The Great War

The war was harsh and smoke engulfed the once - clean air near the bay of Japan. Boats waddled in the water as solders Joe, Tom, and William neared the beach.

The year was 1943 and the second world war plagued the earth. The three teammates were sent from their general to rescue a group of Jews who were sent from the concentration camps to Japan. No one knew what the Nazis were going to do to the Jews, but Joe, Tom, and William were about to find out. William led them for he was one of the most skilled soldiers in the American army. Tom was his battle-hardened friend, great with explosives, but Joe was different.

This was Joes’s first real mission, and he had second thoughts about going into unknown territory across the Pacific. When the soldiers’ boat reached the beach of Japan, the men took out their rifles and dashed into the jungles.

“Are you sure we should be here, behind enemy lines? Wouldn’t it be smarter to just wait at the beach for an enemy to come to we could interrogate him?” Joe asked. Tom rolled his eyes.

“We follow orders,” William answered, “I know you are new at this, but, you should realize that this isn’t going to be a walk in the park, Joe.”

The men continued through the dark, wet, and dense jungle. They could hear the screams of people in the distant as well as a forth set of footsteps.

“We are being followed,” William as he took out a smoke grenade, “Close your eyes.”

Tom and Joe moved out of the way as the smoke grenade left William’s hand. WOOOOOF! Smoke filled the jungle, and before the mysterious follower could escape, he was blinded. William grabbed the man. When the smoke cleared, he could see the man’s face. The man had a black mustache across his face, along with a large scar stretched around his eyes.

“Please don’t kill me!” The scared man pleaded in Japanese.

“Where is the base where you are taking the prisoners?” William asked while pointing his pistol at the enemy’s head.

“I won’t tell you anything, American!” the man answered. William threw him down into the mud and Tom walked up to him.

“What shall we do?” Tom asked while cracking his knuckles. A confused look captured Joe’s face.

“We aren’t going to hurt him, are we ?” Joe asked.

“It’s the only way to get the information out of his mouth,” Tom answered while taking out some brass knuckles, “You need to learn that there are easier ways to get information, even if they involve torture.”

“NO! I won’t let you!” Joe exploded, “There is no need to hurt him! There are easier ways.”

William just watched as Tom and Joe argued. Little did Joe know that this was actually a test. Tom wouldn’t really torture the man, but they wanted to know how Joe would feel about the idea.

“Okay, okay, I won’t torture him,” Tom finally said, taking out his pistol once more. He held it to the Nazi’s face.

“Tell me, where is the base?”

“Twenty miles northwest from here,” the man answered, and Tom tied him up. William then knew that Joe was pretty sensitive and that the boy might not be able to take this mission, especially if many people would die if they were captured.

“We better find a ride, because this will be a long walk.” Tom said while looking at his compass.

The men continued on their way through the wet jungles until they realized that they walked right into a trap. Japanese soldiers circled around them as the sunrise appeared through the many trees.

“We have you. Drop your weapons,” a Japanese soldier exclaimed.

The American soldiers did as their enemies told them to and the Japanese soldiers walked them into a large van-type vehicle. When they came to their destination, the Japanese soldiers put Tom, Joe, and William into a jail cell.

“What are you doing to the prisoners from the concentration camp?” William asked one of the Japanese guards. The guard just spit on him.

“What are they going to do to us?” Joe asked William fearfully, trying to avoid Tom.

“I don’t know, Joe. But just try to survive no matter what they do to us,” William answered.

“If only we could get my explosives,” Tom said,” Then we could blast our way out of here.”

“But I don’t see them and there are guards everywhere.”

All of a sudden, a Japanese guard rushed toward them, took out his knife, and stabbed Tom in the heart.

“That is what you get for devising a plan about getting out of here, American scum!” the guard said as blood flowed out of Tom’s dead corpse. Joe fell back in horror and tears came to his eyes. The sadness quickly became anger.

“I hate you!!” Joe yelled at the top of his lungs at the guard. William tried to calm him down, but it didn’t help.

As the guard started to come back, William grabbed the knife out of Tom’s corpse, and threw it at the guard. The guard tumbled to the cold ground, as William took the keys off the soldier’s belt.

“We are getting ourselves out of here, Joe,” William said as he opened the cell door. Joe was slowly following behind him, gathering his thoughts. William was concerned that this was too much for Joe to comprehend. The two fighters crept through the shadows, and eventually into a large dome room.

On the grimy walls there were six Jewish prisoners, tied to the walls with crude ropes and shackles.

“Help us,” they moaned.

“Oh my gosh! We have to help them! We have to free them!” Joe cried out.

“If we take them down, their legs won’t be able to support their bodies. We need to put them in a vehicle.”

“We can’t get a vehicle in here.” Joe pointed out.

“Yeah, I know. If we find Tom’s explosives, we may be able to blow a hole through the wall, and load them onto a vehicle that way,” William said as he picked up a set of blueprints that were on a table, “Make sure nobody comes in. I’m going to get the explosives.”

William dashed out of the room, many thoughts went through Joe’s head. So much has happened. What if he doesn’t come back? What if I get killed? NO. I have to do this. I volunteered for this mission and I have to carry it out, Joe thought as he picked up a B.A.R. machine gun.

BAM! BAM! BAM!

Joe heard banging on the rusty door. Was it William, or was it the Japanese soldiers? A back door opened, and William came in through it.

“I have the explosives. Hold off the soldiers as I set them up!” Joe’s partner exclaimed as he set a bomb on the side of the wall. The yells from the prisoners around the two Americans made it hard for them to concentrate. Suddenly, the door opened and ten Japanese soldiers stormed into the dome-shaped room. A man in a green uniform stepped out last. He had a peculiar smile on his face.

“Who are you?” Joe asked while putting down his weapon.

“I am Gustov. I believe you are here to rescue these prisoners. I’m sure you want to know what we are going to do to them.”

“Go on,” William said as he walked away from the bomb he planted.

“Have you heard of chemical warfare, William? I’m sure you have. Well, three years ago I have discovered a chemical capable of brain deterioration. If given enough time, Oh say, five minutes, the chemical could fully deteriorate a human brain. Five weeks ago, my scientists converted the chemical into a gas state. It seems you are the first two specimens to try it out.”

“You’re mad!” Joe yelled in anger.

“And you will be too,” Gustov said as he picked up an odd-looking device, “In here is the chemical that will win the war!”

The guards forced William and Joe to get on their knees. “Is this the end?” Joe mumbled as he looked at William.

“No, it’s only the beginning,” William answered as he took a detonator out of his pocket. “Close your eyes.”

BOOM!

One whole side of the room exploded and rubble impaled each of the Japanese guards. Gustov took out a rifle and tried to shoot William. William dodged and countered with a shot from his pistol. Gustov’s head exploded, and all the enemies were lying around the room, dead.

“We did it,” Joe said as he stood in the middle of the room. There was an odd silence, and light flowed through the large hole in the wall.

“Quickly, free these men as I back a truck into the hole,” William exclaimed as he ran out of the room and into the outside.

Joe untied the weak prisoners and laid them onto a truck that William had backed into the room. A couple minutes later, Joe and William drove away from the base, with the prisoners and to the bay.

“Are you okay?” William asked Joe, reflecting on past events.

“Yeah, but what if the enemy gets their hands on the chemical?”

“Then we will stop them, as a team,” William answered with a smile.

Joe didn’t feel like an outsider anymore, and he liked that. When the Pacific Ocean came into view, there was a boat waiting for them. Their mission was complete.

The End