War

• Karli Martin, Grade 6
• Short Story
• 2017

Guns all around me, people running to hide. I am here, at war, killing helpless people. Something I would never have dreamed of. I remember the first day we got here, buildings were smashed to the ground like there had been a riot, but there hadn’t. It was war, war destroys everything.

I’m, running to safety from the dangers all around. My gun is loaded just in case an enemy strikes. The lead commander directs us to an underground parking lot. Where hopefully there are no enemies. Danger is coming; I hear the footsteps echoing around the parking lot. I can hear people mumbling too, but it’s not English. That means they’ve found us! I stand up, point my gun at someone in the darkness, and let it fire.

I’m on the ground. What’s happening? I feel my heart beating fast, and my leg is in unbearable pain. Blood is gushing out of it like a river, leaving a puddle of bright red blood around me. I force myself to sit up under the agonising pain I’m in. I try to keep my eyes open, but I don’t dare look down at my leg. The pain is getting worse. Dark figures of dead bodies are lying around me. I try to stand but my leg won’t let me. Footsteps begin to echo around the empty parking lot again. I slam my body down, the puddle of blood has enlarged, it covered my face and went into my eyes “Help!” I manage to croak. “Ben!” the commander’s voice filled my body with hope. “Come on mate; let’s get you out of here.”

Once the commander got me off the ground, he led me through a dark, wet tunnel. The tunnel felt like it went on for days on end, but finally a beam of sunlight filled the dark lonely tunnel. Below us the ground changed from the car park to old rickety wood planks. Leading to a ship made of dark wood. The commander led me onto the ship, and took me to a sick bay. The smell of it made me feel like throwing up. He laid me on the bed and walked out. Right after that I fell into a deep sleep. Guns fired in my ears people dropping dead. I woke up covered in cold sweat, it was only a nightmare.

A lady walked into the room, holding pearly white bandages in her hands. Her eyes were fixed on my leg. Her lips were pursed together in an odd way. She didn’t ask me if I was ok, and her gaze never met my eyes. Once the bandages were bound around my leg like on a mummy, she walked out. Her lips still pursed together, like when she came in. Finally I looked down at my leg. The pearly white bandages started turning into a light pink, because of the blood emerging out of my leg. A large vibration echoed through the ship. We had finally reached land.