by Martha Adele
The last update she gave us was “Minje has been captured and secured. Almost all of its citizens rebelled when they had the chance. I guess holding them at gunpoint wasn’t the best play, was it, Meir?” She went on to tell us that most of Verwend’s officials and citizens who refuse to fight with Bergland have retreated back to Metropolis while all of the Bergland sympathizers are currently fighting with our army.
“Here.” Sam takes the knife from my hand and switches places with me on our worktable. “Let’s take turns.”
I smirk at him and wipe all of the excess peel on the table into the trash pot. “Does your desire to switch have anything to do with the fact that you are much faster at peeling than I am at cutting?”
He chuckles, “What? No.”
It does.
I glance at the large pile of the peeled fruits in between our stations and realize that they are piling up in the peeling area.
Chuckling, the two of us begin our new tasks, and I notice that Sam is much quicker than me at cutting too. Just about any time that he and I have a job to do that involves preparing fruits and vegetables, Sam always manages to do a better job than I, as well as complete it quicker too.
We continue with this task for hours and listen in to the news.
“This just in. We have secured the western portion of Verwend.”
“This just in. We have secured another officials’ quarters.”
“This just in. We have secured the final defense tower.”
“This just in. We have Verwend.”
Everyone’s attention shifts from what they are doing to the screen nearest to them. The clattering of dishes echoes through the room as everyone sets down their pots, pans, and utensils.
“Now the live coverage of General Wilson’s final announcement.”
The screen changes over to a live feed of the outside of Metropolis. Their usually perfect glass-dome surrounding is covered in soot and rubble and has many broken pieces that have fallen into the city. “Chancellor Lance Meir,” General Wilson’s voice echoes through the room as we watch the screen. “This is General Luke Wilson of Bergland. You have exactly thirty seconds to surrender by sounding your anthem in the last of Metropolis’s working announcement speakers. If you do not within those thirty seconds, what is left of Metropolis, and everyone in it, will be destroyed. I will repeat this once more. This is General Luke Wilson …”
We listen in pure suspense as he repeats his claim and watch the outside of Metropolis. We watch the clouds and smoke behind and in front of the dome float overhead. We watch the fire in the distance from the previous bombings. We watch as the wind blows the few trees left in a swaying motion.
“Thirty. Twenty-nine. Twenty-eight. Twenty-seven …”
We listen to Wilson count down and wait for a surrender, but it never comes. When he reaches five seconds, we hear him bark the orders, “Prepare to fire!”
The last four seconds are pure silence. We then watch bomb after bomb, missile after missile, completely destroy the dome and everything inside of it.
Everyone in the kitchen cheers with joy, with the exception of Sam and me. We hear utensils clash together with pots and pans, we hear people crying with joy, and we hear people singing the Diligent’s anthem.
Sam and I turn to each other. We stare for a moment before he leans in and wraps his arms around me. I return the hug, and we freeze in this position, not really sure how to feel. Everyone in the kitchen is happy and excited, but how are we supposed to feel? Our home was just destroyed in war, and everything we knew is now gone.
There is no going back.
“We won,” Sam says to me, trying to steady his obviously shaken breath.
I pause, not wanting to put a damper on his happiness.
He pulls away and gives me a teary smile. “Maybe now I can go and see my mom again.”
I nod. “Maybe.”
I doubt anybody else in this kitchen is really considering anything but getting out of this mountain. They have been dreaming of this moment their whole lives. I doubt they are thinking of anyone and everyone they may have just lost.
To be continued in The Broken Peace.
