Chapter 8
Disclaimer: yeah, yeah
My surroundings slowly came into focus; I was outside, lying on my back. The war torn sky loomed overhead. I slowly sat up but as I did a crippling pain shot threw my head, I groaned and lay back down.
"You okay?" a deep man's voice said from outside my line of vision.
"I'll be fine." I responded without looking at him. The conversation ended there, I closed my eyes, I'm not sure why but I just felt like it. It seemed to relax me, my throbbing head died down a little bit, and it was nice.
"ON YOUR FEET MAGOTS!" For a second I had a flash back to boot camp. We got called all kinds of name there. Maggot, pukes, slim, the list goes on. I opened my eyes and very slowly tried to turn my head only to get interrupted by an obviously upset NOD officer. He grabbed my shirt and hauled me up with one hand.
"I SAID ON YOUR FEET!" He screamed just before I received a backhand across the right side of my face. The strike almost knocked me down again, but the NOD officer would not allow that. He forcibly pulled me across the ground and threw me into a line of other people, both men and women.
"ATTENTION" The officer screamed as he walked past me. My eyes followed him. He had his hands behind his back and had very good posture. He stopped in mid stride and looked at someone down the line. He took two steps in and punched someone in the gut at he did. I saw his victim keel over and collapse to the ground.
"I SAID ATTENTION." He yelled down at this injured individual.
"I WILL NOT HAVE PEOPLE DISOBEY ME, ESPECIALY WORMS LIKE YOU" As he finished his sentence he reached behind him and pulled out a .45 caliber pistol and pointed it toward the POW, who was still obviously in pain. The NOD officer looked back up at the line.
"WHO'S GOING TO SAVE THIS PUKE?" He asked looking across the line
"ANYONE?" Everyone stood silent. "YOU DON'T CARE IF HE DIES?" Still no response by anyone, they just stood at attention. "FINE." The officer jerked up as the gun went off. He just stood there with the gun still pointed at the motionless prisoner on the ground. The officer looked at him, and then leisurely put his weapon away. He gave a slight hand signal and quickly two NOD G.I.'s raced up and dragged the lifeless corps away by the arms.
"That's why you're here." The officer began, as he started to walk up and down the row once more. "Your cowards, no one saved him and now his family will receive the tragic news that their son was slaughtered, all because he so called 'Friends' let him die." He paused for a second, still pacing down the row of prisoners, staring each of them directly in the eye, waiting for someone to flinch, or move, any reason to give him an excuse to murder another unarmed man. I heard a small sneeze from the opposite side of me; someone had tried to cover it but couldn't help it, the officer noticed, he began my way.
"Who was that?" he asked angrily as he got closer and closer. "WHO WAS THAT?" He stopped directly in front of me and turned to face me. He took a step in and got so close to my face I could smell the cigar and alcohol on his breath as he exhaled.
"Was it you?" He asked in almost a whisper.
"NO SIR!" I replied, as if I was back in boot camp.
"Don't you dare yell at me." He replied, followed by a sharp slap to my left cheek. "What's wrong with you, stand up for yourself." I stood completely still, The was a silence, he was waiting for me to do something, it took everything I had to hold back the new hatred I had for this man, He was standing right there, I could have killed him in a second. But then all the NOD guards would be on top of me.
"Coward." He said finally as he continued down the line still looking for the one who sneezed. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, I tried to subdue the anger raging threw my body, it slowly went away, but not that much. My thoughts were interrupted by the screaming voice of the NOD officer; I assumed that he found the one who sneezed. I kept my eyes closed and tried to drown him out, but it was hard.
"HOW DARE YOU MAKE NOISE WHILE I'M TALKING." A shock flew through my body and I jolted slightly at the sound of the firing pistol. But it was only the first shot that surprised me; the other two just sent an icy chill down my spine.
I awoke to a light dangling from the ceiling in my face; I squinted and rolled over until my eyes adjusted to the light. I didn't sleep that great last night; I could not stop thinking about the two men who died the day before. I put those thought in the back of my mind and got up out of the "bed" they gave me to sleep on. I stretched and headed for the door.
"WHAT TH-" a voice came from out side, it was interrupted by yet another gun blast. I pushed the door open, to see a fallen POW cuddled up on the ground in a pool of blood. Beside him was a steel pole that arched over at the top, and a hung prisoner hanging from that arch. The sight hit me so hard; I blanked out for a minute but quickly came back to reality when the same NOD officer from the day before kicked the lifeless corps in the head. He looked up at me smiling which quickly changed to a look of recognition.
"You." He said. "You're the guy who won't stand up for himself." He finished his sentence and looked down at the dead POW. He reached down and with both arms; he picked up the dead weight. "If you wont stand up for your self, maybe you will stand up for your friends." He began to use the lifeless person as a puppet, mocking me and the GDI army in general. "Look I'm a GDI guy, I can't fight a war so now in a POW camp with an amazing NOD officer." The insults weren't that good, but it was the principal. I tried to ignore my raging hate and turned to go back in the barracks.
"Just as I thought." I heard from behind me, I heard the corps collapse to the ground. I walked threw the door, to my bed. "Coward." I heard threw the thin, wooden walls.
2 months later
It has been two months; I haven't seen anyone from my squad since I got here. So many med have killed themselves, now I sit here on my bed with a broken piece of glass that was once part of a window to my wrist. The blood ran down my arm and onto a puddle on the ground. I lay back on my bed and closed my eyes. It's only a matter of time now, I was so relaxed, I almost had a smile on my face. It didn't hurt but I felt myself getting weaker. My last thought was the sound of an explosion outside and someone yell.
"You get the prisoners, I'll take care of the guards." Then it was silent.
"He'll be fine, should be out of here in a few weeks." That's the first thing I heard It was a woman's voice she sounded nice. At first I thought I was dead but it smelt like a hospital, so I assumed that's where I was. The right side of my bed lowered slightly. I kept my eyes closed, for some reason I didn't want to see who was sitting on the side of my bed.
"You've been awarded a Purple Heart for your bravery in the field of battle." It sounded like Tryson's voice; I warmed up a little inside. I was glade he was okay.