We jumped into madness, our eyes closed tight, the sparkles of the night filled our minds with the beauty that was not seen until it was too late.
“Who…” Charlie didn’t get to finish his question as a bullet ripped through his throat; he fell to the sand; no sound, just another body lying there, being trampled by the machine of war.
“Forward, ahead!” I ordered, jumping out of the vessel, feet planting hard on the soft ground. “Troop 9….”
We moved forward; the battle grew to a roar, our rifles rang out; blasts of light ripping into alien flesh.
“There!!” I roared sending an atomic grenade into a nest of the beasts. “This is for Charlie!”
I felt my blood boiling; brewing, trying to keep in some sort of reality in this unreal moment, fighting aliens on their own planet.
I fired again; blasting the head off of the creature in front of me, their blood, green, rushing to the ground at my feet.
“Splug!” I cursed, spitting on the creature, pushing further towards our goal, the city’s gate, their capitol, a golden city once in history, now in ruin from the constant bombardment we threw at it, trying to liberate it from these scum; our enemy in a 100 year war.
Hours later, we had the city in our palm; sweeping through the narrow streets, looking for the stragglers of resistance in the mud huts and brick halls, weaving in and out of a maze of corridors.
Ant-like beasts scuttled from one end of darkness into another; a blast from our rifles and they fell into a sleep they would never wake from.
A child; for lack of a better word, stood silently in the door way, eyeing us.
I opened fire; killing him as he stood there, he slumped down, a slight gurgle escaping his lips.
“Children grow into adults…” I told myself, shoving the body aside and entering the building. “Children grow into adults!”
Rest in peace,
Old men,
In war rooms,
Thousands of miles away,
Millions killed,
As they sleep in soft beds,
We sleep in mud,
They lay their heads on silken pillows,
Our heads lie on broken rocks.
— excerpt from ‘Last Words from a Soldier’s Diary’ by an Unknown Solider
Another day; on this shit hole planet, twenty eight hours in, no sleep, a can of cold beans, ration ships are late; are they even coming?
Headquarters in contact.
Still en route.
Always, seemingly, en route.
On guard; enemy spotted outside city, marching forward.
First wave — four of our men killed; I was asleep when I heard the screams.
On my feet; forward, fire, kill, or be killed.
Three hours – enemy dispelled, causalities fifteen troops; lost our communication specialist, rocket into the station he was broadcasting from.
Contact limited to HQ.
In need of support, ASAFP.
General orders received; hold city till further orders.
Next day; on patrol, mini fights throughout.
I try to sleep again; tucked inside a shell of a tank, my back push against the metal wall.
Six minutes; whole six minutes.
“We got our orders sir, we’re to pull back to rendezvous point charlie…”
“What?” I was rubbing my eyes; trying to stand.
“General orders sir, we’re heading off world, apparently it’s over…”
“The war??”
He nodded.
I pulled myself out, stood there staring into the sky, watching a ship landing somewhere outside of the city.
“What were we fighting for?” I said, mostly to myself.
He shrugged.
“Sir…” and before he said a word, a shot rang out, striking me in the head, my body fell to the ground, hard, but as the dead, I did not feel it, my soul was pulled back, a watcher of this scene…
WANDERING WHERE I AM GOING! 