ey rocky, watch me pull a massacre out of my pants

The icy wind blows right through to my bones,  my cotton jacket doesn’t do much in the way of insulation.

The sergeant is discussing something with another officer. The tidbits that can be heard through the howling wind make it sound like they’re planning our next move.  I don’t know much about tactics, but they sound like we’re going to take them head on.

Doesn’t sound too smart to me.


Not that I’m an authority on military business.  The only gun I’ve ever shot is my old Nagant bolt-action, nothing automatic like this. Such a strange rifle, made from blued steel and black plastic.

 They trust me with the ability to take a life, trust they wouldn’t allow me had I not been drafted. And yet here I am, scouring the terrain in front of me for any signs of movement, rifle on my side. Twenty round mag, select-fire.  They said never to spray and pray.  Never to shoot high because you’re scared, or else you’d get ten lashes.

…… Shit.

No one would have guessed that they would attack us out of the blue like that, even when we all knew we weren’t exactly allies before this.

        The wind grudgingly nibbles away at my face. I try to cover it by pulling my jacket further up, but it only makes the neck wet from my breath.  It’s better to be dry and cold than wet and cold...

I can’t believe some higher-up decided it was a good idea to give a soldier a three-week crash course on how to kill before shipping them out to die.  Seems rushed.  Now I ain’t one to go against Parliament, but couldn’t they come up with something better?


 [big text box]
I guess this a desperate situation.
It just pains me to know that I probably won’t come back.
That I, most likely, will be dead in a ditch before this war ends.
I might never see them again.  Mom, dad, sis, everyone else that meant something to me.
I haven’t even been given an opportunity to call home.
I’m too young to die.
[normal textbox]

    I lift my head for another scouting. The forest is foreboding in its silence.

[…]

*Cracking noise*

I see something running between the trees.  Five-something feet tall and covered in moss.  The soldier next to me whispers to himself.   If I were a foot away I wouldn’t have heard it.  “Got mi vargeeiv.“

“God forgive me“.

Officer:  Fire at will!

*Some gunfire then loud ringing with thuds in the background*

We light up the forest, ripping bark from the trees and leaves from the branches.  My ears ring incessantly from the rifle reports.  All I can feel is the thud-thud-thud of the soldier next to me, holding an M-60 machine gun.

The gunshots die down and the forest returns to idleness.

*ears ring for five seconds then a loud thud and screen fades to red*