Guns vs swords

To be honest. Guns were never my go-to weapon. I always preferred daggers or even hand to hand combat. Daggers and combat are efficient and you actually break a sweat. Using guns was just a cheap way of getting the job done. But the job isn’t any more pretty than guns. In the world we live in there are many bad people here. People who execute and torture my people. My people were the ones who studied weapons and made them. The other countries were desperate for our weapons so they started to come and take them from us. So out of our own self defense we killed anyone who tried to take our inventory. Our overlord. King Kareas. King of the world. Ordered that my kind were to be slaughtered on sight. Apparently we were corrupted and selfish. So we show them by killing their kind. It isn’t the most effective but they are putting it on themselves. Once they stop hurting and stealing from us we stop hurting them. Unfortunately some other people don’t think that way. There is another group that stops us in our tracks. The Akinomonos. The name means, “The defenders.” We have been discovered by them many times. Fortunately every time we got discovered our fighting got us out. Most of the time. I have only seen the second in command of the group once. I was 15 and he looked about 17. As he was maiming my friends and my whole family in an old bunker by the acid seas. He looked near my hiding place in a hollow rocket that we were making to bomb a nearby village. I swear he made eye contact with me through the eye hole. His eyes looked into mine and what was that flash in his eyes? Sadness? Pity? Or just the lust to kill more. As his thugs showed up they started to retreat. When the ashes settled and the rest of the enemy left I kicked out the door and stepped out. Bodies were everywhere. Some were stabbed, the others were ripped apart or burned alive. As I stumbled through the rest of the bodies and chunks of building. I found other kids one by one. It was traumatizing. Ever since that day there has always been a hole where my heart used to be. Just an empty hollow cave. Dull emotions that only came to life fueled by rage and the thirst for retribution. My hatred for the group grew every single day. I just lay there on my cot thinking about my past like some sad widow. I had to get up. I snapped out of my daze and sat up in my cot. It looked about afternoon so it wasn't time for the annexation. I got off my cot and grabbed my backpack. I grabbed out my combat uniform. Camouflage pants with a gray tank top along with leather half gloves with hard rubber knuckles for brawling. Dirty black socks and ripped up black combat boots. With a matching camouflage mask that rested around my neck and a leather belt dagger holder. I put my dirty black hair in a ponytail and took a sip of water from my barely full canteen. The water here originates from the acid seas. The water from there can kill you in a matter of seconds unless you clean it. Which is difficult for a clan of 100-150 hormonal hungry teenagers constantly on the run. There were more of us but not many of us survived from our last head to head with the Akinomonos. So we took over a hospital a few hundred miles from the east tower. As I walked out of the sleeping quarters I came into the main room where everyone meets in the morning for announcements and updates on how close The Akinomonos have been. Everyone was uneasy with the stunt we were going to pull tonight. The Tackle group was going to the east towers and was going to kill and take it over. I was part of this group unfortunately. I was part of every group. I was the second in command. The first in command was Remonik. We all voted him to be the leader considering he was the only one who takes charge in the situation with the teenagers and their training. As Remonik was walking on stage they were finishing off announcements. Remonik looked like he could've been a palace guard if he wanted too. Like he ever would. He had the stone cold expression and big muscular body with the skill to kill 10 people at the same time. He had brown hair that had a recent buzz cut and green eyes. He was almost wearing the exact same clothes as me but he didn't wear the gloves or the dagger belt. He prefers guns unlike me.

He grabbed the microphone as the speakers around us mimicked his voice, "As you all know we are going to invade the east towers tonight. I will need the leader of the Tackle group Kama to review our plan for you all."

Remonik looked at me and moved beside the microphone. Kama. That's my name. It means, "Of whole heart." Or something. I always thought the meaning of the name was cheesy and weak for a group with our status.

With heavy feet I jumped onto the stage and walked to the microphone, "The tackle group will invade the east tower from the bottom and work our way up. As half of the division will work on the guards at the top the other half of the group will be taking the cannons and guns to the outer rings of the windows where we would have maimed everyone there and will start shooting the other towers until The Alkinomonos come."

Everyone shivered when I said the group's name. I couldn't blame them. There were either teenagers who got killed or people who got injured by them. I am not scared of the group. Fear controls people but I won’t let it control me. As I finished the speech horns sounded which meant that the Tackle team had to get moving. Remonik went to the microphone and said, "May you prevail." All the people in the room touched their shoulders with both hands and touched their temples. It’s a good luck sign we made up that means ,"we are with you." When they finished I dashed to my cot in the other room, swiped my dagger and sheathed it. I ran to the front door and busted through. We had to get to the tower after sunset so the guards wouldn't see us well in the dark. The ride was pretty swift and the jeep we stole was light on its feet. It’s easy for the jeep to stay level with about 10 underweight teenagers. After about two hours we arrived at our destination. We parked behind a hill and started unpacking. Everyone geared up and sharpened their swords or loaded their guns. As soon as the sun set we made our move. Our group crawled briskly through the desert until we came to the outskirts of the wall. I gave the order for everyone to put their masks on. There were two guards walking back and forth in front of the entrance pacing. As the guards kept patrolling our technician Henry pulled out a remote controlled mouse that he made. He situated the wheels and set it on the ground. The little machine's sound snapped the guards attention. The mouse wheeled behind a rock and started making sounds. Like rustling sounds and aggressive growling. The guards cocked their guns and walked steadily to the rock. When the guards were about three feet from the entrance two sword fighters rose from their hiding place and ran steadfast toward the guards. In a split second the sword fighters went over and sliced the guards heads clean off. We had to use swords or the guards on top of the tower would have heard the gunshots. As Henry was finished hacking the card scanner the others cocked their guns and stormed up the stairs. Everything was a blur after that. There was the usual kill everyone that gets in your way procedure and in 10 minutes the group had the cannons and artillery ammo. I was so used to this procedure and fighting style I just went in auto pilot. I snapped out of it when we reached the 8th floor. There was a room in the corner encircled with bullet proof glass windows. The team looked into the window and sure enough the rest of the guards were there. They were hunched over radios and Morse code machines. Everyone started loading the guns and cannons on the other side of the room leaving me to do the dirty work. Great. As I opened the door and walked in the guards turned around with their guns locked and loaded. I clenched my hands around my dagger and raised both my hands up. The guards looked confused and kept looking back and forth at the rest of the team and me. Probably wondering why they weren't helping me out. They set down their guns and pulled out a taser gun. So they hadn’t heard of me yet. I was going to show these guys who Kama is. I threw my dagger at the nearest guards chest and hit the deck. The guards raged in bullets stamping the walls with them. When they realized I was on the floor I lunged to the dead body and yanked my dagger out. The guard nearest to me tried to grab me but I fell to the ground and swooped his legs under his feet. The guards all aimed the guns at the center of my forehead. Before the first guard pulled the trigger I moved my dagger to my forehead and deflected all the bullets. Some ricocheted and hit other soldiers while some just fell to the ground like dead bees. The guards were surprised but recovered fast. Half of them were lunging towards me and others were reloading their guns. The guards finished filling their guns and the other guards were behind me ready to pounce. The guards put their finger on the trigger and shot. Before the bullets could hit me I did an aerial somersault and went behind the guards. The guards shot like nuts and now that I wasn't standing there the guys that were behind me got bombarded with bullets. Only leaving me with the other three guards to deal with. Before I could approach them we heard ear numbing explosions and bangs. That was enough to get the other guards attention for a bit. With an apologetic look I flung my dagger at the farthest guard on the left and jumped on the guard in the middle and swung my legs around his neck and broke it. As the two guards crumpled to the floor I stood up and yet again grabbed my dagger out of the guards right lung. As I turned to face the other guard he was on the floor with his arm bleeding out. I guess when I jumped on the middle guard he flung his gun around and a few bullets must have slipped. The guard was cursing and trying to stop the bleeding with some rags from his coat. When he noticed I was staring at him he froze and started to cry.

He started murmuring stuff about his wife and kids, "I don't wanna die. There was so much more I could've done. I had to do more."

Seeing him like this made me want to help him. But he was the enemy. I was supposed to hate him. Detest him but... I couldn't kill him, not this one. He seemed different from the rest like he knew this was wrong just as much as I did. I sighed and turned to the machines. I started chopping wires and destroying machines. The guard looked confused and scared.

I turned to him and he started sputtering, "Why are you doing that?"

As I spoke to him while cutting wires I said, "So then you don't communicate with your other soldiery."

He started to struggle and stop the bleeding. I turned and just stared at him and knew I was going to regret doing this.

I walked to him, grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and spoke, "Every child needs a father. I need you to tell the guards that I, Kama and the rest of the group, are inhabiting the old mill 200 miles north and that you pretended to be dead when I was attacking. If you don't I swear I will hunt you down and next time I will kill you."

The guard nodded and understood. I raised the butt of my dagger and hit him in the head. That was going to leave a good bump when he woke up. We needed a survivor to tell the Akinomonos the news about their false coordinates anyway. I grunted and stepped out of the room and just in time. The Akinomonos had caught up to us. Everyone was in mayhem. Fighting, yelling, screaming in agony. My people were being maimed once again. I needed to help. As I walked towards the fighting I saw our newest recruit, Yawa getting his butt kicked by an Akinomonos goon with a scythe. As I rolled my eyes with irritation I ran to the enemy and did a flying kick to his head.

Yawa looked scared out of his mind with his gun still loaded, "Watch where you point that thing. Don't fight solo here, you’re still a beginner. Join the higher ranked soldiers to give them some more help."

He nodded and fled to the center of the room where a circle had been formed. It was our natural position when we were outnumbered and we were definitely outnumbered. As I started to head to the circle there was a breeze that swept my neck. I jerked my body around while lifting my dagger. It was the scythe guy. Somehow he recovered from that air kick. He was attacking me, swinging his scythe around and trying to confuse me. I dodged every single blow but it wasn't easy surprisingly. This guy looked about 6'1 now that I was up close and not trying to knock him out. He was wearing a helmet with foam on the inside. So that explains how he didn’t get a hard blow to the head. Regrettably I wasn’t paying attention and another one of the Akinomonos goons kicked me out the window. As I fell I looked around for something to grab. With nothing sticking out of the walls at all I realized I still had my dagger in my hand. I angled my body towards the wall and dug my knife deep into it. It slowed down my fall and I fell to the ground in a smooth glide. When I landed I saw the last person I wanted to see. The Akinomonoses second in command. He started to approach me as soon as I landed. I ran towards him and started slashing with my dagger. He grabbed his gun out and put it right to the center of my forehead. I glared at him. Trying to anticipate his next move but he just stood there. With his dark blue eyes. They were mocking me. I went to the side and tackled him to the ground.

He just sat there idle till he spoke, “I’m warning you. You’re going to lose this fight.”

I stood up and went closer to his face and nearly spat on it, “Oh yeah? Well you’ve never met me.”

He cocked his head, “Haven’t I?”

I could feel my face turn red with anger as I balled my fists to punch him into the ground. But he slid under my legs and got upright in three seconds flat. He ran towards me and grabbed me by the ankle. He lifted me off the ground and twirled me by the ankle like some sort of doll. He crashed my body into the hard sand, put his feet on my forearms with his gun pointed at my head. There was that look in his eyes again. I tried to get my legs to move but they were paralyzed. I started to struggle but it was pointless. He had me. I looked into his eyes and memories started to flood in. Unhappy, sad, memories.

He sighed and spoke, “So do you think what you're doing is right?”

I stared blankly at him, “I never said it was right. But what you're kind is doing isn’t any better than what we’re doing.”

He nodded and shrugged, “Did you ever think that if you stopped and surrendered we would listen?”

I got feeling back in my legs and kicked him in the chest. Sending him flying backwards.

He landed near a cactus but seemed unfazed by my blow, “Right so that you would kill us right on the spot and your little problem would be solved.”

He shook his head and pointed his gun, “If you tell us where your new coordinates are we could spare your life as a double agent. But if you refuse I will have no choice but to shoot.”

I opened my arms wide and bore my eyes to his, “Fine then. Shoot. But you will just be proving us right.”

He looked torn. But like every member of this world we follow laws. He made his choice. He pulled the trigger. It's strange that my life didn’t flash before my eyes. Probably because I had no life. Just an empty cause that I tried to fill. I could feel my life crumble away as the last thing I saw looked back at me with the saddest eyes I ever saw.