“None of us did,” Taylor murmured, as he patted him on the back and stepped on through to the next room. As he did, he was struck in the face with a baseball bat. Taylor stumbled back, and blood flowed from his nose. He recovered, looked back, and saw Kelly standing in the shadows before them.
“What the hell, Kelly?” Taylor shouted.
The old Commander rushed towards them and grabbed Taylor in shock.
“Mitch? Have you lost your mind?”
Taylor was still reeling from the pain, and blood flowed between his fingers as he cupped his nose.
“Goddamn it, Kelly, you’re crazy!”
“Says the man in enemy territory trying to save me. You must have gone out of your mind. Leave now and don’t come back.”
They all heard a noise from the front of the house and turned to confront it. Taylor held his pistol up with one hand while still holding his bleeding nose with the other, and Kelly defiantly lifted his old school wooden bat. Out of the shadows came Doyle. He was a little shaky and had blood on his collar and hands. Kelly turned to Taylor.
“What have you done?” Kelly asked, horrified.
Doyle shrugged and pointed to Taylor for answers.
"You put him up to this? You've no idea what you've done. You've probably guaranteed our deaths."
"No, that was done the day the UEN took control of this town from you," Taylor answered him quietly.
* * *
Robinson crept up beside a parked car and peered over towards the guard station they had first seen when they arrived. He ducked back down to Lewis.
"We've got to take them down without them getting a signal out."
Lewis nodded in agreement.
"What would get their attention enough that they'd come out but not report in anything suspicious?"
He got no response.
"Wait, I got it. Two drunks shambling over a landing pad start a punch up. How are your acting skills?" he asked with a smile.
Without waiting for a response, he stepped out into the open and began stumbling towards the guard post station. He swayed from side to side as if he would fall over any minute. He turned back to look at Lewis and staggered a metre wide in a massively exaggerated state of intoxication.
"Hey, Lewis, you fucker! Where are you? Lewis!" he screamed.
It was part of the act and meant as an order at the same time. The Private stepped out and followed after him. His feigned drunkenness was about as unconvincing as Robinson had ever seen.
"Every goddamn time you get drunk, and every goddamn time you make it my problem!" he shouted. He spun around to notice he'd just started to get the attention of the guards.
"You gotta learn to handle your drink!" he yelled, as he stumbled back towards Lewis and fell against him.
"Whoa, whatta you doing?" he asked aggressively.
He pushed Lewis, causing them to part.
"Hit me," he whispered.
Lewis was frozen solid.
"Hit me," he said again.
Lewis hesitated, so he went forward instead.
"You know you’re nothing but a lazy punk!"
With that, he slapped Lewis across the face, which left him more surprised at the puny strike than the fact he had struck at all.
"What's the matter? You a coward?"
He slapped Lewis again, and this time he seemed to loosen up and get into the act. He suddenly swung for Robinson and clipped him with a solid blow to the chin. He reeled back and exaggerated an almost falling action, as if he'd been hit by a freight train.
"Why, you son of a bitch!"
He rushed back at Lewis and grabbed him in a standing clinch.
"Stay on your feet," he whispered.
They tussled, and each pretended to try and throw the other, punching with hooks and uppercuts. As they turned, they could see the two guards approaching. They kept up the act right until the point they felt the guards grab them and try to tear them apart. They suddenly released their grip, and Robinson turned and struck the first in the face with an elbow, knocking him to the ground with a straight punch to the face as he tried to recover.
Lewis simply grabbed the other guard’s pistol from his holster and held it to his stomach, causing him to freeze solid before him.
"You've gotta be the worst actor I've ever seen," joked Robinson to Lewis.
"Yeah, well, it worked, didn't it?"
* * *
Taylor and Kelly sat at his breakfast table. Kelly looked like a broken man, one who had accepted defeat a long time ago.
"So why here, why did you come for me?" he asked.
"Because I need you. I've got one shot at killing Erdogan, the enemy leader. I need help from within this country, and you are all I’ve got."
Kelly shook his head.
"What?"
"You just don't know when to quit, do you?"
"No, damn right I don't. Quitting ain't in my blood," he quickly snapped, "and I wasn't aware it was in yours either."
"It isn't about quitting."
Kelly tapped a few controls on the table before him, and a large screen projected on the wall. It was a news channel with a female news anchor reporting from the rubble of what could be one of a hundred cities. Text along the screen passed by with all those cities which had fallen to the Krys and their UEN allies.
"Oh, come on, this is just propaganda," added Taylor.
"Yes, but that doesn't make it any less true."
The reporter continued on, "A number of EA leaders have been killed in targeted attacks, and we are already getting reports of evacuations taking place throughout most remaining hold out cities. The grand Lord Erdogan has repeatedly asked us to convey the message that all who lay down their weapons will not be harmed. The war is over. It is time to stop fighting."
Taylor shook his head.
"You don't believe that shit?" he asked Kelly.
"You’re damn right I do, and it's time you did as well."
"Even if it were, we can't surrender. There will be no peace with Erdogan."
Kelly nodded in agreement. "Then there remains but one solution."
Taylor thought for a moment.
"You're not suggesting?"
"I am. You once told me to leave my homeland because it was the people who made it home, and that without them none of it was important, did you not?"
Taylor nodded. "But it isn't over. We still have a chance of taking him down."
"Get real, Colonel. You can't take down the most lethal opponent the World has ever known with you and a few old soldiers. This fight is over."
"It can't be over. We've fought too hard. We've sacrificed too much for it to be over."
"And yet you cannot change what is. You can only do the best with what you have."
Taylor was silenced.
"So you're saying what, run? Where? Nowhere on Earth is safe."
"I agree."
It hadn't occurred to him that running meant leaving Earth, but it was clear that was what Kelly was implying.
"We can't. How could we leave?"
"You are facing defeat within what, a few weeks. You've pulled off some miracles before, there is no doubt, but you know this is an impossible situation. So what are your options? Fight on, and die along with your friends. Surrender, and accept the rule of the enemy."
"Never. There is no living in peace with Erdogan. He'd kill us all."
"Then you have the answer. Run and live to fight another day."
"This isn't my decision."
"No, but if I'm thinking it, and you're warming to the idea, maybe others will too."
Taylor felt sick at the idea. They heard the doors of the house open, and he jumped to his feet and drew out his pistol. But as he took up position behind the counter, Kelly merely sat comfortably where he was. Several figures approached from down the hallway until finally they came into view. Captain Morris was at their head.