The grief of a soldier

TW: this is not for the slight of heart. This is a dystopian science fiction war story, and it involves a lot of gore and dark moments. Read at your own discretion.

• Drama
• Fiction
• Science fiction
• Short story
• Action and Adventure

								
Amock, Reuke, and Balter sit around a flickering fire under the blanket of stars. Venus ground beneath their feet as they huddle around the comforting light and warmth the fire provides the three young boys in core military uniforms. Their uniforms are a deep blue with yellow markings, and black armor protecting their vital points. Their helmets which could remind a person of a bull are off to the side. Amock has his helmet on his lap as he smiles at his friend, Reuke, who breaks the comfortable silence. 
	“Can you guys believe this is our first ever ground mission? Like, this is a big achievement for us!” Reuke speaks with a lot of hand motions, making the small bells he sewed into the cuffs of his sleeves chime. His green eyes sparkle in the light of the fire, which his red hair often gets compared to. He has some pockmarks on his face and a pimple on his chin. It isn’t unique to Reuke, all three boys have blemishes on their faces in the form of dirt and acne.
	“It’s pretty exciting, I can't wait to crush some Rim soldiers in real-life combat!” Balter says as he punches the palm of his hand, a huge grin on his round face. It makes him look like a monkey, with his big ears and playful brown eyes. 
        “We are gonna be able to finally make a name for ourselves. The deadly trio, feared across the solar system as the greatest heroes the core has ever seen,” Reuke says with a flourish of his hands, sprawling them across the sky in an arch to add a dramatic flair. Amock and Balter snicker, Amock leaning back to look up at the stars. The constellations are different on Venus than they are on Mercury. It’s strange looking at such familiar stars in such a different way. 
        “Yeah. When we get to go home, we’ll get a whole parade all for ourselves. ‘Look! It’s Reuke, Amock, and Balter, the best soldiers the core has ever seen,” Amock says with a snicker.
         “Oh, I can see it now, a whole float just for us! It’ll be huge, bigger than a Martian house,” Reuke says with a pleasant hum.
         “Ooooo would we get to decorate it?” Balter asks as he shifts into a different sitting position.
“Yeah, we’d get to decorate it,” Amock says, lying down in his sleeping bag. He can hear Reuke yawn.
         “Our families will watch us too… they’re gonna be so proud,” Reuke says as he lays down as well, Balter joining soon after.
         “Yeah.. ‘look, that’s my son… he and his friends are the heroes of the core…” Says a sleepy Amock. Slowly, the three boys drift to sleep, and the fire dies down…

          Amock jolts awake to the sound of gunfire, shouting and screaming. He shoves his helmet on his head, his eyes still blurry from his brief sleep. Amock scrambles to his feet, his gun in hand as he drags his friends to their feet. Reuke and Balter don't have their helmets, lost in the chaos of other, taller, stronger soldiers rushing to get to cover. The three boys run as fast as they can to the newly dug trenches. Amock can only hear his heartbeat and his quick breathing. His eyes go wild, his hand gripping his friend Balter’s hand as tight as it can, Reuke running ahead of the two slower boys.          Suddenly, there is a bright flash behind them, and Amock’s eyes roll back as blinding pain goes through his back and arm. He is hurtled forward, away from the violent blast, and he crumples in the trench where he coughs and gags through the pain searing through his arm. His ears ring painfully, and he can feel warm liquid trickle out of them which he suspects is blood. As his vision and hearing clear, he can hear screaming. He can see Reuke screaming and sobbing violently, with tears and snot and sweat drenching his face as he cradles the bloodied body of Balter. His guts are visible and are spilled out in a bloody dirty mess. Amock gags and throws up, sobbing as he joins Reuke. 
         Balter is unrecognizable. His skin is gone, and his brown eyes are bloodshot and rolling around as he briefly clings to life. Shrapnel gouges the body of their friend, which slowly goes cold and shutters as Balter dies in their arms... Amock gags, dry heaving at the thought of his friend truly being dead. This isn’t happening. This isn’t happening. Balter didn’t just die. Then suddenly, blood gushes through Reuke’s throat as a bullet goes straight through his neck. Reuke's eyes widen and his hands go through his neck, the small bells chiming, blood pouring from the wound down his neck and torso to the ground in a scarlet waterfall. He coughs blood and crumples, sobbing like a baby as Amock catches him with his right arm, his left is only skin and muscle from the explosion that took the life of Balter. 
         “Mooooom!!...Mommy!... I- I want- I want to go home!!.. Momm!!- ahg-!” Reuke chokes on blood, his body seizing and trembling as he throws up blood and bile. Amock joins him in his cries, the two children wailing for their mothers surrounded by the corpses of friends. An enemy Rim soldier slides into the trench, his head rolling a few feet away. Amock can do nothing but scream and retch and wail and cry for his mom and his dad and his friends as Reuke’s cries slowly go silent, his eyes go dull, and his body goes cold… 
          Amock crumples, his eyes squeezed shut as he shakes and sobs in the mud and blood. His friend's corpses are beside him, and more bodies soon cover them. Amock hears the groans and cries of groan men as they die on top of and around him. His senses are overwhelmed with the smell of blood and sweat and fear, and the sounds of war. The battle lasts for hours, Amock is trapped between the corpses of his friends, and foes, and a major wound on his arm and back from the explosion…. But at some point, all goes silent… and all Amock can hear are the screams of his now-dead friends… and all he can think about is death.
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