Dearest
Adeline,
I write from a hole in the ground. This might
worry you, it might make you laugh or it might just make you curious. First, I
would like to say I’m one hundred percent fine. I haven’t been injured,
although I have seen a lot of that around me. It is a tough place to be in but
one I feel I have to make people see. As usual, there are two rolls of film in
this envelope that I trust you will deliver to my office as soon as you get the
letter. They are very important pictures and I want them released fast.
Sorry to make you work like this, as if you
didn’t have anything else to do in this world, but the thing is I trust you, I
really do. You are my best friend in the world and I wouldn’t trust anyone else
with this delicate information. I’m even nervous that they could try to
intercept it in its way home, but I know that is not a very likely thing to
happen. When you’re in such a situation as this one, I guess you get a little
paranoid and you start seeing things everywhere, expecting some kind of attack
from any side.
It is important that I tell you that, since
Monday last week, I have been locked in this hole in the ground, as the battle
ensues all around me. I have been trying to get away but the military tells me
it would be suicide. I have even thought of going to the other side, as they
would never kill a journalist with so many eyes looking at them. But that
appears to be an impossibility right now, as bomber planes have been known to
pass once or twice everyday and just flatten the ground between us and them
with tons and tons of explosions.
Besides that, I don’t really have anything to
say besides asking how our you guys? I’ve heard of the political turmoil the
war is causing there. But at least no violent acts have taken place and there’s
still some shred of humanity back home. It might be silly to say, but I do
trust them when it comes to defending freedom and all of that stuff. I have to
believe in them because there’s no much else to believe in around these parts.
I’ve seen too much to just turn cynical and stop caring about what’s going on.
I’ll keep doing my job as well as I can
because that’s all I can give at this moment. I wish love or caring was enough
but the truth is, it just isn’t. These people get food rations every so often
and it just doesn’t matter… But I have to keep believing. It’s all we have.
My
best to you,
Ollie.
My dear Ollie,
Hello.
I have no real idea of how to start writing this letter. First of all, because
I think its kind of fun that letters are still a thing in this very digital
world. But as electricity is almost non-existent in that region, I understand
that I must compel myself to write this words with a pen you gave me for my
last birthday, the one you said belonged to a very well known author. He killed
himself with this pen on his hand… How strange.
That
was weird to write but the most important thing I have to tell you is that I
have gotten all of your pictures to the paper. I had to argue with that idiot
Melissa because she didn’t want me there. I guess that when you’re fired they
don’t really want you back there, even if you have some killer pictures of one
of the most important things happening in the world right now. I was tempted to
kick her ass but I refrained myself. Aren’t you proud?
Jonah and I went through all of your pictures
and, I must say, I admire you. Some of them are just too much but they really
do capture the horror of it all. We chose some that could be printed in the
paper and I have a copy besides me right now. People seem to care and I think
they will rally behind your pictures in order to stop all of this madness.
Something has to be done. There’s too much blood in those pictures and,
somehow, I feel as if there was a lot of blood in my hands now too.
I have to confess I don’t understand your
passion or your trust in the system. It’s this fucking system, which has caused
all of this, the one that had killed those children in your pictures and so
many more. I think it’s nice you think our country still stands for freedom and
all of that shit, but you’re missing the point big time. If you could hear what
they say and o here, I think that even a big patriot like you would not be able
to deny how fucked up things are right now.
It’s not my intention to pop your bubble but your
work is too raw, too real to not be frank and honest about it. This is shit,
Ollie. And they did it. The ones that love freedom and liberty and all the
other crap. It was them who killed some many of those people.
Anyway, keep doing your thing. It’s the only
thing that matters now.
I send you a hug,
Adeline.
REPORT
#146 (CLASSIFIED)
-
SUBJECT: Termination of “Operation Thunder”
-
IMPORTANCE: Regional
-
DETAILS:
At 2
AM, local time, a squad of fifteen bombers was sent to the capital of the
regime and was ordered to form a perimeter of explosions around the central
compounds, in order to make the people in charge capitulate to our government.
Although many fires and casualties were reported, there was no communication of
any kind between our government and the regime we’ve been trying to suppress.
At 4 AM, after failed attempts to contact
their leaders, we ordered another pass with the same amount of bombers, in
order to completely neutralize their central command. The presidential palace
was confirmed to be destroyed, as well as all the adjacent building. Soldiers
on the ground were ordered to stand by, to prevent any casualties from our
side.
At 4:30 AM, word got out of the country that
not all our hits had been on target. Some of them had destroyed city blocks
adjacent to the presidential palace. We acknowledged that earlier, in a closed
door meeting, but somehow the information got out in record time, despite the
lack of electricity or any real type of communications.
At 5:15 AM, soldiers had been ordered to sweep
the attacked area in order to look for survivors. One rogue agent was reported
to have killed a high-ranking officer of the enemy’s army, no confirmation on
the deceased’s identity. High command has ordered this information to be
classified as soon as possible. No other survivors had been found at that time.
At 9:45 PM, of the same day, a clandestine
Internet server was found in a remote neighborhood of the city. The army was
ordered to destroy the structure, before anyone else could verify its
existence. Inside the destroyed building, soldiers found everything necessary to
make a temporal Internet connection. Army officer are investigating further at
the moment.
The cease-fire has been ordered for midday the
next day. Soldiers and crafts have been deployed to every single region. We are
in stand by for Operation Endurance, which should commence in mere hours. Com
out.
