A MARINE AND HIS RIFLE

I awoke to the sound of something burning. As I slowly opened my heavy eyelids, I found myself face down in the sand. I lifted my head off the soft earth and spat out sand that had gotten inside of my mouth. As I did this, I felt a cold sensation run up my pant legs. I shivered as I looked back and saw an endless body of water.

I thought, 'The Ocean… but… how did I get here?'

I looked back ahead of me and found out that I was on a coast of some island. I continued to look and saw a large piece of metal to my left and even more to my right. I stood up on my legs and winced in pain as I put pressure on my left leg. I inspected it and found an obstruction imbedded into my Femur bone, and even more in my right arm I ripped a piece of cloth off my uniform and wrapped it around the puncture wound to stop any bleeding.

I once again stood on my feet, careful not to stretch the wound. I limped towards the wreckage. The first thing that caught the attention of my eye was the bullet holes… so many bullet holes.

I slowly peered over the edge and saw between eight to ten bodies sprawled all over the floor in the machine. Many of them were missing limbs and blood was everywhere from top to bottom of the interior.

'Must have been a troop ship….' I thought.

I limped to the back and walked up the ramp inside the troop ship. I searched the first soldier. I first looked for a dog tag. His name was Wilkinson, Gary Wilkinson. I looked blow his name and found his battalion, the 167th. I made a quick check to my dog tag, and saw the same numbers engraved on it, 167th battalion.

'He was in my squad? Then the rest are too…' I thought.

In the center of the mess there was a large hole through the metal floor of the ship. It extended two feet into sand.

My cloudy memory started to clear and I started to have a flashback….

Flashback…..

6 hours ago

Troop ships were deployed from the destroyer Carolina headed for the Japanese controlled island. It was rumored that the island was a fortress base for the Japs and it was also very close to the islands of Okinawa and Iwo Jima.

Inside the troop ship of the 167th, the sergeant was prepping his squad:

"Squad listen up, we are heading towards Tojo's fortress today. The eyes of America watch and wait upon you. Good luck gentlemen."

The vehicle started to move.

Splash

The vehicle hit the water and started towards the beach. As the coast came into view, artillery started to pound the water. Many of the men were scared, including me. If a shell hit the ship, we would be doomed. Sure enough, some ships near the boat were hit directly and disappeared with their crews into an inferno of flame and smoke.

The ship was now a mile from the shore and machine guns started to open up on the ship.

"30 seconds till landing!" The driver of the small boat said.

"Here we go." The sergeant said.

The boat continued to inch towards the coast. Bullets flew over our heads as the driver shouted "10 SECONDS!"

As the boat landed on the beach the driver pulled the lever and the hatch opened. Then, everything went blank.

Back to Present

I continued to stare at the mangled scene in front of me; I heard the sound of crunching sand to the left of the boat. I quickly limped to the other side of the troop ship and took out my Garand. I looked around the corner and looked towards the sound.

Seconds passed…. 1….2….3….

A foot came into view around the corner of the troop ship opposite my position. I fired a round. It missed and hit the sand 6 inches from the intended target. The foot jumped back and I heard a voice, "O SHIT!"

I aimed my rifle down. English? Definitely not Tojo…

I whispered towards the troop ship, "Thunder!"

For five seconds a response never came. I tried again, only louder.

This time I got the answer I was looking for, "Flash!"

I saw five men, dressed in American uniforms, pop out from the other troop ship. I limped into the open to greet them.

"Thought I was the only one here!" I said as I shook hands with the leader.

"So did we. I'm Sgt. O'Malley. The man standing beside me is Mclowsky, second in command of the squad, the other is Franklin, he is the medic, the man behind me is Hoover, he is the engineer, and the man on the far left..well I really don't know what his name is."

The man who the sergeant had pertained to stared awkwardly at him. He remained silent and only stared at O'Malley. It kinda creeped me out…..

I decided to break the awkward silence and said as terse as possible, "What now?"

O'Malley looked back at me and said blankly, "Kill Tojo…"

Well, I finally got finished with the REVISED first chapter, sorry for those who had read the original and thanks to those who reviewed the story. They gave me the confidence to continue it.

Once again, thanks.

Fire Emblem Fanatic 101