War

Death was following us. Wherever we went. Death. I hate that word. Death. I could hear his agonising screams as I ran through the muddy slush in the trenches carrying him on my back. The weight of his grief upon my shoulders kept me going, fighting. The need to see him reunited with his family made me fight harder.

The flash of the explosion had me squinting, barely able to see where I was going, trying not to fall over the millions of bodies scattered everywhere. The stench of the rotting corpses followed them around, infecting the air that surrounded us, choking us out. When I look at them I cannot help but think why are they dead? Just a year or so ago they were going to school, working or married. And now they are dead. Many among them had ambition, all looked forward to the future, now they are dead. It keeps shooting through my mind again and again. Why have these men died? I hope these men have not given their lives for empty words.

And then I fell. All I could see was the dark, grey sky above me. I wondered if I would ever see the world in colour again. The clouds wandered aimlessly looking for life but there was very few. They were moving at their own natural pace above us like symbols of death, not a single sign of happiness.

As I got up, with every step I took, Breyton groaned and whimpered. I couldn't bear to see him like this. My heart held nothing but fear, hatred and regret. Regret that I couldn't stop the guns from spitting out the bullets which screamed with the pain of release.

The clouds began to scream causing me to jump back with fright. Just then, the worst possible thing which should have happened, did. The flickering flames danced around the grounds on which we stood like a devil. I could hear nothing, on,y the buzzing of silence.

The smoke was stinging our eyes like tiny needles stabbing at our drawn pale faces. I only saw red. Red. Red for the flames, red for anger and red for blood. That's when I realised the red sticky substance was oozing out of Hayden's arm. I was so caught up on making sure we got out alive, I didn't even realise he was injured. I had to save my best friend.

I ran as fast as I could into our trenches for cover. As the rain poured into our trench, the mud and slush was agonising when it hit our raw bodies, already in pain from the attacking sores and scabs.