Hero of war - Part #01

A Story by J_P_C

Short story about a soldier waking up from being unconscious on the battlefield. Part #1

Hero of War

The ringing in my ears has been going on for what has felt like hours. I can’t feel anything in my body, except for the cold chill running down my legs, and the sand in between my toes. Fear is running throughout me, taking over my nerves and muscles as I lay flat and breathless beneath sand and rubble. As the ringing starts to dull down, other noises begin to rush in, sounds of bullets tearing through flesh, screams of dying men and the aching sound of agony. I try to open my eyes but they seem stuck, I manage to pull my arm up, and move my numb fingers over my face. I manage to chip off something from my eyelids, as I open one eye and look down at my hand, dry chips of blood are lodged between my fingernails. Where am I, what’s happened to me?

I’m starting to get more feeling in my legs, and slowly more in my arms. I’m starting to gain more energy and I can begin to feel blood rushing through my veins. Nerve sensation is starting to come back, and all the pain is hitting me at once. I can feel cuts on my chest, grazes on my knees and burns all over my body. The agony alone makes me want to close my eyes again and simply drift away. But for some reason I feel the need to get up, something in the back of my head is telling me not to give up but to stand and fight.

As I lay on my stomach, flat and filled with pain I convince myself that this isn’t going to be the day I die. I drag my knees forward, and lift my torso up. I can feel cuts beginning to open and blood trickle down my skin. I sit there, sand around my legs, arms to my side, staring up at the sun. With light beaming down upon my face I look around. My eyes are still blurry and my neck is stiff from lack of movement, yet still I force myself to turn and look around.

As I turn to my right I see a young soldier running towards me. He smiles as he moves closer to my position. I feel as though I know this boy, but I can’t remember him. Gaining speed and getting closer he starts to yell out to me. I can’t make out what he is trying to say, and I can’t hear him over the sounds of gunfire, but I feel as though he is yelling my name. He reaches out his hand as he runs towards me, and for some reason I reach out mine, somehow I know I can trust this person. As he grabs my hand to pull me up I feel a shock go through his skin. The young soldiers hand starts to feel cold and in seconds it was as though time itself had slowed down.

I noticed a small red dot appear over the soldier’s right temple, as I opened my mouth to warm him it all came to an end. Without warning a bullet flew through the air, curving and spinning in the wind, when it reached the soldier it was too late to move. The bullet pierced through his temple and blew out the other side. Blood shot out and splattered all around him, his eyes rolled back and he fell towards me. He fell onto me, head over my shoulder and his cold corpse into my arms. Blood continued running out of the sides of his head and down my shoulder. I sat shocked and confused, as the soldier’s body rolled off my own and into a puddle of his own blood in the sand. I look down into my hands, covered in blood with cuts over my knuckles. I clench my fists and think why. Why did he try to save me, why couldn’t he of stayed where he was. Why him?