Terms For Survival by John Reeves (the best e book reader .TXT) 📖

the demented cannibals, but they didn't care. Ben was right there, and his order was to capture, question, and execute the enemy. The fight continued as the White Star overpowered them. John had killed a couple of Ben's men, and injured two more. Then from behind he was knocked in the back of the head. The shot hadn't knocked him out, but he was down, and he wasn't getting up.
John was tied up on the path, just like the cannibals beside him. Everyone was on their knees. Ben got off his horse and walked over to the men on the ground. Neither father or son recognized each other. Time had wiped away more than they knew.
"There was a girl here. She was beautiful, and I know you'd remember her. Now who has seen her?" He walked up and down the row in front of them, and waited for someone to speak.
"I've never seen her." One of the men said. Ben waived his had, and a man stepped up and shot the guy in the back of the head.
"Now somebody had to of seen her, but I'm betting that some of you know much more." He continued to pace the ground in front of them. "Someone is going to talk, or I'll kill every fucking one of you." Ben pointed at a man, and a bullet was put into the back of his head. The first guy had opened his mouth, but the second guy hadn't said anything. John knew right then, that he wasn't going to live. The group had guns, and too many soldiers to count. If he could get the restraints of his hands, he still wouldn't be able to run. They'd shoot him within ten feet, if not on the spot.
Chris and his group had made it close enough to hear the shots that were fired. They'd gotten close enough to see what was happening. They tried to move in closer on the situation, but were easily captured by White Star soldiers. They found themselves closer to the action than they wanted to be.

"Who are you with?" Ben asked the newcomers.
"We're not with them, or any other group." Chris replied. Ben walked over and punched him in the face. John had recognized the voice, and then realized it was Chris.
"You are not out here alone. There's no way a small group could move around. Who are you with?" Ben asked again.
"I've already told you we don't know them, and we're not with a group." He tried the truth again. Chris punched him again, but the second punch took him down. The White Star soldiers dropped him to the ground. The guys that made up the rest of Chris' group made a bold and stupid move, however a few of them wanted to die. They wanted it to be over, and they didn't want to live in the corrupted world anymore. The move was suicidal, but it was the best chance to escape that John was going to get. He bolted into the woods with his hands still tied behind him.
Hot led from the shotgun penetrated his back and shoulder. John stumbled into the brush, right before hitting his face in the ground. When he hit the ground shots were still being fired. Then even more shots followed the series that downed the suicide runners. John wasn't thinking about how dumb the move was, he was focused on the fact that he couldn't feel his left leg. His head began to feel really hot, and the burning feeling became more intense by the minute. Ben stood above him with two soldiers beside him. John was pretending to be dead, as all other options had been cut-off.
"Pick him up. I think he knows something." Ben ordered the other two guys. Why would he run if he wasn't with them? Ben figured it was because he knew something. John was badly injured. There was led touching his spinal cord, and didn't have use of his left leg anymore.
"You have a chance right now to tell me what you know." Ben told him.
"I don't have anything to say." John replied calmly.

The White Star soldiers began beating John to the ground. The hits from hands, feet, and other objects were extremely painful. Blood poured from John's face, and ran down into his eyes. Several times he tried to get up to his feet, but each time he was unsuccessful. There had been plenty of times when he felt helpless, however none of those times seemed as bad as the current situation he'd found himself in.
"OK now, pick him up, and lets get this hanging over with." John heard their leader order the others. They didn't seem to care what he had to say, nor did they stop the beating. There was something about the process of beating John that the soldiers enjoyed. Just like John himself had took pleasure in killing those who infiltrated his zone, or the zone he'd staked claim on. The White Star group was thrashing him, and loving every morbid minute of it. John had actually blacked-out in the middle of the beat down, and thought in his congested mind that he might already be dead. He woke to find himself with a rope around his neck, and positioned on the back of a horse. He wasn't dead yet, however even he knew that he was going to be.
Lori had worked her way out of the tower, and she was hiding, while trying to get a look at the clan of killers. Her eyes panned the area, and then she saw John hanging from the large oak tree by the riverbank. The horse had ran out from underneath him; it had left his lifeless body dangling from the large branch above him. She wanted to run out there and protest his hanging, but she'd been too late to prevent or stop it from happening. John had been a warrior. She would tell her child that too. That was only if she could survive somehow. Then she realized it was White Star who'd killed him, and she ran down there where they gathered around the oak.
"Let's go men." Ben had shouted to the others, and then he saw Lori. She was alive. For a brief moment he'd froze on the inside. Time seemed to stop for a moment. Then reality had set in to his train of thought.
"My God Lori you're alive." Ben said, with a level of disbelief in his voice."
"Yes, thanks to that man that you have hung. He took me in when I was lost, and he fed me when I was hungry. He loved me when I need someone to have feelings for me. He gave me hope when I thought I'd never see White Star again." She explained to Ben.
"I'm sorry Lori...we didn't know who the guy was. Our orders from the church had been to take this land from the rebels. We all thought you'd been killed, and everyone wanted to avenge your honor." Ben tried to explain.
Lori looked around at the dead cannibals, and all the blood splattered all over the ground. For the first time in her life she realized what kind of world she lived in. Her eyes caught Ben, and there was something about him that reminded her of John. She'd been protected from the violence that was prevalent among the groups. For the first time in her life she saw the ugliness that had consumed people, even people who were not evil by birth, but had come to only understand killing and death. Lori knew she was going to leave with Ben and White Star, however it almost felt like she no longer belonged to the group.
Ben ordered them to cut John down from the tree. Lori watched as his dead body fell down to the ground. "This man kept the woman I love alive. For that reason alone he deserves a proper burial." The White Star soldiers dug him a grave right there beside the river. Lori cried as they filled the hole in with dirt. She also knew that she was going to survive, just like John had wanted. His child was growing inside her, and through that child she would always have a part of him with her. She could finally say what she hadn't been sure of, she loved John, and was better for having known him.   //

Imprint

Publication Date: 05-19-2011

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Dedication:
This book is dedicated to all those who lost their lives in real American tragedy. God bless the USA.