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MidReal Story
Chapter One In a fire-swept city, Maria Santos is everybody’s enemy and nobody’s friend. With her freedom hanging in the balance, she must make a heart-breaking choice that will change her life forever. October 1899 Manila Maria Santos crouched in the underbrush, her back to the ruined stone wall of an old Spanish fort. The sun had long since set, but the night air was still hot and sticky. Sweat ran down her face and neck in rivulets, pooling in the low spot at the top of her corset and dripping from her breasts to soak her long underwear chemise. She had been a teacher, a bookkeeper, a writer of poetry. She had never imagined herself as a soldier, certainly not a rebel. Yet here she was, leader of a ragtag group of guerrillas, a thorn in the side of the United States Army. For nearly three months, they’d been fighting a losing battle against the American occupation. But they were not defeated. Not yet. She had put a plan into motion and had sent word to every rebel she knew. Tonight, they would fight the Americans with their own weapons. The first group of rebels moved into position, twenty men armed with pistols and knives. They were dockworkers, strong and fearless. They crawled on their bellies through the tall grass that grew in front of the old stone walls of Intramuros, the historic walled city of Manila. Their dark skin made them all but invisible in the night. The moon hung low over the city, just past full. It was enough light to see by—and to shoot by.
Scenario:politics and thriller, fire surrounds intramuros as the americans annd filipinos clashed in an alternate 1899 philippines, defence of manila
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Chapter OneIn a fire-swept city, Maria Santos is everybody’s enemy and nobody’s friend. With her freedom hanging in the balance, she must make a heart-breaking choice that will change her life forever.October 1899ManilaMaria Santos crouched in the underbrush, her back to the ruined stone wall of an old Spanish fort. The sun had long since set, but the night air was still hot and sticky. Sweat ran down her face and neck in rivulets, pooling in the low spot at the top of her corset and dripping from her breasts to soak her long underwear chemise.She had been a teacher, a bookkeeper, a writer of poetry. She had never imagined herself as a soldier, certainly not a rebel. Yet here she was, leader of a ragtag group of guerrillas, a thorn in the side of the United States Army.For nearly three months, they’d been fighting a losing battle against the American occupation. But they were not defeated. Not yet.She had put a plan into motion and had sent word to every rebel she knew. Tonight, they would fight the Americans with their own weapons.The first group of rebels moved into position, twenty men armed with pistols and knives. They were dockworkers, strong and fearless. They crawled on their bellies through the tall grass that grew in front of the old stone walls of Intramuros, the historic walled city of Manila. Their dark skin made them all but invisible in the night.The moon hung low over the city, just past full. It was enough light to see by—and to shoot by.
Maria turned her head to the side, her ear to the ground. The earth was still. No sound of footsteps, no rumbling wagons, no clinking metal of weapons. The Americans were in their barracks, drinking and carousing. All was silent except for the call of a night bird.She rose to her feet, her movements slow and deliberate. She peered over the wall at the fort below. Its guns were silent, its walls patrolled by no one. The American soldiers had grown complacent, certain that they’d defeated the rebels once and for all. They would pay for their arrogance tonight.Maria reached into the pocket of her skirt and pulled out a small glass bottle. It was a new weapon, smuggled to them by a sympathetic arms dealer in Hong Kong. Inside was a thick, clear liquid. It smelled faintly of vinegar, but she knew that it was far more deadly than its innocent appearance suggested.She twisted off the cap and poured the contents of the bottle onto her handkerchief—just a few drops would do. She held it up to the moonlight, watching as the liquid spread through the cloth. It was time.She took a deep breath, inhaling the acrid scent of the poison. She knew that if any of it touched her skin, she would die just as the Americans would. There could be no mistakes.The night bird sang again, a low, mournful call. The signal to attack.
Maria tore a strip from her petticoat and wound it around her handkerchief, which she then tied to the end of a long stick. As she worked, she moved slowly forward, keeping low in the grass. The rebels in front of her mimicked her actions.At the top of the wall, she crawled on her belly, inching forward one movement at a time. Her arms strained against the weight of her body, but she ignored them. Her eyes were fixed on the fort below, on her target. She was so close now.The night was silent except for the sound of her own breathing. The rebels moved with her, their bodies so close she could feel their warmth radiating through the air, but she dared not look at them. She wasn’t sure she’d be able to look away if she saw their faces. Her heart was in her throat.And then she saw it—the black shape of an American soldier moving in the dark. She froze, every muscle in her body tense with anticipation and fear.The soldier moved closer. Maria held her breath. He was so close now that she could see the glint of his bayonet in the moonlight. She willed him to move closer, to come within striking distance. But he stopped just short of the wall. She could see his face now, the dull gleam of his eyes as he looked around. His brow was furrowed with confusion—had he heard something?Maria didn’t move. She didn’t dare even to breathe. Time stretched on and on as the soldier stared into the darkness where she lay concealed. She was certain he could see her. If he raised the alarm, it would be all over.Then the soldier shook his head, as if dismissing some errant thought. He turned away from her and continued on his way.
Maria let out a long sigh of relief, but she dared not relax. There would be other sentries; there always were. And if she allowed herself to hope that they might miss the next one, she would not live through the night.She crept forward once more. The rebels followed her lead, silent and deadly like the snakes that lurked in these same tall grasses. The moon was higher now; she could see it more clearly. Her skin prickled with excitement and fear as she imagined the destruction they would unleash here tonight.She paused at the top of the hill. The fort was only a few hundred yards away now. She could hear the low murmur of voices and see the flicker of campfires in the distance. It was so close that she could almost reach out and touch it.Maria’s heart began to race as she thought about what she was about to do: kill dozens of men before they even knew what hit them. They had been fighting for so long, suffering so much loss and pain that it was hard to believe that the end might be in sight. If tonight’s plan worked, it would give them an advantage that they hadn’t had since the Americans first landed on their shores.She didn’t allow herself to think about what would happen if she failed.Maria pulled the stick closer to her body and squinted down at the fort below. There were two sentries standing at the gate, their backs to her. It would be easy enough to drop the bottles over the wall and into the courtyard below. One or two would be enough to take out the soldiers in the immediate area; if she managed to hit one of the campfires, it could set off an explosion that would take out half the fort.
She raised the stick over her head, her arm trembling with the weight of her makeshift bomb.The rebels rose up from the grass behind her, brandishing their weapons and letting out an ear-piercing cry. The sentries turned, startled, and one of them began shouting and raising the alarm.Maria hesitated. If they sounded the alarm, it would all be over.But the decision had been made for her; there was no going back now.She flung the stick over the wall and watched as it sailed through the air toward the fort below.At the last moment, one of the sentries lunged forward and caught it out of the air.“No!” Maria screamed, but it was too late.The man looked up at her, his eyes wild and frenzied in the moonlight, and then he threw the stick back over the wall.Maria didn’t see where it landed; one of the rebels knocked her to the ground just as the explosion went off.The shockwave knocked her onto her back, her head slamming against the hard earth.She could feel the warmth of the flames licking at her skin as the pain in her head began to spread throughout her body.It was over before it had even begun.Chapter 2Maria“Oy, babae!Bangon ka na.”Maria Santos opened her eyes and saw a blurry figure looming over her.Her head throbbed with a dull ache, and she felt a wave of nausea wash over her when she tried to sit up.“Mabuti pa kung patay na lang ako,” she whispered.“Ano’ng sabi mo?”The figure loomed closer, and Maria realized that it was a man.A soldier.She tried to scramble backward, but he caught her arm before she could move away from him.When his fingers closed around her wrist, she saw that they were covered in soft, smooth leather gloves—gloves that were much too luxurious for a man of his means to own.
The man bent down and peered at her closely, and as he did, Maria’s eyes slowly began to focus.He was Hispanic, like her, with dark hair and eyes that were almost a perfect match for hers.He was also handsome, despite—or perhaps because of—the bruises that marred his angular features.And he was looking at her with a mix of pity and amusement that made Maria’s stomach churn.Maria stared up at him, trying to make sense of what she was seeing.The man was wearing a military uniform under a long black coat, but it was filthy and torn and didn’t fit him properly.His cheeks were hollow, and his eyes were sunken into his face as if he hadn’t eaten in days.And when he spoke, his voice was so soft and raspy that Maria could barely hear him.“What did you say?”she asked again, louder this time.The soldier’s eyes went wide with surprise, and he touched his fingertips to his lips.“Your Tagalog is quite good,” he said in Spanish.Maria sat up a little straighter.“Of course it is,” she said.“I am Filipina.And you are in my country.”The soldier’s eyebrows shot up, and he looked as if he had just realized what had happened.“Ah,” he said, “I see we are even then.You saved my life, and I saved yours.Where is the rest of your unit?”Maria shook her head, wincing as the movement set off another wave of pain.“There is no one else,” she said.“I was alone.”The man looked confused.“But there were dozens of you, even if the attack was poorly timed,” he said.“You have a fever,” the soldier said, ignoring Maria’s question.He reached down and pressed his fingers to the side of her neck.His gloves were as soft as they looked, and they were filled with something that felt hot and liquid beneath the thin leather.
Maria pushed his hands away.“No,” she said.“I am fine.” She tried to get up, but the world tilted alarmingly when she tried to stand, and she would have fallen over again if the soldier hadn’t caught her.“See?” he said, holding her up with one arm around her waist.“You’re not fine at all.”Maria tried to push him away, but she was too weak to resist him.She sagged against him with a sigh and let him hold her up while she caught her breath.“I will be fine once I find my friends,” she said at last, pushing herself away from him.“Your friends are dead,” the soldier said quietly, “and so is your family.”Maria froze.She stared up at him with a mixture of confusion and horror, but the man’s face was blank, and his dark eyes were cold and empty as he looked down at her.“You’re lucky to be alive,” the soldier said.Maria shivered.She didn’t know if it was from the fever or from something else, but a terrible chill crept up her spine and settled in the pit of her stomach when she looked into his eyes.The man was right, of course.Her friends and family were dead, just like he’d said.They had all been killed by men like him, by American soldiers who had come to Maria’s home in Manila and taken everything from her just because they could.Everything except for the fire that burned inside of her, anyway.That was one thing they would never be able to take from her.This war isn’t over until I say it is, Maria thought as she looked up at the soldier.It had only just begun.Chapter 3ReynoldsReynolds watched as the girl sat up and crossed the room to where he was lying on a cot.
She was still unsteady on her feet, but she moved with a grace and a lightness that he found difficult to resist.“Here,” Reynolds said, pulling the blanket away from himself and holding it out for the girl.“You must be freezing.”She looked at him for a moment with those huge, dark eyes of hers, then stepped forward and accepted the blanket from him.“Thank you,” she said as she wrapped it around herself.She sat down on the cot next to him.“You are a good man.I am sorry for what happened to you and your men.”Reynolds snorted.“You don’t have anything to be sorry for,” he said.“You’re the one who saved my life.”She shook her head.“I never would have had to save you if I hadn’t been there in the first place,” she told him.“I never should have gone back for the others.I should have known that it was a trap.”Reynolds shrugged.“It’s no big deal.It wasn’t your fault.”The girl shook her head.“It was my fault.And besides, it is a very big deal.”Reynolds sat up then and turned to look at the girl more closely.“What do you mean?”he asked.“You think that just because you got captured last night that the war is over?That we’re going to pack up our things and go home just because you won’t be able to kill us anymore?”The girl reached out and touched Reynolds’s shoulder.She frowned when he flinched away from her touch, but she didn’t pull back.“The war will end when it ends,” she said softly.
“I am not so foolish as to think that it will ever be over for as long as there are men like you in my country.“But what I mean is that if we don’t leave here, they will find us.They will find me.I am putting you in danger.I am putting myself in danger.I am putting the whole operation in danger.”Reynolds sighed.“I don’t think they’re going to be tracking us down any time soon.Not with all of us looking like this.You’ve got a fever and I’m pretty sure that my nose is broken.And even if they were, we’re not going anywhere any time soon.I looked over the fort a while ago when you were sleeping.There’s no way we could get out of here without being seen, much less make it through enemy territory on foot with no supplies.”The girl’s eyes fell.“I know,” she said softly.Reynolds reached out and placed his hand on her shoulder.She tensed at his touch, but didn’t pull away.He squeezed her shoulder gently.“But don’t worry about it now, okay?We’ll figure something out, but for now let’s just rest.”The girl nodded, but Reynolds could see the worry in her eyes.They both lay back down on their makeshift cots, but neither fell asleep again that day.Instead, they talked about their families, their homes, and their lives before the war had started.The girl told Reynolds about her parents, who had been killed by the Americans during one of the first attacks on Manila.She’d been only fifteen at the time, but she’d already been fighting for the freedom of her country for years.
“Your parents were freedom fighters?”Reynolds asked, and the young woman nodded sadly.“I’m sorry to hear that.”“Thank you,” she said softly.“They were so brave.” Her voice broke on the last word, and Reynolds reached out to hold her hand in his own.She squeezed his hand tightly and took a deep breath before continuing.“They’re the ones who taught me to fight for what was right no matter what the cost.” She turned to look at Reynolds with tears in her eyes.“And I know that you’re going to help me stop the rest of the American forces from destroying my home.”The look in her eyes was so intense that Reynolds couldn’t look away from her gaze.“We’re on the same side, remember?”he said quietly.“You’re not alone in this.” He reached out and wiped a tear from her cheek with his free hand before squeezing the one she held in hers once more.“We’re going to figure this out together.I promise.”She smiled through her tears and squeezed his hand again before turning back to lie down on her cot.Reynolds did the same, and they both stayed awake until the sun rose again over Manila.Chapter 3Reynolds and the girl had been hiding in the old chapel for two days before they heard someone coming down the stairs to their new hiding place.
