Life-After Read Free Page A

hospital no matter how good Alpha Medical doctors were they could not save many. It was Fabian Vegan that first used Final Vengeance. It was after his death we learned that five grenades could do the job. Since then many have preformed Final Vengeance and every one of their names was recorded. As it stood over me I was ready to join them.
    As it raised its hand over me my thoughts turned to my wife. The green light from its hand shined across my face, the time was at hand. There were no final words. I just briefly closed my eyes to see her face one last time. My hand gripped the pin and with a final motion I pulled it. It did not react to the pins falling from the grenades, it did not matter soon both it and I would be dead. I did not know what would come next. I had seen enough. All I wanted to do is see the face of my beloved Clara and apologize that I could not have avenged her more.

 
     
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    It was not taboo to talk about death in the service. From day one we were told the war would bring nothing but death and that we should be prepared to embrace it. During the final days of the war my squad would joke about how dying before the treaty was signed would be a horrible twist of fate. One of the younger privates did not find the jokes funny. The others just laughed at him, but I found myself thinking about how he must have felt.
    Seven days later it was I holding him in my arms feeling the warmth of his blood running through my fingers. No one was laughing then, no one else was there. Our convoy was attacked on its way back to base. I only survived because I was sitting behind our hover seeker. Its reinforced armor protected me. Davis was not so lucky. Even as I dragged his body from the wreckage I knew he would not make it, but I would not have left him there.
    His eyes stared up to me with a question. As he began to speak, I wanted to tell him to be quiet, to save his strength. However, I knew whatever he was about to say was most likely to be his last words. I strained to listen. He spoke softly with a gurgle. At first I believed he was going to ask me to deliver a message to his family, but what he asked should not have surprised me.
    He wanted to know what death was like. Perhaps he believed because of my time in the field I had some insight. I had nothing to tell him. I had seen death hundreds of times even in my short tour, but any answer I could give him would have served no purpose. I lied to him. I told him you would feel cold at first, but then slowly feel a warmth come over you. He tried to smile pleased with my words so I continued. I told him from the darkness you would see a white light, but it would not be blinding. The light would be soft and would guide him home to all the loved ones he had lost.
    I did not believe any of it. As I laid there with my eyes closed I could still feel the coldness of the ground beneath me. Time seamed to freeze and my thoughts of Clara stopped as I wondered what had happened. My first question to myself was did the explosives fail? Even so, I thought if that was the case then the enemy’s blast would have finished me. I did not want to open my eyes. I did not want to give it the satisfaction of looking into them. There was something abnormal. Though I could feel the ground I could not smell the charred remains of the city around me.
    I could not wait any longer. I slowly inched my eyes open expecting to see it hovering over me, waiting. What I opened my eyes to was nothing, complete darkness. It was then that I realized the coldness surrounding me had faded. The pain from the blast was wiped from my body and though I could still feel my presence I could feel nothing else. I had to ponder, was I dead or perhaps in a coma?
    The military provided a wide variety of religious outlets for its service men. I never truly believed in any specific religion, but I was not foolish enough to just dismiss it as fantasy. Many of the men and women in my unit believed in the Trinity. They