They have menaced us.
We have to strike before the enemy does. He remembered the president’s words.
If we don’t attack them, they will attack us. They don’t show mercy for civilians. All your beloved will suffer. We don’t want that, do we?
No, we didn’t. He had been one of the strongest supporters with the president. Do it for America! Our country!
But now, when he laid pressed into the heat sand the words he had spoken so passionately, so convinced, now ran of him like the sweat in his forehead. In the blue sky above him a cluster of the enemy’s warairplanes flew over him with a deafening sound. He swore and cursed the gassing sun. He cursed this whole country, which only done him bad. Which he only done bad, and that tarnished him. In front of him, the officer waved at him to crawl forward. He crawled carefully so the sand wouldn’t whirl up and uncover him. It was little hard with the gun over his back, but no-one fired at him so he must have succeed. In the horizon line the silhouette of a city could be seen. It was his and the officer’s mission to spy and make sure the enemy’s army really was stationed in this town. They had to act carefully. He took up his binocular. First it was hard to see anything, but when he had got in the acuity he could see a green military trunk. Got ya. He hesitated a little bit before he threw a small stone at his officer’s back. It was time to head back and contact the air force.
Next day there was no town in the horizon anymore. The stank of burnt reached all the way to their camp. He woke up in the dawn, trembling. He had dreamed a nightmare. Again. He could still feel the scare, see everything in front of him even thou he was awake now. In the dream he had been in the city, in the chaos. Peopling had been screaming around him in panic, the houses had burned – everything had burned. Mothers have been separated from their children. And all the time airplanes had flew like bluebottles in the dark sky, keep dropping of bombs of fire at the civilians, and the sleeping army of course.
End of the mission.
His cadet reunited with the rest of the army that day. The rumours said that the big battle was coming closer. Around him soldiers were chitchatting with each other as they ate their freeze-dried meal. He wasn’t listening at them, and he couldn’t eat either. The sounds around him disappeared, he didn’t feel the heat. In his minds he was back home, were the lawns were green and soft and were the wind was refreshing. Were the sun was merciful. In his mind he could see her, the love of his life. She was walking down the white path and in her arms she held a little baby. He imagined that the baby was a boy with brown curly hair as his own. Or maybe it was a girl with red hair as her mother and gifted with her beautiful smile. He saw that smile in front of him, and it light up his day, as it had done since he came to this cursed country. He had been so determined about that he was doing the right thing coming here, not that he had any choice to come or not, but what he had experienced was nothing glory about at all. His thoughts walked away to his best friend. They had known each other since their childhood. They grew up together, won together and lost together. One time, he remembered, when he had broken his one arm falling from a clip were they used to play, his best friend brake his own arm too so they could suffer together. They was supposed to be best man on each other weddings, god father’s to each others children. There was no-one other to be that. But the war has changed everything. A picture from his memory shimmered in his eyes. The enemy had lied in ambush. They weren’t prepared. The shots came from everywhere. He duck automatically without thinking of that his best friend stood behind him. The bullet hit his friend’s chest.
Die for each other? What a friend you showed up to be! He could see his best friend spit blood; he had been hit by more bullets, there was no way to save him.
And so he was left lonely, in this damned country.
The sound of the crickets imbued the otherwise silent night. The air was heavy and the starry sky was clear and he could look up on millions of millions of stars. Back home in the lightened city there could never be seen this number of stars. It was beautiful and the night was so peaceful that he for a moment forgot his purpose. Instead he inhaled the smell of salt and seaweed. His lips bended to a smile. The wind of sea dragged in his hair and stroked his face. He closed his eyes and dreamed of standing there with his fiancé and their son or daughter – he didn’t know which their child had been. His heart ached in desire to see his child in it’s eyes for the first the, to hold it in his arms…
“Sergeant!”
He opened his eyes with surprise, and the real world stroke unmerciful back at him. In front of him the captain stood and he immediately stood up in attention and did a salute.
“Yes captain!”
“Gather your men! The enemy has been seen up in the river. They come with their full strength. Order in position!”
“Yes captain!”
He merged his feet and so did the captain. They separated and it was with heavy steps he walked back to the camp were his men were. It must have been written in his face, because as soon as he showed up everyone stiffened and their eyes became understanding and dark, because they knew what was waiting. They knew that many of them would never see the sunrise again.
“Soldiers”, he said loud and clear, louder than he had too because everyone sat silent. Even the sound of the crickets had stopped. He looked at the faces of his men, mostly young faces, not older than himself.
“Soldiers”, he continued. “What we have been waiting for has finally come. The enemy has been spotted higher up in the river. This is it.”
He could see fear in some of his men face. In other he could see presumption. And in some there was indifferentism. All three scared him.
“It can be over tomorrow. Or in a week. It all depends on how fast we win this war but two things are sure: it will be over and we will win!” His convincement made some of his men stretch their back with hope. Much better.
“I could tell you to fight for your country, like the other officers do. But in the heat of battles, what do you actually fight for?” He took a pause and looked over the soldiers. They shared uncertain glances with each other.
“I’ll tell you. You fight for your self. Your life. You fight for the hope to come back to your beloved ones in America. So fellows, let go out and kill these bastards. We will see each other soon very soon, and then we won’t be stuck here, we will be on a plane that takes us home again!”
And as he had expected, the soldiers clap their hands and started to excitement. He turned around and left them with a gloomy smile on his face. He had seen hope in his men’s eyes, and yes it was good. But it was a false hope.
Everything happened so fast. Bombs fell like rain from the sky, gun was fired everywhere. The ground was like an ocean of dead bodies and blood. Kill or not be killed. He was hit in his arm but he didn’t feel the pain. His face was red, but he didn’t know if the blood was his or if it came from someone else. Not because he cared. He fired his machine gun. Screamed orders at his soldiers. The night wasn’t silent anymore, it wasn’t dark anymore. The river seemed to burn and the land seemed to drown in death. This is Armageddon, he thought as he slaked another man’s life. This will be the end of the world. The thoughts distract him for a single second, but that was all what’s needed. Something hit him in his stomach. This time he felt the pain. He stayed up, his legs disappeared below him and he fell down to the ground. His life ran out of him, but in his last minutes he didn’t see his blown up body, he didn’t hear the war around him. Everything became silent. The pain disappeared again. He felt a soft, warm feeling spread in his body.
He thought about his beloved and his child, who he never had held. A salty tear amalgamated with the bitter blood on his cheek.
And in the white, big moon they smiled down at him.
