• Seconds
    The ground bursts. A splatter of metal seeming rips out of ground, the shrapnel taking two of my men. I haunch over and strap on my Kevlar vest, and click on my visor. I load up my M16 and hurriedly throw a holo sight onto it. I heard voices on the other side of the dark bunker I was huddling in and I dove to the right side of the door with my gun pointed at it and I steadied my breathing. As the door creaked, a bead of sweat trickled down my brow. It stung my eyes, but I made sure to keep them open. 1, 2, 3, 4 I counted off the seconds between heart beats in order to keep my hand steady. And as the door creaked, opening on hinges that haven’t been oiled in ages I see a brown leg poking in with his sandal, and a nervous step as he looks back. He has friends it seems. So I make the decision to pull out my Ballistic knife and I keep laying there. Waiting.
    He turns forwards with frightened eyes. Good friends he has there, making him go in first. Easier for me. I load up my knife and launch it. As it struck his neck, the blood from his jugular exited from the wound and his eyes went up, lifeless. Screams, the remaining men rushed into the room and all hell broke loose. I whipped my M16 forwards and its holo sights fell off, I pulled the trigger. Five round bursts were enough to take them out. I aimed at the head. It was like at the carnival, one of those games where you had to shoot at the aliens popping up. One by one they fell, not even retaliating. They just had these expressions on their faces that were of disappointment, fright, and surprise. I made sure the doorway was clear and through the clearing smoke, I reloaded my gun.
    My back creaking from the strain of holding such a position for an extended amount of time, I struggled to get on my feet. I guess I just hadn’t had enough to eat that morning. Hard to stay fed with the stuff they gave you these days. People think the army doesn’t need as much money as it used to. Economy crisis and all that. Health reform. I don’t mind. As I walked over, I took off my visor and hunched near the recently deceased. I made it a custom to look at the faces of whoever I just killed. I unfurled their keffiyeh’s and I scowled. They were just kids. Not much older than my younger brother graduating high school. I closed their eyes, I couldn’t take their expressions of surprise, their eyes drilling into my conscience. What a waste. So much is put into a human life, and I just robbed them of that. As I got up I looked around the bunker, I was recently stationed here after a reconnaissance mission in Wazir Ahkbar. An Assef was it? He was holding executions in a soccer stadium? Well nonetheless, I was stationed here after news got out about how I singlehandedly took him out. One shot, one kill. Even though it was only reconnaissance, why not? We had the evidence, we couldn’t wait for more people to die. My General didn’t seem to appreciate that. So he put me out here, the boondocks of the Afghani war. Ah well no matter, he briefed me in that this was actually a black ops mission. I was supposed to meet the squad in this bunker but their chopper got hit.
    Look at me disobeying orders again, what a drag. I put my visor back on, loaded my M16 and bagged my toys. A few frags, some smokes, stuns, flashes, an M21, and a P-90. Play times about to start. I looked at the clock. It’s been 15 minutes since I’ve arrived here. Time to raise some hell. Welcome to Afghanistan.