When the war started, many had refused to join the of fighting the enemy army, they fought against the war itself, taking to the streets with molotovs, baseball bats, guns and cardboard signs, black bandanas and masks over their faces. They demanded a stop to the war, earning the name 'Revolters' from the soldiers.
Their demands were answered though not the way they wanted. They were answered with bombs, nuclear bombs that dropped the temperatures and people dropped dead just as quickly. As the days passed, the soldiers joined the Revolters, thinking they were the only way they could survive as the armies began to crumble.
Lui had been one of those soldiers, abandoning his fellow soldiers in the belief that he would survive, that he would never have to fire his gun again, never take another life. He had never been so wrong before.
The Revolters started claim that they now ruled the frozen world. They attacked the regiments of soldiers that still remained, taking their supplies and weapons. Some would join them, others they forced to join them, and some they just killed, liking the colour of red on the snow. It terrified Lui. He had never hated a colour so much before.
The worst night for Lui was the night they attacked the Peacekeeper's camp. The Peacekeepers didn't kill people. They helped them, kept them alive in the worst of times. Lui had kept to the shadows that night, avoiding everyone. He let the Peacekeepers he saw go, hoping that no one else would see them.
Turning a corner, he had seen a peacekeeper stumble out of one of the tents, his right arm covered in blood and his eyes wide with fear.
"What are you doing? He's got a pack! Shoot him!" A Revolter yelled at Lui as he ran up to him. When Lui turned back to the Peacekeeper, he had been joined by another. "Shoot em!"
"Why?! He's a Peacekeeper!" Lui cried, freezing up. Around him, tents burned and gunshots and screams echoed in the air with the falling snow. "They are all Peacekeepers! They haven't done anything!"
"Doesn't matter anymore! They've got stuff that we need! Shoot them or I will!" The Revolter yelled back. Lui hesitated, before raising his gun, taking a deep breath. The gunshot that followed was loud, shocking Lui because it hadn't come from his gun. He turned and looked at the Revolter beside him as he lowered his gun as another shot rang in Lui's ears and the Revolter went down in a spray of blood on the snow. The shot had come from the Peacekeeper. Lui looked back at the Peacekeepers, one of them down, the other running.
"Lui! Get that one!" A Revolter yelled, running up to him. Lui nodded, running after the Peacekeeper. He glanced at the one he had just watched die, having to look away quickly from the sight of the blood.
He found the other Peacekeeper in a fight with another, hearing the yelling from where he stood.
"You're pathetic! Coward!" One of them yelled. Lui watched, peering around the side of a tent. He watched the Peacekeeper he had followed hit the other with his gun hard enough to knock them out. Lui thought he would stay, help his other Peacekeepers but instead he turned and ran into the woods. Lui raised his gun, aiming at the running Peacekeeper. He should have pulled the trigger, fearing what the other Revolters would do if they found out but he couldn't. He could not bring himself to shoot the Peacekeeper, watching him till he had disappeared into the trees.
"Did you get that Peacekeeper?" A Revolter had asked as they burned the bodies, the ground too frozen to bury them.
"Yeah. Easy shot." Lui lied, eyes on the growing fire.
Later that night, they had seen the red flares explode in the night sky, telling them that someone was alive out there. So they had trekked through the woods, finding crashed planes and the occasional pilot that was still alive yet no sign of whoever fired the flares.
On the third day since the attack on the Peacekeepers camp, they found the crash site of a large plane, a white tiger painted on the side. Lui thought it was kinda silly. It seemed unlikely that there was anyone alive in the plane but the Revolters still opened fire on it anyways.
What they weren't expecting was the door of the plane to fly open and bullets to come shooting back at them. Lui ducked behind a tree, a bullet flying past his head and hitting the tree in front of him. Lui glanced around the tree, seeing the Peacekeeper and the pilot sprint away from the plane.
Lui hurried after them, though not to kill them. Instead, the same idea that he had when he first joined the Revolters was in his head now. The Peacekeeper and the pilot had survived this long, probably not having to fight with anyone till the Revolters showed up. That was what Lui wanted, to know he wouldn't have to use a gun every day, wouldn't have to see blood every day. He could leave the Revolters, get far away from them.
When Lui caught up with the two, they were sitting on the snow, trying to catch their breath. Lui hid behind a tree, scared to step into the open. He had gotten used to keeping his head down, not saying much, the idea of approaching the two and begging to let him join them made him nervous.
"Come on, Owl Boy." He heard the pilot say. "Let's keep going." He waited until they had gotten up and started walking, following closely. Every time footstep sounded loud in the crunching snow. The pilot suddenly stopped, the Peacekeeper bumping into him as he turned, gun aimed at Lui.
Lui's eyes went wide, freezing up. He held his hands up in surrender as the Peacekeeper turned. It was pointless to run now.
"Please! Don't shoot! Don't shoot!" Lui cried, dropping to his knees.
"Who are you?" The pilot demanded, taking a step towards him. The Peacekeeper stayed still, his eyes moving from Lui to the pilot. "I said who are you?" The pilot yelled, hitting Lui hard in the face with his gun. Lui fell to the snow, tasting blood in his mouth.
"T-Tyler." At the sound of the quieter voice, Lui's eyes went up to the Peacekeeper, seeing the bloody mess of a wound on his arm and the golden owl patch on his lapel, the thread glinting in the light. "H-He isn't a soldier." The pilot, Tyler, looked back at the Peacekeeper, confused. "I-I know that uniform." Lui stared at the Peacekeeper as he stepped towards him, completely caught off guard when the Peacekeeper kicked him hard in the gut. Lui gasped, the air knocked out of him as he rolled away from the Peacekeeper. "You killed Luke! You and whatever group you are a part of! You killed them all!" The Peacekeeper kicked him repeatedly, reaching down to grab his collar and choke him. "You shot them all! You fucking shot them all!"
"I didn't! I-I didn't! I-I let you live! P-Please!" Lui struggled to say. The Peacekeeper froze, staring down at him with tear filled dark eyes. "I want to join you. I don't want to be a part of the Revolters anymore."
"He doesn't owe you." Tyler spat. "Leave him here, Evan."
"Please! I don't want anything from you! Just let me go with you! I can't go back there! Please!" Lui cried as the Peacekeeper, Evan, stood up and started to walk away, the pilot following. "I don't want to die! Please!" The Peacekeeper stopped, his hands tightening on his gun.
"Evan don't. Leave him." Tyler said quietly as Evan turned and walked back to Lui, pulling him to his feet.
"C-come on. W-We need to get out of the open." Evan said quietly, his constant stutter
"He's only letting you come with us cause he's a Canadian Peacekeeper. Lucky you" Tyler spat.
"Thank you, Evan." Lui ignored Tyler, hurrying to catch up with the peacekeeper. "Thank you." Evan didn't answer, just continued to walk. He seemed pale, his breathing short. Tyler stayed close to Evan as they walked through the snowy woods. Lui's eyes kept going to the wound on Evan's arm, seeming to be bloodier every time he looked at it. He remembered the night that the peacekeeper's camp was attacked and seeing him run from the tent, his arm bloody and the fear on his face. He couldn't help but wonder if that was where his stutter came from, the shock of what he had seen and done hurting him more than physically.
"Evan are you okay?" Tyler asked when Evan started to stumble. Evan nodded, reaching to push a branch out of the way. They had been walking for a few hours, trying to get far away from the Revolters that had attacked them. Evan led the way though his pace was slow, his left hand held tightly over his wound.
"I-I'm f-fine…" Evan mumbled.
"With that stutter I can't tell if you are lying or not." Tyler joked.
"S-Sorry." Evan looked sad, his eyes down on the snow.
"Evan no don't be. That was shitty of me. I'm sorry. Are you okay?" Tyler apologised.
"I-I'm fine...I'm okay." Evan nodded.
"No you aren't. Evan stop." Tyler grabbed Evan's left arm, forcing him to stop. "Look at me." Evan kept his eyes down, still feeling hurt from his joke. "Evan look at me. We've walked far enough today. We don't even know where we're going. Your wound is reopened and we need to care of it." Tyler said when Evan focused on him. Lui watched them nervously, turning his gaze around the woods.
"I-I'm fine…" Evan repeated, pulling his arm away from Tyler. They watched him take one step and collapse into the soft snow, his pack and gun landing on top of him.
"Evan!" Tyler knelt by his side, pulling his pack and gun off him. He rolled Evan over, brushing the snow off his face. "Lui in my pack! I've got two tarps and Evan has a sleeping bag in his. Get them out. Now." Tyler instructed. Lui scrambled to get what he asked as Tyler grabbed the first aid kit. "Use the rope to tie one of the tarps. Make a tent." Tyler turned his attention back to Evan, unzipping his coat to get to the wound. "Evan? Can you hear me? Evan!"
"Can you hear me? Evan! Did you fall asleep?" Evan's eyes flickered open, his physics homework page sticking to his face. He sat up from his desk, black headphones slipping from his head. He pulled them back up, looking at the skype open on his computer, his video call with Jonathan still on going. Jonathan smiled at him as he sat up.
Evan was only eighteen, just two months away from graduating high school and moving on to university. He had a few friends at school but his best friends were people he had met online, making sure to call them every day. They would play online games together, or help each other with homework. Evan was the youngest, the others already graduated, yet he felt so comfortable with them all.
"N-No. I'm fine. I'm awake." Evan yawned, realising he still had ten more questions to do for tomorrow. "Don't let me fall asleep till I'm done, okay?" He said, looking at Jonathan who shook his head.
"Evan you need your sleep. It's not healthy for you to be staying up so late every night. You've been stressing out about this course since you started it. Just for one night, put it aside. Get some sleep or get your mind off it at least for a little bit." Jonathan sighed.
"I need to pass this course, you know that. It's the only big thing I'm worried about right now and as soon as I get this done, I can rest. It won't take long." Evan said, picking up his pencil and leaned over his textbook.
"At least take a break for a little bit. Let's play some GTA. You'll wake up some more. Come on Ev." Jonathan waved his controller in front of the camera, smiling brightly.
"Lemme finish this first." Evan didn't look up, focused on answering the question.
"Come on...Half an hour. Then you can finish your damn psychic homework." Jonathan insisted.
"Physics homework!" Evan laughed, tossing his pencil down. "Fine!" Evan smiled. "But if I fail because of you I'm gonna hunt you down."
"You won't fail. In all the time that I've known you, you have never failed at anything. Don't worry." Jonathan laughed as Evan opened the game, closing his textbook loud enough for Jonathan to hear, letting him know that he had won this time. Jonathan smiled triumphantly. "Half an hour. Than you can go back to studying."
In the morning, Evan woke up to the sound of his alarm clock going off beside him on the desk. He had fallen asleep, gaming controller in hand, skype and game still open. Jonathan had left him a message in the chat that said: Goodnight. Please take care of yourself. I believe in you!
"Is he going to be okay?" Lui asked, the cold wind making him shiver. He pulled his blanket closer, looking at Evan who laid wrapped in the sleeping bag, his right arm wrapped tightly in gauze.
"Yeah. He was like this when I found him. Half dead basically. He just needs rest." Tyler said quietly from where he sat beside Evan. "He knows who you are...How?" Tyler asked after a moment, looking up at him. Lui looked down at the blue tarp, not saying anything for a few moments. "Were you a part of that damn Revolters group?"
"I thought I wouldn't have to fight anymore when I joined them." Lui whispered, pulling at a string on his blanket.
"You were fucking wrong." Tyler snarled. "Evan said you and your group killed Peacekeepers? What for? Peacekeepers don't do harm! They save lives! How horrible of a person do you gotta be to attack Peacekeepers?" Lui didn't answer. "Huh?!" Tyler yelled.
"I didn't want to! I didn't kill any of them! I swear on my life! I didn't kill whoever Evan thinks I killed. I didn't do it! I asked you to let me join because I have seen so much shit in the past few weeks, more than I ever did as soldier! I think I'm going to throw up everytime I see blood, Tyler! You guys seem like my best bet on getting away from it!" Lui felt tears falling from his eyes as he hugged his knees to his chest. Tyler stared at Lui, thinking of what to say.
"I know. I know how you feel. You know...Evan isn't the first Peacekeeper that I've met. A year ago, we were attacked by an enemy regiment. I got wounded pretty bad. There was a lot blood. So much that I feel the same way as you now when I see it." Tyler paused, pulling his blanket around himself. They had given Evan their extra gloves and scarves, trying to keep him as warm as possible. "Anyways...I was saved. Woke up in a Peacekeepers camp, other soldiers like me in beds with various types of wounds. A Peacekeeper, a medic named Kelly took care of me. She visited me every day, made sure I was okay. She told me what was going on in the world. Told me about the Revolters." Tyler paused, a smile on his face from the memory of her. "She told me what their cause was, that they just wanted an end to the war. She said she gets that, understands it. Cause she has seen so many soldiers come into that tent, hurt bad. Most didn't get better. She would have given anything to stop their suffering. I like to think now that she's okay. That she made it." Tyler stopped. Lui waited for him to say more, seeing tears in the pilot's eyes. "But it'd break her heart if she saw what those Revolters were doing now. Killing Peacekeepers like her. Like Evan. I believe you, Lui. I believe that you didn't kill them."
"Why? You were just so angry at me." Lui's voice was barely a whisper.
"Because you didn't fight back when Evan attacked you. If you had killed those people, you wouldn't have thought twice about beating the shit out of another. What's one more death to the list of others? You would have been numb by now to it but instead you care too much." Tyler turned back to Evan who still slept peacefully.
"Are you numb to it now, Tyler?" Lui asked after a few minutes of silence, the only sound being the wind in the trees.
"Only to those who don't matter anymore." Tyler answered.
"Why does Evan matter? You said you found him half dead. You could have left him and be on with it. You could be doing just fine. Instead you gotta worry more about him being able to make it through the day than yourself. Why?" Lui asked, shivering.
"Because he still has hope."