The Red Nights - Volume 1 Chapter 40 Let's Return To School

There was a moment of calm where nobody couldn’t pronounce any words. Among the group of people Nelson’s men were particularly quiet, they were surrounding the stack of bodies while staring at them deeply as if they wanted they were analyzing a painting .

On their side, the other army was completely lost, they didn’t what was going on or why their allies were acting like that after they just won their battle against the outlaws. They didn’t stop glancing at each other as if it was the other person who had the answers.

Sania who had enough of this situation discreetly stepped back and still without drawing the attention she walked toward Volga and Jamal who were a little bit farther away from the crowd plotting alone as their usual. ” If I didn’t know you I would think you are dating each other ” she said once she was enough close to be heard ” your woman should be now more worried about her than me ” . Jamal, who still on his motorbike leaning on Volga’s car door, flushed a little bit by recalling what happened between her and Lina yesterday during the little party, while Volga was smiling happily, ” my heart belongs to my beloved Donald and no one else ” she said proudly what put smiles on Sania and Jamal’s faces .

Then her face changed as she became a little more serious ” what is happening to them? They have been staring at those dead bodies for 5 minutes now ” .

” They are just shocked, their situation is quite different from yours as I had the time to warn you but for them it came suddenly ” Jamal replied with a sorrowful voice ” what would be your reaction if you have been struggling to heal from a dreadful illness for two years and you wake one day and you see it’s gone ? ”

Sania found herself speechless, she was staring at him quietly and stunned she couldn’t find any words to express what would be her reaction, but deep in her heart she knew that she would be lost , ” you see , it’s exactly what they feel now ” he said with a smooth voice and a calm tone as if he had read clearly in her heart , then he directed his sight toward the group of soldiers ” just let them the time to pull themselves together “.

” Well, enough of contemplation ” Nelson shouted to his men ” get me rid of these filthy bodies and don’t forget to collect from them their weapons and anything valuable, got it? ”

” Yes ! ” they all said in a same loud voice before they plunged into the work . They began by placing the corpses in a kind of line, then they started to collect their guns and any kind of weapons they had in their hands and after that they rummaged them to see whether they were carrying valuable things they could take and the other group in front didn’t hesitate to go help them as it was not an easy job and more than that there were still some outlaw’s corpses some places away they had to rummage.

While they were working on that Nelson walked toward the three people who were sitting away from the groups, he couldn’t stand meeting the so called Jamal, the man who had fought alone against the outlaws of his hometown and won over them, he also had other questions to ask as he didn’t expect to see him before tomorrow. ” Hi ! Mister commander ” Jamal started by raising his hand to greet him ” are you doing well? ”

” That reckless attack would have cost the lives of many of my soldiers, at that time we were completely exposed, if they… no even one of them had the guts to shoot… ” Nelson was standing at two steps away from him in a way that Jamal who was still sitting on his motorbike had to lift his head to look at him ” I’ve thought you were great and smart fighter but it seems it’s said about you was wrong. You’re just an irresponsible leader ”

Sania nearly swore to him to defend Jamal but hopefully he stopped her before any words could come out from her mouth by putting his arm in front of her. ” Before I respond you , can you tell why didn’t you stand against this plan if I remember well my teammate here ” he pointed to Sania ” came to expose you my plan and I’m not wrong you totally agreed right? ”

” Yeah… but I didn’t think it would be like that… I thought we would gather in a same or surrounding them to crush them… but what you made us do was far more hazardous ” Nelson stuttered a little while he was replying.

Jamal nodded comprehensively ” well now let me explain to you why I was so sure that they would have never been able to shoot. Firstly when we ran toward them they were already fighting against one of our teams in front of them ”

” But they could have turned to fir… ”

” Tell me something ” Jamal cut him ” if for example you were facing enemies in an intense fight but then appeared a huge fire coming at you from the back, would you stop the fight to try desperately to stop the fire knowing that at the moment you will turn away you will be killed by your enemies or would you continue the fight? ”

Nelson looked confused ” but anyway, whatever I choose I will die… there’s no meaning of… ”

” There is , because that feeling of ‘ there is no way I would survive ‘ was an important factor in my plan, so what would you have done? ”

“… I would have continued the fight while waiting for the fire to come eat me ” he responded honestly ” but that my case , what if there was someone more brave or deeply stupid who decided to shoot? ”

” To prevent that case I added the fear ” Jamal replied letting him more confused, ” the fear? ” he repeated, while trying to guess what he meant.

” Yes the fear ” Jamal said while he was getting out from his vehicle, he stepped toward him ” what happens to someone who is so afraid about something that he starts seeing a dreadful feature of the death in front without any way to escape? ” while he was talking he pulled his knife from its case and approached it slowly to Nelson’s heart what scared the three people around him and the victim more than the others. As he was leaning the tip of the knife on his chest, Jamal looked deep into Nelson’s eyes and the latter was so scared that he could not move , even though he just had to step back as Jamal’s move was very slowly but to him it seemed impossible. He was paralyzed.

Then Jamal put off the knife and hid it back in its pocket and with an innocent smile he said ” you see , in such a situation there is no way for the opponent to run away. Are you more reassured now ? ”

Nelson looked at him with scared eyes while slowly nodding as his words couldn’t come out yet, Jamal was handing him a piece of tissue to wipe out the sweat on his forehead when he tended a shaking hand to take it . He took a little while before he came back from his state of fear and the others quietly waited for him without giving any comment .

” Well I think it’s about time to go ” Jamal said after Nelson totally cooled down ” it even seems like your men have finished the job you have given them ” the commander turned his head to see that indeed his men were standing away staring at them while waiting for him to finish his talks with Jamal to come give them the order to go back , ” yes you’re right , I go to tell them that we move, you just gather your soldiers and follow us to our HQ ”

” OK ” Jamal before the man headed back to join them , ” I better go to gather our troops as he said ” Volga decided spontaneously ” you , get in the car, seems like Jamal won’t let go of his motorbike until we reach their place ” she said to Sania while smiling provocatively to him . Sania stared at them and sighed ” you really look like a couple of lovers ” she affirmed while she was jumping in the convertible. ” Stop saying such things otherwise she will end up by falling for me ” Jamal said jokingly. ” Impossible I already told you that my heart belongs to Donald and no one else and it will never change ” Volga replied before starting on the car and rolled toward her troops.

Minutes later they were following Nelson’s group to head to their HQ , the road until there took no more than one hour. Instead of the previous city , in MontClay , the HQ for the army who was fighting against the outlaws was a school. Jamal noticed it by reading the plaque hang on the top of the gate at the entrance, it was written ‘ Raymond Easthood school ‘ , he didn’t who was this Raymond but he must have been really happy that his school was such useful. A high wall was surrounding it and as usual there were some two to four armed guys who were watching it , they evidently were the first one to notice the cortege of cars rolling toward.

They were already aiming them with their guns and were ready to shoot when Nelson quickly called to confirm his identity, they then opened the gate to let them enter in with some apprehension as if they were not used to them coming back at such hour. Once they parked the vehicles a big amount of people surrounded Nelson, as if they were a group of interviewers who wanted to get some words from a personality. Obviously they all wanted to know what happened and they came back so early. He was submerged by a pile of questions . They were so insistent that he had to raise his voice.

” Shut up at once ” he shouted ” I will all explain to you once later but firstly let our fighters, the army our neighbor city has sent to help us have some rest , will you ? We will have a big meeting within 30 minutes in the gymnasium, but until there leave us alone ”

He invited Jamal and Volga , whom he had understood that she was the actual leader of the army and Jamal was a simple helper , in a room which must have been the school chairman’s office. He sat on the chair of the director behind the desk while they took the seats in front. ” Well I call you here to firstly express my gratitude for the great help you have brought ” he gazed at Jamal ” and also to apologize for the attitude I had earlier, I know that I was insolent while you just gave us the victory… it’s just that I got the habit to be overprotective when it comes to the people I’m in charge of. They… no we have lost many of our comrades and family because of my foolishness and everyday I try my best to protect those remaining so I hope you will understand that ”

” You’re totally excused, I don’t resent you at all for that, honestly I kinda respect you more because that ” he reassured him, then he continued while glancing at Volga beside him ” I love working with people who care about the people they are in charge “.

Nelson might have wrong interpreted that look as he asked ” excuse me, are you together… I mean are you actually dating each other? ”

They both stared at each other and before they could clear the misunderstanding a voice coming from the back responded ” no boss ” the big bearded guy walked toward them ” this dude, Jamal is going out with Stainfall’s mayor, Lina Lavard if I’m not wrong “.

Jamal stared at him while trying to remember where did he already see him ” Pat’ , right? You were one of the guys who escorted the refugees to Stainfall ”

” Yes exactly , glad to meet you again ” then he turned to the young lady ” miss Volga glad to see you too ”

” Wait, you know each other? ” Nelson asked a bit lost . ” Yeah boss, as he said we met each other during my mission to evacuate the non-fighter civilians, you remember? My wife Jess’ and I have to bring them to Stainfall and I met miss Volga on my road to Stainfall, in their town they were facing an attack from the outlaws while they also wanted to send there their townspeople so she entrusted me to escort them while they would try to hold the criminals to not attack us “, and the latter nodded to confirm it .

” Oh I see ” Nelson said ” so each of you date someone else ? ” . ” Yes ” they both confirmed in a same voice .

” Alright, let’s talk about something more important ” Volga said as she didn’t wasting more time ” before we start celebrating the victory , we must discuss about something. Immediately after the party we will leave for the next city to help them with their battles and we would want you to ask to your men those who are willing to continue the fight to join us, we don’t want to force anyone but we would be grateful if you convince them ”

Jamal continued ” we know that you had already given too much in the war , you lost many of yours and you just want to turn the page and find a new peaceful life, and you are the first one who wants to offer that to them. You are responsible of them I know but there are many other people left who would want to survive, you saw in what did we put and in your battle with the few people we have brought with us so imagine what we could do in the next town , I’m not promising that it would be quick as what happened here or Short-river but, at least it would be less difficult, so what do you think, will you agree to convince them? ”

Nelson stayed quiet for a while then he glanced up at Pat’ who nodded at him to tell him that he was in . He pulled out his finger from the button of microphone which diffused the conversation or rather Volga and Jamal’s speeches to the whole school. He stood up and walked toward the door ” Mister Jamal, miss Volga, you better ask them yourselves, he opened the door and a bombardment of screams and acclamation invaded the office, then they heard them shouting ” Yes ! Yes ! Yes ! Yes ! ” while Nelson was looking at his two guests ” it seems like they agree to join to continue the fight and of course I’m in too ”