Numb: The Genesis

XII. Hell

Innocent blood spilled and tainted the clear waters of the ocean. I slaughtered a man.

His head. Split open. Horrified, I was for sure. The stiffening feeling was overwhelming. I felt more pulling, tugging at my ankles. I saw red. Not just blood.

Fire.

Everywhere I turned. Fire. Flames blazed with such wrath, ready to take under any man on that ship; ready to burn them alive for their wrongdoings. I thought for sure that we were all going to burn, all of us men who were sent by bloodthirsty kings to sacrifice our lives for the sake of the kingdom. We have become enemies to total strangers because of what we're told--what was right and what was wrong--when us men had our own morals. That morality, the foundation of our humanity, would easily crumble by the hunger for power.

And who would have thought that I, a man who was against this mindset, would soon become the one who hungers for power.

As everything went ablaze, I noticed a broken lantern with its shattered glass by my feet. To the top of my lungs, I cried so that anyone alive could listen, "The dinghies! Now!" I sheathed my sword and ran as fast as I could to the nearest dinghy. The sails caught the blaze and the masts were collapsing, toppling, and blocking my route to safety.

I looked behind me. Lieutenant Gunne, under a fallen mast.

I ran to him, using my strength to pull up the burning mast. Adrenaline. Heat. The smell of smoke filled my lungs.

"No. No. Stop."

"Lieutenant, I can do this if you just let me-"

"You're killing both of us out here. Save yourself."

"But-"

"Go." I nodded and he nodded back. Then I went back to running. The deck began to cave in, almost taking me in with it. I jumped onto a dinghy and slashed the rope. Down I went. Entering the waters, I looked for the oars and found them. I rowed with my remaining strength. The sound of broken wood cracked at my ears. Behind me, there was no longer a ship or even a crew of men. Everything, engulfed in flames.We were once men with stable lives and now were easily torn apart by war. We stood on this ship that carried the burden of having such a war. And it just all fell apart like that.

To me, what was behind me was hell.