"One mark of a great soldier is that he fights on his own terms or fights not at all."

Sun Tzu

Summer 1999

Riyzabbi, Urzikstan

Coughing heavily as the dust and dirt from the explosion went down her throat, young eight-year-old Leilah Karim looked around carefully from her position underneath heavy debris. She found her young sister Farah still unconscious, but could not see their mother. Twisting around her right arm, she freed her hand from the crumbled concrete.

"Fatima?! Leilah, Farah, Hadir?!" She could hear her father yelling from the surface, though it was muffled by the debris.

Hearing movement nearby, Leilah turned to see Farah waking up. Relieved that she was okay, she called out hoarsely, "Farah."

"Sister," the younger girl spoke in relief, before she moved her arm, freeing it as well. When the concrete moved though, it revealed a cold truth as the two girls stared at their mother's unmoving face. "Mama… Please, wake up, mama…"

The debris shifted as it got closer to crushing Farah, scaring the older girl at how close she was to losing her little sister. "Farah," Leilah tried to get her sister's attention off the cruel sight. "Farah, don't look at her. Look at me." The younger girl looked at her with tears in her eyes. "Now, try to find a brick or large rock and bang it against the metal frame above you. Do it as loud as you can."

Looking around, Farah found a large brick and pulled it from where it was wedged between two rocks. Careful as the rock shifted around, she held it over her head and started banging it against the metal sheet above her, knowing she had to do this to save her and her sister.

"Quiet! Quiet! I heard something!" Leilah faintly heard from above as her sister continued her task.

"That's them, I told you…!" She could hear the relief in her father's voice, even as low as it was.

"Keep going, we hear you!" Another voice spoke up, encouraging her sister to quickly hit the rock against the metal.

Sunlight soon hit the area where Farah was, making her block the harsh light from her eyes and drop the brick. A friendly face appeared over her, "Stay calm, we're going to get you out!"

"There's a child down here, hurry!" Another voice called out as he urged people over. "Clear that rubble!" When they tried to lift a piece of concrete, it was too heavy, and reinforced with rebar. "Bring the saw, we've got someone here!" A saw came into view as it primed itself to go on the steel bars, "Cover your eyes…!"

Covering her face, Farah waited until they finished with the saw before speaking, "My sister…" No one heard her, as the rescuers quickly moved the concrete out of the way. "My sister…"

"What?" One of them asked, and she pointed to her left to the area where her sister was. "We'll get her. Let's get you out first."

"It's a girl! Very young…!" The other rescuer spoke.

"That's one of my daughters," both girls could hear their father better.

The rescuers lift Farah up and out of the debris, with her father snatching her to him as they went back to find the others. They quickly found their mother and a young local boy. In the direction the young girl pointed to, they found Leilah underneath more rubble.

As they helped the slightly older girl out of the hole, she was coughing up a storm as the dust caked the back of her throat. She looked over to see her father and ran into his arms, hugging both him and Farah in relief. "Baba!" She exclaimed as tears ran down her face.

"Oh, my sweet girls! Thank god you are both back!" Their father told them as the bodies pulled out of the rubble came into sight.

"Mama…!" Both girls cried out with tears in their eyes at the sight of their sweet mother never coming home again.

"No-! No…!" Their father was worried when he saw the young boy but then saw his face. It wasn't his son. "Wait! Where is my son?!" He turned to his two daughters, "Leilah! Leilah, where is Hadir?"

"We left him home, to study…" Farah answered their father before her sister could.

Hearing a missile coming closer, everyone looked around in fear as it impacted the ground a few miles away. The concussive blast pushed the sand and dirt their way, as everyone braced themselves for the winds that followed.

Picking up his youngest daughter, their father led his eldest daughter away from the danger as they started to head home.

"Mama…!" Farah cried out again as the three ran away, reaching out towards the dead woman as they got farther away.

"Mother's gone, Farah." Their father consoled her, not letting himself grieve over the woman he had loved for over a decade. "She's gone. It's just us. We will find Hadir, and leave town, okay?"

All around them, people were helping others hit in the blast. Coming around a corner, they ran into Shadi, a friend of their father's, and his daughter. Despite the fact that the Russians were coming, the three refused to leave Hadir behind. Agreeing to help, the group continued forward, getting separated as a van drove between the group. As it passed the Karim family saw the Russians pulling up before they started firing on the crowd, killing everyone including Shadi and his young daughter. The remaining group ran to the left, hopping over a barricade to some back alleys as they made their way back home.

Putting Farah down, their father knelt in front of his two girls, "Sweethearts, I'll go ahead and make sure it's safe. Keep behind me."

"Yes, baba, I will!" Farah promised as she followed behind their father, holding Leilah's hand to reassure herself.

Running down the alleyway and a few feet from the house, Leilah saw another Russian truck appear and shoot out poisonous gas at the crowd that gathered as she and the others tried to not breathe it in. Running to the front door, their father opened it as he urged the two girls to head inside. Locking and bolting the door behind them, he called out for his son.

"Hadir? Hadir?!" He called out, causing the boy to come out of hiding and run to his father's arms.

"Baba! I heard the bombs. I closed the windows, like you told me!" Hadir told him.

"Good boy. We'll be safe from the gas, for now." He urged the children in front of him, "Come with me to the kitchen, all of you." Their father commanded as he strode down the hallway. The three followed their father into the small kitchen as he started to gather supplies.

Noticing a person was missing, Hadir asked, "Where's mama?"

"Mama's not coming. I'm sorry, my boy." He grabbed a bag from the shelf to his right and started packing it with different canned goods from the shelves of the kitchen.

"Why are they doing this, baba?" Hadir asked, confused at the unexplained violence from the Russian Army.

"They think we help the rebels." He grabs a couple of gas masks from above the cabinets and hands one to Hadir and the other to Farah. "Here, take these masks, okay?"

"Do we have one for Leilah?" Hadir asked, worried about his sister.

"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine," Leilah assured her brother.

"You'll both need your own. I'll help your sister. Come." Their father agreed with his eldest daughter, as he went to the kitchen table and pulled out four phones. "Here, take these phones. Use them if we get separated."

The three of them grabbed the phones and he put one in his pocket. Seeing Farah looking down solemnly at the device, Leilah placed a hand on her shoulder and pulled her into a hug. The young girl held onto her tightly as Hadir looked over at them. She could tell he wanted the comfort too but held back as he tried to remain strong for his sisters.

Walking back towards the front door with the three following him, Walid ordered, "Okay. We'll cross the bridge and go to the mountains. We'll be safe there. Come!"

"What if they catch us, baba?" Hadir asked.

Not sugarcoating it, their father replied, "They will take you away and lock you up." He looks outside the window to check to see if the coast is clear.

"I don't want to go." The young boy said petulantly to his father. Leilah and Farah stayed by the entrance to the hallway as the two males talked.

Their father kneeled down in front of him, a look of compassion in his eyes at the fear shown in his son's eyes. "Okay, listen, I know. We'll come back, I promise. You must be strong for your sisters now, okay?" He taps Hadir's chest where his heart is, "You keep mama here…" he then pointed at his head, "And you keep this clear. That's how we survive. You understand?"

"Yes, baba," Hadir said, a new look of determination in his eyes as he found a goal to focus on until this nightmare was over.

"Listen, when we get outside, you stay with me, okay?" Both children nod as they start walking to the door. Just as the older male was reaching for the handle, banging could be heard as the door moved with each hit. Finally, it burst open letting a large Russian soldier inside before he closed the door behind him. "Please...There's no one here. It's only my children, please!"

As the soldier walked closer, their father threw his bag at him. The bag hit, causing the man to be disoriented as the older male rushed him. They wrestled over the knife the soldier pulled out as they knocked over a lamp causing a fire to start. Hadir tried to help but was knocked away by the larger male as their father got a hold of the knife and stabbed the man in the chest. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to take him down, but it gave Leilah time to hide with Farah in the master bedroom.

A bang was heard as a body collided with the wall before shots were fired, scaring the two girls as they huddled together. Leilah was glad that the floor vents were not up, giving the two girls space as they crawled from room to room, dodging the large Russian. Seeing a lone screwdriver on the ground, the older girl picked it up and gave it to Farah, to protect herself while she grabbed the knife he dropped while searching for them. Inching up behind him multiple times, each girl took turns stabbing him in the leg, hoping to hit an artery. They were hit multiple times in the face but persevered through the pain to continue attacking him. That was until he turned around to notice Farah.

"There you are!" The soldier glared behind his gas mask, as he grabbed her arm. "Got you, suka!" He gripped her neck and pushed her onto the floor, choking her. "Trying to kill me?! Bitch!"

Coming up from behind him, Leilah took the knife and stabbed him in the back above his vest, making him yell out in pain. He turned around and backhanded her in the face, making her fly into the table in the hallway. She cried out at the pain that exploded from her back and head at the impact and was dazed as she lay on the ground. She felt hands on her legs as the soldier dragged her toward him, getting on top of her to start choking her. Dark spots danced across her vision, as she tried to pry his hands off her throat.

Before she could do anything, Hadir leaped onto his back and stabbed him in the chest making the man let Leilah go as he tried to grab ahold of the young boy. Racing forward, Farah stabbed him in the chest repeatedly with the screwdriver before being backhanded away as the soldier turned his attention to Hadir.

Gaining her breath back, Leilah grabbed his AK-47 off his back and shot him, causing him to collapse on top of the boy. Pushing the body off of Hadir, the three of them sat back in shock.

"Don't be afraid...We are together." Farah told her siblings as Hadir continued to stare at the dead soldier.

"Okay," Hadir replied tearfully as he stood up, "let's check his body."

"Look! A gas mask!" Farah cheered as she pulled it off his face and held it out to her older sister. "Now you got one too, Leilah!"

"Thank you, little sister," Leilah smiled at her as she took the mask from her, holding it in her arms as she watched her two siblings try to get the gun from underneath the soldier's body. "Leave the gun, he's too heavy. We need to check on Baba."

The three of them rushed over to their father, who was barely hanging onto consciousness as he felt his life start slipping away. Opening his eyes he sees his children staring at him worriedly as Hadir kneeled down next to him.

"Baba…?" He asked hesitantly.

"My loves…" His father said weakly.

"You have to get up…" Hadir tried to pull him up but couldn't.

"I can't...I can't go with you…" Their father resisted his attempts to pull him up as he leaned up against the cabinet next to him.

"What do we do?"

"You survive. Whatever it takes. Never back down," he told the three of them. He gave them a smile before he relaxed, the light in his eyes fading until they became a dull brown color. Tears ran down all of their faces as they stared at the body of their father, Leilah between both of her siblings with a hand on their shoulders.

"We've got to go," she urged them as she pushed them towards the front door.

"Goodbye, daddy. I love you," Farah said tearfully as she wiped her eyes, both children following after their sister.

All three placed on their gas masks as they walked toward the front door, but when Hadir tried to reach for the deadbolt, he was too short. Leilah, with Hadir's help, went to open it but found it jammed shut and asked for the screwdriver in Farah's hand. Jamming it under the lock, she pried the lock off and the door burst open. Seeing the coast was clear, she urged her siblings to follow her across the courtyard toward the playground across the street. Crawling through a hole in the wall, she saw Hadir freeze at the sight of a dead child on the other side.

"Brother...we need to go," Farah said, worried about her brother as he seemed to be in shock.

Pulling himself out of it, Hadir followed behind Leilah as she stood to the right, in the direction of a gate out of the courtyard. In front of the gate was a dying dog, much to the heartbreak of the group. Deciding to take pity on the dog and save it from an excruciating death, she pulled out the knife she took and stabbed the animal through the head, killing it instantly as tears rolled down her face. They moved on, not saying anything as they focused on surviving the trip to the mountains. Cutting through the city, they hid behind cars as they dodged from the sight of the Russian soldiers shooting anything that moved. Hiding up against a wall, they watched as a higher-up walked up to the group of soldiers asking for updates on the mission.

Seeing them distracted, the group of three raced across the road, making it to a mostly collapsed building with a small crawl hole at the edge of the city. Hadir pushed his way to the front, deciding to go first to check if the coast was clear.

Once he reached the other side, he came across a man barely breathing as he lunged for his mask, pulling it right off of his face. Luckily Hadir only took a small breath of the gas in before he was able to get his mask back from the now dead man. Taking deep breaths, he watched as Leilah came up to him, checking to see if he was alright.

"Are you hurt?" Farah asked worriedly.

"I'm okay...I'm okay," Hadir told her as he reassured himself as well.

"We're almost there. The fields should be just past this house," Leilah told them as they walked through the building ahead. Coming to a window facing the fields, Hadir and Leilah looked around to check that it was clear.

"Follow me," Hadir was the first one out, dropping from the window to the ground below.

"Farah, go," Leilah told her sister, pushing the younger girl ahead of her. "I'll be right behind you."

Farah looked a bit nervous at the height, but did as she said, slightly stumbling when she hit the ground. Leilah followed after them, and they raced to the fields to the right, heading towards a path that led to a small residential area right outside the city. Taking their masks off, they all took deep breaths of the fresh air, while Hadir started coughing.

Looking to the left, they watched as multiple helicopters headed toward the city. Continuing down the path, they ducked down low to avoid detection of the Russian soldiers rounding up the men, women, and children. Getting close to the barn, Leilah pulled them back as she heard the order to kill the men. Pushing their bodies to the floor, they took cover as bullets and debris flew into the barn. Once it died down, she let them go in front of her as she watched through the holes, the soldiers putting women and children in trucks and driving off. Cutting through the barn, they come behind one of the houses as they follow the path to another field. All that was left was a couple of soldiers and the bodies of the men they killed, as well as a truck.

Coughing as quietly as possible, Hadir stated, "If we run away, they'll catch us. We need that truck."

"They'll hear you coughing." Farah pointed out.

"I will go," Leilah told them. "You both hide."

"Find a gun. And if you get scared, use the phone to distract them," Hadir told her quietly. "Don't get caught."

"I won't," Leilah smirked. "Remember who is the pro at hide-and-seek?"

Going to a ledge, their brother pulled himself up before grabbing Farah's hand. Pulling her next to him, both siblings hid in the foliage as they quietly snuck to the top of the ridge to hide a phone. Waiting until the soldiers' backs were turned, Leilah leaped over the fence to crawl into the flowers to camouflage herself. Seeing Hadir and Farah placing the phone down before hiding, she called it, causing the phone to let out a high-pitched ringing as it gained the attention of the two Russians.

When they walked towards the hill, she quietly raced forward and grabbed a revolver on the table, likely belonging to one of the dead. Hiding behind an oil drum, she cocks the revolver, checking to see that she had six shots. As one of them came toward the fenceline, she aimed it at the soldier and shot, striking his forehead, causing him to drop like a sack of bricks. The recoil nearly caused her to lose her grip on the gun.

"What the fuck?! Andrei! No-!" The other soldier reacted as he ran toward his friend's body. Before he turned around, she shot him in the back, hitting right above his vest as he dropped to the ground next to his friend.

As soon as she saw the coast was clear, Leilah waved her siblings down as they ran to her cheering, "You did it! You saved us!"

"Let's get out of here," She opened the door to the truck and waited for her siblings to get inside, before moving to follow.

Before she was able to get inside, Leilah was grabbed and thrown to the ground with another Russian getting on top of her to hold her down. This one looked different and held himself differently from the other soldiers.

"Leilah!" Hadir and Farah yelled as they froze in terror. She was trying to fight him off, but he was smarter than the other ones.

He turned around and ordered in Russian, "Grab them!"

"Get off of me!" Leilah yelled out as she struggled to push him away. Seeing the other soldiers grabbing Hadir and Farah, she struggled harder, "Don't touch them!"

He pulled her up and tried to drag her to another truck, but she kicked him behind the kneecap causing him to let go of her. She grabbed the revolver that she dropped and shot the ones holding Farah and Hadir before being tackled to the ground. Landing on her stomach, her arms were pulled back behind her and tied together with rope, as well as her feet. Two other soldiers grabbed her siblings as they tried to get away, and were thrown into the truck.

With both her hands and feet tied, Leilah was lifted by two soldiers and rolled into the truck. As two men held down her siblings, the man she was fighting earlier got into the truck and crouched down next to her. In English, he said, "So you are the little devils who killed my soldiers." All she did was glare at him with hate in her eyes as he smirked, saying in Russian, "Perfect." He pulled a bag over her head dousing her in darkness.