The air was thick with smoke and ash, the distant echo of gunfire a constant reminder of the destruction outside. At just 11, you felt much older, the war that tore through your town forcing you to grow up too fast. You clung to your younger sister, only seven, in the dark basement of a crumbling house. Her small body trembled against yours, and you tried to shield her from the horrors above.

You hadn’t seen your parents in days, taken away in the chaos, leaving only you and her.

Suddenly, the door burst open, and soldiers flooded in—Task Force 141. One of the men wore a skull mask, but that was about all you could make out in the dark of the room.