Shades of War: A Collection of Four Short Stories Read Free Page B

voices turned on the third, “Shut up.”
                  Now he was just plain pissed. He had heard this kind of argument before. Only a group of soldiers could find time to stop and fight about chain of command. He ran cold hands over his tired face and sarcastically wondered what he did wrong to find himself cursed with his current predicament. Here he was trapped behind enemy lines with a ghost in tow, and now the first group of soldiers he comes in contact with are a group of U.S. soldiers bickering in the woods. It had just been one of those weeks.
                  The man felt anger and frustration rise through him. Letting his temper get the better of him, the man decided he was going to solve this argument for these three soldiers. He strode through the forest in the direction of the argument. Head down he tore through the undergrowth. As he ran, branches and leaves slapped at his face.
                  The three soldiers heard something coming through the trees and went silent. But it was too late, the veteran already had a bearing on the group of soldiers. He pushed his way past one last bush, rounded a tree, and came face to face with the group of soldiers. Words of harsh rebuke where on his lips. He was about to accuse them of being an undisciplined, useless rabble but the words never came. Mouth agape, he stared at this new group of soldiers. What he saw was so startling that he took a few shocked steps away from the men. How is this happening?
                  Private Wilkes, who had followed him silently through the woods, came upon the group of soldiers and saw the situation differently. He burst into the clearing and shouted joyfully.
                  “Yeah! It happened to you guys too? I thought I was going to be the only one.”
                  Three ghostly blue figures stared at the newcomers. Instead of greeting the newcomers, the three new ghosts all promptly started arguing again.
                  “I told you there would be more!”
                  “No you didn’t!”
                  “Guys, shut up!”
                  Wilkes the original ghosts joined the fray, “Hey, how did you guys die?”
                  The four ghostly figures, now oblivious to the only living creature with them, all started discussing how they became spirits. Well if there is more than one, maybe I'm not insane. He still could be, in fact maybe he was delusional. This all could just be some surreal dream. First things first, time for a reality check. The man slapped himself in the face. His face stinging, he realized that was a stupid thing to do. But it did have one good effect; all the ghosts stopped arguing and stared at him.
                  I have to know if this is real. How do I know if this real?
                  The doubts were ever present in his mind. He tried to crush them.
                  Believe. You have to believe. This is the new reality and I can control it.
                  The veteran straightened up and glared at the four ghosts.
                  “Look at me. Do you know who I am?”
                  Two of the new ghosts spoke up.
                  “I do, sir.”
                  “Yes, sir.”
                  “Good. I don’t have time for this shit. So, you can come with me or stay here and argue amongst yourselves. I'm going to give you the same deal I gave to Wilkes here, come with me or go. I don't care. But I'm not going to sit here and babysit you."
                  The man stalked off heading south again. Behind him he heard broken portions of a conversation.
                  “Well, who is he?”
                  Another voice was incredulous, “You don’t know?”