Clayton had taken his father and daughter to the bomb shelter, with strict instructions to stay there for a week or until he returned, whichever came first. Qi Lian had known Clayton wouldn't back down from the fight.

Qi Lian stood in awe of what Martin had offered her, Clayton and Qi Wei. This gave her group better chances than she could have imagined, still slim but better. Martin and his "militia" had all come and offered to participate in the fight, on Martin's property. His "militia" amounted to 15 men, all heavily armed, but all older. Qi Lian knew a normal human in their 20's didn't have the ability to stand against the Red Tide soldiers, much less a group of men nearing retirement age. She had begged Martin to reconsider.

Martin would hear nothing of it.

"If I die fightin' the government then so be it, the rest of em feel the same way too. We have all lived our lives." Martin had said.

While Qi Lian certainly didn't want to be the cause of the deaths of these men, she knew full well her chances were precisely 0 without them. The fate of the world was at hand.

But then how did she even know if Han Xin was following her at all? She had been so sure he would before but now some self doubt was creeping in. Why would he follow her? Of course she represented a threat to his "new" world order, but would it really matter if everything was blown up? Maybe he felt that she would be able to mount an effective countermovement after he blew up the world? Or maybe he simply wanted revenge for the deaths of the Red Tide soldiers killed by her and Qi Wei?

She felt somewhat reassured by the fact that the world had not yet been blown to bits. Of course there was a reason she had chosen this part of the country. She had read about the old abandoned military complex here, and the fallout shelter. She also had read about the small amount of drones in this area, helping to reduce their exposure to cameras. Finally there wasn't likely to be anything targeting this area for nuclear attack, there wouldn't be much reason to do so anymore. So even if Han Xin did send nukes out, they were most likely safe here by comparison to other regions of the world.

Lian reassured herself that indeed Han Xin would come for her before executing his plan after all. She knew that the threat of her existence was too great. In fact it was important that she not have the ability to form a rebel group afterwards. Han desperately wanted to rule the world, the thought of someone out there capable of challenging his dominance would make him shudder. And how did Lian know this? Because Xin and Lian were very similar, more than she cared to admit, and it is what she would do if she were in his shoes.

Lian knew she couldn't pretend to be so righteous, the same thoughts had occurred to her as had to Xin. The only difference between her and Xin was she had learned to suppress such thoughts, to put them in the back of her mind. Xin let these thoughts consume him, until he decided it was what must be done. Perhaps the biggest reason for this difference was Qi Wei.

Despite the slightly gruff exterior, Qi Wei had an extremely big heart. He seemed to have what most of the other Red Tide soldiers lacked, compassion. Qi Lian loved Qi Wei like a brother, though the reality was a bit more complicated. They weren't really brother and sister in the same sense as other brothers and sisters. But they had been given life in the same laboratory, and nearly at the same time as one another. They figured that was close enough.

Whenever Lian had some dark thoughts about the military authority around them, it was Qi Wei who had always managed to calm her and help her to view it from their perspective. When Lian had thoughts of ruling the world, Qi Wei was the one who had helped her to understand the human cost of doing so. And Qi Wei had pushed Qi Lian to understand the sanctity of human life.

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Perhaps Qi Wei's only major mistake had been to convince Qi Lian to allow Han Xin to take control of the Red Tide soldiers. Wei hadn't been able to see what was coming, but neither had Lian. She had figured Han Xin would be satisfied with his new role, but had she ever been wrong.

So Lian stood watch with the sun about to rise, awaiting a possible ambush from Han Xin's troops. Wondering how it had ever gotten to this situation.

"You should get some sleep, I will take the lead watch now." Qi Wei said, having just woken from his nap.

Qi Lian jumped as she had not been expecting anyone to speak to her in that moment.

"Oh you snuck up on me." Qi Lian said.

"You see you need the sleep, you haven't slept in days. I feel rejuvenated and I will be more alert so go get some sleep now." Qi Wei responded in a gentle manner.

"I will, just let me take a last look around."

"OK do what you must, but make it quick. If we are going to battle we will need you at full strength!"

"Of course brother. I am just doing one pass around the perimeter."

Qi Lian began walking around the outside of the area where she and Martin had planned to do battle. The men he had called to come help had been incredibly efficient. They came with all sorts of equipment; hammers, nails, chainsaws, wood glue and so on. When they arrived they cut down some trees and built two makeshift walls that stood about 6 feet high.

After cutting notches in the trees allowing them to stack the logs together, the men had taken thick boards to nail to the back side of their log structures. This served to add as more protection from bullets. Presumably these government forces were going to come well armed (and of course Qi Lian knew they would indeed be well armed).

The men had taken their chainsaws and cut small slots in these wooden structures. These slots were large enough to see through and of course stick a gun through. The slots were then covered with red pine needles so as to cover up where they were. The goal of course was to prevent the soldiers from knowing where they were being shot at from.

Of course further confusion would arise because there were two structures facing each other. The soldiers walking into this area would be sitting ducks, or at least it seemed like they would be.

The plan of course was brilliant, Qi Lian signed off on this plan immediately. It also would have been flawless if these were normal humans they were dealing with. Unfortunately they were not dealing with normal humans. Qi Lian had no doubts they would deal some damage to the Red Tide soldiers, so long as they were not able to perform some sort of ambush. But how much damage would they be able to inflict? The top priority target for Lian was Han Xin. If she could eliminate Han Xin and then make a narrow escape perhaps she could figure out a way to end this whole terrible plan. Maybe she could reason with the remaining soldiers. She had, after all, effectively been their leader before, perhaps they would accept her as their leader once more.

Qi Lian's thinking had shifted on this topic. Originally she had felt that capturing Han Xin would be the best way to get results. Now she had convinced herself that she needed to kill him. Even if he feared for his life, he still was unlikely to help them stop the plan he had put into place. He believed in his plan too deeply.

Han Xin would not be easy to kill, Qi Lian knew this, but she had a plan for this too. About a quarter mile away from the battle zone Martin had shown her his hunting blind sitting high in a tree. This would be the perfect perch to set Clayton in with his sniper rifle. She had told Clayton that she was going to need him to target Han Xin, and then get out of there with the car they had hidden near the blind.

"How will I know which one is Han Xin?" Clayton had asked her.

"He will be the one shouting the orders." Had been Lian's response.

She had run over to the hunting blind now to do one last check. She looked up at the little wooden structure. This is our last hope Lian thought to herself. Qi Wei is right though, if this plan is to work I need to get some sleep.

Qi Lian walked back to one of the tents and looked inside. There was Clayton fast asleep, it had been a long day for him too. Lian crawled into the tent and laid down beside him and went to sleep.