When Jerry finally made his way through the gate, pass the sentries, and back into the camp, he found himself facing the crowd of teens.

“Ah. I see you have finally gotten up.” He frowned when he realized the crowd had their gaze fixed on him. The attention made him flinch. “Something wrong?”

The crowd moved to the side, making a way for Chris. Isabella and Kirsten followed him.

Chris quickly stated his demand.

“Seriously?” Jerry’s face twitched. He was near speechless. “What I am hearing is...you want me to kill a prisoner to prove a point?”

“Yes.” Kirsten nodded with a proud smirk.

“There are more important things to do.”

“What can be more important than this?”

“The Sullivans!” Jerry felt his temper growing. “We need to do something!”

“And we will...after we decide who’s friend and who’s foe.”

Jerry looked into Chris’s eyes. The larger man returned the gaze without any fear or hesitation.

“And if I refuse?”

“Then you will have to leave. We will not allow someone who is a liability to remain with us and drag us down to the graves.”

Jerry took a deep breathe. He had several dozen militias. It wasn’t enough to do anything at all by itself. If he wanted to repel the inevitable Sullivan attack, he needed to stick to the others. He has talked to the prisoners and realized the mining camp was in the middle of Sullivan territories. He couldn’t even flee if he lost the cover of the alliance.

But he really didn't want to do this. He killed a Sullivan soldier back in the mines, and it was horrifying, but he could justify that by saying it was what must be done. Killing the prisoner was different. The prisoner didn't pose a threat to him at all. Jerry turned and glanced at Patel, seeking for help, but the man simply shook his head slightly.

The hierarchy inside the group of teens was a little complicated. Patel was the one that united everyone inside the mines and turned them against the Sullivans. He had the support of most of the teens. People listened to him. Chris, on the other hand, attracted many supports for his brutality and decisiveness. People saw his willingness to use violence freely as a sign of power. Apart from those that went through the same suffering with him and shared his ideology in the process, people like Kirsten and Isabella joined him as well.

In this case, Chris’s argument had some logic to most of the teens, whose sense of ethics have been largely diminished by the cruelty of this new world. Just days ago, they would’ve seen this action as a war crime. Now, they saw executing prisoners as a shown of strength.

Realizing he could get no support from the other teens, Jerry turned back to Chris.

“Fine.”

He pushed the words through his teeth.

Chris smirked and waved his hand. Two militias dragged a Sullivan prisoner over. The man looked tired and hungry. He was trembling with fear.

“Please...I didn't do anything! I’m just a cook! Show some mercy!”

Jerry’s head snapped at Chris, demanding an explanation.

“Well, I was afraid you couldn’t handle a soldier, so I took the liberty to give you someone easier.” Chris gestured for Jerry’s sword. “Please don’t tell me you can’t even handle an unarmed cook.”

Jerry gulped and turned back to the prisoner in front of him. He had no other choice.

“I’m sorry.”

He drew his blade and raised it, ready to strike.

“Wait!”

The cook sudden shouted. Jerry paused. His hand continued to shake as he held his hand up.

The cook took a deep breath.

“My mother is in Maynard City. She’s over eighty years old. If I die...she will be alone and without support. Please, if you can, take care of her for me. I’m begging you...”

“Put down her name and her address. I will do what I can.” Jerry replied quietly. He took out a piece of paper and a pen and laid it in front of the prisoner. He waved his hand, and two of his militias untied the prisoner’s hands. Jerry felt sympathy toward the prisoner, but his logic remained. He didn't want to be attacked by the prisoner because he felt bad for him.

The prisoner put down a line of address and a name on the paper. He handed it to one of the militias, who handed it to Jerry. Jerry glanced at it and nodded.

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The prisoner knelt back down and closed his eyes.

Jerry pushed his sword into the prisoner’s heart.

As the body collapsed, Jerry’s face was pale.

Without a word, he pulled the sword out of the body and, holding it, walked toward Chris. Kirsten and Isabella rested their hands on their swords in alertness, but Jerry ignored them. Chris gently pushed the two girls to the side.

“Happy now?” Jerry asked, doing his best to keep his voice as calm and cold as possible. Deep down, he wanted to either lose his calm and attack Chris or break down in tears. Unfortunately, he could afford to do neither.

Chris grinned.

Jerry finally turned back to Patel and the other teens.

“Now, can we talk?”

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The teens assembled in the house that formerly belonged to Vice Commander Liam. They could still hear screams and cries from outside. Chris eventually managed to force everyone to kill a Sullivan prisoner. When he tried to force Sophia to do the same thing, Patel objected, but Sophie herself decided she wanted to do it. She grabbed a spear and pushed it through a Sullivan officer’s neck. The man bled to death, slowly and painfully.

Those that survived the teenagers were executed by the militias.

“While you were doing whatever bullshit it is you were doing, I went to examine the surrounding.” Ignoring the chaos, Jerry took out a large piece of paper and laid it down on the table in the center of the room. It was a rough map of the camp and its surrounding areas. Jerry made it when he was outside.

“There’s a giant valley to the north of this camp. That’s where we went through when we were captured and taken here. That is also the closest path to Maynard City, which means that’s probably where the Sullivan forces will be coming from.”

“Then that’s where we will face them in the field.” Chris declared.

Jerry glanced at him like he was an idiot.

“Can we set up an ambush?” Patel was wiser. “If we get on the two sides of the valley and attack when the Sullivan soldiers are passing through, we can take them by surprise.”

“That’s not a bad idea. Technically speaking, it’s possible.” Jerry recalled what he saw when he walked through the valley. “The two sides aren’t too steep and aren’t too narrow. Our people can charge down safely, and it will be much tougher for the Sullivans to launch a counterattack up the slope.”

“Then that’s what we will do.” Patel decided. Chris shrugged. He didn't enjoy having Patel make the calls, but as long as he could kill someone, he was fine.

Jerry, on the other hand, considered more sides of the issue.

“The element of surprise will give us an edge, but I’m afraid we still don’t have the men. Keep in mind we only have militias. When we took the camp, we outnumbered the Sullivan soldiers by over five to one. And those Sullivan soldiers weren’t even elite. They were just guards who haven’t had experience with battle for quite a while, judging from what I heard from the prisoners. This time, we will be facing elite Sullivan soldiers that are more plentiful in numbers. We can’t win the fight with, what, four hundred militias?”

“Five hundred, but I see your point.” Patel reminded. A hundred militias perished in the previous battle, but Raymond’s entrance replenished those losses. “I have secured the mine storage after taking over the camp. We can divide them and turn them to militias.”

“But how are we going to divide them?” Raymond suddenly asked.

“Evenly?” Patel answered in confusion.

“Evenly?” Chris suddenly objected. “You are saying we should give the same resource to those that fought in the frontline to those that hid themselves through the battle? I say we divide the resources based on merit.” Isabella, Kirsten, and his followers nodded. They have fought side by side with the militias. This way of division was good for them.

“That’s not fair…”

“This is not a democracy!” Chris decided. “Period. If anyone have a problem, they should face me and challenge me like a man.” He tapped his sword. “Anyone?”

Jerry gripped his fist tight. Just moments ago he was forced to take an innocent life because Chris had more forces and more supports than he did. If he backed off now, then the difference in power between him and Chris would grow even more. Unfortunately, he couldn’t afford to make a stand and risk dividing the alliance, not when the Sullivan forces could be at their door any minute.

“Fine.” Jerry had to swallow the loss. He quickly changed the topic. “We also need to have a plan B, just in case things went wrong. I didn't have time to do it, but we should send some people to check out the other sides of the camp. If the battle doesn’t go well, we need to have a way out.”

“Actually, I might help with that.” A female voice came from the side. Jerry turned and found Nicole. “You weren’t the only one that did his homework.”

Jerry couldn’t help but let a satisfied grin escape his face.

Nicole walked to the map and tapped a point.

“The South and the East side of the camp leading into the mountains. I didn't have time to go too deep into the mountains, but the trails are quite difficult to move across. If we get a group of archers on the trails, we can cover the retreat.”

She pointed at another spot.

“There’s a river west to the camp. If we need to, we can build some wooden boats and ferry across.”

“Very well.” Patel smiled warmly and nodded at Nicole. “If there’s nothing else, we should get moving at once.”

The teens turned and left the room.

----------------------------------------

Throughout the camp, the teens opened up the warehouse that held the minerals and divided them. Most of the followers got a nice cut, but those like Chris, Isabella, Kirsten, and Patel got the most reward. Nicole got a pretty cut as well. She shot down multiple Sullivan guards with her arrows. The unique way of attacking left quite an impression in the mind of the teens and bought Nicole a lot of respect.

Jerry got nothing. Kirsten made sure of that.

Instead of futilely putting up a fight, Jerry returned to his house and was glad to discover Alex was awake. He sat by her side and talked to her about everything that has happened.

“You should talk to the others. Get them on your side.” Alex suggested after hearing about the unfair treatment Jerry received. “Raymond. Sophia. You’re definitely not the only person mad at Chris.”

“I’m not mad at Chris. I’m just...annoyed.” Jerry tried to correct Alex’s words to a more subjunctive word choice. “And I won’t attempt to start a civil war. We are already the underdog. If we fight between ourselves, we will lose everything.”

“Your concern for the greater good will not be appreciated. People like Chris will only see your compromise as weakness. They will continue to push forward and eat you up. You need to make a stand.” Alex looked into Jerry’s eyes. “Unless if you’re afraid.”

“I’m not afraid.” Jerry sighed. “Perhaps I will make a stand, but not before the Sullivan threat is neutralized. As of now, Chris is doing more good than harm.”

Alex finally backed off, but the look in her eyes suggested she wasn’t quite convinced.