So, Ren I pause for a moment a sense of pain fills up my stomach. I did not l want to say this but wanted to give Ren the option to back out.

  you don’t have to help us fight if you don’t want to I know we’ve only known each other for 2 days by this point and I just want you to understand you can back out if you want. I say with certainty but deep down, I don’t wanna do this even though me and Ren just met. We've both fought Goki and I felt like I had gained an understanding for Ren.

  Ren shook his head and looked, at the floor for a few seconds his eyes beginning to tremble. It’s clear that he’s about to admit something he doesn’t wanna admit.

  “No, Zemaku,” Ren said. “I owe you my life. You changed my entire outlook on life. You see, everyone in Thumb's army are broken people who have been hurt and tormented by others. Ren paused for a moment as he began to form fists and clenched his pants.

  They have all seen such hell. Ren continued.

  Such hell? Yeah such, hell Ren responded. I once had a friend who reminded me of you, Ren told me still clenching at his knees with his fists. His voice is now trembling and his knees are shaking faster, his face shaky and a slight tear forming below his chin.

  Ren seemingly has an internal thought for a moment like, he was taken back to a traumatic time in his life. A flashback if you will, Ren's eyes widen for a moment and lets out a loud yell. Ren are you okay? You don’t have to spill your guts if you don’t want to Ren. I could tell he’s trying to force himself to tell me this information and I tried to comfort him the best I could.

  I then pause for a moment pondering why the mere thought of this caused Ren to yell.

  I know I lost my mother and my childhood friends Brian and Serena but, I’ve only ever had a nightmare in my sleep. While it, almost seemed as if Ren was having a nightmare while awake.

  Ren Shakes his head again it’s clear that he wants to do this or rather, he feels like he has to or that he must do it so I know exactly what kinda man Thumb is, what kind of people he goes after. I pause and lament to myself in silence pondering it before I come to a realization.

  Ren doesn’t want me to be taken advantage of by Thumb. He knows I’m broken too and he probably thinks I’m vulnerable too.

  I once had a girlfriend who made all of the people in my life hate and despise me over a false rape claim. Ren said and began to clench his fists once more he then proceeded to punch the air in frustration.

  So that’s why you were struggling to find the words to tell me, I said you were too ashamed to admit it. In this society or rather the society from before Thumb came into power Women were always believed more than men it wasn’t innocent until proven guilty when someone got a false rape claim it was no he’s definitely guilty arrest that man. I pause for a moment feeling for Ren he had his life ruined in the worst way possible.

  You see Zemaku She accused me of assaulting her after coming home drunk from work. She said I did horrible, unspeakable things to her, and because they had ai deep faked evidence of me legally, I lost a lawsuit with her. Ren then began crying bawling tears like a young child.

  Oh uh sorry Ren said and wiped away his tears his voice still thick with emotion before continuing to speak. All my friends stopped talking to me, even the one friend I thought I could trust. So later on Thumb recruited me he found me sleeping on the street in a tent. He came up to me and said “Do you want revenge on those who wronged you?” Ren paused and looked up at the sky seemingly reliving the moment. “Join me and we will be strong together,” and so I joined up with Thumb, he ended up killing my ex girlfriend and fixing my reputation and then he got rid of those friends who stabbed me in the back.

  I believed in his plans, and I fell for it like the depressed man with no reason left to keep going would. I was broken, Zemaku, broken by the world,” Ren said ashamed to have fallen for Thumbs ploy.

  So then Thumb emotionally manipulates his victims? Yeah Ren responded.

  Suddenly, my dad, Commander Bill, came walking in through the door.

  “Quick, check the news,” he exclaimed. “You’re not going to believe it, Zemaku.” We ran as fast as our feet could carry us through the Rundown bases, many rooms making it a bit of a chore but finally we reached the TV. When I looked at what I saw, I was the only one that was shocked. Well, my father was probably shocked too before I got there.

  Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

  “What’s wrong?” Ren asked. With a confused look on his face. “UhI don’t get it. He’s just one of Thumb's followers.”

  “No, he’s not just any ordinary follower of Thumb. He was a friend of mine back in high school.”

  “What?” Ren said in complete surprise.

  Chapter 1: Joe

  So Ren basically Joe was a high school best friend along with Brian and Serena who died because of Thumb. I even had a crush on Serena; she was the only person I have ever loved. Her death hit me like a sack of bricks. I said my face keeping a stoic dementor not giving way to my trauma and keeping it within.

  “So, what about Joe?” Ren asked. “Well, Joe and I were the closest ones out of the friend group. Don’t get me wrong, Brian was a good guy, but Joe just had that vibe about him. I stare into Rens eye’s seriously and sternly not once giving into my trauma despite badly wanting to cry.

  He was way more social than me. By high school, I was just some socially awkward individual with an obsession with Pokémon. I was honestly blessed, in hindsight. Despite my social anxiety I still had friends Joe even supported my dream of joining the military.

  He taught me ways to defend myself long before my father began my training for the military. In some ways, I guess you could say that Joe was a genius strategist and combat expert he prepared me early. I wasn’t really allowed a phone in junior high back when I met Joe and since Joe would often get into fights with other kids, he was forced to move schools before he ever got a phone. I pause eyes shaky but still stoic and look at the tv.

  Ren just look at Joe on the TV. I was about to cry but I forced my tear to stay in my eye.

  Ren—he’s lost the light in his eyes I used to see in him. Do you know what could’ve broken him?”

  “No clue,” Ren said.

  “Joe has the Thumb emblem on his shirt, Ren explained. That emblem is a sign he’s a high-ranking warrior, higher rank than me and Goki. The only people allowed at that rank are those Thumb deems worthy. Sorry, but I don’t think I can really be of much help in this case. My rank was too low to have ever known him,” Ren said.

  “Well, no matter what, I have to try to reconnect with Joe and figure out what happened after high school. I need to know what his breaking point was and how Thumb used that to his advantage,” I said with clear conviction.

  “Good luck,” Ren said.

  I’m going to look for more information on Joe,” my dad said. “I’ll keep checking the news and hack Thumb’s database to find any mentions of Joe.

  For the past two weeks, my dad has been gathering information on Joe. He’s been hacking into Thumb’s database by employing advanced hacking techniques and strategies in the dimly lit room of our base, if you can even call it that. He’s searched for Joe’s past activities, any previous ranks, and tried to figure out how Thumb’s hierarchy works, as we barely know anything about it. He also looked for any records of personal events that may have happened in Joe’s life. My dad took advantage of an insider at Thumb’s headquarters—someone who had long since given up hope on my father’s cause. However, since he owed one last favor to my dad, he caved and told him that Joe is supposed to be on a new mission sometime in the next two weeks to help Thumb with a new village that’s gaining free will. Unfortunately, my dad couldn’t find any information on Joe’s past, which suggests that Thumb never really keeps records on his employees' pasts. The only information he keeps is from when people start work there.

  My dad then went with me and told me everything he knew, including how Thumb’s hierarchy works. Ren and Goki are part of the group known as No Thumbs—the group that’s just known as weaklings and are the low levels, as is the other term for them. Then come the Small Thumbs. Small Thumbs are followers with a small skill level who don’t really do hard work either, but they get slightly higher jobs than the No Thumbs because they are just 99% better than the No Thumbs. Medium Thumbs are those who are intermediate and get medium-rank jobs. High Thumbs get high-ranked jobs. But then there’s another rank beyond that, which Thumb’s men can achieve—a rank known as S Thumbs or S-Tier Thumbs. S-Tier Thumbs are masters, the highest class possible. They are considered to be gods in terms of power, second to none, only being outmatched by Thumb himself. And Joe is one of the S-Tier Thumbs.

  Two weeks later, I prepared to meet with Joe and try to find him on his mission. I thought I could also stop him from gaining control of the village and the resistance, but it was too late. When I got there, Joe was gone, but there were villagers cowering in fear and a dead village elder on the floor. However, there was one person still ready to fight.

  “Joe, STOP!” I said. “It’s me, Zemaku. What’s the meaning of this? This isn’t like you. Back in high school, you were pro-freedom of speech. What happened?”

  Joe just looked me in the eyes in shock. It seemed the light came back into his eyes for a moment, but it disappeared quickly, and he stared at me intensely. Suddenly, a strong-looking man came out of the village houses and asked what was going on. Joe said it was nothing and told him he would take care of it, signaling me to come inside with him.

  I went inside, thinking this might finally be a good moment to talk, but when we got into the room, there was dead silence between us. It was really awkward, to be honest. We were in a sad, pathetic-looking room with an immense chill. It felt very cold and almost sad. I could sense that Joe, for some reason, felt sad—sad for what he’d done, maybe, or was he sad that he was meeting me like this?

  “Hey, Joe, remember all those times you helped me with bullies back in junior high? Or how you stood up for me when a teacher wrongfully accused me of cheating back in math—”

  But Joe interrupted, saying, “Don’t act friendly with me.”

  “What? Joe, please! What was your trigger? Why did you join Thumb’s army?” I begged. No, I pleaded for an answer. Even after all these years, I still considered Joe to be my best friend. But Joe just sat there silently for a moment before saying, “You’d never understand.”

  “No, I would!” I quipped back. “Please, just talk to me.”

  “No,” Joe said. “Just escape through the back door now!”

  “Joe!” I yelled. “But I can’t! I just got reunited with you!” But Joe just yelled at me, “So you want me to be forced to kill my best friend?” he screamed, crying. “Please, just leave!”

  At that moment, the lighting in the room became brighter—kind of angelic. Joe was being genuine, and it was probably the first time he’d been genuine in years.

  “Please, Joe,” I pleaded.

  “Fine,” I said, before exiting through the back door and bolting. Damn, I thought to myself. What happened to you, Joe? You seemed genuinely sad, genuinely broken. How much did life break you for you to give up your own morals?

  Chapter 1 End.