Dreams of all types (but mostly war)

The war had been raging on for the last few months now. It was every man for himself. The government was fragmented and people had turned into savages. What little military was left were divided into small groups of self controlled survivors.

I was with a friend and we were wandering through the wasteland we used to call Canada. The land was scorched, trees were burnt. There were dead scorched carcasses of animals everywhere. We were walking along and we saw a house that had been bombed earlier, but enough of it was left standing to drop our packs and take a rest under some cover. The theory was, once a house had been bombed it was highly unlikely to be bombed again. This house made a pretty good lookout however; we could see much of the valley below us, and since we were at the top of the hill along the edge, we had a vantage point of what was behind us as well.

I told the girl I was with to wait there for me, that I needed to scope out the area and try to salvage some supplies. There wasn't much around except for scorched land but there was the hint of a tunnel in the distance and I wanted to check it out. Getting grouped up with other survivors was the key to staying alive. Alone a person could not survive this wasteland but there was power in numbers. The girl was reluctant to stay by herself, as I had protected her through much of this war, when I found her she was alone and her family was killed. I told her to stay in a corner and ball herself up so she was hidden. The house was burnt up and there was ashes everywhere, it was black and grey from being burnt, but there was enough of a wall to support a second floor which had mostly broken away. She stayed on the ground level covered by what little the second floor had to offer. I hid our backpacks and went to go scope out the tunnel.

The tunnel was about 500 yards away. I was hardly able to see the burnt house off in the distance but I was still able to see it, and in that particular spot I had a clear view of the sky. I could see what was coming for miles around. The tunnel had a good tactical advantage. The tunnel itself had good coverage built inside it. As I walked through I began to realize that this was probably used as a military standoff. There was enough area around the front of the tunnel to facilitate vehicles and a small army to stand off at that point. I began to realize why the house had been destroyed. It was in the path of a bomber flying over. There were craters and scorch marks on the ground everywhere from where the tunnel had been attacked. It made me wonder if there was a rifle and some ammo in there that I could pick up and use.

So I pushed on inside the tunnel. There were barricades going this way and that, covering half the tunnel one way, then further back covering half the tunnel the other way. There was no way to see straight through since the walls covered just over half the tunnel, but left enough of a space open for 2 or 3 people to get around each wall at the same time. About half way into the tunnel I discovered a room. It looked like a hold point. There were holes in the walls and when I looked through the holes I realized that I could see to the end of the tunnel.

Suddenly, I heard someone shouting in a foreign language. My heart started to race. It wasn't the kind of foreign language you hear in a place like north america. It was the kind of language you hear from somewhere else, like China. I began to panick. I turned everything upside down in the room I was in to try to find something I could defend myself with. I didn't find anything and I felt an immediate sense of defeat. "I'm dead," I thought as I heard not just voices now but also vehicles closing in on my position. I was surrounded. There were voices coming from both the ront and the rear of the tunnel. Thankfully the room I was in was off to the side and my sense of defeat turned to hope as I figured I might be able to hide in a corner and evade the troops trying to search out the tunnel.

I was looking through the peephole trying to see if anyone had entered the tunnel yet when I heard a sound behind me. It sounded like an old door which was heavy. I hadn't noticed the hidden doorway leading further into the mountain. My life flashed before my eyes as I realized that I was now completely trapped. I had no way out, the room had been discovered, and I was about to take a chinese bullet in the head. My thoughts turned to my friend in the house.

"Oh why didn't I just stay with her and hide for a while"

I gazed upon the soldiers who filed into the room. My defeat and sadness turned to elation as I realized they were american troops.

"Hey boy looks like you've been through a lot" said the captain of the platoon which I now found in my company.

"Yes sir I have, me and my friend, we 'been through a lot together"

"Your friend eh, where about is he at now. I only see one of you.."

"She, and she's hiding in a burnt out house over the hillside there about 500 yards away"

"Well," said the captain "You good enough to shoot?"

"Shoot?" I looked upon the rifle that was being handed to me. It was an old enfield .303. A beautiful gun, looked like it had been restocked. The barrel was good and shiney. Open sights with the 1000 yard flip up peeps.. just the way I like it. "Fuck yeah sir, I'm a good shot sir"

"Well take the damn thing son and shoot them yella bastards when they come thru here. You're officially a member of this platoon now son. We gotta defend this tunnel now ya'hear"

"Fucking A" I thought to myself. I loaded 10 rounds into the mag and pulled the bolt back. She was smooth as silk that rifle, a good one. Killed many a troops back in the day I was sure of it. I was happy to hold it. I would have made love to it and married it if it was a woman. I had never felt such a sense of peace and protection in my life. I had gone this whole time with no weapon and hardly a thing to defend me and my friend with. Now I had a rifle big enough to blow an 8'' exit hole in whatever was unlucky enough to be pointed at.

No sooner cocked the bolt back into firing position, when we heard a faint "boom". Some dirt fell on my head.

"Here she comes boys.. get ready ya'hear?"

"HOOYA" cried the platoon

Again, another boom, and another boom, and another and another. They were getting closer and closer. "BOOM". I could feel a rumbling in my chest. "BOOM.. BOOOM.. BOOOOOOM" they were getting closer.

"Dammit those fuckers, they spotted us, they're firing those fuckers right on top of us.. get ready boys!"

"HOOYA"

I could tell they were scared shitless. There were 2 of them to my left checking the rear of the tunnel, one beside me. I looked at the man beside me. He had a fair complexion, he was young. I could tell he hadn't ever had to do what it took to keep his heart beating. I on the other hand had to run, hide, kill, gather, do all the thigns a persons 'gotta do when shit hits the fan. I wasn't battle hardened but I didn't give a fuck if I had to put a bullet between someones eyes to get out of a nasty situation. I was calm and ready for it.

I put the barrel of my enfield through one of the peepholes. "BOOOOOM".. the walls were shaking. "BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOOOOM". I heard a big bomber fly above us.

"THEY'RE HITTUN US WITH MORTARS BOYS.. KEEP YOUR SHIT TOGETHER. HERE COMES THE BOMBS.. KEEP IT TOGETHER YA'HEAR!!!"

"HOOYA!" they cried.

The bombs fell and I was worried I wouldn't be able to fight my way out of this. I started to question if those bombs would drill right through into the tunnel and start blowing us up. The walls were literally vibrating and dirt was flying everywhere. It felt like my bones were rattling from the inside out. But by the grace of God the tunnel held up and everyone started breathing again. That's when I saw it. A helmet.. with a big red star on it. I already had my gun aimed straight down the tunnel at the entrance. I pulled the trigger. 'CRACK'. The soldeirs helmet flew off his head. All I could see was a mist of red and a body fall to the ground. Then i saw 2 more. "CRACK" and another one of them fell. I could see a mist of blood starting to fill the air. The soldiers beside me started shooting their rifles. "CRACK.. CRACK CRACK.. CRACK"

Soldiers were falling at the door of the tunnel and all throughout. They were flanking us from both directions. They didn't have a clear shot at where were were though and we had the upper hand. I slowly moved out of the room and peeked my head around a corner where I saw them standing aside from the tunnel entrance. I aimed and pulled the trigger. I saw one fall, then reloaded. I pulled the trigger again. The rifle was shooting true to where I was aiming. We killed so many soldiers I couldn't count them all. Finally it was over and the last Chinese soldier had been killed.

"That was a lucky one boys" said the captain. "Well let's clean up and see what we can salvage"

"Yes Sir!" they cried out. They all left the room and I was left with the captain.

"Well son, never seen such a good shot, you a farmboy?"

"No sir, just scared shitless"

"Yeah son I hear that, aren't we all. Them damn bastards took all our homes away"

"Yeah they sure did sir, I've been on the run for months"

"Well I figure you best tend to your friend if she's still alive. You are relieved boy, you can have the gun. You earned it"

"THANK YOU!"

I ran to the house expecting it to be blown to pieces. Bombs and mortars were dropped all over the place, but for some reason and somehow they left that house alone. I had no remorse for doing what I had to do. I had killed a man, or 10. A year ago the thought of killing a person would have made me sick, but these were different times. We had to fight to survive and there was nothing else. The world was ravaged in this war. I came up to the house, and there was my friend, curled up in a ball like the way I left her. She had her ears covered and she was screaming and crying.

She fought against me when I first came up to her, but after she realized it was me she hugged me and wouldn't let go. "It's ok sweetie, you're safe.. you're safe. Look what I got!" She looked at my new rifle and smiled. We could not survive and that was a huge step forward for us.