Despite the throbbing pain I felt in my left arm, I continued to run through the forest with the rest of my crew. Ryan led the way with Zack right behind him; I stayed near the back with Miles, who couldn’t stop staring at my arm. Ryan shouted for us to stop and we all did. He saw a river before him and noticed where the water was heading. He looked towards a hill, where he heard gunfire come from behind it.

“Alright guys,” he said. “That’s the war zone; I think this is it.” He faced Zack and Leah. “Zack, Leah, I want you two to go around the trees over there and wait for my signal. When I signal you, Miles will come in and open fire to gain their attention. Ulrich, you’re with me. We’ll finish them off.”

“Why am I with you again?” I said. “Take Leah and Miles with you; I’ll go on my own.” He shook his head.

“You can’t be on your own, Ulrich. You’re wounded.”

“It doesn’t matter, Ryan. I’m going on my own. I don’t need any of you guys to protect me.” I approached him and snatched his gun away. “Keep your eyes open; I’ll create a diversion.” Ryan scowled at me, but I ignored him and made my way up the hill. Miles sighed softly and felt guilty, since he’s the reason why I got shot in my arm. I don’t care about my wound anymore; I just want to win this war. I made it to the top of the hill and saw a war zone right before my eyes. The forest was destroyed and there were dead bodies everywhere. After looking around, I knew where I had to go. There were two guys up in the trees with snipers, which is a huge disadvantage on our end. I hurried over to the tree without them seeing me. Once I was at the tree, I saw a grenade come from behind the hill and hit the center of the battlefield. “Ryan, you’re so impatient.” I raised my gun towards the top of the tree and let off two shots. I took a step back and saw two bodies fall on the ground. Ryan came from behind the hill with Miles behind him; I made eye contact with them and nodded for them to go. They ran ahead and started shooting while I leaned against the tree. All of a sudden, I heard someone scream, “Get down!” A huge explosion went off that it made me fall onto the ground. “Ryan!” I exclaimed in a panic. I stood myself up and looked ahead to see Ryan and Miles down on the ground. I grew angry and started to walk towards them.

Ryan heard ringing in his ears, but Miles felt absolute pain. He covered both his ears and started screaming. Ahead of them was a cloud of smoke. Ryan looked forward to see a silhouette of a man walking towards them. He brought himself onto his knees and grabbed onto his gun.

“Who the hell are you?” he asked. The smoke faded away and there stood a man with a sadistic glare. He was unarmed, which puzzled Ryan. He had both his arms against the side of his body, as if to say that he has nothing. Something wasn’t right though. “Hey, say something,” he stood himself up and pointed the gun at him. “Hey, you’re lucky I’m giving you a chance to speak, all of your other buddies got a bullet to their mouth if they breathed around me.”

“For someone who talks so tough, the way you hold that gun says something else.” Ryan muttered in confusion as he looked down at his hands. He didn’t even realize that he was holding his gun the wrong way. “You seem frazzled, how come? I just told you that I’m unarmed.” Ryan slowly turned around to face Miles, who stopped screaming, but he was panting heavily from the explosion. Ryan noticed blood coming out of his left ear. He made it clear to himself that Miles was in no condition to move. “You know I’m dangerous, that’s why.” The man started laughing. “My name is Dave and I’m your worst enemy.”

Zack and Leah ran around the hill into the forest. The explosion frightened them, so they moved as far away as they could. Zack abruptly stopped.

“Zack,” Leah said stopping herself. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m going back, it’s not right to leave the others out there.” He started walking, but Leah grabbed onto his wrist. “Hey, let go Leah.”

“If you’re going, I’m going with you.” Before Zack could say anything, Leah shushed him and walked passed him. “You’re right, it was stupid of us to run. We’re soldiers, we should be acting like ones.”

I hurried over towards Dave and held onto my gun tightly. I felt the tension rush throughout my body, which started to hurt my left arm. Dave was taunting Ryan, which irritated me badly, but I didn’t know what he was saying to Ryan. I raised my gun and aimed it at Dave’s head. The moment I placed my finger on the trigger, he grabbed onto something small from his back pocket and threw it at me. Ryan gasped in horror.

“Grenade!” Ryan screamed at the top of his lungs. I started running, but the moment it hit the ground it went off and blasted me forward. I landed on my back and groaned in pain. Dave faced Ryan who screamed, “You bastard!” He started shooting the moment Dave started running. He ran towards where I was, but he got shot in his back and leg. Ryan had rage inside of him, but it all faded away when he felt a gunshot hit his back. He turned around weakly to see a group of men approaching him. “God damn it.” Dave called in for backup, which set us all up for a visit to the grave. Miles lifted himself up, but realized that he couldn’t hear out of his left ear. “Miles, get the hell out of here. This is our last battle, I don’t want you to get killed.”

“Where did Dave go?” He asked ignoring what Ryan said. He noticed where Dave was running to and gasped in fear. “He’s heading towards Ulrich.” He weakly lifted himself up and held his gun tightly. “Go to Ulrich, he’ll die if he’s left alone with Dave.”

“I’m not going to leave you to die, that’s not what a soldier does. Besides, Ulrich can take care of himself-”

“He could be injured-possibly dead! Do you even care about him?” Ryan noticed the men approaching them. He grabbed onto Miles’ arm and ran with him towards the forest. “Ryan!”

“Miles, I think that explosion really messed you up. Since when were you ever this brave?” Miles felt his eyes widen, but he looked behind him. “We have to hold off these idiots. If not, they’ll get us all at once.” He stopped running, went over to a tree and looked over his shoulder to see the group of men running towards them. “Good, they saw us. We’ll hold them off in the meantime, until Ulrich gets back on his feet. I shot Dave a few times, so that should slow him down.”

“Don’t forget that Ulrich has a wound Ryan.” Miles looked down with a face full of frustration. “It’s all my fault that he’s at a disadvantage, if I would’ve just stayed put, then he wouldn’t have had to jump out and save me.” Ryan faced Miles and sighed softly.

“Get ahold of yourself and cover my six.” Miles looked up at him. “We’ll win this war and everything will be okay.”

My arm throbbed harder than before and I gripped it tightly. Even though Leah patched me up, my arm still stung badly. I heard stumbling footsteps approach me. I weakly picked myself up to see Dave walking towards me. He held a grenade to his mouth and I exclaimed in horror. He pulled the pin with his teeth and threw it towards me. I felt adrenaline surge throughout my veins as I suddenly ran towards the grenade. I don’t understand why I ran towards it instead of running away, but by the time I counted one, I was already off my feet. The moment I grabbed onto the grenade, two seconds had passed. With all the strength left in my left arm, I threw the grenade back at him. His eyes widened as an explosion went off right before his eyes. Both of us got hit back. I landed onto my back once again, but once the adrenaline was gone, that’s when the pain settled in. I raised myself up with my right arm, but I fell onto my back once again. I felt the need to lay on the cold ground. Dave was dead and this war would finally come to an end. I closed my eyes, but then something felt wrong. I raised my head to see that Dave was gone from sight. I looked around and whispered, “Where the hell did he go?” I sat myself up and continued to look around. I turned myself around and went on my knees. The moment I placed one foot down on the ground to stand myself up, I felt a sharp pain hit my lower back. My body went numb as I fell forward and screamed in pain. Behind me was Dave, he was covered in blood and held a small pistol in his right hand. He laughed shakily as he looked down at me.

“You used my own weapon against me, so I took your gun that you dropped earlier from my first grenade.” Damn it, now I’m unarmed. The bullet burned my back badly, but I was thankful that he missed my spine by an inch. “I know who you are Ulrich, but I don’t think you know me at all.” I glared angrily at him. “You’re the leader of your little crew, and I’m smart enough to know that you guys aren’t true soldiers. Despite the tough faces that you put, I can still see the fear in your eyes. Well, I don’t blame you, you’re still just a kid.”

“What did you say to Ryan before?” Dave grew confused, but I forcefully lifted myself up onto my knees. “You said something to Ryan, and he made a face that I never wanted to see. You’re right that I’m the leader, but I don’t think it’s right for me. I think it suits Ryan better.”

“I just told your little friend that I’m your worst enemy because the men you’ve been killing these past hours, were part of my army. I’m the leader, so that’s why I’ve been so interested to take you out.” He pointed his gun at my face. “I’m sorry that I have to do this, but I want to win this war.” I exhaled softly, and smiled to myself. He’s right about one thing though, I’m still just a kid, but I think I’ve lived long enough to say that my life was great while it lasted. The only thing I regret is how arrogant I was. Maybe I should’ve been more understanding with the others, but if acting self-centered means to save those you care about, then I believe everyone should act like that without hesitation. Dave took a step back and adjusted his gun hold. “I’m surprised that you’re giving up this easily; I expected a final fight between us leaders.”

“My back hurts, you idiot. Besides, maybe my life is supposed to end now; I shouldn’t get angry just because my time is ending earlier than I expected, but I should be thankful that I was given a chance to live.” Dave chuckled to himself. “Go for it, I don’t care anymore.” I closed my eyes and looked down. I couldn’t even feel my body anymore; I just feel bad for the others. Deep down, I know they’re capable of winning this war without me, even though I treated them like they were damsels in distress. The moment Dave placed his finger on the trigger and pulled it, I clenched my eyes shut to prepare for impact, but I never felt the wound. I slowly opened my eyes to see someone standing in front of me. I regained my senses and saw the person in front of me tremble erratically. The person slowly turned around to face me, where I discovered that it was Zack. Dave scoffed in annoyance and continued to shoot. I gasped to see Zack take every bullet, before he collapsed onto the ground in front of me. Dave kept clicking, but he ran out of bullets; he was livid now.

“How dare you interrupt one of the most important moments in my life? I hope you burn in hell, you fake soldier.” Zack coughed up blood and behind me I heard footsteps approaching. I grabbed onto Zack and screamed his name. The footsteps finally stopped and soon after, a horrified voice screamed, “Zack!” right behind my ears. I knew it was Leah, but she was too late. Dave turned around and stumbled away from us as he held onto his right arm.

“Hey Zack,” I hollered in a panic. “Stay with me now!” He smiled at me as Leah went down on her knees right next to me. She grabbed onto his right hand and that’s when we realized we couldn’t save him. I looked at his body and saw endless amounts of gunshot wounds. “Listen to me you idiot, you’re not going to die on my watch. I’ll never forgive you if you think about leaving us!”

“Even at a time like this, you still have that callous glare on your face,” Zack responded weakly. He started crying, but he smiled as if he had been reborn. “Leah, don’t make that face.” I looked over at her to see her face drenched in tears, almost as if she came out of the ocean. “I’m sorry, I never got the chance to ask you out.” She gasped and even I grew surprised; I clenched my teeth.

“Stop talking like that, you’ll be fine. You’ll wake up in the hospital safe and sound and finally ask Leah out. Why the hell would you wait now to say something? I thought I told you about leaving no regrets behind!”

“Ulrich, my heart really hurts.” I grew silent all of a sudden. “I know that you want me to live, trust me, I want to live too, but my body can’t keep up with my mind. I’m sorry you two, but I can’t stay any longer.”

“Why the hell did you jump in front of me? To play the hero?! Well, that was the worst thing you could’ve done Zack; I’m not worth saving. Why didn’t you just leave me here to die? You’re more important than I am, I don’t deserve to keep living after the way I treated all of you. You really are a big idiot…” I lowered my head towards him and finally felt my tears pour out my eyes. I grabbed onto my chest and endured the unbearable pain I felt in my heart. “I’m sorry for the way I treated you; I love you man, you were my brother. You’re the reason why I didn’t give up on life.” Zack’s smile started to fade away as I saw his eyes slowly close.

“Zack, my answer is yes,” Leah said quickly. “I’ve been in love with you since the first day we met; I just didn’t say anything because I thought you wouldn’t want to be with a girl like me.” Her response was real, not something people say last minute before a person dies. I just don’t understand why horrific things make people finally say the truth when they could’ve said it months ago. Zack closed his eyes and his body slumped down in my arms. Leah started crying, to the point that it was just her screaming into the forest. Everything went silent for me as I stared at Zack. I remembered when I first met him at an orphanage, where we were taken in together. Eventually, we met Ryan, Leah and Miles who were taken in two weeks later. Even though Zack got on my nerves most of the time, I cared about him a lot. I guess I wanted him to be more like me, but he was just the opposite. Even though he wasn’t strong like me, even though he wasn’t intelligent like me, the one thing he had that I never did was compassion, which was the one thing I envied about him. I slowly placed Zack onto the ground and stood up quickly. Leah didn’t realize what I was doing, but I gave her one last stare before I took off running. Dave continued to stumble towards the battlefield, where the rest of his men were. He smiled with delight, until he heard sticks break behind him. He turned around to see me jump towards him. Before he could react, I grabbed ahold of his neck and fell onto the ground with him. He gasped for air and stared at me, where his eyes widened in horror. He saw how my eyes were full of hatred and how my pupils were almost gone from my eyes. I started tightening my grip around his neck when he suddenly jerked his body sideways, causing us to fall down the hill near us. With all the strength in my body, I didn’t let go of his neck when we rolled down the hill. At the bottom was a river, which we fell into. Even underwater, my eyes locked onto him and I didn’t think to hold my breath; I just want this guy dead.

Miles felt a sharp pain in his left arm, which caused him to cringe towards the ground. Ryan grabbed a grenade from his front pocket and pulled the pin. He threw it in front of him and it went off before it hit the ground. The gunfire was finally gone, which made Ryan collapse onto the floor.

“Ryan!” Miles said gripping onto his left arm. “Hey, are you shot?” Ryan smirked and raised his left arm into the air, where he gave a thumbs up to Miles. “Jesus, you scared me to death.”

“We got them all Miles; I think we just won our first war.” Miles shook his head and stood himself up properly. “What do you mean no?”

“We haven’t found Dave yet,” Miles said. “I want his body, then I’ll admit that we won this war.” Ryan raised his head and Miles walked over to him, where he offered his right hand. “We need to find the others.” Ryan grabbed his hand and stood himself up.

“You don’t have to tell me twice, but keep an eye out just in case.” Ryan grabbed onto his gun and headed towards the forest with Miles right behind him. The moment they entered the forest, they heard screaming coming from their left. “Leah?!” Ryan said dashing towards her scream. Miles, who finally understood what was happening, ran after Ryan. Ryan stopped himself when he saw Leah holding onto Zack’s head with both her arms. She was on her knees, where she brought Zack’s body onto her legs. Ryan slowly walked over to her with a horrified look across his face. “Zack?” Leah finally stopped screaming and opened her eyes to see Ryan staring at her. Miles collapsed on his knees behind them and stared at Zack with a heartbroken look. Ryan went down on one knee and grabbed onto Zack’s face, which was cold as ice. He couldn’t hold a straight face anymore; he let out perpetual amounts of tears and broke down crying. Miles covered his face and brought himself towards the ground, where he let out silent sobs that only the ground could hear.

Dave opened his eyes underwater to see me put my face closer to his. He returned the same look I had across my face and grabbed onto my arms. He forcefully pulled my hands off his neck, but I refused to let his neck go. With the will to live in his heart, Dave used all his strength to drive off my right hand, where he took that opportunity to grab onto my neck with his right hand. I gasped, where I swallowed some water, which caused my body to clench in pain. Dave rose to the surface while holding my neck. The moment we came out the water, we took deep breaths in and I started coughing hard.

“Don’t get your hopes up Ulrich!” He said as he brought his other hand over to my neck. “I’m the real soldier here, you’re just a weak kid who knows nothing about the real world!” I punched him across the face, which made him release my neck. I raised both my hands in front of me as I felt the river push me towards him. “Oh, now you want to fight like a man.” He raised both his hands in front of him too. “Well then, let’s dance.” I yelled in anger as I charged at him, where we started fighting. Dave lost his balance and he fell into the water, where I jumped on top of him. The water pushed me forward and that’s when I grabbed onto Dave’s neck again. I pushed him down towards the bottom of the river and started to clench my hands around his neck again. I looked up ahead to see that there was a waterfall; I exclaimed in dismay. The fact that I didn’t notice the waterfall earlier upset me, but now it was do or die. I pushed my weight onto Dave’s neck, and I felt him grab both my wrists, which he clenched tightly. The sound of the water rushing grew louder, but I ignored it and stared at Dave. The moment I saw bubbles come from the water I looked away; I had some dignity, so I couldn’t look at a man who was faced with death. I never let go, but I couldn’t help but start crying.

“Hey Ulrich, if anything happens to me, please don’t go and avenge me.” I stared at Zack as he walked passed me. He clenched his gun in his hand and sighed heavily. “I don’t want you to live with a burden because of me, so please, don’t avenge me, or the others if anything happens to us.”

My eyes widened as I turned back to Dave, who was still struggling to remove my hands. I felt tears roll down my face and into the river.

“You killed Zack you bastard! How can you live with yourself knowing that you murdered someone who had a future?! Zack never wanted this war to happen, he wasn’t ready for it, but I was. Why the hell couldn’t you take me away instead? You talk like you know me so well, you don’t know a damn thing about me! I’m a soldier, and I’ll win this war; I’ll kill you if I have to win! I’m sorry Zack…” The bubbles finally stopped appearing in front of me and the grip I felt around my wrists released. “I can’t keep your will, but I avenged you and ended this long war.” I released my grip and brought my hands up to my face, where I noticed that they trembled erratically. As I stared at them with concern, I didn’t realize that the river pushed me so far ahead. Suddenly, I heard someone faintly scream, “Ulrich, where are you?!” I didn’t turn around to see who it was. I looked ahead to see that a waterfall was up ahead. I grew startled and tried to trudge through the rapid water to the grass, but when the adrenaline wore off, I felt horrific pain in my back once again. I groaned as I grabbed my back roughly. My eyes turned to the right to see that the waterfall was just a couple of feet away. I struggled to get to the grass, but just as I was about to reach it, I felt someone grab my hand right before I fell off the edge. My body was out the water, but I was high in the air. I looked down to see how far the waterfall went, which was really long; I think I would’ve died if Ryan didn’t catch me in time. I looked up to see him struggling to hold me.

“You really are an idiot Ryan, why can’t you just let me go?” Ryan glared angrily at me as he heaved me up onto the grass beside him. He released my hand and fell onto his back. “Thank you,” I said looking down at the waterfall. I turned back to Ryan to see him cover his eyes. “Are you alright?” He removed his hands and sat himself up.

“You went ahead against Zack’s wish.” I sighed with disappointment, but Ryan chuckled lightly. “All of us would’ve went ahead and done it; I just can’t believe he’s dead.”

“Do you guys still have his body?”

“You want to give him a funeral?” I nodded. “Alright, let’s take him home; I don’t want him to be buried out here anyways.” Ryan started to pick himself up, but I grabbed onto his arm. “What’s wrong Ulrich?”

“My back hurts a lot…” Ryan sighed softly and helped me onto my feet. “Let’s go home…” Ryan grabbed my left arm and put it over his neck. He helped me walk back to the forest, where Leah and Miles waited for us.