cause the Arab states to disband. Unfortunately for McKenzie, they had under estimated the defenses around the Iranian capital and the US bombers were unable to penetrate. The Iranian president, after the bombing of Tehran repositioned himself and his political advisors to somewhere else in Iran, presently unknown.

McKenzie’s rage and racism against the Arabic culture had caused the creation of temporary camps to be built to place suspected terrorist Islamic population of the USA in, to “prevent future casualties on our homeland” to paraphrase his words again. With massive hysteria in the USA McKenzie’s large emphasis on the Christian faith brought the voters together for a massive rush in the election of a staggering 65% victory. He still continues his greatly Christian campaign across the USA to hold it together and is now visibly stretching across into Europe. Again the world was split into 2 sides of religion like in the crusades.

If it were only that simple though. Africa, a continent of poverty and a landmass filled with helpless people fighting for stability, was now colonized much like it was in the 1800’s. European, Asian and the American powers all claimed a stake somewhere on the continent. Unfortunately for its people, Africa has the last remaining  large deposits of natural resources that are accessible to everyone except the Africans. Uranium is extracted for another arms race and oil is drilled to fuel the tanks and bombers that will soon be deployed. Although under the shadow of independence the African nations are controlled by debt and corporations that suck what wealth the continent did have.

Fighting has broken out already. Sudan remained separated, Niger in turmoil but not enough to stop its uranium supplies from being mined, South Africa again in confusion with the rise of a fanatical leader. All the while China and Russia claim land in Central Africa, nobody knows as to why yet, but there is no conflict for this land and the 2 powers were quickly seizing it under the light of liberation and rebuilding the courtiers. Europeis now one power. The European Union no longer exists as it did before; it became the official entity of Europe and now contains the states of France, England, Germany and the other former members of the EU. Turkey however never got in and has become neutral to the conflict that is occurring on both sides of its borders. However its neutrality is being tested as many bombs have exploded in Istanbul and Ankara. Even the famous Blue Mosque of Istanbul was damaged as one of the minarets collapsed due to a massive explosion, god that was a terrible sightGordon reminisced.

When this idea past through Gordon’s mind he knew that the world would be going through hell right now, but first he had to get himself into a safer place before he could do anything else. Somehow Gordon had been sitting on the very couch he sat on waiting for his parents to drop him off at school. Thinking about his life in the Middle East, Gordon was devastated for his life to have to end like it did, he had spent his whole life there. Although Gordon had already planned to leave that summer to university in England, he did not intend to leave under these circumstances.

Right now, Gordon had nowhere to go to but to Poland, where his cousin was living. His cousin was almost like a brother to him, now married and all, his cousin used to live with Gordon and his parents for a few years. He introduced Gordon to many aspects of life that he would have otherwise had been unable to see, being shielded by his parents and the simplicity of the little city.
As Gordon walked out the front door, he stopped his large rolling suitcase and stared into the smoky remains of the city in front of him and beyond into the open Indian Ocean. As the sun set just like in his dream 2 years before Gordon could see a new wave in the distance coming from the sea. But unlike in his dream this wave was not connected to the sea and instead loomed quickly like a mechanized dark cloud. It was another bombing raid and the planes were coming right for his house.
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Leaders of Hope, Part 1, Chapter 4

                                          4

Gordon awoke from what felt like a yearlong sleep, checking his watch he saw that they had been driving for several hours now,Where on Earth are we heading? In front of him was the elderly man and what he assumed was the man’s granddaughter. Next to Gordon were three women who all slept on each other’s shoulders. The 4th adult sat next to the elderly man but had no connection to anybody; he seemed to keep a distance from all of them, off in his own world, much like Gordon was. He looked out the back of the truck and saw an old decrepit and no longer operational concrete factory pass them by, the factory was not lit and seemed to blend in with the dark starless night. Gordon recognized the aging factory as it vanished into the night, so that’s where we are heading.
Gordon watched as the little girl’s cat sat and slept peacefully on her lap. The cat was Himalayan, with a thick brown fur coat puffed up by the humid desert air with lateral black stripes across its back. Around its neck was a small black color with a silver bell that rang with every bump made by the truck “where did you find that beautiful cat?” The little blond pig tailed girl said that it had been wondering the streets and that she wanted to take care of it.

“Once she found it I couldn’t separate the two of them” the elderly man said as he wrapped his arm around his granddaughter, hugging her tightly. The cat yawed, flashing its perfectly sharp white teeth and then stretched, vibrating as it did so, twirled around twice and then went back to sleep. The girl then started to massage the cat behind the ears and the cat responded with a continuous purr.

Out of the dark road in front of the truck, an explosion rocked everybody in their seats and everybody slid to the front as the truck’s tires squealed on the ash fault as it braked. Then the first shots rang out into the quiet night. The gunfire ripped through the cloth covering the back of the truck. A cry of pain was let loose as one of the 3 sisters was hit by a bullet. “Everybody get down!” Gordon cried. The elderly man took hold of the little girl and threw himself on top of her body to protect her. At the same time the 3 sisters scrambled for the floor. The man in the corner did not move. In the volley of bullets hitting the truck Gordon jumped out of the back of the truck and ducked behind the back left wheel. This was the only cover left from the bullets being fired from the dunes to the right of the truck. As soon as Gordon crouched down Jackson turned and almost fired his rifle. ‘You scared the shit out of me!” Jackson shouted over the automatic rifle fire.

‘Where’s is Aziz?”
“He’s still in the front under the glove compartment. If he moves they will spot him and kill him.” Jacksoncontinued to fire randomly past the front left wheel into the dunes which were now sparkling with gunfire over its top.
“Can you shoot?” Jacksonhad asked hastily.
“Yes”. In one motion Jackson un-holstered his pistol and tossed it over for Gordon to catch.
Gordon lied, his only experience with a gun was with an air rifle shooting soda cans but right now, any experience helped yet there was not much they could do.

They had limited ammunition, terrible cover and only one experienced soldier in action. The unknown assailants were behind a dune which had provided them with the high ground. Giving Gordon and Jackson almost no chance of hitting one of them. Gordon stuck his hand out the back of the left wheel and fired more or less towards the attackers. With a loud burst the truck’s back right wheel popped and almost cause the truck to capsize on its right side.

There was no way of checking if any of the passengers were still alive as the bullets still kept on being fired all around the truck, pinning everybody down. “Damn it!” Jacksonshouted. “I have no more bullets. We are totally fucked now.” With those words Gordon’s heart sank as he squeezed out the final bullets from the pistol. Click and it was empty.

They were now defenseless. Jackson and Gordon had their backs on the wheels of the truck and soon the bullets stopped hitting the truck. Jackson could hear words being spoken in something like Arabic over near the dunes. Jackson stuck his head under the truck to check if anyone was coming. He had only looked under for a split second before he raised his head again. He looked at Gordon and raised 5 fingers in his left hand and pointed to the dunes with his right. At that moment he put his hand in his pocket and threw Gordon’s uncased knife at his feet. As Gordon grabbed the knife off of the cool road he heard a softer click come from Jackson. Looking back at Jackson and what he was holding, Jackson looked at Gordon and nodded his head slowly, Gordon replied with a nod of his own.

Jackson rose over the truck’s smoking hood and threw the green grenade out of his hand into the desert. As he was ducking back down shots were fired and one had hit his left shoulder. Collapsing behind the front wheel whilst the grenade exploded Jackson exclaimed in gasps “I’m alright.” Gordon looked under the truck and saw only three bodies laying in the sand. Where did the other 2 go? Gordon heard a pair of feet shuffle near the front right wheel and saw one foot move out. The assailant was walking around the hood of the truck. Gordon motioned at Jackson who immediately tensed his muscles and got ready to tackle the man. At the first sight of the man’s figure Jacksonleapt at the soldier. Several shots vibrated in the air past Gordon’s head but nobody was hit.

Jackson and the man now rolled around in the sand punching and kicking each other. Gordon could do no good interfering, he slid the knife into his front pocket, tearing a hole straight through it but still holding the blade against his thigh. He went to the back to get the passengers out of the truck. When Gordon started to unclip the truck’s back flap he heard the cocking of a rifle near his head. He felt the heat from the barrel of the assault rifle near his ear. The man poked the barrel on Gordon’s head telling him to move forward and around the truck. Gordon started to walk when a familiar jingle of the bell alerted the solider to the inside of the back of the truck.

With sheer instinct Gordon pulled the knife out of his pocket, almost cutting his own thigh and whilst crouching and turned the knife towards the soldier, thrusting his arm immediately into the soldier’s gut. The man released his rifle which fell hard on the sand coated road as blood started to drip. Gordon slowly rose and he felt the blade slice through the man until it was stopped at his ribcage. Gordon looked the man in his dark green eyes. Both of their eyes became lifeless. As the life from the man faded, so too did Gordon’s self humanity. Blood was now leaving his mouth. Gordon retracted the knife and the man collapsed backwards into the sand. Picking up his gun Gordon ran around the truck to where Jackson was engaging with the enemy. Gordon watched as the solider pinned Jackson down and forced his hand into Jackson’s wound, making him scream in agonizing pain. Gordon shot a bullet past the soldier who instantly looked up. Jacksontook the initiative and shoved him off his body and continued to assault him. “Jackson get out of the way!” Gordon shouted. No reply. Jackson continued to punch the defenseless soldier. Aziz ran out of the truck and rushed towards Jackson, pulling him off of the bloody soldier.

Jackson tried to continue the attack but had been subdued by Aziz “Stop man, he’s down and out” Aziz howled at Jackson. Jacksontook another moment before he could come back to earth and calm down. Aziz then let go of him and walked towards Gordon with his open hand “pass me the gun.” Taking the gun, Aziz walked passed Gordon to check on the man he had stabbed. Aziz crouched down to him checked the man’s pulse and moved on to the other 3 bodies in the sand and repeated the process. Jackson looked at Gordon blood covered hand and spoke “thus is the use of war, to kill each other.” He walked by Gordon and put his brused hand on Gordon’s left shoulder and continued to the back of the truck.

“It’s all clear people.” When Gordon joined the group he saw the elderly man, the little girl and two of the sisters look up at him. Jackson pulled the truck’s back flap and motioned for the people to get off the truck. Slowly the elderly man and his daughter holding her cat jumped off the truck into the blood stained road. At the sight of the dead soldier the little girl cringed and hugged the cat even more, ringing its life saving bell. The two sisters followed. In tears they were holding each other. When they got off the truck, Jackson got on to check the 2 bodies still on board. Gordon walked with the sisters around the left of the truck and told them to sit down.

When Gordon looked to where the unconscious soldier was. There was an empty impression in the sand and footsteps leading out into the desert. Following the footsteps with his eyes Gordon saw a figure running in the distance. “Aziz! He’s getting away!” Gordon yelled. Aziz ran 10 meters into the sands and then put one knee in the sand and placed his elbow on his other knee. He aimed slowly. With the crack of the bullet firing Gordon watched as the figure collapse head first into the sand. Aziz started to jog towards the body. Jackson appeared behind from behind Gordon. “They are both dead” he said quietly. There they were stranded on an empty road, so close to their destination: Dubai.

Jackson walked past the passengers who were now in two pairs sitting down with their gazes cast in the sand. Jacksonentered the truck and had started talking. When he came out he announced that he called for transport to the airport and reported the attack. When Aziz came back with the body, he started to search the body and his pockets. He found nothing. Even the uniform was pure black. There was no flag, no dog tags, no identification, nothing. “What could this mean?” Gordon asked

“One of two things” said Aziz. “Either the Iranians have somehow deployed this small task force for an operation here in UAE and we were just in the way. Or” Aziz paused and continued “Or the somebody else has sent this team to take out this transport in desperation to remove the American forces out of the UAE.” The three of them looked at each other for a moment, then at the body, then at each other once again. They did not say a word. With the blinking of truck lights in the distance they lifted their heads towards the road and got the passengers to stand up and get ready to move out to Dubai, they all felt that sooner the night would be over, the better.



By Oscar Krol