Chapter 37. First I took a deep breath, this might ruin the relationship I had built over the past days with Arthur, Luke, and Lucy but I needed to know their determination. How far were they ready to go for accomplishing their goal. And this would test that. "Teacher, I brought everyone," Lucy said. She was a cheerful girl, making you forget that we were now in this sh*tty situation. Seeing her smile was soothing, she made me wonder if I had a younger sister would she too be like this. "Follow me, today we won't be practicing." We reached a small building, somewhat far away from the base camp. There were three floors to the building and I told everyone to go and wait for me, each on a different floor. Arthur went to the third floor, Luke to the second, and Lucy waited on the first floor. I went to the third floor and lead Arthur to the room. While we were on our way, I asked him a question. "Have you killed anyone before?" He paused for a second and kept looking towards the floor. "No," he said and once again started to follow me. Upon entering the room, a man entered our sight. He was tied to a chair but was still unconscious. "Kill him," I handed Arthur a knife and said. "I can't," he did not even take a second to answer. He probably expected this after I asked him that question a minute ago. "Even after knowing that he has killed people before, raped them. He was half-naked when I caught him and the tent he came out of had dead naked people inside, all with either injuries or marks covering their bodies. Do you still think he deserves to live?" Arthur said nothing but his other hand, the freehand, was clenched tight. Blood dripped on the floor as his nail dug into his own skin. He was angry, really angry but still, "I can't, I can't kill another human." "He will die either way," I said one last time but Arthur just shook his head. "You are too soft-hearted Arthur. If you wish to stand at the top, you will have to go through a lot of cruel things and there will come a time when you will have to kill someone. That is a burden a leader must bear. You can now." I walked up to the chained man and pierced his throat after Arthur left. I breathed in 'One down, two more to go.' I asked the same question to Luke after I met him on the second floor. "Have you killed anyone before, Luke?" "I have not, do I have to kill someone?" He asked and that was when we reached the entrance of the room. "Yes," I said as I entered the room. Similar to the room on the third floor, there was an unconscious, chained man. "Why? I don't want to." I gave him the knife and said, "Even after knowing that your sister was one of the targets, you will not kill him? It was fortunate that she accompanied us to the forest or-" I wasn't even able to finish as Luke slowly walked to the man and thrust the knife right into his chest. He pulled the knife out and once again pierced the man's chest, this time where the heart should be. A lot of blood started spilling out from the body. Luke staggered back and fell to his knees, tears slowly started pouring out of his eyes. I wanted to comfort him but I couldn't after doing this to him. Not after I was going to do more. I didn't have that right. "Luke, you are smart. But when things include your sister, you stop thinking about everyone else. What if every single one of my previous statements was a lie? Do you know how much trouble it would have caused you and your sister? People can take advantage of you many ways, use that brain of yours." I lifted Luke up and carried him out of the room. I placed him down on the floor and was making my way below when Luke called me out. "Will you make Lucy go through the same thing?" "I will not force her to kill, it is her choice." "I will never forgive you if she cannot overcome this trauma." "It is better than her dying on the battlefield due to hesitation." "Have you ever killed anyone, Lucy?" "Huh? No, but why are you asking me this....?" I spoke as I stepped into the room, "Because I am going to ask you to kill someone." She saw the chained man and took a step back. "Wh- Why? I don't want to kill anyone." I handed her the knife and said, "He has killed people before. You were one of the targets for the kidnapping and so was Luke. They would've killed you after they were done using you. Do you still don't want to kill him?" She started sobbing. "I- I don't want to kill anyone, even if they are a bad person." "You are naïve Lucy. You think people change once you give them a chance but people never change unless something very big happens in their lives. If you give everyone a second chance you won't be able to protect yourself or your brother. You need to judge people correctly." I carried Lucy out of the room and once again walked in, and I after a walked out, the blood of another man stained my hand. We walked back to the base camp without saying a word. No one spoke to each other, not even Luke and Lucy. Did I really need to do this now and that too to children? *It is too early for them.* ^Should have forced them to kill.^