-Loss- Short Story 3 O2

-Loss-

-Short Story 3-

The sky was filled with dust, and the black smoke of the machines of war. The ground was tainted with a fusion of both the blood of the machines, and the blood of man. The air swirled around your neck then clenched its mighty hand and grasped your throat with a strong force. The musty smell of water and dirt, along with fire and fresh dead was so repulsing that even insects retreated to safer and better areas.The ability to breath would be hard for anyone to do because of the hailstorm of the metal down onto the dirt. The impact of each individual metallic shell of ammunition made a small cloud of dust rise from its bed and, make the air its new domain. Any idea of seeing more than 100 feet very crushed when you entered the area.

An explosion goes off 10 feet from a group of six men. They all tense up as the impact comes through and the sound bellows. The lot of them look young, and at most the oldest is no more than 30. It would also appear the oldest is in charge and he looks at the other five and raised his voice to a bellowing roar just so his men could hear him just barely.
"We have to get back to the Garrison!"

All the others nod and ready their weapons. After the oldest, whose name was John. There was Rick; a man who was very serious about what he did and did not like to joke around much. He told the truth as it was and didn't sugar coat anything.He was an average size man and had a broad face with a stern look. A man of the age of 29.

The third oldest of the six men was Dave. He was a happy and up beat man who would always be the life of the party wherever he went. He made friends with almost anyone and always had a smile on his face. Though now his face is stricken with fear's fatal shock.A man the age of 26.

The fourth oldest was a man who was a bit smaller then the others but still average for his age. He was 25 and an intellectual man. He wore glasses and was quiet when he needed to be, but if he needed to be heard he would make sure he was. He spoke the truth as if it were everyday talk but, he would make sure to keep the truth as not hurtful as possible. His name Jerry.

The fifth was a much bigger man than the others. He was big, and bulky for his job. He was the man who was protective of his friends/ family and what he owned. He was nicknamed Fortress because of his quickness to defend what was his and what he cared about.He was also 25,like Jerry; though his real name was Thomas.

The sixth, and youngest of them all was Jace. He was a scrawny young man who was actually quite shy. He didn't associate with many but those he knew. He was about the same size as the others but definitely much thinner. He was not a day older then 20.

John gave them all a hard stare of determination. He showed no signs of cowardliness, though deep down he was scared for everybody, including himself. He turned and popped his out from behind a brick wall that use to belong to a house. A quietness had come over the scarred town. He looked across the street and spotted an open door. He then turned to the others and spoke quietly.
" We're going to go across the street. One by one and be as quiet as possible." 
They were all scared for their lives, but nodded. The first up was John. He held up a hand and then hunched over and charged across the street. A deafened beat of thuds was heard but nothing suspicious. He ran into the building he had been eying and scouted it out. 

Minutes that felt like years passed as the group waited for John. After five minutes he came into view in the front door and gave the signal it was clear. The next to go was Jace. He was visibly shaking, but when given the signal he ran for the house as quickly as possible. Surprisingly as he ran, he was no louder than a mouse and made it across with no trouble. Next up was Rick. He waited patiently for the signal, then when given, he ran and made it across with no trouble.

Suddenly a group of men roared at each other.  The squad of six friends froze in terror as the roaring came across the town. It was the enemy; they couldn't understand them but they knew that it couldn't be good.So they had to hurry. Rick didn't wait for a signal and he just made a straight blitz for the building and made sure he was quiet. The men continued to roar and it appeared they didn't a thing.

" All this dust! I can't see a thing!" The group shouted as they got closer. Dave then looked at John who dropped his hand and motioned for Dave to run. After a few quiet footsteps Dave was safely across the street. Thomas was up next and he peaked around the corner to see the silhouette of the group moving towards them. He panicked and ran across the road without signal. Luckily for everyone that as big as he is, he is quite light on his feet.

Last was Jerry, who was looking quite calm. Given the situation. John looked around the corner and noticed that the roaring of the men had stopped and that they have gone. So he gives Jerry the signal. Jerry got up and went as quick and quiet as he could across the street. A loud snap in the air caught everyone's attention to the street  to catch the sight of Jerry. His eyes were sad but, as they last looked upon his friends. He cracked a smile and appeared happy before he fell onto the pavement.

Jace watched as his close friend fell down onto his now death bed and lay motionless. His eyes watered and he began to clench up. Rick stood stunned for the moment before he turned to Jace and placed a hand on his shoulder along with John's. John was clenching his fist and leaning against the wall. Dave took off his helmet and ran a hand through his hair. He stood and looked at the others; however, he stopped at Thomas who was standing, staring at Jerry's corpse. Time almost seemed to stop around the men as they absorbed what happened to their friend who was considered more family than friend. Though this was broken as a desperate yell came from Thomas who rushed towards Jerry's death bed. Dave quickly dropped his helmet and grabbed Thomas and did what he could to hold him back. Rick got up and helped Dave restrain Thomas, who was in a blind fury and crushed state. Dave spoke loudly in a commanding way, but there was a sense of defeat in his voice, as is he did not want to believe what he was actually saying.

"He's gone! Tom Stop! He's gone, we can't save him!"
Thomas kept fighting to get pass the two of his friends. Rick spoke now, in the same tone but appearing actually more depressed.
" We can't save him! He's gone and there's nothing we can change about it!"
At that point Thomas just fell down and put his head down, loosing all control of himself. His friends witnessed now what was the true meaning of being a broken man. They all kept quiet as to not push Thomas to any rash decision. They just stood or sat and tried to accept the harsh reality.

After all, what can one do when they lost a 'brother' to the harsh animal of war. When they weren't even soldiers?