Last Stand

Samuel shot bolt upright in his bed. His hair clung to his forehead, assisted by the beads of sweat rolling down his face. A sudden sound was the cause of alarm, the crackle of a radio coming to life. The crackle and hiss of the radio gave way to a voice.

“Any person capable of bearing arms must report to the town center at once. I repeat, any person capable of bearing arms must report to the town center at once.”

“Christ” mumbled Samuel under his breath, as he threw his legs over the side of the cot. Leaning over, he placed his head in his hands, trying to will himself to stand. A week long of hard fighting, and all he had to show for it was a busted up body and three hours of sleep.

“We have reports of a large group of hostiles converging on our location. I repeat, any person capable of bearing arms is...” the radio crackled as it lost its signal.

Samuel knew that he needed to hurry, and to make sure that John was ready to move out as well. If it was anything like the week before they would need to cover each other on the way into town to avoid any guerrillas hiding in bombed out buildings concealed by ivy and other overgrowth.

With a grunt, Samuel rose to his feet and walked to the corner of the room to put on what little gear he had available. After he put on his vest and a battle worn helmet, he donned his backpack. The pack itself was not impressive, but it did have a noticeable object in the side pocket. A large white chipped coffee cup, dirty and battle worn, was a stark contrast to the black backpack and dirty soldier. Even with the limited supply of coffee, Samuel enjoyed carrying the mug with him everywhere because it reminded him of a simpler time, his mundane day job, and his life before.

“Any person who cannot bare arm should seek shelter immediately. Do not give into their power, we must fight for our families, friends, and the fallen.”

A light was flickering through the doorway, and when Samuel walked through he could see the silhouette of John sitting at the window.

“John, are you ready to move out? We need to get to the town center quickly.”

After a moment with no response, Samuel moved closer to see John staring out of the window at an old rusted out pickup truck.

“Don’t worry that we didn’t fix up the truck yet, I think we can hoof it one more time without too much trouble” Samuel said in a forced cheerful tone. Still no response.

Samuel then moved right behind John where he could see his eyes reflected by the moonlight off of the window. John appeared to be looking at the truck while simultaneously looking at nothing at all. There was no light left in John’s eyes, he had the thousand yard stare - the sign that a person was broken. Its not much different than a blank stare, except that there is no emotion, fear, or life left in the person.

A tear rolled down Samuel’s cheek as he realized that he was completely alone. He kneeled down next to John and put a hand on his shoulder. John didn’t move a muscle, he just continued to stare at nothing.

Samuels voice cracked as he said “I need you buddy. You cant leave me like this.”

***

“Attack imminent, I repeat attack imminent.”

Samuel was shook back to reality by the voice on the radio. He didn’t want to leave his friend, but he knew that staying wouldn’t help anyone. Getting up, he walked to the door and turned for one final look at John before leaving.

“I will come back, you hear me? We will get through this, together.”