Can anybody hear me?

Kind eyes

He was looking at me with pleading eyes, as if he'd witnessed too much death already to watch the life drain out of me as well. Kind eyes too, kinder eyes than any mother would ever look upon her child with; eyes that betrayed their owner's title of 'Machinery of Warfare', but rather screamed for me to be strong... hold on a little longer for the simple sake of whatever piece of him that was not yet broken by the ruthless cruelty of mankind.

I was disoriented. Raw. A cacophony of gunfire ringing around my head, so loud and piercing that it threatened the upchuck of my long-empty stomach.

I watched through watery eyes as clouds of poison danced through the thick air, burning my lungs worse than any fire could ever hope to.

And why was the earth in the air?

Mere seconds before, it had been compacted tightly — securely — beneath our running feet, yet now it was slicing through the air around us. It left behind massive craters that I knew would gladly act as our graves.

Because that was the truth; cold and hard and merciless, it was the truth.

I wasn't leaving this place.

I kept my eyes open as I died. "Stare your enemy dead in the eyes as it rips you apart," they said, "and only then will you know true bravery."

So that's what I was going to do. Death may be gleeful as it welcomes me into its abyss, but I would go with my head held high.

Except... those kind eyes...

I was forced to watch the humanity flicker out of them as the last drops of life faded from my vision.