Student Teacher Conference

"Mr. Cheung?" 

"Scott. What happened?" Mr. Cheung kneeled to see Scott's bleeding head.

"L-Laura."

"Laura? What about her?"

"J-John. He took her." Scott then passes out.

"Looks like you have a small gash on your head. Let's meet there and you can discuss more about it." Mr. Cheung picked up Scott.

Taking Scott to his car, Mr. Cheung drove as fast as he could back to his house. Reaching the house, he brought Scott down to the basement where they last met before.

Mr. Cheung closed the door behind him and threw Scott on the couch as he tried to find his med kit. Finding the med kit, Mr. Cheung would wrap bandages on Scott's bloody knuckles and stitch the gash head after putting rubbing alcohol and antibiotics on both his knuckles and head. After that, Mr. Cheung left Scott alone for a while as he drank his beer and graded some of the student's homework.

A couple of hours had passed and Scott started to gain consciousness again.

"What?" Scott getting up from the couch.

"Scott. You're awake. Here, drink this." Mr. Cheung handed him a hot beverage from a navy blue mug.

Drinking it, Scott tasted something numb as it tasted sweet, salty, and bitter all together.

"Ah. What the hell is this? Scott looked at the green beverage.

"It's supposed to be green tea, but I also added some other stuff so you can recover better as well as enhance your durability."

"Yeah Mr. Cheung. Besides not teaching precalc, don't ever make green tea again."

"Sure." Mr. Cheung took away his mug.

"So what happened out there earlier. When I walked out of the door, I saw you, John and Laura on the football field."

"I failed."

"Failed what?"

"Laura. I failed her. I wanted her to be who she truly was. However, it seems John got to her first before she can be herself. Who knows what he's doing to her after what he did to Ashley and Troy."

"Speaking of Ashley, what did you do to her?"

"At the milkshake shop, I made a grave behind it during winter break. I decided to put her there because she was close to that shop."

"I see."

Mr. Cheung brought a pack of cigarettes from his pocket. "Knowing what he did to my wife, I wouldn't be surprised what he would do to the princess of Sunshine High. Probably worse than we'll ever imagine. Are you trying to bring Laura to her senses? Knowing you, I can tell you tend to change people's heart for the better, especially Jim since he's smart, but doesn't act like that cocky nerd that I knew last year."

"Yes. I saw something in her that John couldn't see. She acts like she's okay, but in reality isn't okay."

"What did you see?"

"She was lost, confused, upset, and worst of all tries to hide the condition that she's in. Her vomiting blood. I'm not a professional, but that looked serious. If John treats her like that, then she'll probably die from all the blood loss as well as his neglect."

"Oh God. That does seem serious, there's a chance that I might know what her condition is. She might be undergoing some high amounts of stress or her internals might be damaged. I didn't expect a kid to deal with this though."

"How can you tell?"

"You see, back when I was back in Iraq during the war, me and my team were scouting out the terrorist's next plan." Mr. Cheung describes his past.

It was 2009 in the Middle East. Raymond Cheung and his squad were in the US base discussing their plan.

"Okay. If we are going to find Osama Bin Laden, we're going to head into one of their military bases at night. We can sneak into their control room, and get directions on where that guy is."

"That's nice Ray, but how are we going to understand what they are saying or what's written? They don't speak English like us you know."

"That's where you come in soldier 96. You have been the intellect of the squad since you went to college. You will try to translate what the fuck these guys are saying and bring that information back to home base. We'll have a better chance of finding Osama Bin Laden there."

Raymond looked at another soldier. "Soldier 47, you will be our suppressive fire. Once the terrorists find out we are stealing information from our base, many near us will be alerted. If that's the case, you will be using this M240B to put suppressive fire stalling us some time to collect everything before we bail.

"Yes sir." Soldier 47 getting ready his light machine gun.

"And soldier 777. If we don't make it out alive, you'll be the Hermes of our team and deliver the information to the base as fast as possible. No matter how many shots come towards you, keep running no matter what."

"Yes sir." Soldier 777 getting ready with his submachine gun.

"Alright. When the sun sets, that's when we make our first move. Half of them will still be sleeping, but some will be guarding the base so stay vigilant." Raymond getting ready his M4 carbine.

Once the sun set and it was dark, Raymond's team approached outside of the base.

Soldier 777 brought out his binoculars spectating the base. "It looks like there are some guards guarding the base and tools AK-47s look pretty scary."

"Give me that." Raymond snatched the binoculars out of his hand.

"It doesn't seem that bad, kid. Even though you're new to my squad, you still got to man up. Isn't that why you joined my squad?"

"Yes sir." 

After giving soldier 777's binoculars back, Raymond put on his suppressor to his rifle aiming at the guards.

Silently, he shot every head of the guards giving his team a chance to get into the base.

In the base, the squad were all vigilant, aiming their guns at the sleeping soldiers in case they woke up. The squad were now at the door leading them into the intel. Raymond made signals notifying to keep guard as he quietly opened the door.

As expected, a soldier was on the computer being busy keeping the data safe. With no hesitation, Raymond uses his stealth to stab the soldier instantly, taking him down.

"Okay soldier 96, see what information you can provide, me and the others will patrol the base making sure no one wakes up from their beds." Raymond and the other soldiers start to patrol the base.

Soldier 777, with an MP5, patrols the left side of the base. However, one of the soldiers suddenly woke up.

Getting up to get some water, the Iraq soldier looked at soldier 777.

"ما؟?" (What the?) The soldier was surprised to see an American soldier.

"Oh Shit!" soldier 777 was shocked to see the Iraqi soldier awake.

"أيها الأوغاد الأمريكان!" (You American Bastards!). The Iraqi soldier pulled out his pistol.

Panicking, soldier 777 fired his gun killing the soldier. However, the sound of the gunshot alerted the soldiers sleeping in the base.

"Oh no." soldier 777 realized he made a loud noise.

Raymond, soldier 777, and soldier 96 were alerted as well after hearing the noise. 

All the soldiers woke up realizing that they were under attack, which they would reach their AK-47s. Raymond, soldier 96, and soldier 777 fired at the soldiers as they were also firing back at them. However, with more experience than them, Raymond shot down many soldiers as he ran towards soldier 96.

"Hurry the hell up!" Raymond yelled.

"I'm halfway there!" soldier 96's flash drive processing the intel.

Soldier 777 was scared as he hid behind a table shooting many rounds randomly.

"Keep it together!" Soldier 47 put suppressive fire killing a couple.

Raymond kept shooting, covering soldier 96.

"Is it done?!" Raymond shot a few charging soldiers.

"ANDDDDDDD DONE!" soldier 96 pulled the flash drive out of the computer.

Picking up his shotgun, soldier 96 shot a few soldiers with Raymond.

"Okay guys, it's time to bail!" Raymond used his grenade launcher to shoot down the soldiers hiding behind the corner.

Soldier 47 and 777 both ran with Raymond and soldier 96 leaving the base and headed into their jeep.

"Forward it!" Raymond told soldier 777 as he's driving the jeep.

The squad distance themselves far from the base before other nearby bases would be aware about the situation.

"I-I think we got out of there." Soldier 777 driving the jeep.

Suddenly, another jeep was next to theirs. With one remaining soldier from the base, he brought out his AK-47 and using one hand, aimed it at them.

"GET DOWN!" Raymond screamed.

The soldier, even with less accuracy, shot the jeep with most of the bullets missing them with only a few hitting their jeep.

"You fucking bitch!" Raymond shot the tires of the soldier's jeep causing it to flip over.

Fearing the jeep would hit theirs, soldier 777 stopped the car.

"Holy shit! That was epic!" Soldier 777 seeing the flipped over jeep.

Getting out of the jeep, Raymond sees the soldier struggling.

"What the hell do you think going after us on your own was the right decision?" Raymond sees the soldier on the ground.

"اصمت أيها الأمريكي الغبي!" (Shut up you stupid American!) The soldier charged at Raymond with 

only a bayonet.

However, Raymond easily counteracted by putting him to the ground again.

"Give it up. You people are the one who flew a plane to one of our buildings. If you didn't do that, then we wouldn't be fighting, would we?"

"اسكت! بلادك لن تترك وحدها! أنت وعقلك الكابتالي لا شيء في بلادنا ههههههههههههههههههههههههههههههههههههههههههههههههههههههههههه" (Shut up! Your country won't leave us alone! You and your capitalist brain know nothing about our country!) The soldier yelled at the top of his lungs.

Suddenly, the soldier stopped screaming as he took a pause. 

[Then vomited blood]

Blood kept coming out of his body as well as other organs in his body until he died on the spot.

Raymond and his squad were all in shock as they had never seen this kind of sickness before.

"Even after leaving the military, I still was shocked to see something so horrifying to a person. I mean I have seen bodies blown to bits, but that was a whole different level." Mr. Cheung went back to the present day.

"Even though the information we collected didn't lead to Osama Bin Laden's location, we did manage to collect data about another thing."

"Another thing?"

"It turns out the terrorists were developing a kind of drug. A drug they believe can help them win the Iraq war. When we gave them the information, bomber planes started annihilating not just military bases, but factories as well. However, those drugs are out there somewhere and probably might be imported to the United States."

"Does that mean the drugs might be around this town?"

"Most likely. If what you described to me about Laura is true, then she's mostly in danger. Assuming that if John keeps injecting her with that, then she might die."

"No!"

"Scott, keep it down. You don't want John finding out about this place."

"Sorry, but I can't let that happen again. I wanted to save Troy from that explosion, but I couldn't save him in time. Laura is different, you probably know her as this bratty cheerleader, but she's not that at all."

"I know. I would always see her run into the ladies restroom and cry whenever she leaves the bathroom. Scott, I know what you're talking about. John is forcing us into people that we are not. He sees us as more of a character than an actual human being." Mr. Cheung put out his cigarette.

"But Scott, it's okay to make mistakes. It's part of human life. And sometimes in life you have no control over things like Ashley's death. She didn't know Troy would kill her. Also, even if we fail, we learn our mistakes and thrive. I mean although I was top of my squad, I made a ton of mistakes especially losing many friends from the war."

Scott looked at his bandaged knuckles. "So you're saying that I have a chance at saving Laura."

"Yes. From the looks of it. You still got time to save her. The road might be tough trying to get Laura away from John, but with you and your friends, you guys can save her. I promise that."

Mr. Cheung put his hands on Scott's shoulder. "Also, I got your back no matter what John does. You know we, as teachers, protect our students no matter what."

"Yeah. Thanks Mr. Cheung."

"Don't thank me. I've seen you around so many times and I can see how much you changed from not being able to talk to many students in my class to making many friends and getting a B plus on your grade. I don't know if I care for you a lot because we both are Asian, but I do want my students to thrive not just in school, but in life. Scott, you're only eighteen you have a future out there and I know what happened to Des Moines was hard, but don't let that past define who you are. You are better than this."

"I am. I'll do whatever it takes to bring Laura back. We can end John's madness against not just the students, but the teachers and staff too."

"That's the spirit."

"But Mr. Cheung, how am I going to get to school? If I step in that building, John will kill me."

"I think it's best if you can work from behind the curtains. For now, try to let your friends help you out in the school, while you stay back. Then, when the time is right, you can grab Laura helping her out."

"What about my attendance?"

"Don't worry about that. I'll excuse your absence."

"What about the-"

"Scott, don't worry about it. Look, it's getting late. I think you should head home now."

"Yeah." Scott heading back home.

"Another thing Scott. No matter what happens Scott, I'll do what it takes to protect you and the students. Don't forget it."

"I won't." Scott left Mr. Cheung's house.

Noticing that Scott left the house, Mr. Cheung closed the door. 

He then would reach under his couch.

[And it was a shotgun]

"Let's see if this shotgun I took from the guy's house is reliable." Mr. Cheung checked if the shotgun shells were in there.

After checking, he approaches his refrigerator, pushing it to the side revealing a trapdoor below it.

Going into the trapdoor, Mr. Cheung will go down a shallow ladder with a homemade elevator adjacent to it.

Mr. Cheung would head down the elevator heading down around three stories down. Reaching the bottom, it was dark. Seeing it was dark, Mr. Cheung would turn on the lights revealing something that Scott wouldn't even know.

[It was a large underground area with a lot of guns, ammo, melee weapons, and body armor]

Seeing the metal targets, Mr. Cheung would use the shotgun with each shot landing on the metal heads.

"Perfect. Scott, throughout all these years being tortured by John, you will be the hope we need to get out of this hell." Mr. Cheung put the shotgun next to the other guns knowing this nightmare will end soon.