Chapter 23

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It was now early February 2067 when I left Milwaukee. The rumor was that the world population was now under 11 billion, when it dropped below 10 billion, the two sides would make peace. This did not mean that there wasn't still intense fighting. If president Walker and the alien leaders entered into negotiations, they would have to divide up territory, the more territory one side had now, the more they would have after peace was declared. Etocles and Polyneisis were far from the only officers who wanted to achieve some glory before that happened. I was sent to colonel Murphy's unit, outside the city of St Louis. St Louis was now under alien occupation, Murphy wanted to gain at least some territory for us humans. We weren't actually fighting in St Louis, we were fighting in the suburbs. These homes were probably beautiful a few years ago, but now they were heavily damaged by constant fighting. I wasn't sure why the aliens even tried setting up camp here. Years later, some would say that both sides wanted to fight here, away from the civilian population. I supposse there is a certain amount of truth to that. But I couldn't help but notice that it was primarily jewish soldiers who were doing the fighting and dying on our side. Not surprisingly, the aliens were using certain ethnic groups on their side, letting those they didn't like do the fighting and dying on their side.

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There was a radio station in St Louis, that we could listen to in our unit. Colonel Murphy didn't approve of this, but he knew if he tried to stop us he'd have a riot on his hands. The main DJ called himself "Alien Andy." He played good music, but he also encouraged us to desert. We weren't fools, we knew he had a clear agenda for his side. Yet we couldn't help but wonder about certain things. After our unit captured a block, Alien Andy mentioned our unit by name. He said "I truley offer my sincere condolences to the men and women of your unit. You have won that skirmish, but at what cost? How is it that almost all of your casualties are jews? Do you really believe that our snipers are such good shots, that we can pick of jews and leave the gentiles alone?" I thought about this, how could Alien Andy know that our casualties were mostly jews? I soon realized he was merely making an educated guess. Sometimes he would interview defectors and deserters, people who now lived fairly well under alien occupation. Other times he'd mention specific soldiers being killed, or describe in graphic detail their amputated limbs. I remember that my mother said there was a similar radio broadcast, back when she still lived in New York. Mom never listened to this. She had prepared herself for the possibility that an army man would come and tell her that I would never be coming home. But she said that she'd rather hear it that way than from an alien radio station. But it was from Alien Andy that I first heard the news. It was June 2067 when he first said that the world population was now under ten billion. Sure enough, within a week president Walker said that he and the alien leaders would begin peace negotiations within another week. I naively thought that the war was finally over. I was wrong.

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It had been nearly four years since the aliens announced their desire for war. They said that the war would only last until the population was below ten billion. So why were the peace negotiations dragging on all summer? The main theory seemed to be that both sides wanted to gain more territory before the peace became official. Each side was arrogant enough to believe they would be the ones gaining territory. Officers like Murphy were eager to gain more ground. Most of us enlisted soldiers were far less eager. Other countries had made peace by September, so why were we still fighting? Some began taking up a collection, to put a bounty on Murphy's head. When an officer endangers their own troops for personal glory, especially this late in the war, these bounties are not an urban myth. Murphy was killed by a sniper rifle, I'm honestly not sure who killed him. Their was an investigation. I was questioned "Why would a sniper just kill him an dissapear?" "Snipers usually pick off commanding officers." "How is it he was killed with an american made rifle?" "Maybe he picked it off the body of a dead american." As far as I know nobody was ever charged with Murphy's murder. Colonel Coulson replaced Murphy, and assigned me a new task. Alien Andy had made it clear that deserters, particularly jewish deserters, would be well taken care of if they came to St Louis. Given my experience as a spy in Milwaukee, I should pretend to desert, and make a deal with a certain doctor. An alien doctor, known as Abe, was running the local hospital, and he had access to certain knowledge. Suppossedly the aliens let the hospitals know their attack plans in advance, hospitals had to know what to expect in advance. Coulson's plan was to make a deal with dr Abe, his hospital was in desperate need of penicilin and other drugs. I would supply these drugs in exchange for intel. In early September I rode a motorcycle into St Louis, with a box of penicilin. But gas was still rationed, and my bike ran out long before I reached the hospital. So I began carrying the box, which was not easy. But as I was walking a young woman named Leah, who was pushing her baby in a stroller, offered to help. She let me put the medicine in her stroller while she carried her baby. Leah figured I was a deserter, as she was. Leah talked about how she had also served in the war, until it became clear that they were sending jews to die at such high rates. When Leah got pregnant her commanding officer pressured her to have an abortion. He apparently didn't like us jews breeding. That was when Leah came to St Louis, to have her baby in peace. She seemed genuinly happy here, said that she was more accepted among the aliens than among the gentiles. As we got closer to the hospital an alien soldier approached us. I immediately said what I had been told to say "I want to defect, I stole this medicine for the local hospital." This was probably the first time in my life I was worried I didn't look jewish enough. He seemed willing to believe that I was a deserter, particularly since I had the medicine. But he saw my sidearm, and civilians weren't suppossed to have guns. So he confiscated this gun, even escorted us to the hospital. I soon found dr Abe and gave him the medicine. I also asked him to write a letter, one that I could give the local authorities when I officially defected. By this point the soldier had left, but Leah promised to help me find an apartment later. When the doctor and I were alone I quietly told him of my offer. That if he would give us intel, we would keep supplying him with drugs. Abe seemed confident that this deal would save more lives in the long run, and he was dedicated to preserving life. So we came to this understanding. As Leah and I left I discovered that David was now working at this hospital. He told me that his grandmother had passed away. I was sorry to hear that, she was a good woman. David was officially still in his army, but had requested to be reassigned to the hospital. He said that he could get me a job here if I wanted. I knew that if I was to be living here, even as a spy, I would need a job. This seemed like a good opportunity, I wouldn't have to kill anyone. And Leah had told me that with all the desertions it was becoming difficult to find apartments for everyone. People had to share apartments, I was hoping David and I could share one. It seemed that fate kept bringing us together, why fight it?