Bittersweet
I picked myself up and limped down there as fast as I could. “We won!” I yelled. “We won!” But it seemed my other comrades weren’t as happy as I was when I reached the charred ground zero. Trent was praying, Ty was resting his head on his hands, Will was crying.
“What happened?” I asked.
“Abe and Twitch...they…”
“They what?!” Confusion and disbelief drove me to ask, but I already knew.
“They died Andrew.”
I stood there phased. They tried to comfort me, but it didn’t work. I couldn’t breathe. I felt so numb. Me and what was left of my team stared at blood a drenched valley, chewing on our bitter-sweet victory. That’s when we realized the win wasn’t worth it- the Militant’s Warranty was right.
I later found out that Twitch had been stabbed before the explosion and Abe was shot in the head. It was pretty hard to hear. We’re going home in a month so we each decided to do something. Trent finished his mural, Ty wrote farewell letters (which I didn’t have the strength to do), and Will arranged for them to get war hero medals to get buried with. I myself, decided to write the 6th rule for the ‘Mil’. I hesitated for a minute before I wrote on the paper.

6. Win or lose, a piece of your soul will always remain in the barracks
Andrew Compton 2032
“Hey.” Trent walked in and sat next to me.
“Hi.” I said back.
“I can’t believe Twitch died” He said.
“I can.” I stated. First I thought Twitch was just a war hero for being so brave, but now it seems like he just wanted to die, but I don’t want anybody to think badly of him.”
“True.”
“I miss Abe.”
“Me too
A long pause left us both open, the deaths made us feel both exposed.
“You know, when I was out there, I thought I was going to die. So I prayed for us all to make it. But you know what? I think it was their time, and out there was where they belonged.
“True.” I said.