Mist

Even though I walk

The fight begins. I run upwards, towards a growing light until it envelops me. I'm in the valley. I can't see much in front of me because of the mist. The ground is soft and muddy. I think of the Blackcoat. She's lovely. I don't know her well, but to me, she's the most beautiful woman in the world. If I want a future today, I want it with her. I want to love her. I want to share my flowers with her and see colors.

I want to see Como again, with his charming face and perfectly timed jokes. I feel like I'm a kid when I'm with him and war just goes away. I want Amicus, Serdityy, and all the others. The ones who died, I want them to live. I want to fight for them, not this resource that Unity wants and the government can't choose to let go of. Unity messed up my life. Unity made all these people fight in a war that isn't worth it, and because of that, they should be destroyed.

A figure appears out of the mist ahead of me. Then more and more run out. The clouds that I thought were in the abyss are now where we are. But we're are not in the abyss, we're in hell. Bullets that were missing me now hit my armor. The explosions start. I run through a blasts of warm white dirt. I don't slow down, I run. The figures are more detailed now. A large harpoon-like gun fires at me. Well, this can be the end of my life. Or not.

I shoot my gun. A beast of an alien does a flip mid-air as red blood explodes from their chest. I sprint faster. While they're in the air, I pull them down and throw them on the alien behind them. They fall back and get trampled by Unity. I punch forward, landing my hand through an alien's visor. The glass flies onto me. The Unity soldier falls to the ground. I duck as a line of aliens charge forward.

I pick up a pistol-shaped gun on the ground and I fire. It hits an alien who jumps onto me. They shove a knife through my armor. I push my pistol to their head and shoot. Purple blood explodes out of the back of its head. I shove it off me. Other Service Soldiers rush forward, shooting. I join them.

I run forward and fire at the waves of enemies. Bullets and explosions are deafening. Bodies fly around me. Dirt and blood cover my armor. An alien charges at me with their rifle and bayonet. I shoot my pistol until it's out of ammo. I throw it at the alien. They dodge it and continue their rage. I body slam them and they fall to the ground. Their bayonet barely misses me as the rifle falls from the alien's hands. They stand up and sprint at me in a fury. They're quickly shot by a Service Soldier.

I continue forward. A bullet pierces through me, but I really don't care. I punch the Unity closest to me. They're unphased and punch me. I fly back and slide on the wet ground. I pick up a gun from a dead body. I get up and take in the battle: a painting of chaos, large and small aliens in a bloody dance of hatred.

The blood boils in my veins. Anger over the fallen flows through me. I run. Warm blood flows down my side. The scars of my past fuel my rage. An alien one story high, robotic-looking, with guns for arms slams the ground. Crushed bodies and mangled parts are launched into the air as the alien shoots large bullets. The ground rumbles as it walks. They're a modern monster.

I move in closer. Their bright, white eyes scan the area and spot the soldiers shooting them. The bullets easily pass through their armor, but the monstrosity continues to destroy. Their legs are open wide. I slide between them, pull out my grenade, activate it, and shove it into their leg. I run away. They hit me with the barrel of their gun. I tumble to the ground. I get up and my shoulder is dislocated. The beast's leg is laying near them and they fall.

I relocate my shoulder. The pain is so fierce I fall down. I shut my jaw as tight as I can, grinding my teeth to get rid of the pain. I stand up. The alien is being overrun by Service Soldiers and ripped to shreds. I trudge forward with my rifle in hand. The body of the large alien is now being used as cover from the Unity force. I aim my rifle and fire. Smoke drips out of the gun. I fire again. Service Soldiers leap out from cover. I fire again. I hear a small hum. I fire again.

"Reinforcements!" a Service Soldier screams. Hundreds of ships above me drop parachutes. I try to fire the rifle again. It's empty. I throw it and run towards the Service Soldiers slowly pushing forward. I jump through the line and tackle the thing in front of me. They try to push me off, but I hold them down. Their gun lays next to them. I quickly reach for it but get kicked off by a Unity Soldier. They aim and fire quickly at me.

My body jerks in pain. The soldier continues to shoot forward. The one I tackled picks up their gun and fires ahead. I crawl until I met a body. I feel around for a weapon. There's a heavy machine gun buried deep in the ground. I uncover it, adjust it, and shoot into the chaos. The beat of each bullet firing repeats in my head. I lean back on the soldier, feeling cold, weak, and tired. The lines of Unity fall when I aim my rifle at them. The end of the barrel glows white until nothing comes out anymore. I move it to the side.

Is this death? The thing that no one knows of. A thought that the world will forget you. Scared. Alone. Death is a cold welcome to another world. A group of Service Soldiers runs up to me. One soldier inspects me, "Human, I think." I nod with the bit of energy I have left. The other soldier holds my neck, "Still Alive." They inject me with a needle. I jump up with the energy I had when I started this battle. More and more Service Soldiers drop in from the sky. The soldier looks me over, hands me a simple weapon with a clip of ammo, and says "You probably need this."

I run forward. The white valley is burnt, rough, and painted with faceless bodies because of leaders that don't know their face. Who am I to a King? The armies of Unity push forward, unified under an ideal. The armies of Service charge Unity under a different ideal. Who am I to say the other guy deserves to die? I know, war is cruel.

I join my fellow comrades to fight for what's right to me. "Push forward!" Screams a scraggly voice. I strut ahead, in line with the others, running with a gun pointed in front of them. They're firing into the crowd, never knowing what they shot.

"Push forward!" The voice booms through my skin. My hair raises. My blood boils. Sweat and blood drip freely from me. I don't back down. We are animals, fighting for survival. The primal instincts our bodies grew for us remained dormant until now. I felt death. Now, I truly feel alive.

"Push forward," the voice continues to say, a repetitive sound, vibrating in my brain. "Push forward."

"Push forward." Like a lullaby.

"Push forward." Like a warcry.

"Push forward." Like life.