Hey guys sorry for the long wait. I know some of you probably thought I gave up on this story but I haven't! I am determined to make this the first fanfic I finish all the way through. Though freshman year of college has gotten me busier than I thought I would be so expect long waits between chapters. Though not one as long as this past one, I haven't updated since August 2015 and this is being put up April 2016. I decided to update because I have found myself writing a little more and I wanted some fresh feedback to get me a little motivated.
Thanks to those who have just recently followed this story it was you guys who got my spark reignited!
So here is the long awaited update I hope you enjoy
March 23rd 2045
It's been a few weeks since Jack confronted me about Ingrid, though we didn't bother discussing it further. Instead we found ourselves becoming close friends I took over Ingrid's job of helping Jack around, he now could write with his left hand, and he could finally keep up with me as we walked around the town.
Ingrid also got around to teaching me some self defense. Though Jack tutored me in some areas I still had trouble on. Ingrid and I still haven't become that close though we had a mutual respect for each other, even if she still treated me like I was a ten year old.
Though on the other hand me and Jack became real "bros" as he called it. I learned he was only a year older than me. Though one evening after dinner the both of us were sitting behind the gym after shooting some hoops.
After a few minutes of just quiet Jack spoke up. "It sure is quiet here, not like back home," I don't think he meant for me to hear him.
"What was your home like?" I asked curiously. He gazed down with a mournful gaze. "It's ok if you don't want to say," I quickly stammered.
"No it's fine," Jack smiled softly gazing at the setting sun. "I guess you should know," he sighed again leaning against the wall getting comfortable. "I grew up in a Philosopher military compound in Chicago. My parents were generals from the second civil war, together they and some others created the compound for the surviving loyal philosophers. There they all had kids and raised them to their ideals. I had a little brother only a year younger, his name was Brandon. Together we were the top cadets in the training camp. It was brutal, we were kept to a strict schedule and never given the chances normal kids would. We were born to be soldiers and that's what we became." He paused letting that sink in.
"When the battle began in December my brother and I were put in the same regiment and sent to New York. That was the first time I saw what we were doing. Everywhere we went bodies were piling up, the beautiful buildings I had only read about now were skeletons in the sky. I saw kids being ripped from their mothers arms, grandparents and other elderly were shot, fathers watched as their kids were dragged away by another party, knowing they may meet them on the battlefield one day."
"After a few weeks I started to wonder what we were doing. Was all this death and destruction really necessary? I heard from one of the higher ups that we were searching for some girl that would allow us to glide to victory. I didn't question this. Only caring that this fighting would cease soon so my brother and I could get out of this bloodbath with our lives."
His scarred face scrunched together as he tried to stop the tears from falling. His voice broke as he continued.
"Sadly Brandon had the same idea," He sobbed softly. "One morning, our commander, my father, woke our squad up, which wasn't that abnormal. Though he usually woke us up at 7, that morning he woke us up at the crack of dawn." He stared down at his one trembling hand. "All of the squads were lined up in front of the campsite; it had become a habit for me to look for Brandon when we are all lined up but strangely I couldn't find him that morning. After a few minutes of us all standing in the cold fog, I could hear shouts of anger come from behind. None of us broke formation, not even when other soldiers brought my younger brother out in front and forced him to his knees."
Jack took a moment to breathe before continuing. "My father came out . . . he didn't even look at Brandon! He just called me forward and gave me his gun." He closed his eyes as if hoping that this was a nightmare and that any moment he would wake up.
He opened his eyes, and the ugly truth hits him. This was reality. "Brandon had been caught sabotaging our supply cash and allowing Expansionist prisoners free. My father wanted to make an example out of him, while also keeping our family name clean." He hissed at the word 'family' as he cringed at the next set of words. "He wanted me to shoot him . . . but I couldn't do it. He was my baby brother . . . I-I just couldn't do it."
"My father then orders our men to hold me down as he took the gun and shot his own son in the head." He glanced to his missing body parts, "Then he made an example out of me." Jack inhaled deeply through his nose, controlling the flow of tears as he blinked them back. "Once they were done with me, they tossed me aside like garbage. The last words my father said to me were that the only thing I was good for was feeding the animals."
He sighed, "I thought that was the end of me, but you came along and found me." He smiled, one of the most genuine ones I had seen since I first met him. It was a smile that lit up his scarred face. "You're the reason I'm here Tyson, it's thanks to you I have a second chance to live for both me and my brother."
Joy.
That's how I felt as he said those words, like after everything that has happened; I didn't make someone's life worse by being in it.
I actually made a difference in Jack's life.
Then why did I feel so guilty?
I felt guilty because it wasn't me, Alexa, who made him so happy, it was Tyson who made him smile like this. Alexa was still the family wrecker, the hurricane.
"Jack," I started, "There's something I have to tell yo-"
"That has got to be the biggest load of crap I have ever heard," Ingrid's voice snapped like a clap of thunder.