Ascension

Elijah

It takes a while but eventually we near the Bright's base. Lorelei, Indiana and I were near the back of our squadron so we couldn't see where they were anyways.

Silas whispers quiet commands and we all get into formation for when we them. His commands make it down the line until they eventually reach us.

"Camouflage." They whisper.

Lorelei scoops some of the mud off her pant leg and rubbed it all over her face, neck, hair and uniform until if she lied down on the ground you couldn't see her very well.

Indiana comes up behind her and dumps dead leaves on her too. Then she helps us camouflage ourselves. We pour mud all over ourselves until we look nothing like soldiers anymore.

Then comes the next command.

"Hide behind a tree."

Lorelei, Indiana and I find fairly large trees to hide behind. Lorelei cocks her gun and I click the safety off of mine. Indiana does the same.

We wait behind the trees for what seems like hours for the guard shift to happen. When they begin to change Silas lets us know it's time to attack.

"Lorelei, just hide behind me." I tell her.

I don't see if she nods or not. Silas shoots the first gun shot. It doesn't hit anyone but the Brights notice they are under attack. Then about a dozen guns fire at once.

Lorelei slips from her hiding spot and fires a few times at the soldiers. She hits two in the legs and they fall onto their faces. She crouches down and inches closer. You can't really see her but it still worries me that she is inching away from the trees. Lorelei fires and this time the bullet hits her target in the torso.

I stopped staring at Lorelei long enough to come out from behind the tree and start firing. The sounds in the air are the worst sounds I have ever heard. There are moans of pain from the wounded Brights. Gun shots ring through the air.

Then one of our soldiers fall to the ground. I don't know who it is underneath all the mud but from the looks of it they got shot in the torso.

I fire again and again aiming for target after target not feeling any sympathy. I inch closer to where Lorelei is crouching near the floor. She is hitting Brights left and right.

Now several of our soldiers have been fired upon and injured. Then I get a cold feeling in my gut. I hadn't seen Indiana. I rush over to the wounded and get them out of the way of gun fire.

I was so caught up in doing so I didn't see Lorelei get up and start shooting the people who were shooting at me. She was doing a phenomenal job. Until I heard her cry out in pain. I turn around just in time to see her fall to the ground.

The world seems to freeze as I run towards her. The now dried mud that was all over her uniform was now wet with dark, thick blood. I almost fainted when I saw how much blood was oozing out of her bullet wound. I pick Lorelei up and run her away from the firing. At this time the gun shots slowed.

"Good job soldiers we have just taken down an enemy camp!" Silas exclaimed.

It doesn't really feel like a win to me. We eventually raid the camp and I get to wrap Lorelei's shoulder up in bandages. We steal a land cruiser and we get back to our camp. I still hadn't seen Indiana and I was getting oh worried.

I kept brushing Lorelei's hair out of the way of her face. She was getting really pale and she needed medical attention right away. When we got back to camp I wrapped Lorelei up in a blanket and carried her to the medics.

They immediately took her from me and performed emergency surgery on her to get the bullet out of her arm. I once again had to sit and watch.

It was an excruciating process. Lorelei woke up a few times during the process. She screamed louder than I humanly thought possible. Each time I would grab her hand. I know in my mind that it probably didn't help but I did it anyway.

When they were done she slept and I left. I went to the edge of the water and sat down there. I can see now why Lorelei didn't want to fight. Now we are as guilty as they are. Maybe even more so. We have blood on our hands just like they do. I lean down into the water and I scrub at my hands trying to get the blood off of them.

Lorelei's blood comes off in flakes but I still scrub my hands harder and harder until they are raw and hurting from the slight sting of the water. Even still the cool water feels good against my flaming temper. I can feel that I am scrubbing away layers of my innocence with the water.

But still I keep scrubbing. I remember how much I craved the Bright's pain not even two hours ago. I scrub at my hands even harder. I desired it. I wanted to hurt them more and more. I don't understand why I feel like I do. I don't want to be a violent person and I don't believe I am a violent person at heart.

It just sort of comes out when I am fighting. For that reason I hate myself and for that reason I continue scrubbing. I want to scrub away all the red in my ledger but I'm afraid it doesn't work like that. Why am I such a monster? Lorelei felt guilty before she went into the fighting and I felt guilty afterwards.

"Hey Elijah are you doing okay buddy?" A voice asks me.

I am slow to turn around but I do and behind me is Indiana.

"Yes." I tell him but even to me that sounded forced.

"Are you sure because you have been washing your hands for twenty minutes." Indiana informs.

Heavens, has it really been that long?

"I can't stop." My voice breaks.

"Why not?" Indiana asks me.

"Because my hands are still covered in blood." I answer.