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I don't know if any of you have read this book, but it's all about a war between China and the US. Conventional due to it it being the UN meddling in China's internal affairs.

I wrote this for my English class, but I thought you'd all like it.

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People's Liberation Army Base
Spratly Island Chain
Disputed Region in South China Sea
0500, August 14th, 1997


The private stood on the shorelines edge, staring at the ships out at sea. Tong Xusheng had been sea-sick on his journey from the mainland to the Spratly Islands. He turned away from the sight of the rolling and pitching ships to settle his stomach's memory.

His parents has given a good name for his chosen profession. Brilliance Victorious, he had always thought that the name would give him luck in rising the ranks of the People's Liberation Army. A major, or even a general one day. A shout brought him out of his day dreaming on the beach rather suddenly, just as suddenly as he was pushed out of bed by a corporal this morning.

His friend, another private, Bi Tuoshe, waved him over, calling his name so he would come eat. Tong walked over to him, but did not touch the food, as they both faced the ships on the South China Sea. He smiled at the jokes he remembered from their voyage over.

"I found you some sea-sickness pills" said Bi, holding his hand out with some small round tablets. Tong took them, groaning. "What's wrong?" asked Bi.

Tong put the pills into one of his pockets. "Two wise men were talking about the Moon and the Sun. They wanted to figure out which one was more valuable. Finally, they came to a conclusion: "'We know that the moon has twice the value of the Sun because the Moon shines at night when everyone needs light, but the sun shines only during the day when no one needs it.'" he said. He thanked Bi for them though, and started to eat his meal.

Before he was half-way finished his meal though, a non-commissioned officer walked up to them and ordered them to form up for morning calisthenics. The two jogged there as the sunrise slowly lit up the island chain's natural beauty. The sand quickly left the ground under their feet, and the two privates filled into formation.

As the exercises began, a few hundred kilometres away, an American submarine rose from the depths to fire ten cruise missiles. The first six Tomahawk cruise missiles took off towards troop formations, especially the ones already in morning PT. The last four went towards buildings, aimed mostly at the submarine piers and base headquarters.

Tong Xusheng didn't know this until it was too late. Each 1440 kilogram missile streaked the air, and Chinese ships detected them. The message started to be relayed, and a runner was sent to stop the exercises, as they were a large target.

When the first missile exploded over a formation of soldiers, killing the commander and all the troops his sergeant was yelling at. Tong and Bi began running back to their barracks, sprinting like cheetahs to ensure their own survival. Bi lagged behind to turn his head for a single moment, and this cost him his footing; Bi tripped and by the time Tong had reached the door of the Barracks, Bi had been killed by the third missile strike.

Tong couldn't look back though. All his training told him to grab his QBZ-95 rifle. His bunk was at the end of the prefabricated barracks, and he didn't stop running until he reached his foot locker. He opened it and grabbed his spare magazines, loaded his magazine and selected the 'fully automatic' setting on the safety switch. He looked out a blasted-out window, and saw the submarine pier blown to smithereens by a missile.

To him, it was incomprehensibly odd. He had to get out of there. Tong Xusheng told himself to keep hold of his rifle as he ran towards the door, to see what he could take his vengeance upon. As more soldiers piled into the barracks, he couldn't get out.

When the last Tomahawk identified the barracks building, it went down at an angle designed to increase it's speed past the 880 km/h it was designed for. The 450 kilograms of high-explosives shredded the skin of the missile, creating a large cloud of shrapnel that penetrated the flimsy walls.

Tong's vision went white as the pain grew to be too much. Falling to his knees in agony, his vision was restored to the horrific sight of his comrades, his friends, lying around without skin on their faces, burns on the chest and backs. He dropped again to his forearms, unable to accept the sight. It would be over soon he whispered to himself.

Even if he died, or if it was a horrible dream, he wished it would be over soon. Quickly, as his blood stained the floor around his ruined assault rifle, he got his last wish of peace.
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