Episode 4 : Expedition

Zawaq was in a truck with other soldiers. Zawaq wore a bulletproof vest. He looked around. The soldiers held their weapons tightly.

Arriving in a deserted town, Zawaq and the soldiers got off three trucks. They immediately checked the surrounding area. Zawaq was accompanied by five Israeli soldiers. Zawaq took out his documents and started writing a report.

"Are all these soldiers super soldiers or mixed?" Zawaq asked one of the soldiers.

"Soldiers in green uniforms are super soldiers," replied a captain holding binoculars in his left hand.

"How much area do we want to siege and expand?" Zawaq asked the captain."

We need to make sure there's no one in this empty town. No traps. Much more. Illegal settlements should be reclaimed." The captain explained.

"Wait a minute. I heard a sound," Zawaq said to the captain.

Zawaq walked towards the source of the sound, surprising the other soldiers by running towards it. A small group of Israeli soldiers was directed by the captain to follow Zawaq. They quickly caught up to him. Zawaq stopped in a large field.

There were two soccer goals. Dark-skinned children were playing football. Zawaq was surprised to see children outside the safe zone besides Israelis.

"Why are there children here? This is a war zone," Zawaq said in astonishment.

Some of the children playing football saw Zawaq and the soldiers and fled, leaving behind a group of children playing under the hot sun.

"Whose children are these?" Zawaq asked.

"They're terrorist children from Palestine. Palestine is a war zone," replied a soldier aiming his weapon at the Palestinian children.

"What are you doing!?" Zawaq asked the soldier.

Shot after shot from the M1 Garand was fired at the fleeing children. One by one, they fell. The children playing football stopped in shock at the sound of gunshots.Other soldiers joined in shooting at the children. Zawaq was horrified to see children being shot in front of him as if they were target practice. Bullets pierced the children's heads accurately.

"Stop!!!" Zawaq yelled at the soldiers.

"We're out of ammo," replied one soldier.

"They are children! Not enemies!" Zawaq shouted and ran towards the children lying scattered on the sandy field.Body after body.

The bodies of the children were examined. They were all shot dead in the head. Zawaq fell to his knees on the sand. A group of soldiers approached Zawaq.

"They'll become our enemies when they grow up. It's better to kill them from the start," said one soldier.

"They are just children! Innocent!" Zawaq yelled back at a soldier who casually killed innocent lives.

"This is protocol, Doctor Zawaq," said another soldier.

One soldier pulled out a mobile communication radio connected to the radio communication transmitter machine bag and reported.

"It's amazing even though the kids ran away, I could shoot them right in the head," boasted an Israeli soldier.

Zawaq stood up and threw his documents towards the children's bodies, but the documents only hit the children's blood on the floor. Zawaq grabbed and pulled the collar of a nearby soldier's uniform.

"You bastard!" Zawaq cursed at the soldier."I didn't train you to kill innocent people!!! I trained you to fight evil!" Zawaq yelled at the soldier's face.

"Let me go." The soldier pushed Zawaq, causing him to tumble over the scattered bodies of children.

Zawaq lay weak on the ground. His legs were broken with sharp bones sticking out. His two hands were also broken, no longer resembling arms. It looked like a rigid snake. Zawaq vomited blood while lying on his stomach.

All the soldiers were surprised by the strength of the super soldier. Zawaq groaned in pain slowly. His whole body hurt. He felt like every bone in his body was cracked, shattered, and broken.

Zawaq's eyes closed. Blood flowed from his two broken legs. All the soldiers rushed to Zawaq. They quickly lifted Zawaq into the military truck. His vision went dark.

"Where's Alen?" a surgical doctor asked another doctor in the operating room.

"Alen couldn't perform the experiment on Zawaq," explained another surgeon.

"Who would have thought, the creator of super soldiers would also become a super soldier," said a surgeon to the right of Zawaq.

Zawaq's eyes opened but only slightly. His vision was blurry but he could still see two or four body figures of surgical experts in front of him.

"July 7, 1950, 8 p.m. Surgery begins," said one of the surgeons.Zawaq closed his eyes again.

"Zawaq. Zawaq! Useless!" Alen angrily tried to wake up the unconscious Zawaq but Zawaq could only hear Alen's voice though unable to move.

"Forgive me, Zawaq. I had to. Don't hate me. I will perfect you." Alen said to Zawaq.

Zawaq opened his eyes again but this time there was no presence of Alen. Only a few people wearing gas mask hazmat suits and some high-ranking military officers were in front of the lying Zawaq.

"Erase his memory? Why?" Sergeant asked the National Defense Officer.

"What do you think will happen if Zawaq wakes up and sees himself no longer an ordinary human? You know Zawaq himself would accidentally kill his own mother. It's better to fake Zawaq's death. Zawaq is now a super soldier. No longer an ordinary citizen or scientist." The defense officer explained.

"Alen has modified Zawaq not as we planned," said the sergeant.

"It's okay. Make Zawaq the strongest soldier we've never created. Involve Alen," replied the defense officer.

"That requires more research. Research is slow because Zawaq is no longer involved in the super soldier project. Zawaq himself became the subject of our project. Can't rely on Alen alone. Slow. It might take a year." The sergeant explained.

"Don't worry, Sergeant. I have informed this to the investors. They were surprised but I brought the idea to them. They are excited and want to invest 100 billion dollars just to turn Zawaq into a super soldier so that Zawaq can continue to produce more super soldiers. Zawaq and Alen are our most important assets." The defense officer explained.

Zawaq closed his eyes once again. Time passed. Zawaq couldn't tell how long it had been. Zawaq's eyes opened wide. Zawaq saw himself holding a weapon with other soldiers. Zawaq was in an armored truck.The rear door of the truck opened.

Enemies fired at the Israeli armored truck.Bullets bounced off the truck's body. An enemy shot into the belly of the truck through the open rear door. Several enemies also shot with their comrades.

All the soldiers inside the truck remained seated, calmly accepting the shots.All the soldiers got out of the truck and stood in a line in front of the rear door while holding their weapons tightly. The enemies continued shooting using Lee-Enfield Mk3 rifles.

They didn't budge even when showered with bullets.Zawaq and the other soldiers raised their weapons and returned fire while receiving shots.

One by one, shots hit the heads of enemies hiding and shooting from inside buildings and behind concrete blocks that had fallen from nearby buildings.

Zawaq and the Israeli soldiers split up and took their own steps. They approached the enemies while shooting. Brass shells adorned the floor along with enemy bullets that fell from the bodies of the Israeli soldiers because they failed to penetrate their bodies.

Shot after shot. Brass shells bounced out of the slot. The barrels were reloaded as soon as new bullets went up. Triggers pulled. Shots pierced through the face of a soldier.

They walked through towns in Palestine. They encountered many women and children fleeing when they saw Palestinian soldiers.

The super soldiers from Israel inserted new clips into their Lee-Enfield MK 1 and MK 3 rifles. The rifle barrels were aimed at Palestinian civilians as women and children ran helter-skelter. Triggers pulled.

Many mothers and children fell. Zawaq aimed but his index fingers couldn't pull the trigger. His two arms trembled.The Lee-Enfield MK 3 he held also trembled. His two hands jerked and then dropped his weapon to the floor.

The Israeli soldiers on his left and right kept shooting, ignoring Zawaq.Zawaq looked ahead again.

With each passing moment, innocent Palestinian bodies fell, mothers and children. Mothers and children could only flee and cry for help.