Life-After Read Free

ground directly between the both of us, the blast knocking us apart. This was an ambush, not by a human, but by them.
    The heat burned my flesh, the light blinded me. The forced slammed my body against the ground. My body ached, my ears rung, I was completely helpless. I cursed at myself for dropping my guard my thoughts turned to the little girl. I forced my eyes open and through blurred vision, I could see her lying on the ground several feet from me. I could not tell if she was unconscious or dead. Unable to move my body my hearing slowly returned to the sound of metal footfalls approaching me.
    Through the settling dust the environmental suit stood over me. My eyes searched the ground around me for my weapon but it was out of reach. For many it was frustrating to never see the eyes of your enemy. They never spoke, the only sound came from their suits. I could do nothing but stare up at its visor. Slowly it lowered its head, I did not know what it was doing until it turned and walked away. It was analyzing me and by walking away determined that I was not a threat.
    This was not abnormal, often if they did not kill you immediately they would continue attacking those who posed a threat before returning to finish you off. What was abnormal that night was that it made its way toward the little girl. Still motionless there was no reason for it to leave me and approach her. Though my body was still paralyzed, anger surged through me as I forced my head from the ground.
    I screamed at it trying to draw its attention. We did not know if it understood our language but I could not let it harm that girl. It paid me no mind and stood over the girl’s lifeless body as if studying it. Slowly it raised its hand over the girl, I began screaming again at the top of my lungs, I knew what would happen next. I had seen it before, but the stories came long before I witnessed it for myself. The enemy did not like to leave the bodies of the dead, those that one would see dying or dead were usually killed in an explosion or a crash, not from direct contact with the enemy.
    With every ounce of strength left in me I tried to move toward the girl, but I would not reach her in time. A green light shined from the palm of its hand, with a flicker the light fired down engulfing the girl’s body. She did not make a sound as her body disintegrated. I had see death countless times, but this one did something to me. I could see my wife’s face within hers. My eyes clenched together, a tear rolled down the side of my face.
    There was no odor or remains, nothing was left of the girl’s body, it was as if she never existed. It turned and slowly walked toward me, I was next. I wondered if it wanted me to see her die. Though we never saw any emotion in the enemy even with the death of its comrades, we had to believe they could feel pain, loss. There has to be an emotion to war, if you cannot feel anything when you take a life then you have no business taking it. If nothing else, we needed to believe there was some reason for them attacking us. It not only made it easier to continue fighting, but it gave us a strange sense of meaning. We could never except that we were just vermin to be exterminated.
    My remaining energy was draining from my body. I refused to lose consciousness. I wanted to see my end coming. I had failed to save the girl. I would not fail to die like a soldier. My hand slowly crept up the side of my body. Across my chest five grenades sat attached to a dead man’s pin. We called in Final Vengeance. Once the stories of our enemies’ tactics spread across the core we began outfitting everyone with five grenades attached to a single pull pin. You could detach each grenade separately and use them in battle or if you were seriously injured, they served a secondary purpose.
    Fight or die was not just a saying. It was who we were and what we did. One way or another if we became injured we would end up dead. No one wanted to die in a field