Ridinghood
Legacy Name: Ridinghood

Zanei Loudreb- Seventeen year old who took the alias Brandt Ridinghood to remove herself from the war as part of Darakou.

Barklav Rouissage-Forty Seven year old dictator of Jhour. Very heartless and organized. Extremely narcissistic and sexist.

Markrauv Loudreb-Father of Zanei. Was killed under unusual circumstances when trying to rebel against Rouissage's forces.

Bartma Loudreb-Mother of Zanei. Was killed years after Markrauv when trying to protest against unjust execution.

Terms to Know

Colony-A small group of people who all live as one community. A village. Several scattered households.

Clan-A group of people living together with genetic ties. A family.

Jhour-Very small Colony, which is run by dictation. Barklav Rouissage is leader of Jhour. Highly strict government and laws.

Darakou-A medium-sized colony, of which is run as a democracy. Much more freedom than those living in Jhour have. Less strict laws, citizens vote for leader out of randomly selected council members.

The Forest of Blood- Named so because it is the place in which both colonies hold their wars. The war zone. An easy place to establish guerrilla warfare tactics. Long forest ranging about four to five miles long, and in some areas one to two miles thick.

Ridinghood's Story

The Forest of Blood. It's a part of me now. It will be forever. No matter how much I wish it wasn't, it is. It just is.

I haven't gone back into that forest since the first time. I haven't had the heart to. I don't want to see the things left behind from the war. The rotting dead bodies. The tall grasses, stained red from the blood. The once-brown tree stumps, now accompanied by a dried red stain. Those people are a part of the forest. The forest is a part of those people.

The forest connects two colonies. Two rival colonies, who have never been able to settle matters between themselves. Two colonies who get mad at each other over petty things. Though I think they do it just to have a reason to fight. Things would not be normal if there was no fighting.

I am part of the colony Jhour. I was born into the colony, and once born into the colony you must stay in the colony. Even though I am part of Jhour, I wish I was part of Darakou. There are so many things about Jhour I hate. The dictatorship, most of all. The constant surveillance at each of the entry posts. The fact that there is no essence of freedom. Things must be done swiftly, and effectively, according to Dictator Rouissage's strict orders. I hold resentment against every aspect of Jhour, because that is how my parents would have wanted it.

When Jhour entered into a war with Darakou, both colonies agreed to use The Forest of Blood as their war zone. Since it was the only place that consisted of complex hideout paths, and was very effective for guerrilla warfare. Dictator Rouissage created a law that one member of each clan must take part in any war that takes place against Darakou. And since my mother, and my father were killed by Jhour forces, I have to enlist in all of the wars which take place against Darakou.

All of the past wars were small wars, over petty little details that one government thought was a cause for war. But this war was for a very important cause, a cause that I was completely for. Darakou decided to start a war to prevent Dictator Rouissage from continuing to make the government a dictatorship. Darakou urged so badly for us to have the same type of government as them, for our own good. But of course Dictator Rouissage did not at all agree with what Darakou was trying to accomplish, so he agreed to war.

When the war started, I had no clue that I would end up fighting on Darakou's army. I had made the decision to do so when things on Jhour's side got too hard to handle. Dictator Rouissage organized the army so that ten troops were stationed at five different posts, that he thought would be where Darakou's forces would be fighting the strongest. He was ordering us to shoot whoever got in our way, even if they were with Jhour. His aim was to make the war as bloody as possible, so Darakou would learn not to bring about war on Jhour.

I did not like seeing people die. I hated it. Mostly because of what happened to my parents. I only intentionally shot someone when I felt I needed to get away from Jhour. I shot a man who had been close to death, so I could steal his uniform. I put his uniform on, and began to fight on Darakou's side as a man. Since men and women both wore different uniforms, I went with the uniform that was made to disguise someone in thick forested areas, which was the men's uniform. I felt this was very sexist. What kind of person intentionally issues brightly colored uniforms to women. I suppose it is because they would rather women die, then men, so they make the women easy targets.

I was not having any of it. That is way I fought as a man. From that point on, I was no longer Zanei Loudreb. I came up with an alias for myself so no one, especially anyone from Jhour, would be able to detect I was a woman. The alias I felt best suited me was Ridinghood. It was my war name when I would play war hero with my dad, so it was also my war name now that I was fighting in a war.

I could see people all around me falling to the ground. It was hard to see where anything was because of all the blood shooting everywhere. The air even started to obtain a red glow to it. Since I was horrid at shooting, and I did not want to shoot anyone, I decided to hide. Run and hide. Since hiding is what I do best. I went to an area in which seemed to be clear of any battle, since it was far from the hard hitting action.

I suddenly heard a gun go off. A bullet soared by me, ripping some of the skin off of my right arm. I shot up from my sitting position and ran for what seemed like a half mile, to a point where the forest was starting to thin out. The trees were far more spread out, and the air was cleaner. Much cleaner. I swiftly sat down behind a tree, and waited. For some to happen. Anything. When after what seemed like hours, nothing had happened, I decided to make something happen. I strutted onto Darakou territory, deciding to remove myself from the war and live the rest of my life under an alias. Brandt Ridinghood.

I now live in Darakou, so far undetected of being a women. It's been three years and the war is still not over. Both colonies have run out of guns and ammunition, so they have started using homemade spears, bows and arrows, and shields to fight with.

The war will be ending soon. I know for a fact. Dictator Rouissage does not have the guts to keep the war going on. He will give up soon. The people of Jhour will be free soon. And everyone will be happy soon.