A MEDICAL SUPPLIES AIRSHIP WAS ATTACKED BY ANTI-REFUGEE GROUP CALLING THEMSELVES DEPENDENCY.

By L.M.Taurus

8/16/0026UWC

24 hours before headline

Leonie Kaiser's alarm went off. She reached out from under the covers and tried to grab it, but it fell on the floor. She groaned. She pulled the covers off as the obnoxious alarm kept ringing from the floor.

"I'm up," she said to no one particularly. She stood up, grabbed the alarm and shut it off. She stared at the 4:01am on the clock before setting it on the table.

She went through all of her morning routines and was done at 4:47am. She grabbed a bottle of water and took a seat at her kitchen table. On the table there was an old newspaper with a section on it highlighted. It read 'Leonie, like Arlo, is one of the members who are lucky to be part of the team because if it wasn't for the rest, they wouldn't be world military leaders.'

She was about to crumble the paper, but stopped. She was using it as motivation to prove everyone wrong. She's not the weak link in Esme Cyr's squad. She had to keep the paper as a reminder to better herself.

She went outside and made her way to the local gym. She did her usual cardio and weight lifting at the gym and was back home right before 8am. She took a shower and got dressed in a purple suit and tie. This was her uniform as a world military leader when not in armor. Girls usually had a skirt but Leonie preferred the pants.

Leonie arrived at headquarters just as Esme Cyr did.

"Good morning, Leonie?" yawned Esme who was out of uniform.

"Morning," said Leonie. "Wasn't expecting you here this early."

The two women made their way inside. "I'm off to an early start today. I received a letter from Luan yesterday. Apparently he needs my help in Canada."

"Anything serious?"

"Seems like their citizens aren't happy with the refugees. I'm sure it's nothing I can't handle. What brings you in so early?"

"My next assignment. I'm bringing medical supplies to Haiti. We're going to restock their hospitals."

"How are things going in Haiti? I haven't been back since the storm."

Leonie hesitated. "Things seem to be going a bit slow."

Esme stopped. "Really? Why?"

Leonie stopped. "Everything is just arriving slowly. Most places aren't really donating supplies. I personally had to show up and ask for the medical supplies to get it. I've had it all gathered here at headquarters and we're delivering it to Haiti today."

"That's strange. Do people not have the supplies or do they just don't want to help?"

Leonie scoffed accidentally.

"People don't want to help?" asked Esme, surprised.

"I'm not sure about everyone, but the Dominican Republic, the country that shares the island with Haiti, they refuse to help. To be fair, they say they don't have the resources for it. They did also get hit by the hurricane."

"I thought they didn't get hit hard like Haiti."

"They are a small country. The one that really irritates me is the one who is supposed to govern these countries."

"Remind me who that is?" said Esme. "I forget. I know the Caribbean has been split between three countries, North America, Mexico and Brazil."

"Mexico is in charge of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. And they have done absolutely nothing to help."

"Nothing?"

"Nothing at all," said Leonie as she crossed her arms. "They didn't even take any refugees into their country."

"I didn't know that. How didn't I know that?"

"I don't know. Like I said before, I've been busy with gathering supplies for Haiti."

"I'll get Arlo to go speak to the leader of Mexico right away. He'll find out why they're not helping the people they're supposed to govern. That's his job anyway. I wonder why that wasn't brought to my attention earlier." Esme tried to think.

"I think you should talk to Arlo first before sending him anywhere."

"What do you mean?"

"Have you not been reading the United Global?"

"You read the United Global?" said Esme as she rubbed the back of her head.

"Every day. It's a good way to know what's going on around the world. Look, I should get going. I want to get those supplies to Haiti as soon as possible."

"Alright," said Esme.

Leonie was about to leave when Esme grabbed her arm. "Something else?" asked Leonie.

"Don't take what they said in the United Global seriously," said Esme as she released Leonie's arm. "You've been doing a great job as a world military leader. You've always done a great job and there's no better medic I know. I hope you know that."

"Thanks," said Leonie, then left.

****

Leonie arrived at the port where she could see the men stocking up the medical airship. The ship had the red plus sign to identify it as a medical airship. She spotted a woman with a clipboard giving orders to the men. She was quite bossy and everyone seemed scared of her. Nevertheless, Leonie approached.

The woman saw Leonie coming and bowed. "Ms. Kaiser, we're almost done here. I think we only have one truck left to unpack."

"You guys started early?" said Leonie.

"We heard you wanted to do this as early as possible so I got the crew working at six this morning."

"Good job. Are you Haitian?" she asked.

"Yes ma'am. My name is Jenniflore. Ms. Cyr saw how I worked and decided to put me in charge."

"Have you done this type of work before?"

"Yes ma'am. I was the floor manager at one of the hospitals in Haiti."

"Excellent. I'm happy to see you were set up to help your people."

"If we can't help ourselves, how can we expect others to help us?" said Jenniflore.

"Well said." Leonie turned to look at the airship. "Would you happen to know if my armor arrived yet?"

"Yes ma'am," answered Jenniflore. "It's already boarded on the ship in your quarters."

Leonie began to walk towards the airship. "You're doing an excellent job, Jenniflore. Your people are lucky to have you."

"Thank you, ma'am," said Jenniflore.

Leonie entered the airship and made her way to her quarters. Like Jenniflore said, her armor was inside her room laid out on her bed. It was the armor of a medic. It was purple, identifying it as a world military leader armor. The armor wasn't as bulky as spartan armors, but bulkier than a scout's and a sniper's. The medic armor was the medium size armor compared to all the rest. It needed to be big to hold all the supplies a medic would need out in the field.

The armor had a sword and club for weapons. Every squad had a medic on their team and while their purpose was to heal whoever needed it, they were still capable fighters.

Leonie debated putting the armor on or to keep her regular uniform. It seemed like they were going to be departing soon so she chose to put her armor on. Best to have the armor on while you're in the air.

As Leonie put on her armor, she heard a commotion coming from outside. She finished putting her armor on first before leaving her room. When she entered the hall, she felt a force of heat hit her face. She couldn't tell where it was coming from.

Leonie walked down the hall slowly as she felt the heat getting stronger. She put a hand on the wall and quickly pulled away.

"A fire?" she said to herself. Leonie took off running and made her way to the top of the ship. She could see the flames rising as the crewmen tried to put it out. "What happened?" she yelled.

The ship's captain, who was pouring water onto the fire, turned to look at her. "We're being attacked! They threw molotovs on the ship."

Leonie ran to the edge and saw world military soldiers fighting a small group of people. She then looked at the flames. The ship was quickly beginning to be engulfed. Leonie turned to look at the captain. "Is there anyone inside?"

"I don't know," he answered.

Leonie looked back down at the fight and saw Esme had arrived. "We need to abandon ship," said Leonie. "Save all the supplies you can and get everyone off. I'll see if there's anyone below deck."

Leonie didn't wait for the captain's answer as she ran inside. She moved quickly as she yelled if there was anyone inside. She kicked every room's door open and scanned inside for anyone. She hadn't found anyone so far until she reached the engine room, finding three crewmen trying to put out the fire.

"We need to get out of here," she yelled at them. "There's too much to put out."

The men stopped and followed her into the hall. Leonie led them up, but they were forced to stop when they found the floor engulfed in flames. Leonie and the men returned to the second floor and moved to her room.

"What now?" asked one of the men as she opened her window. "We're not going to fit out that window."

"Over here," yelled Leonie, getting the people outside's attention. Leonie pulled out her sword in one hand and a club in the other. "Use whatever you can," she said as she looked back at the three men. "We're going to smash ourselves out of here."

Leonie brought her sword down in the window's edges then she brought down her club on the same spot. She repeated this motion, breaking around the window and creating a bigger hole. The men found and used a pipe, a two by four, and the leg of a chair to join in on the smashing around the window. In a matter of minutes they created a hole big enough to jump off the ship.

Leonie looked down and saw Esme, Jenniflore and some of the men held a large tarp for them to fall on. Leonie turned to the three men and saw the fire coming in on them. "One at a time," she said as she put herself between them and the fire.

The first man jumped out as the flames were coming upon Leonie's back. The second man jumped and Leonie and the last guy pushed forward. The last guy jumped as Leonie stood on the hole watching them catch the guy. She could feel the flames burning her armor as she jumped out.

Leonie fell on the tarp and the people around her covered her with wet blankets. Leonie ripped her armor off as they helped her. Esme helped pull the last piece of armor off as Leonie stood outside in only a tank top and her underwear. She used her hands to feel on her back.

"Am I burned?" she said in a panic.

Esme tried to hold her steady as she observed her back. "You're fine. You're fine," said Esme as she pulled Leonie into a hug. "You're going to be fine."

Leonie calmed down as she hugged Esme back. "What happened? Who attacks us?"

Esme and Leonie pulled away and looked at the subdued men. "I don't know," answered Esme.