Hallelujah

I look all around me and there is chaos. I think that this should have never happened, but the world is not perfect and sometimes war is inevitable. The rifle is slotted in my warm grasp, and I catch a glimpse of it out of the corner of my eye. It is long, rusty and shines a dark shade of green. The sun beats down, radiating blistering heat, and the metal of the weapon of death in my hand sends light, faint light, that gives me hope.

I turn, still in my crouching position, and raise myself at a great speed. The next thing I know is dominance: I can feel the power of the thing in my hands. Tiny specks of darkness fly from it – the bullets. They are the soul of the gun, and I know this, for that is what I was taught. I see two men, around thirty feet away, fall to the ground. I have just killed human beings. I crouch again.

Why? WHY? What is the meaning of this madness? People of the same species are fighting over resources we can gain through hard work… blood is being spilled, human blood, and there is no stopping it. They say there are heroes in war… but hpow can that be true? How can you name someone a hero for killing people, who are in the exact same position, who have friends and families waiting for them to return from the battlefields across the world? You can’t. This is what I feel as I hear screaming, screams that mean that death is close…

I am not afraid of death; I haven’t been for a while now. I have seen it all now. I have seen death, I have seen the closest thing to resurrection possible, I have sene lunatics and those who can be described as pure evil… maybe war is for the best, maybe for the worst. But it all comes down to one thing – why does it continue? What have we all come to? Why can a man walk out and sign a treaty of peace? That is what I call a hero.

I sigh and turn my head. Lieutenant Simons is shouting for me to get up and press forward. I hesitate for a moment, only for a moment, and then stand. Me, Simons, Howard and Dec charge forward. We are followed by the rest. It is clear now that we are outnumbering the enemy forces. I throw myself to the floor, protected by a pile of dusty rock. It is not much, and I understand that within a few seconds the enemy could toss a grenade. After all, this clump of rock that was supposedly protecting me was small.

I lean across and fire. I see that I have hit a man in the leg. I fire once again and miss. Cursing, I swing back and narrowly avoid a bullet. Howard roars something at me but I cannot hear. His voice is obscured by the constant scream of explosions and gunfire. We’re nearly there now. The energy that comes from us is great. I can feel it now, we’re ever so near…

I stand and let out a wild cry. There is a chunk and then something happens that I cannot understand. I look down and pull the trigger again. I am out of ammunition. I am shocked and I am scared and I look up. Something is flying at me. It is humongous and blocks off the entire world. Deep in my heart, though, I know it was tiny.

This thing hits my face. I shut my eyes, as if in submission to this painful end, and think about one thing. The wife and the kids. They will be told soon, and they will understand… they will understand that I have regret, but also that I am proud. I have lived the greatest life civilization has ever known. My family… they are my last thoughts. My vision is clouded over by a fog of redness now.

I manage to whisper one final word. I feel that this world truly describes what I have lived for, and what I have achieved. This word means everything to me, and it shows that I am rejoicing that I am now going to join the greatest being alive: the Lord God. I will travel to Heaven and I will look down at my family and friends, and the world and everyone I knew from there and wait for them to come to me, where we can live together eternally.

“Hallelujah.”