Alone I lay.
Alone I fight.
Alone I die.
Is this to be?
-
"Not good."
Was all lieutenant Flynn could say as he watched while the greens were brought to their knees and then to their graves.
What remained of his platoon made it back in time to see the defense line beginning to crumble.
This in turn lowered the morale to a chilling point, shredding what remained of their fighting spirit, many simply moments away from balling up despondently.
But not Flynn.
He had a plan.
One with a fifty percent chance of success!
For a few moments he watched as his fellow greens were shot at and beaten, playing close attention to the tans.
"We're not done here just yet."
Everyone looked to him, everyone but Connor, who had become engrossed in the ongoing battle, dazzled and fascinated.
This was noticed by Flynn but he said nothing for the time being.
He continued as he saw he had most of everyone's attention.
"We can make it outta this place with our lives and even the lives of our fellow greens down over there."
Without turning, he used his thumb to point behind him.
He continued.
"All we gotta do is make a little distraction. Get the tans attention for long enough, swipe in and grab who we can and then dip."
He said this while moving his arms and hands in swooping motions.
Many looked reluctant.
He could read it on their faces.
Distraction?
Fat chance.
Rescue and distraction?
Chance bigger than Santa.
One asked him what everyone was thinking.
"What sorta distraction?"
He answered immediately.
"The kind that takes tan lives in the process."
Everyone was surprised.
Except Connor, who was still looking on, an indescribable expression twisting his face.
Flynn noticed this and gave out the last bit of information.
The juicy stuff that needed to be known.
"What I have in mind is someone will stay behind while everyone else gets into position, where they will come in and escape with what's left. The one left behind will buy us time as they draw the tans attention."
He could feel his plastic heart beating rapidly, seemingly trying to escape his body.
There was silence as everyone digested the information.
"So... a sacrifice...?"
"Essentially."
He waited and held his breath.
A Storm was raging within everyone present, including himself.
A voice rang out, one he half expected to hear and which immediately relieved him of much of his tension.
"Who."
It was Connor who had asked.
Markus grew nervous as he had a feeling he knew where this was headed.
'Damn bastard...'
"You."
"..."
"I see."
Although anger could be felt and heard though his acceptance, there was nothing to be done.
No one but him was in any shape to fight.
"It's settled then."
Flynn started making his way down, the others soon following behind after taking a quick and nervous glance at Connor.
Markus stood there, the one holding him up trying to urge him to move along.
He didn't move.
"Connor..."
Connor turned his head and looked Markus in the eyes.
He peered and witnessed the sadness and reluctance.
This made him clench his jaw and ball his hands into a fist.
"Get out of here alive... please."
A request.
"...you as well."
He heard the man whisper in reply and watched his back as it moved further and further away.
Before he turned back around, he caught sight of Flynn standing off to the side.
"I'm sorry, I didn't want..."
Connor didn't let him finish.
"Shut it. Make my life worth something."
Silence.
Flynn slowly turned around and left, looking over his shoulder one last time to see the green man contemplate how he was going to die.
-
From the shadows of the many looming objects, Flynn waited and waited.
More and more greens died and when there was only a handful left he began wondering if Connor ever intended to provide them a window.
Nervousness dug its way into him.
And just as he was about to curse the green man's name, his time finally came.
And it came with a bang.
And then machine gun fire.
"That's our cue."
And they all began moving.
-
I have been left to die.
I have been left to die, with the sole purpose of giving them a chance to live.
Many would say this is a noble cause.
That to die for another is the greatest thing one can do in their life.
The pinnacle of selflessness.
I would agree with them wholeheartedly.
If I wasn't the one told to do it.
Screw them and their hero like aspirations.
Taking a deep breath, I calm myself and try and steady my rifle.
But I can't.
My nerves are fried.
Am I scared?
Scared of the thought me soon dying?
Thinking it over, I realize something.
It's not fear that makes my hands tremble.
It's anticipation.
Am I looking forward to dying?
Was that it.
Maybe.
This feeling is confusing.
Like muddied waters, that cannot be seen through, my feelings are hard to understand.
Trying to refocus, I look on over to the battlefield and found that I had been in though for too long.
A lot of greens had died.
Oops.
Looking down the sights of my rifle, I spotted the captain.
His back was to the wall, he was slouching but I could tell he was still alive.
Kinda.
But that wouldn't be the case for long, as another figure was coming up to him.
And I watched on as the tan played with his food.
My breathing got deeper and I soon took big gulps.
My focus was on the tan, my awareness was towards the tan force as a whole.
Rubbing my finger against the trigger, my sight was trained on the tans head, waiting for the right moment to take it off.
And then it came.
Just as the tan was about to pull the pin, everything lined up.
The tans forces down by the corner, the relaxation, the mortar teams moving and machine guns.
Everything.
Lives ready to be reaped.
Timed slowed as I pulled the trigger, my focus to the max, my brain running at 150%.
I realized then what the anticipation was for.
The kill.
The slaughter.
The massacre.
MY massacre.
I salivated as the head popped like a grape, a manic smile revealing my green teeth.
Everything seemed to go by in slow motion.
The others took some time to register the sound from the gunshot and then more time to realize a tan lost their head.
But this all happened while I was preparing my bigger gun.
The greens will have their window.
And my grave will be under a mountain of corpses.