Great beyond

The golden halls of the embassy gleamed in the fiery sunlight. Constructed hundreds of years ago the halls had stood the test of time with their crystal windows and ornately decorated walls and ceilings giving off the royal air that it was built to impose. Even in the middle of a war one could not be totally distracted from the shear beauty of the building.

Another thump in the distance barley audible over the sounds of carbines and laser weaponry being fired over and over is what brought him out of his trance. He needed to find the ambassador and find out if his battalion of men was to retreat or to advance.

Running as fast as he could he took in what little he could of the halls now being used as a hospital. Dead bodies were being carried to a pile in one of the meeting rooms and injured were shoved against the wall farthest from the windows. The men themselves were a sight the ones who were only burned or lightly bleeding were carrying their comrades in on their shoulders. Some missing limbs some no more than a bloody stump but still their brothers in arms would bring them in hoping with all their heart that they might be able to save one more person.

The beat beat beat of his foot falls gave him a rhythm sounding as if they landed with every beat of his heart and every scream of pain in the hall around him. To his right a splash on the wall showed were a man used to be but now it was nothing more than a stain on the wall a soul gone. A blade of grass thrown to the wind.

"INCOMING!!!!!!!" was all he heard before a light brighter than any he had seen slammed into the ground just behind him. His whole world went sideways the room turned on its side but everyone he saw was still upright then gravity and momentum kicked in. the hall and everyone in it looked like it had just been kicked about 10 feet to the left. Looking behind him he saw something that he would never forget. The wall with all the glass was melted but not destroyed and the people that he saw here covered in molten gold or skewered with crystal shards. One man was half melted his body twisting and screaming on the ground uttering unholy phrases begging for some one to kill him or save him.

A crack from a rifle and a projectile clicking off the wall above his head kicked him back into action. he would not be dismayed if he got the commands to retreat then he may be able to prevent the horrors from happening again. Now along the walls then men were trying to scramble into rooms as another thump sounded. The terror in their eyes betrayed all bravery the thought of being melted to an unholy abomination made most go half mad with panic. Then the entire hall way was clear no bodies no blood no bullets just him and the ground. Still with the beat beat beat of his feet and heart in rhythm.

The door he could see it the ambassador that would save his men was just through the door. With a great leap he rammed his body through the reinforced doors with a light heart and the slip in his hand.

Over the red oak table slumped the body of the ambassador a bullet hole in his head and his carbine rifle in his hand. In the other was a paper : "to whoever reads this. I am taking the only rout I can think of to relieve my command to thers more capable as you…" he needed to read no more the coward killed himself. He was no leader merely a boy trying to take the art of war into his hands.

Another scream and the wall of the office split open with the same blinding light but this time there was none dead no one melted no one to mourn only a coward and a man that could not save those under him. Taking his last choice he picked up the rifle checked it was loaded took his comm. Unit.

"listen to all that can fight. You are my men my blood and my body you are all I have and today we will die to prove that we were more than just an army we are a family. I want all to abandon post and follow me to the great beyond….may god be with us on this day of bloodshed"

With a final breath he shouldered the weapon and became one to it. Letting out a battle cry that he heard hundreds of men take up not through the comm. But through the air over the guns and the bombs and tanks he heard his men. His, men.

Taking a running step forward he lunged through the bright smoking hole in the wall into the great beyond. Not turning back only happy to be with his true family for his last fight.