The Art Of War.

2. Anticipation

WeiTing was scouting through the ruins of her city alone. Unlike Qin and Lu Er, she didn't know what to do. Curse myself for being a city girl.

After searching the city for food and leftovers, WeiTing decided it would be best to find someone else. So they could survive together. Or die. WeiTing didn't care much at that time. She just wanted to live. Even if it meant getting her partner or whoever killed.

Until she met Tze Xian.

Tze Xian was from a village nearby WeiTing's city. She found him scavenging for gears and meds in blackened husk. Which used to be an office building. Now bombed to oblivion and burnt to the ground. When she saw him. Her mind was racing. All she needed to do was to live. Simple.

"Hey." She said softly.

The boy was shocked. He didn't know anyone was watching him. He turned around and pulled out his gun. Well he had stolen it from a fallen soldier. Upon seeing WeiTing's Chinese face and and the way she didn't seem like a threat, he backed down, lowering his gun. Never trust anyone. Never. That was his mother's last words. He never actually thought of anyone as a threat. But ever since Jing died, he couldn't bare to keep any more promises. Especially with anyone with the same look as him : Chinese and lost.

"I don't have anything. What do you want?" The boy asked warily.

WeiTing sensed a mixture of distrust and a little bit of hope in his very strong ShanDong accent.

"Nothing. I was thinking...you needed a little help?" WeiTing asked politely. Well it was actually the opposite. She needed help. The boy seemed totally capable. She reached out her hand. "My name is WeiTing."

The boy still didn't seem to trust her. He looked at her hands carefully. Not moving, he said ,"I don't need help. I've got everything."

WeiTing raised an eyebrow, staring at his torn pants. His shirt was probably used as a bandage for his bloody leg. He looked hungry. And everything about him doesn't seem...correct. "Uh-huh." WeiTing said sarcastically.

The boy rolled his eyes. And he grasped WeiTings hand, still extended.

"Tze Xian." He finally said. And turned around, looking for more food.

"This was an office building. There isn't food here. But i know of a bakery." WeiTing told him. She had grew up here. With the rich. In China's bustling city, Shanghai. And now, when WeiTing looked around, all she saw was ruins. It made her heart bleed that all that was left of her city, was a beautiful memory.

WeiTing helped Tze Xian up. His leg was shot and he stumbled as he walked. He had insisted that he didn't need help. But after a few minutes, he gave in to the pain and clinged his arm around WeiTing's shoulder. WeiTing paused. But only for a moment, before they continued walking.

"I'll find you some morphine." She told him. "You probably won't need it but if you're gonna go all day walking around, i can't always be your wall." And with that, she disappeared into the buildings.

Tze Xian was in food paradise. After days of not having anything to eat, being in a destroyed bakery full of bread was paradise. And not having to pay. To Tze Xian, it was heaven. He came from a poor family. And even before the war, they had hardly anything to eat. That was in contrast to the rich and well off WeiTing, who had everything. From big bungalows to buffet meals. WeiTing was a princess before the war. A spoilt brat who had everything she ever wanted. And now, she realized that everything was out of her reach. She needed to survive. And finding Tze Xian. That was a blessing. The two needed each other.













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Qin and Lu Er were having a hard time. After hearing of the US's plan, they had to tell someone. Qin fired up the computer screen , with the help of the tokamin. She started looking through the soldier's profile and then she found a link to the US military force. She clicked on it. But it was empty. Nothing. Just registration opportunities for those who needed jobs. No plan. No security coding. Nothing about the war.

Qin was puzzled. She looked at Lu Er, though she knew that he wouldn't know anything more. And then it dawned on her that the US people did not know anything about the war. The government had kept it a secret from their people. She looked through the soldier's profile again. And she found another link. And this time it was to the real military force. But it needed a password.

Qin smirked. This was fun. She loved cracking codes. Lu Er knew that too, and he looked at Qin proudly. This is my best friend. He thought.

"I got it!" She said happily as the screen loaded. The little circles moved round and round. And she traced it with the mouse. Soon, the whole page was available for viewing. And man, it was precious. Full of security codes for different timings, passwords, plans, data, and even an instruction menu for Qin to hack into their systems. It wasn't really an instruction menu. Just a list for the soldiers to get connected to the site incase they were lost. Or anything. Above the page, there were words in bold. Welcome, MR HUGH WILLIAMS.

With that, Qin accessed his email folder and asked everyone in his contacts : Please tell me more about the nuke plan. Sorry if i missed out.

Nobody knew Hugh Williams was dead. And behind the screen was a little 15 year old girl who happened to hack inside the system. Qin smiled evilly as she waited for the information to flow through.







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