Honor

"Who is he?" the soldier asked.

"Private Dunn, Sergeant." PFC Leonardo was kneeling over the body of his squad mate. "A few weeks ago, we were doing keg-stands at Sergeant Wilson's house. Now he's gone."

"I'm sorry, son. But we're gonna have to keep moving. The lieutenant wants us on that objective. We'll come back for him." 2nd Squad, 4th Platoon, A Company was on the other side of the Taedong River. They managed to secure a raft and rowed across, using the now wrecked bridge to stay on course.

I hope the lieutenant is alive. I need answers.


"What are we going to do, sir?"

"I'm thinking."

"We have to act soon. We need to get our partners back!"

"I know." 2LT Joseph and CPL Ku made it back to the truck they captured to get their packs and recover from the engagement they had with the enemy. The lieutenant was sitting with his legs hanging off the back of the bed, head resting on his hand by his forehead. CPL Ku was pacing quickly back and forth behind the vehicle.

"We need to do something, sir! We can't just sit here. They are probably going to torture them! SIR!" The lieutenant looked up at the corporal, brow furrowed and teeth gritted.

"You don't think I know that, Corporal?! You think I want to leave our partners in the hands of those bastards?! I'll skin those fuckers alive if they hurt her." The lieutenant hopped off the bed of the truck and quickly came face to face with the corporal. "But what are we going to do? Huh?! Run in there and fight an entire outpost by ourselves like fucking Army of Two?! We'd get shwacked, and where would that leave our partners? Do you want that, Corporal?!"

"No, sir. I just thought-"

"You thought what?"

"I thought, well, that you'd have a plan to get them back."

"You thought I'd have a plan to get them back? You think I just have all the answers, huh?! Well, I fucking don't, Corporal! I've never been in this situation before. I don't know what the hell I'm doing out here. The only thing I know is that Renamon needs me - our partners need us – right now. They deserve the best we can offer, so we're not going to go in there half-cocked and fail. I've had too many things blow up in my face, I'm not going to let that happen here. She means everything to me, so I need to give her everything I have." The lieutenant put his hand on the corporal's shoulder, and his face softened. "So let me think, okay?"

"Okay."

"Good." The lieutenant went to the cab of the truck to grab the clipboard and draw up some ideas.

Michael! Help me! The lieutenant heard her call out in his head; the hairs on his neck stood up.

"Renamon?" The lieutenant said under his breath. "I'll get you out of there, whatever it takes."


"You killed some of my men. For that, you will be punished." A few cracks of electricity were followed by a feminine voice screaming in pain. "Why do you resist us, hmmmm?" The North Korean commander asked, in thickly accented English.

"You fight my partner; you took me away from him!" Renamon yelled at him. She was strapped down on a specially made interrogation chair.

"Your partner, yes. This partner of yours? Who is he, what is he doing here?"

"He is a strong man who will help me break me out of this." She struggled against the straps.

"He is an American, yes? What are the Americans doing here, on the digital plain?"

"He is going to come here and destroy you."

"Ahh, yes. If he is foolish, he will come here. I hope he does, I want to talk to him. But he won't destroy me, no. I'll see to it that you and him are reunited, doesn't that sound nice?" He put his gloved hand around her neck, pushing her chin up to look her in the eyes. "I will put him in a chair like this, right next to yours."

"No." He tightened his grip around her neck.

"Yeeeeesss. I will interrogate him and see what he knows. If he doesn't feel like talking, heh heh, you will convince him to, like so." With his free hand, he took the electrical contact and brought it to her shoulder, simultaneously releasing his grip on her neck. She screamed out.

Michael! Help me! She thought strongly in her head.

"I want to know how the Americans got here, and what they plan to do here." He pulled the contact away from her. "I want to know what they know of this facility, my project. I cannot let them interfere; we have come much too far. The beasts I have convinced, they will show the Americans the power of True Korea. They will turn the tide of the war. Those who resist, like you my dear, will be eliminated."

He brought the electrical contact to her shoulder once again, making her cry out in pain once more.