Patriot

My hands are shaking. My stomach is uneasy, I’ve thrown up already and have nothing left in my body. The boat crashes into the wake with absolute power that causes me to lurch forward from where I am standing. A friend of mine extends his soaked arm towards me, lifting me back up, allowing me to see the shore where we would be landing.

The previous morning all of us, ranging from young boys to old men, were all waiting with anticipation and a little excitement for the upcoming journey that we would all participate in. Now, we all stood, sopping wet, our hearts stricken with fear as we waited for our inevitable doom.

The sound of bullets bounce off the outer hull of our boat, leaving deafening rings and squeals, tightening the fear that gripped my heart. All of us ducked our heads down as the water splashed all over us, that we could at least make it onto the shore alive at the very least.

“20 seconds!” The driver yells, over the deafening sound of shrapnel flying around us. Hearing a sound above us, a noise indescribable, yet sends shivers down my entire body. Then hearing an explosion, right next to us and seeing the landing craft next to us turn into a fiery inferno of Hell.

“10 seconds!” He yelled again, making my blood rush through my body and my heart pound right out of my chest. Praying to God with all my might, that if I made it out of this alive, I would devote my entire life to Him. The boat stopped abruptly, and for a moment, nobody made a sound. The landing gear lowering the door broke the silence, letting me get a full view of the beach ahead of us.

Barbed wire and metal bars laid ahead of us, and 4 giant bunkers mounted with MG42s roared to life, sending the fiery darts from Satan himself directly at us. My brothers in front of me took the blow for me, absorbing the bullets into their chests, spraying me with blood. Yells and screams ensued, and chaos began. Realizing I was the next in line to take the blows, I jumped over the side and into the water.

Splashing onto shore, I spit the salt from the ocean and the blood from my allies out of my mouth. I reach for a Thompson that laid in the hands of another friend, and rush for cover behind a wood post, I checked to see if the weapon was loaded. The magazine was full, he didn’t even have a chance to fire a single shot. Looking around me, the whole front of the beach was coated with bodies. Screams of the wounded could be heard, as the bullets ripped past me. A dismembered man clawed his way towards me, screaming for me to help him.

Before I could even respond, a bullet pierced his skull, blowing brain matter and metal apart like it was a watermelon. Tears began to overcome me, but I fought back with all my might, and looked ahead at the cliff that was before me.

A corporal hit me in the head with the butt of his rifle yelling, “Move Dammit!” instincts kicked in as I lifted myself off the ground and ran forward. Stepping on bodies and in puddles of blood, I kept moving forward. I heard the sound again, the deafening roar above me in the sky, raced down into the ground, landing right in front of me, blowing me backwards. My vision went black for a moment, slowly returning in the form of a blurry haze. My ears rang and my head was swimming as I laid on that beach. My vision cleared and I felt a terrible pain from my stomach.

Fearing what I knew it was I looked down at my abdomen. My intestines emptied out of my stomach and a pool of blood surrounded me. Tears overcame me as I screamed for God to take me away from here. I tried to put my intestines back inside my body, but to no avail as I knew I was going to die. A red and white cross appeared above me, and told me everything was going to be ok, even though we both new I was a dead man. Blackness overcame my sight as I drew my last breath, and felt my soul leave my body.