Thoughts on the Edge

          “Maybe this is life.”

          “Maybe this is life. What kind of bullshit is that? Maybe this is life. Have you lost your mind? We’re sitting here, bleeding, wounded, waiting to die, and all you can mumble on about is that maybe this is life. You’re so clueless. You’re so freaking clueless.”

          “We served our country. We did our friends, our family, our government proud. What else do you want out of this? Why else would you join the army?”

          “Fuck you, Dan. Sitting there like you know anything and everything. You got a bullet in your side, your leg is probably broken from the blast of that shell, and yet you just assume you deserve it, like we owe it to our country to give our lives. We’re nineteen, we can’t even legally drink but we’re supposed to die like proud soldiers. If I could get up and walk over to you...”

          “And if I had a bullet left in my gun, I’d shoot you. So fuck you, Kraig. Fuck you and the mighty horse you seemed to have rode in on. Forgive me for having some hope left, for believing something in my life was worth anything. I’m sorry if I’m not meant to be a war hero like you and want to save people just to get some god damn badges.”

          “God damn? Where’s your fucking god now, Dan? He going to come and save you, to lift you up in his arms and tell you everything is all right?… because it’s not. No one is coming for us. Look around and stop staring at your wound. You think anyone else is alive? They’re the damn lucky ones. They don’t have to wait for death to come for them. They don‘t have to keep bleeding for a cause they‘ll never know.”

          “I know no one is coming. Even if they did, even if they knew we were out here…”

          “They know we’re out here. They have been planning this for weeks, maybe months. They know everything that goes on, they keep track of everything that goes on. They just don’t care. They don’t give a fuck Dan, and you shouldn’t either.”

          “So you failed at being a war hero like your father was, Kraig. Big deal, that doesn’t mean you have to be an ass about…

          “You think that’s what this is all about? That I have to be like my father to prove something to myself? I thought you knew me better than that.”

          “Then enlighten me with your wisdom, oh great one. Why did you join the army? Sure as hell wasn’t to die, was it?”

          “I don’t know. I don’t care to know either. It doesn’t matter now. Whatever possessed me to join the army back then is long gone. Fucking blood everywhere. All I can taste. All I can smell. You think that is Davidson over there? Looks like him. Doesn’t look like how it is supposed to though.

          “I don’t know. It’s a corpse. What the hell is it supposed to look like?”

          “Last thing he said was he better get laid after this. A guy trying to survive and he’s so worried about his reward. What a reward he got, huh? Country paid him nice for this. Unreal. Man, I wish I had some beer right now. Would make the pain feel less and get rid of the damn blood in my mouth. I don’t want to die. I never did. I thought I had. I thought I wanted to give my life doing something, but... I’m scared too.”

          “What the fuck you mumbling on about Kraig? I can’t hear you through all your coughing. Spit some of the blood out, geesh.”

          “There, you happy? I said that I don‘t want to die.”

          “That’s the most emotion you have shown. I was beginning to worry you weren’t human.”

         “Fuck you!”

          “If my gun only had a bullet left. One bullet. Right between your eyes. I’m a good shot you know. Then I wouldn‘t have to hear you coughing anymore. It should be peaceful when someone dies. I shouldn‘t have to hear your voice.”

          “Now who is the one rambling? Stop picking at your wound. The bullet is too deep. You don’t have the balls to get it out. You’re dead, just let it go. This wasn’t target practice. This was war.”

          “They always make it look better in the movies, you know? Good looking actors. Amazing special effects. People actually wanting to see it.”

          “It wasn’t like that here.”

          “It wasn’t even close. When did it go wrong? I don’t even remember what happened. There was a flash, a sound, a few screams. Gone all in a second.”

          “They knew. They just didn’t tell us. They didn’t want to tell us. They have other plans. Couldn’t risk fucking it up.”

          “What you mumbling on about now?”

          “How fucking ugly your face is, Dan. They wouldn‘t cast you in the movie. What the fuck you think I am mumbling on about? We were expendable. Useless pieces of shit to draw the attention while the real guns go in and get the job done. So do you really think we made anyone besides your imaginary friend proud?”

          “A real comedian you are. How funny. You gotta be close to dead. All I can hear is your coughing now. Bullet hit you pretty hard, huh? Looks like you got two in you actually. A little more to the right and you know.”

          “Feels like I have a hundred. Not how you pictured it, huh Dan?”

          “I don’t know. I can’t feel anything. Like a drug. Kind of beautiful in its own sense. The sun shining on the blood. Blinding.”

          “Maybe this is life.”



Entry for:

ID: 631396   (Rated: E) Dynamic Dialogue Contest!  4th "Sorta Annual" Dynamic Dialogue Contest! by Jessiebelle™

Word count: 986