I left the unit. My final mission

It's time to end it.

Loaded Makarov pistol in hand I make my way to the target. Of all things a teenager with a bomb strapped to his chest in large crowd. The same teenager I took a bullet to the knee for sweating my sack off in the desert for all of 90 days.

The locations a crowded church having a celebration for all the soldiers returning from that failed war. Whats worse than moving through a crowd of people is moving through one with one leg trying to catch up to a kid who ran like an Olympic athlete.

The ceremony was about to begin. That's also when the bomb was suppose to go off. I fought for this kid I bled for him, and lost my leg for him. I was there from beginning to end when his village burned and when it was rebuilt.

They're testing the microphones! People are watching the stage. Raj is near the stage. And he dropped his coat. I knew he had allot of explosives but It looks like he strapped cinder blocks to his chest.I couldn't catch up to him. I have to switch to plan B. The last thing you I wanted to do.

I remembered everything. He was the first one waiting for us as we entered the village, he helped up build the village, he showed us where our enemies where, he showed us what we could eat in the desert, and now he tries to kill innocent people.

I watched my friend hold a switch in his hand. He was about to mutter those fearful words to strike terror in the hearts of Christians.

"ALLAH AK---"

The crack of my gun. The running of civilians in the area. One uniformed vet clad in his multicam catches Raj's
body before it can hit the ground. The impact of that rig on his chest could have blown us all to hell if it wasn't for that vet.

" Lay him on his back. No explosives there."

The vet looks at me with a relieved look. I never met this guy yet I know I'm going to hate his guts. I holster my gun. Then he opened his damn mouth.

"Thank you. You did America proud today. Are you former military?"
"I am"
"You lost that leg in combat?"
"yup"
"How long"
"A month ago. When I saved this kids life."
"That's #ed up. Well at least you killed the damn haji. We should have nuked that place years ago."

As an act of pure rage I unholster my gun and pull back the hammer.

"I should put a bullet in your [snip] head. People like you deserved any bit of torture you got, any wounds any scars of any sort these people gave or might have."

"Wait the [snip] man? What the hell are you saying?"

"I'm saying you helped breed the hate. I know Allot of these barbarians raped female soldiers and tortured the men. It doesn't make it right to do the same."

"The hell you talking about"

I couldn't hold myself in. So I did the most natural thing anyone who has walked in my shoes...well shoe would have done. I pistol whipped his ass. And told him the truth

"I seen that [snip] myself. Why do you think I left the army. There was plenty of truth to soldiers raping and pillaging just as there's truth them raping female soldiers and torturing males. I been on both ends. I was a prisoner of war and I put a bullet in the head of my CO for telling me to join in the fun he was having with a 13 year old girl."

"You're a freakin liar!"

Best part of a prosthetic leg is that its materials range from plastic to steel. He got the heel of my wooden peg leg to his gut.

"You think all those videos of soldiers raping and pillaging was fake? You think all these barbarians act like the animals who raped and tortured your allies? DO YOU THINK YOU ARE ANY DIFFERENT THAN THEM?
The only difference between you and them is you wear a uniform and they are read to from a book that has been corrupted of its original message. Just like that flag on your shoulder. Fighting for freedom my ass. Our nation stopped fighting for freedom when Bush Signed the patriot act, It continued from there."

Shocked he looks

"I had nothing to do with that! I just wanted to protect my family from these religious fanatics! We should have banned religion by now! It helps cause all this!"

Now he pissed me off

"You think religion put that bomb on his chest? You think religion sent those planes into the towers. I remember seeing that [snip] myself at 9 years old. I lost my father in those towers you [snip] I was spoon fed the same lies as you! The truth to this whole story is men with power will manipulate anything whether it be a religious book or the ideals of a nation all for power. Religion and politics didn't make the world the #ty place it is today! WE DID!"

Now he looks confused. The whole crowd is listening I think It's time I tell the short story of how this happened.

"This Teenager was from a village in Afghanistan. Up until recently his village had been victim to the evils of fundamentalists ,mercenaries, and us forces. His brother hired my security company to deal with the threat. His father hired me to keep him from doing this. If at all possible bring him home alive.

His father cared about the Americans. Even though a group would come in and harass them daily. That was war. Nobody was innocent.

Most my team died defending his village. We wound up relocating it to the next town over. Yeah a village of about 200 Muslims just moved in next door assholes!

But one of those corrupt men seeking power got to this one. I took care of both of them.

This was my final mission. I'm done dealing with you stupid [snip]. Stop limiting your thoughts on what your told by mass media and government jackasses.

Anyways I have things I need to take care of. so you all can politely [snip] and think about what I said. I know you heard every word of it. After all you where there."

I hobbled back to my car. Still not used to this damn prosthetic.

My work here is done


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -----
That was the opening chapter to a book I'm working on.

I'm going to have one of m old teachers help with the grammar and punctuation. So hows the story?

reply to post by BulletShogun


Its very good! S&F

talk to Druid42 about grammer if you want some help in that area... he is good!

I figured I would explain the story a bit more. It centers around 2 brothers

One(Thor) being a member of a white supremacy organization and his journey to accepting people for who they really are and not the propaganda of the day.

The other as mentioned above is kyle. Former army ranger turned private security contractor. Like blackwater but smaller.

The story fallows the end of the afgan war as well as ties to societies collapse. With the end section being a road warrior type world.

Will also include cameos of certain ruling familys.

The Romefellar family being the main villains among the mess

no its not said the haji.

you think all you americans can come to our country and take what you want, do what you want, kill our women and children and say look "freedom".

his english was broken but i understood him to well.

i sized him up, he was an old beduin, with scars to numerous to count. his robe was surprising clean, but his face was like leather. i suppose baking in the desert heat can make you look beyond your years.

but there was something oddly familiar about him. i took out my deck of cards, the one supply issued me to identify high value targets. some were missing from to many drunken nights of playing poker in the barracks.

i fanned them out quickly in my hands, sifting thru them when i froze in disbelief.

yes i was right, it is him, the ace of spades. but it can't be. he was declared dead. his body dumped in the ocean.

i looked him in the eyes, there is no doubt. it's.....

"poor sucker. remote probably". said the medic as he collected the blood stained playing cards of the ground.

the explosion was so strong that he was amazed anything was still intact.

yup, another one of our boys going home in a matchbox. a tragedy.

as he said that the old beduin crouched near the scene and picked off something off the ground, wiped it with his sleeve and held it up to the light flickering off a streetpost, and smiled.

"hey doesn't that look like..."

It's time to edit it...

This happens often and usually the story is deleted and returned to the author via pm for a re-write. In this case, because of the responses to the thread, I'm only going to edit out the profanities and leave it at that.

Remember that the T&C's apply in the Short Story forum

reply to post by masqua


Well thankyou. did you like the story at least?