Hansel the Patriot

Hansel the Patriot

 

Hansel flipped a coin before he jumped into the transport like the rest of his brothers. He had that coin in his pocket now, stuck deep into his pants behind an inch thick carapace of plate, mesh, and polish. He felt it dig into his skin—an uncomfortable reminder.

 

His commander started him on the habit—more of a prayer actually—of flipping coins. He was only one in the company left that was doing it. Everyone else was dead. The boys around him, with their faces hidden in helmets, came later. They didn't get to learn from the past commander. The old man was dead. Armor malfunction they said; blew his backpack up and him with it. Only pieces of him left were his bone replacements and shards of solidified muscle facsimiles.

 

The army loved to make its boys stronger. Oh, wait, he wasn't army. The army died in the war they should’ve won before s**t got too worse for wear, resulting in this consistently necessary measure. No, Hansel was MOD. He didn't feel anything particularly bad or good about it, kinda like a birthmark on your a*s. Does it matter? Cute ain't it?

 

"Drop," the grainy voice in his helmet said. It was the captain, and the doors were slowly opening. When was the last time they oiled this flying baby dropper? The metal screeched as it slid to the side and let the sudden change of atmosphere in. Instantly, the roar of wind speed filled the compartment and his helm adjusted to the change. It muffled the background noise and cleared only the things that should be heard, like his captain's voice.

 

"We drop in three, two—" Hansel rose and was the third man to fall out the edge of the transport. He sucked his gut and breath in as he recalled every instance he was told to drop from thirteen thousand feet up in the air. He sighed and hoped the coin was wrong. It said tails. People die when they get tails. It was magic enough for him to last three hundred days so far.

 

Excellent.

Author's Note

Thank you.

Reviews

[Scott Vincent]

I enjoyed the fact it left so many questions unanswered. Not every story needs to have everything so clear and I think you captured that really well here. However, if this is part of a larger story I'd love to know what it is because I really enjoy your style of writing here. Again a great little piece. Thank you for sharing.

[Nathan M]

There needs to be more to it. Why is Hansel jumping? Where is Hansel from? Where is Hansel jumping to? Which war is he in? Who is jumping with him? There are so many questions to be answered. This is a great introduction, but that is all it is.