shot

It was supposed to be loud, the deafening blasts coming from the explosions of shrapnel, light, and sound. I mean, I could feel it in the ground. How it shuddered every time a bomb collided with the blackened earth, wiping out every bit of life surrounding it. But I heard nothing. Only an overpowering ringing in my ears. The dangerous actions of war surrounded me. Men fell hard onto the blood soaked ground, doubling over as metal bullets forced their way through their bodies. The whole world was spinning, it continued around me while I stood alone in confusion. Vietnamese men huddled around the sheltered edges of the forests. They were surrounding us.

My head was pounding, almost as hard as my heart. The amount of control I had over my own body was zero to minimal. Every man was spread out over the fields, dead or taking cover. Taking in a deep breath, all that entered my lungs was thick smoke and the heavy stench of death. You would think it would just be painful, scarring even, to watch the life of many men being taken from them. But it was as if it infected the air, making it hard to breathe and catch your breath. Beginning to snap out of it, I spotted a truck closer to the side of the flats, hardly 15 meters away. I stumbled towards it, clutching my left shoulder. Now that I was making my way back to reality the pain was becoming more and more real every second.

I'm not going to make it.