Mega Dragon: Harbinger of Death

MANDO'S STORY 3

“Retreat! Retreat!” he could hear the captain call, the whole squad ran in an attempt to flee from the enemy. They had been fed false details about the enemy and it turned out to be an ambush. They already lost a lot of soldiers and there was no way they could keep their defense up. Their ranks and formations had been infiltrated and it was now every man for himself.

“Run” he kept repeating in his head. He could barely move anymore. He had been shot in the leg but he had to get out of there fast.

“This is it! This is going to be the end!” he thought to himself. He was losing too much blood, he sighted a boulder and he ducked behind it. He hurriedly tore a piece of his clothing and tied it around his wound to apply pressure on the wound and reduce the bleeding. Fearing for his life, he took off again, there was none of his squad members in sight. He kept moving ducking from one obstacle to the other. He did not have much strength left and was already limping. Still on the run, He struck his leg on a stone and that sent him stumbling down. He opened his mouth and made a noiseless scream while holding on to his leg, the pain was ripping through his body. Analyzing his situation, he decided to take a detour. He wasn’t going to make it back to the camp alive but at least he could make it to the village nearby there was a village nearby. He dragged himself staying clear of pathways he was starting to feel dizzy but he could see the village straight ahead.

“One more step, just one more” he kept muttering to himself. He had to make it back alive. He had to fulfill his promise. He wasn’t going down this way, not today. “Almost there, please don’t give up on me please” he begged his body as he continued to move further. You could see the determination in his eyes almost meeting up to the pain. He was going to take every chance he got to stay alive.

***

It was a Sunday morning, the birds were chirping, the flowers seemed to have more life in them than usual, the day seemed auspicious for the villagers, but the atmosphere that hung in cell 543 was quite different. The light rays found its way through the small window that hung way above Andres Torres in his cell. He knew it was morning, but these days he could tell what day it was. Although just 35 years of age he looked so decrepit he could pass for a 50 year old beggar. His sandy brown hair was overgrown and so was his mustache.

His skin looked very ashy and he stared at the wall so hard you would have thought he wanted to bore a hole into the wall with his brown eyes. He could barely sleep all night, you could still see marks on his body in places devoid of his torn clothing. One could hardly tell if they were from war or the numerous forms of t*****e he had been subjected to. He had a smile that seemed permanently planted on his face. It was once one of the attributes that formally warmed several souls on sight but now it just seemed rather creepy.

He watched as a bird on the ledge of his window chipped happily, another bird joined as they both flew away. “They must be family” he thought to himself as he heaved a sign. What he wouldn’t give to swap place with the birds. He had pretty much given up hope on life. His family was safe and that right here and now was all that mattered. He could hear footsteps outside his cell gradually approaching his cell. He had long feared these steps especially when they stopped in front of his cell. These days he could really care less as he just longed for death to be his solace.

He hugged his knees tightly to his chest, the chains on his hands and legs really constricted his movement, his back facing the cell bars. The people out there hated him, they believed he was the reason some of their loved ones would never return home the same, and he couldn’t blame them for that. The keys shuffled as the prison guard try to fit the key into the hole. He seemed to be having issues with the key. He finally got the hang of it and pushed the bar doors to his cell opened.

“543 up!” the guard shouted. He struggled to rise to his feet as he moved towards the guard at the door. The guard shoved him out as he was taking too much time, making the guard rather impatient. “Move along, mate!” he yelled as he pushed him forward. Regaining his balance, he walked in front of the guard as fast as he could. They kept walking down the straight and narrow corridor.

He passed by other inmates in their cells, all looking dejected. There was a reason it was called “The Gloom Prison” the place sucked out all the joy in you just by stepping in it. The guard opened another gate that led out of the prison cells. They moved straight down before turning right on to another corridor. He could started to hear voices outside the building. Wondering what the fuss was about he looked out the next window they passed with earned him a shove from behind. “Keep moving! What are you looking at?” the guard screamed. He stumbled a bit and kept moving, it seemed like some kind of protest was holding outside but he could not make out what it was about. Finally taking another turn to the right again, the guard opened a door by their left. He knew this room too well, he entered willingly like a sheep led to s*******r and the guard slammed the door behind him. Trying to adjust to the darkness of the room, his eye finally settled and he saw his interrogator for the day.

***

In the town of Betwagon, the weather was a bit chilly, the villagers mostly wore a face of gloom as they went about their daily duties. There were (describe the villagers activities). It seemed like the villagers were in a mourning phase. You could feel the tension in the air. In a small office in the center of the town, Ka Mando sat behind his desk, head buried in his work. He was going through several papers on his desk. As the regional head command of CP - NPA, he had several responsibilities and several lives that depended on him for survival. He might not be the overall head of the organization but he sure did play a significant role. He was a man in his late 50’s, but he looked so agile. One could see that the years he had spent involved in combat was taking a big toil on him.

Knock knock.

He stopped what he was doing and asked whoever was at the door to proceed. “Sir!” The soldier at the door saluted as he entered. “An order from the head office, it is urgent sir” Ka Mando waved him in and the soldier walked towards his table and put the documents into Ka Mando’s hand and saluted again before leaving the office to proceed on his regular duties. Ka Mando looked at the file. It had the stamp of the Head Office. It was possible that a new regulation was in place or there was some other plans. After the attack last week, still have been pretty unstable. They had lost one of their men and several others had been injured. The last time a similar situation happened new plans were put in place to attack the armed military. A lot of back and forth had been happening since the party was created in 1968 and the NPA. The Philippine Army have not been so happy. The installation of the military rule by the president in the Ferdinand Marcos in previous years worsened the situations. The rich were getting richer and the poor were getting poorer. This spurred a lot of people to join the movement bringing them to the large number they were in now.

Ka Mando opened the files, wondering what the order was this time around. It seemed more and more drastic measures were being meted out. He read through the paper calmly but you could see a bit of worry in his face and his palm were becoming sweaty. He knew what he signed up for when he joined the CPP NPA but things were getting worse by the day. He dropped the file and slouched into the chair, taking a deep breath. There were so many things, he had been conflicted about, but a good soldier follows order regardless of what it was.

Another knock came on the door interrupting his thoughts, he sat up in his chair as a man walked in. He was tall and well built, (other description). He had been on the war front with him previously but now he was on the medic team. He had decided although he was still fighting for the cause, he would rather be saving lives rather than taking them and Ka Mando understood that perfectly. Violence was in the core of the party but it was starting to take a toll on him as well. “I am here with the reports on the victims of the attack” Ka Garina stated. “Proceed” he replied. Opening the papers in his hand he began, “So far, we have only one record of death from the attack on the camp by the armed Philippines 2 weeks ago. The remaining 30 of our comrades are in the infirmary, 9 cases of amputation, however several measures are being taken to hasten their recovery” He continued flipping through the pages. “We have also released ten of our comrades as they are back on their feet and have gone home to their families” he summarized the report. “All the details of the injured and dead comrades are in the report” he concluded before proceeding to drop it on the table as Mando had instructed. Ka Mando picked the files and flipped through the pages. This was regular in their field of work. “Thank you Ka Garina” he replied still flipping through the documents. “And also well done” he said dropping the file on the table. The second report of bad news he thought to himself. Would good news ever come out of this soon? He was distort and this duty was making him age fast with stress and worry. “Have the medical supplies arrived from the … yet? He asked pushing his thoughts away. “I have been speaking to Ka Dalen and the supplies are stuck in …” he told Mando. “It has not been really easy to move any goods around since the attack” he continued while staring intently at him. “They should arrive by the end of the week though” Mando seemed lost in thoughts and Garina could pick it up. They had been friends since the first mission they went on which was part of their recruitment process. He was basically a brother from another mother. “Can I sit?” he asked wanting to find out what was wrong but only if Mando would let him. As much as they were friends he still had to respect his rank. Mando heaved a sign as he noded. Garina pulled out one of the two chairs on the other side of the table and sat on it not taking his eyes off Marina. “You know you can talk to me” Garina continued. Mando bent forward towards Garina, he knew he could trust him but was hesitant to share the information he had just received. “Mando” Garina called again as if to remind him of his presence. Mando signed again and finally decided to divulge the information. “I just received news from the headquarters” he started. “And?” Garina edged him on. “They have ordered the execution of those who are on the death lists in our district” he finally replied. “Okay?” Garina questioned resting into the chair with his arm folder. “You know this is getting tiring and besides this is not the system we are fighting for” “we stand for the socialist system, the working class people are the ones to make the decision.” “This is the basis of this organization” “but it seems likes we ourselves are flaunting the rules” “If we cannot uphold the rules we claim to fight for how do we expect other people to take us seriously” Garinda stared at Mando this was a tough one but he can’t disobey the rules from the head that was simply treacherous. “And this list who are those on it?” Mando stood up and went to the shelf after scanning through it, he found what he was looking for. Moving back to the table he sat at the edge facing Garinda as he slid the file over to him. He picked up the file and glanced through the names. He paused as a name caught his attention. “savior?, Is that…” “gay savior’s son” Mando finished his sentence.

***

Hhh discuss potential recruits with head of recruit team. Mando and Garina

Ka Mando walked down the streets of manila, philipines with an umbrella over his head. The rain was drizzling and he had had a very stressful week. The streets were rather busy with people and vechicles moving in all directions. He walked very briskly as he was meeting up with a friend he had just made some weeks back. They had met at a rally some weeks back. He was a part of a activist group and they were protesting in the school. They started a conversation about the country and what it felt like to be on the receiving end of a nonfunctional system. The effects it had on the phillipines, and how a socialist system would have been better. This past few weeks felt more like they had known each other for a lifetime. hh bar in sdj was just on the corner of jjj, it was the most popular in the town (description of bar in 1983). He walked into the bar as his eyes grazed the crowd. He immediately spotted jjjj and he walked towards him. It seemed he had saved a seat for him.

“Good day” he greeted hhh as he tipped his hat. “Indeed a good day” hhh responded as he sat up in his seat. “I see you’ve started without me” he said removing his jacket and hanging it around the chair, referring to the bottles of beer on the table. Hhh smiled and called the barman for more bottles of beer. “I really needed it and it looks like you do too” he replied as he watched Ka Mando take his seat. He opened a bottle for him “Stressful week?” he asked passing the bottle over to Mando.”Not far from the usual” he replied downing the drink. “So what was so urgent that you cannot wait?” he asked dropping his almost empty bottle of beer. “You might want to slow down on the beer though” hhh chuckled “I am sure you have heard about the CPP” he started. “The communist party of Philippines? That just broke out of hhhhhhhhh last year?” Mando asked. “Yes that one” he replied taking another sip from his bottle. “And what about it?” he was a bit puzzled as to where this was going. “This year, they have added a new faction The New People’s Army and they are looking to grow forces” hhh said in hush tones. Mando was starting to see where this was going. “I assume you are looking to join them then.” He said before and then signaled to the barman to order for another bottle of beer. “No” hhh said calmly “We…” he said laying strong emphasis on the “we” are looking to recruit you. The barman had arrive we bottles of beer. “Make that two” Mando said. The barman dropped two bottles of beer on the table before taking his leave. “And why would I want to join this army of yours?” Mando question opening the new bottle of beer. “We can all agree with that the current government is not doing us much good. I have known you for a while and I know your ideologies on how our system should work. The CPP wants the same thing you want. To change the system of governance, we need a new state led by the working class and we don’t want the U.S intruding in our affairs anymore. We are a capable country and we don’t need their influence on out soil.” Mando had his hands crossed listening to hhh with rapt attention, he had always wanted to be a part of a movement that would change the state of this country but still he wasn’t sure that this was the route for him. “The NPA is in need of more people, we are gaining support from a lot of people, they are tired of being oppressed. We aim at fixing the three major problems in the Philippines: bureaucrat capitalism, feudalism, and U.S. imperialism. We need major transformation in Philippine society and we plan on taking back our country using the Maoist concept of a protracted people’s war to achieve this change.” Hhh continued. “In other words, violence.” Mando stated. “Yes… but on a small scale. We would use small troops to attack jjjj” hhh retorted “I know what protracted war means he said resting his back on the chair. The rain outside seemed to have stopped he noted.

***

The people are not the enemy. The government is the reason we are fighting we cannot fight admist ourselves. We hope for a better tomorrow one when we don’t have a one rule system we surferred enough under the governance of … we know what military rule has done. The rich keep getting richer and the poor keep getting poorer. We are meant to keep a united front. The is the attempt to break us and we cannot let the military break us apart. The people are the rulers. The people make the choices. On this matter we are the ones affected, we are the ones in charge and we get to do what we want to do. This is the principle on which the Marxism-leoasm is based on. If we can use this rule with-in us. How do we expect the world to take us serious?

If we need change in our country, the change has to begin from us.

***

Ka Garina drowned in the death stares that gawked at him as he walked to the truck that was to take him to the town square. Ka Dalen, ka Tina, and ka Dukrus had been informed of their release. They intercepted ka Garina on his way out. It was the first and most probably the last time they would speak to him. Ka Tina was furious. She couldn’t understand what could have driven him to do what he did. Even worse, how they never noticed.

“Why’d you do it?” she asked. Ka Garina could not bear to look at their faces. What he had done was unforgivable. “Don’t you dare lower your head like a coward. You are a man, aren’t you? Face me and answer my question! Why did you do it!” she berated.

“I have no excuse. What I did is unforgivable. I know I have no right to---” ka Garina replied but ka Tina cut him short.

“That’s not what I asked you, you coward. He loved you. More than he loved anyone of us. Why?” ka Tina broke into tears and began to repeatedly hit ka Garina. The others struggled to restrain her. She viciously lunged at ka Garina but failed to escape her restraints. “Why did you waste all our efforts? Don’t think you’ll ever see peace, you coward. I will make sure they toss your body in the river. You won’t get a funeral. You---” she continued her rants, but ka Garina was no longer in sight.

Ka Tina’s word completely broke him. He was already devastated by his actions, but facing them as he did, seeing the hatred they all bore for him, made him regret… no, it was too late for any form of regret. There was no chance of retribution. If there was a hell, he would be condemned to the deepest parts. He had broken the deepest, purest form of friendship. Memories of him and Ka Mando ran through his head and tears ran across his face. He was so indulged in his reverie that he didn’t realize when they arrived at the town square. He was already covered in bruises before he got to the stake. Stones, sticks, garbage were hurled incessantly at him.

***

He offered no form of resistance as they tied him on the stake. He was lost. What a wasted life. What a shameful end. This time, the Mayor himself, ka Gabi read out his offense, “This man here has been found guilty with regards the murder of Regional Commander, ka Mando, outside the confines of the law. He is hereby sentenced to death by firing squad.”

Your life flashes before your eyes before you die. This is because your mind is actively looking for an escape, something to hold on to. In the same way, ka Garina reminisced on all the things that transpired between himself and ka Mando. The gentle way he always treated him. His incessant apologies after his wife and child died. He even almost resigned then had ka Garina himself not stopped him. He genuinely thought he had forgotten. That it was all in the past. Until he was contacted by the government. They were aware of how much losing ka Mando would affect the CCP-NPA. And they knew the exact point to hit to get him to cooperate. But he was all alone now. He was abandoned by the government and he already betrayed the ones who loved him. What a sad ending, he thought. Tears trickled down his face and his last words were, “I’m sorry.”

“Ready, aim, fire!”

***

A lot had happened in the past six months. But that they, all were gathered for one singular purpose. Ka Mando’s funeral. It was a big loss for the community and the CPP-NPA as a whole. The entire town of Betwagan mourned the loss of their beloved Regional Commander. Some even went as far as stoning the grave of ka Garina, who had been buried immediately after he had been executed.

Ka Gabi, the Mayor, presided over the event. The first to speak however was ka Dennis, the Commander of the CPP-NPA. “Ka Mando was a very close friend of mine. He was a friend, a brother, and a comrade. We fought many battles together and a huge number of them, I got out alive because of him. I owe a lot. Even this post that I now enjoy, I owe it to him. For if he had made a claim for it when he was denied, he would have most definitely won it. But he congratulated me instead. He said he had high expectations. I let him down in some areas and I regret it, but it doesn’t etch away my respect for him. It is regrettable how he left us, especially since the culprit was a close friend of ours. He was family. But things affect people in different ways, so I won’t dabble into that topic.

Ka Mando was an ardent believer of human rights and believed that the people should have an active say in the matters that affect them. So, from now on, execution and judgment shall be decided by the public, whose lives are connected and affected by the parties involved!” ka Dennis said.

The others all dropped words of praise for ka Mando and condolences for his friends and family. All through the time, Ka Tina, Ka Dalen, and Ka Gabi stayed with ka Mando’s wife, ka Mary, and his son, Elias. Elias was inconsolable but ka Mary seemed surprisingly calm. The tears she had cried all night had dried out. She held her son in her arms, as he cried what would seem to be an eternal river of tears.

The town had lost a great jewel and, in a few weeks, things had returned to normal. The spies that ka Mando freed all defected to the CPP-NPA and had their records cleared. Ka Dukrus took over from ka Mando as Regional Commander.

Andres Mendoza left the town and settled not too far from it. He needed a change of scenery. Having to be reminded that he was somewhat involved in the death of ka Mando by the familiar places was not something he wanted.

In the end, ka Mando’s ideals stood and were respected. And from then on, the way of doing things changed. All could attest to the fact that ka Mando was indeed a great man.