"Attention Elmore! All students will be put within a randomized selection for the School War currently active. Explosions riddled the bus depot. late yesterday by the rival schools in Nevada and Oregon. The selection will occur on Tuesday the second." The newscaster finished. I sat there on the couch, as I normally did on Sundays. Hell was all around us at this point in time.

lXxTuesday July 2ndxXl

"Attention students, today, half of you will go to war. Most likely none of you will survive." Mrs. Simian said, retrieving a devilish smile as she placed some vests on her students, starting with Gumball. "What are these?" He asked. "Ohhhhh lets just say if you get killed, there's gonna be a very big boom," She responded, her smile growing larger. "OK, The students selected were Gumball W., Darwin W., Banana Joe, Tobias, Penny F., and Terry. Meet outside to receive your gear." The students followed he outside while fearful not to touch their vest's. They didn't know what it would do, and they didn't want to find out.

Gumball was the first to choose his gear. He quickly chose the best gear there was, and he listed it:M134 Minigun, M4A1 Holographic w/ M203, M9 Handgun, FIM-92 Stinger w/ Alternation fire mode, a Composition-4 pack, and 4 M79 Fragmentation Grenades. Next was his teammate, Terry, and she jotted down what she grabbed:a Turret Emplacement kit, ACW-R w/ M302, and a Javilin AT launcher. Everyone else grabbed light amounts of gear, ranging from MP5K's to M1911 handguns.

"Everyone on the truck," One of the Armed troops said beside the group of students, and they obeyed.

About a half hour into the trip they came across an airfield, at which they stopped. At first glance, it looked like hammered shit, but there were some building still intact. These housed a variety of aircraft, from the AH-6M Little-bird to the AC-130U Spooky Gunship, this place had everything. 'Man, I wonder why they brought us here. I mean, this place is amazing, but why here of all places...' Gumball was interrupted mid thought by one of the armed units beginning to speak, "Listen up everyone, you will be deployed behind the city limits of your rivals, you will HALO drop in, if you don't know, it means parachute in, by this here C-130H. When you enter the Gunship, we will activate your explosive vests, which have a five second delay from the time you or your partner are killed. If one of you are killed, you will be too."

They entered one by one, Gumball, of all people, was more frighened when they activated his vest. He didn't want to die! He didn't want to have anyone die either. Ironicly, he always wanted something more exiting then school, (Theres a shit tone of things to do that are better) but he didn't want to die. He was litterally about to crap his pants. Once they were all in the plane, they quickly gave them millitary clothing, and lifted off, they had a total of one hour to get ready.

lXxOne hour Later Aboard The C-130H HuculesxXl

They were about to drop, but still, everyone was keeping thier cool, well, almost everyone. Gumball was freaking out. He sat in his seat, near the end of the plane, grooming his arm to take his mind off what was truely going on.

One Minute till drop.

Silence filled the plane, only the drone of the engines remained.

30 Seconds till drop. Gumball sat there in his seat and said only one thing, "Welcome to hell, guys!"

After that, everyone dropped out of the plane.

Life. A game we cannot win, only lose. Life is just an illusion to people, death waits on every corner, watching as you imminent doom got ever so closer. Life is a game we can only lose. Our family, friends, and love interests can only be lost with every movement that we make a step forward, and cannot move back. We live in an age were nothing is impossible, nothing is out of reach. I personally can feel, with every passing second, my life, and those around me, slipping away slowly as time progresses. Death can not be avoided, no matter what happens. Murderers, rapists, nuclear disasters, suicidal attempts, common day illnesses, or anything could happen to us as a species. Many people say that death is just an illusion, an old wives tail, a way of saying nothing beyond life, or anything really, but few, like myself, know that there is death at the beginning and the end of life. Humans all around, you know the truth of life now, religious people from many corners of the globe will deny this, and I say this because I am a Christian (it doesn't change anything), we all know that death is inevitable. That death is inevitable. We all, as a species, must learn that there are limits to what we can do, and must outdo what we can't. I often look into my future to see what I will become, what the I will achieve in life, but I always come to the subject that I cannot live forever, we cannot live forever. Great minds in the United States say that the universe is expanding, and will eventually run out of fuel. The universe will die at that point, if Humankind survives that long. People die because they believe there will be an afterlife, but there is not. Humankind, I have given YOU something to think about, next time you look to your future, take a trip to the the past first, you can really learn a few things. Death will win in the battle for life and death. People believe that you are winning the game of life right now, but really, you have already lost. Make every moment of your life count, so when you die, you will have no regrets. -Young Marine PFC Garrett Belt