Last Words

• Christian Luppino, Grade 6
• Short Story
• 2018

I was flying into Afghanistan with my other friends. I was telling them all my darkest secrets because I might not make it back alive. I am a soldier in the American military. My name is Bradly Park and I come from Phoenix, Arizona. We are flying over the war zone, then the pilot says to me and my friends “NOW!” We all rush to the back of the plane and jump out. We’re diving into the battle when everyone pulls out their parachutes. When we landed, we dropped our parachutes and ran South. As we are running, a loud CRACK is followed by a BANG. I turned to see a bullet hole in the wall of a building. All of a sudden, CRACK, BANG, THUD. We all turn to Davison. “NO!” I screamed. There, Davison was dead on the ground with a bullet in his chest. It was already bad but now it’s worse. “TWELVE O’CLOCK!” Hunter screamed. There was a massive flood of Afghanistan troops. I ducked behind a wall and started shooting at them. CRACK! BANG! THUD! “AHHH,” Hunter screamed. He got hit with a sniper. He died instantly. I quickly pulled out a gun and fired five shots right at one of the troops. Only one shot hit him, so he threw a grenade right at my area. I took cover in a building. I quickly ran up the building only to come to a sudden stop. There were five enemy troops shooting at us through windows. I threw a grenade into the room then slammed the door shut. BOOM!!! The grenade blew up. I cautiously walked into the room then, from behind the door, I was hit in the back with the bottom of a pistol. I quickly turned around. BANG, BANG, BANG! I fired three quick shots into his chest. My ears are ringing. At that exact moment, THUD! The door slams open. It seems as the world is in slow motion. BANG! BANG! Two bullets entered my right leg. BANG! Just before he pulled the trigger a third time, I shot him in the head. “MEDIC, I NEED A MEDIC!” The medic came and took me to a tent with a lot of medical equipment. I dosed off in the medical bed and woke up 17 hours later. My leg is bandaged up and the medic is next to me. “Try walking,” the medic said. So, I get up and surprisingly I can walk. “Now get out there and fight,” the medic said. He handed me the gun and I ran back to my mates. As soon as I looked up, I was shot in the chest. “Brad!” Frank screamed. “There’s one more thing I didn’t tell you. The only reason I joined the army was because I have cancer. I wanted to go out like this in battle, like a hero. I didn’t want to die because of natural causes. I wanted to go out on my own terms.” “Goodbye."