Monster

Thirty-One

CW: The NSFW chapters have been included after the 2nd and 3rd page breaks. You do not need to read them to understand the rest of the story.

It was difficult to sleep again, even though I was exhausted. I lay in bed for a long time staring at the ceiling, and when I finally did fall asleep, it didn't last long. The slightest noise woke me, and sometimes when there were no sounds at all, my mind forced me awake anyway. Then it would repeat.

I didn't truly fall asleep until well after midnight. And then I found myself flat on my back on a bed of crumbled bricks, staring up at smoke on an otherwise cloudless blue sky.

The ringing in my ears was loud enough to ache, and it was blocked by the growing pain in my shoulder. I could feel the warmth of my own blood as it spread out beneath me. I groaned and rolled to my side to get back to my feet. Under the ringing, I could still make out the distant pops and booms of gunfire. I pressed a hand against the blood on my shoulder and moved to sit up as another soldier ran through the courtyard. He dropped to the sound of a pop. I could hear his screams of pain over the ringing.

It was a struggle to get back up. My legs weren't strong enough to carry my body, and it wouldn't be smart to stand anyway. I would leave myself open. So I did a half crawl through the debris, cradling my injured arm against my body. I'd never formally met the man, but I knew him. He was the Colonel who'd called us into this mission even though we could have stayed behind.

I couldn't let him die there, but my struggle took too long. They were going to fire again if I didn't hurry. I was bleeding profusely, and I could feel my energy and focus beginning to slip.

I was almost to his side when a grenade rolled into view. Talbot watched my slow struggle to him, and both of us froze when we spotted it. He was taking refuge under a piece of shrapnel, but neither of us would survive that blast. He began to shout, but I couldn't make out the words. I just gathered enough from his gestures to know he was telling me to take cover. To use its delayed reaction time to take cover.

The grenade was either a dud or slow to react. I decided to change direction. I could go right toward him, but it would kill us both if it went off. And if I had enough time before it detonated, I might be able to throw it back. It was a risk I was willing to take. I could hear him screaming at me as I moved toward the grenade. His voice grew louder and more frantic as I reached for it. The metal was cold and heavy in my hands as I gripped it like a baseball. The men who'd thrown it were on the other side of the courtyard, yelling and waving their weapons. They were out of ammo.

The throw sent pain rocking through my body, but I gave it my best shot. My dad used to say I had a good throwing arm, and I hated that he never let me join the softball team. The grenade flew across the courtyard for only a few seconds before it ignited. It burst open in the air like a firecracker and sprayed everyone in the area with chunks of broken metal and a rain of fire.