Enemies

The blue light of the rising sun trickled up the mountainside and spilled over in the valley where they lay, brother and foe alike, each preoccupied with the various stages of death. The mass gravesite was marked with a large pocked crater and the bodies of three thousand men dressed in the uniforms they were only moments ago proud to wear. The man that had ordered the killing of these soldiers was over three thousand miles away, leaning over an already inaccurate map. The map did not show him the hole in the earth his decision had made, or the dying soldiers dragging their dead brothers as far as they could muster before finally falling down next to them. When the bomb fell on the battlefield his suit was not dirtied, the earth did not shake around him, the blast did not knock him off of his feet, and the flesh did not melt away from his face. Moments later he would receive a nod from an old soldier in his ironed class As telling him his words had been turned into action, and that they were successful. He would never see what he had ordered, what damage his words had created. He would also never know about the two men kneeling on opposite sides of the crater, staring at each other, covered in the blood of the men around them.

Both men watched each other, being held up by their respective weapons. In unison, they stood up and rushed into the crater, dropping their weapons in the dirt. Two men in two different uniforms, fighting for different causes, rushed towards the same spot in the middle of a hole in the earth, the only reminder of the death and destruction that would be left when the bodies were cleared away. The two men collided and knocked each other to the ground. The soldiers lay on the ground too tired and beaten to move.

“Hey, bud.” Said the first soldier, laughing.

“Fuck, man.” The second soldier replied. “I think you broke by damn jaw.”

Laughter..

“Fuck you.”

With all of the energy they could muster, they tapped fists. Both broke into laughter, hacking and splitting up blood.

“Ya know, mom probably wouldn’t think this was so funny.”

“No probably not, but I guess you kinda had to be there.”

More laughter..

“You alright?”

“No, I’m not sure I could move if I wanted to. You?”

“Nope, but I sure could use a beer though.”

More laughter…

“Hey man. I’m sorry, I guess mom didn’t tell you that I joined huh?”

“Yeah she did, I figured we would run into each other. Just not like this, though. I knew you didn’t agree with me but I didn’t think you would go this far in the other direction. If I could get up, I’d kick your ass.”

He laughs.

“Hey bud.”

No one answered.

“You there?”

The young soldier reached over and touched his brother’s chest, then ran his fingers over his brother’s mouth. His fingers came back covered in blood.

He started crying, lying in a hole surrounded by thousands of dead men, he gave up, and cried like a little baby next to his dead brother.
 

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