Full Metal Journal: The Life of a Military

I don't own Full Metal Alchemist.

Forewarned: the next three chapters are gonna be maniacally depressing for some. If you are a person that does not like a favorite character getting killed (hell, I don't either.), then you might just wanna wait until Entry 17 comes out.

Everyone else, enjoy.

Entry 14:

Lt. Col. Hughes is dead.

I can't believe it. Jesus, this is awful!

I just can't believe this would happen to such a cool officer.

Maybe I should re-cap:

Me and Smokey were out on OP. We're finally doing two man-outposts again after the hell inferno we had just endured. It was the middle of the night and we were fixing up the barbed wire while adding some new ones in some places. We were fighting about something really stupid- Jesus, I can't even remember what it was now- and cracking jokes about some of the officers, mainly about Col. Mustang and Lt. Hawkeye (who are getting in Central tomorrow).

And then, all of a sudden, we heard a gun go off. Just once, but it was enough to send us diving forward and getting caught up in the wire. We just stayed in that position for a while, listening.

"What the hell was that?" I asked.

"Either someone's gun went off by accident, or we're under attack. Take your pick," Smokey replied.

We slowly got ourselves out of the wire and checked out our cuts. Nothing we considered dangerous, but maybe the docs would do something. Then we grabbed our new rifles (fifteen-round semi- auto; after the disaster with Lab 5, they realized we'd do better with weapons that didn't need manual ejection after every shot fired.) and, dummies that we are, ran toward where we thought we had heard the shooting.

The minute we got there, everything in the world froze. Even now, I still feel completely numb. Lt. Col. Hughes- one of the best officers I had ever known- was sprawled out on the ground, glasses askew, a bullet hole in his chest and his arm was bleeding too. He wasn't moving.

Smokey screamed for a medic as I ran over to the Lt. Col. and started getting out my First-Aid kit. I was getting the bandages on and trying to wake him up at the same time.

When the guy finally opened his eyes, you could tell that he wasn't gonna hold on for long, so I just kept trying to patch up the wound.

"Guess I… messed up a little… huh, Private?" he asked weakly, that old grin on his face.

"You're gonna be alright, sir," I said, getting more bandages out. Off left, I heard Smokey yell "SOMEONE GET THE GODDAM MEDIC OVER HEAR, NOW!"

I started getting out the bandage for the arm wound when I remembered that I had only heard one shot fired. Nor did this look like a gunshot wound; more like a blade wound, yet it wasn't from a knife. It looked like some sort of lance (we had studied all sorts of wounds in basic. That way, we would know what the person was killed with) had gone through, yet it was interesting, since the army didn't have lances.

I was so intrigued by the wound that I missed Lt. Col. Hughes's next words.

"Sorry sir?"

He inclined that I should bend down. I did so, and he whispered words into my ear that even know rips me apart-

"Tell…my girls…. I'll be… OK…."

The medics showed up then and pushed me out of the way. They started working on him as fast as they could but suddenly, they stopped. One of them checked his pulse, then shook his head.

I didn't like the way this was playing out, so I pushed my way through them and started getting some more bandages out. One of the docs tried to pull me out of the way, but I just shrugged him away. No way in hell I was gonna let this guy die. Not my C.O. - my friend. No way.

"Scotty."

I almost didn't recognize who that was until Smokey said it again.

"Scotty," he said, "we gotta go."

Go. Right.

The docs zipped him in a body bag and loaded him onto the jeep and drove off. I just stood there, rifle over my shoulder, staring at my hands. My blood-covered hands. So much blood…

"Take a look at this," Smokey suddenly said.

He was looking at this telephone booth near where Lt. Col. Hughes had fallen. The phone was off its hook.

I put a quarter in and hit the re-dial button.

"Eastern Headquarters," Sgt. Maj. Fuery's voice said.

I didn't answer. I just hung up and looked at Smokey, whose eyes were big.

Someone didn't want Lt. Col. Hughes to tell Col. Mustang something.

I can't believe this.

Lt. Col. Hughes was a hell of a guy.

Nothing to say, really.

Reviews please.