Chapter 3

Romanian hunt

It was September 27, nearly an entire month has passed since the invasion of Poland, during this time I've mainly been spending most of my free time by myself, either in my room lying in bed or exploring more of Zion Base. As it turns out, the Civilian Wing also has a library, which housed loads and loads of books for people to read, I had almost forgotten how much I enjoyed reading during my downtime, laying on my bed, diving into a good story and sipping tea… such heavenly bliss.

As I was busy reading though, I heard voices outside of my bedroom, I put my book down and went to the door so I could see what was going on. When I cracked it open, I gasped, it was Jake! And he was garbed in the same attire that he wore when I first met him! Honestly though that wasn't what surprised me, what surprised me was that he was with a few other people who were wearing the same attire as him and they were backed up by those commandos that I saw. They were a little far from my room and I couldn't hear them, so I took it upon myself to get closer look, when I was at the perfect listening distance, I was able to make out what they were saying to each other.

"So what's the assignment from Mentor?" asked one of the men who was garbed in the same attire as him.

"They're moving into Romania, they think that there may be more people there who are… like us," said Jake.

"That can't be right, and that limp dick dictator Adolf allowed them to do this?" asked a young woman.

I held back a gasp. Romania, my cousins live in Romania along with my aunt and uncle, if those Nazis are going there to cause more trouble they're going to wind up killed!

"Of course he did, you know Hitler doesn't care about what the Templars do, just so long as they don't interfere with his plan for world domination," said the first man.

"That's right, I forgot how much of a fascist pig that man is," said the woman, "when are we going to take him out?"

"We can't move on to Hitler yet, not until we take down his Templar support and leave him vulnerable," said Jake.

"Templars? Who are these Templars? And more importantly, why are they allied with Hitler?" I thought as I listened from behind the corner.

"Jake's right, as long as the Templars live they'll simply carry on Hitler's legacy if we kill him," said the second man.

"Okay and when will we officially move against the Templars?" asked another woman, "not that I'm sick of saving people from harm it's just that I was hoping for my blade to taste blood."

"Soon," said Jake, "the Mentor said we'll be able to attack soon. Just be patient."

The men and women gathered around Jake grumbled and shrugged, I guess they knew there was no point in arguing with him about… whatever what was happening right now.

"Alright, you all know the mission so let's-"

Jakes stopped talking all of a sudden, I raised an eyebrow, wondering why he stopped talking. Just then, without warning, a knife flew and hit the corner of the wall I was hiding behind, causing me to jump back in shock.

"Pierdolić (Fuck)!" I thought.

I bolted back to my room, with the sound of heavy boots pounding after me. I managed to make it back to my room and struggled to open the door when I was tackled to the ground, I let out a pained yelp as I made contact with the cold, hard ground. I gritted my teeth hard, biting back a long string of curses. When I tried to turn my head and see who it was, I was met with a knife at my throat.

"Gotcha you filthy spy," said my attacker.

"Spy!? I'm not a spy, get off of me!" I demanded.

"Keith! Keith stop, get off of her!" ordered Jake.

My attacker got off of me, I rose to my feet and dusted myself off as Jake approached me.

"Ariela, what are you doing out of your room?" he asked.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"It's nothing you should concern yourself with, now go to bed," said Jake.

He turned to go, I reached out and grabbed him.

"What's going on Jake, tell me," I said.

"Ariela, let go of me," he said.

"What's going on?" I asked firmly.

"Ariela-"

"Jake, please just tell me," I said.

Jake looked down and sighed, he turned towards his friends and turned back towards me.

"We're on our way to Romania, we've gotten reports of Hitler's… special forces being deployed there," said Jake, "there, are you happy?"

I nodded.

"Good, now… go to bed, it's late," he said.

"No," I said as he turned to go.

"Excuse me?" Jake asked as he turned around.

"I want to go with you," I said.

"Excuse me?" he asked, "you want to tag along with me and my men on a mission? I don't think so; you're staying here at the base."

I frowned and clenched my fist.

"Jake, my cousin Eli is in Romania… I was planning on going there when the Nazis invaded Poland…" I said trying to keep my voice calm, "if Hitler's forces are going there to cause trouble I need to get him and the rest of my family out. Now I'm coming along with you."

Jake gave me a look and sighed as he lowered his head and shook it. I didn't know if he was annoyed with me or what, all I knew was that I had to get my cousin out of Romania before he was kidnapped too… or worse.

"Fine, fine, fine, you can come along," he said, "just uh… uh… here."

Jake handed me something big and metallic, a handgun by the looks of it.

"Colt M1911, standard issue," he said, "use it only when necessary."

I nodded and stuck the gun in my pocket as I followed Jake outside, where I nearly fell over in complete shock and awe. This really was some kind of military stronghold, there was rows and rows of trucks, tanks, and jeeps sitting inside of a massive garage.

"I'm scared to ask if this place has an underground air field," I thought as I followed Jake over to one of the trucks.

"Jake, where've you been?" asked one of the commandos.

"I'm sorry I'm sorry, I just got-"

"Jake, who's this little girl?" asked another commando, "don't you know civilians aren't allowed on these missions."

"You've got a problem with me being here?" I asked firmly.

The commando gave me a hard look.

"What did you just say?" he asked in a hard tone.

Jake jumped in.

"Hey! Hey! Hey!" he exclaimed, "save it for the enemy."

I sat back in my spot on the truck. Oh I intended to save my rage for the enemy… I most certainly intended to save it. I sat up quickly for a second though as the truck purred to life, we lurched ahead, along with two other military trucks that were carrying commandos. We slowly moved through the parking lot and made our way towards some kind of winding ramp, where we went up, around, and outside… or out into a forest rather.

"Where the hell is this place located?" I asked.

"The last place where the Nazis would ever think to look if they ever planned to hunt for our HQ," said Jake.

I looked outside of the truck and gasped when I saw something out in the distance… my home.

"My god… those monsters," I said.

I looked down and clenched my fists.

"Why is this happening to us? To my people?" I asked.

I looked over at Jake, who gave me a somber stare and sighed.

"If I were to tell you Ariela... you probably wouldn't believe me," he said.

I looked down again and sat back in my spot on the truck. I looked out again and saw my home seem to shrink more and more the farther we went until it had finally disappeared behind the trees and hills. I don't know how many miles we traveled from here to Romania; but before I knew it, someone was nudging me awake, I didn't even know that I had fallen asleep.

"Come on," said Jake.

I hopped out of the truck and looked around, judging by the looks on some of these people's faces, I could only assume that Hitler's goons had already arrived and were skulking around.

"Where are we?" I asked.

"Turda," said Jake, "I assume your relatives live here?"

I nodded.

"Alright, well unfortunately I have to tell you something that you're probably not going to like: You're going to have to find your cousin on your own," said Jake.

"What?" I asked, "why do I have to go alone?" I asked.

"I'm sorry, but I can't help you find your cousin and kill off Templars at the same time, I'm afraid you'll have to go find your cousin on your own," said Jake, "but just in case, I want you to have something to defend yourself."

Jake reached into his coat and pulled out something for me, a gun. I gasped and stepped back a little bit.

"The Colt M1911, standard weapon for me and my friends," he said as he reached out and planted the firearm in my hands.

"Jake no, there's no possible way I could use this," I said.

"Hey, you wanted to come with us so you could look for your cousin," he said, "if you're going to be doing that by yourself; then you're going to need protection, because otherwise you can get back on the truck and head back to the base."

I opened my mouth and prepared to say something when I stopped, he's right, I did want to go on this little escapade so I could find my cousin's house. So I just sighed and accepted the weapon… even if I really… really didn't want to.

"Try to stay out of trouble, I'll come looking for you if we don't find the Templars," said Jake.

And with that, he took off, I turned and looked around the area again before I started to make my way to my cousin's house.

"I hope that they haven't been visited by those… goons," I thought, "or worse."