1 Everybody Hates War

I was born in and I will probably die in the war. My nation, even before my mother gave birth to me into this dreadful place, has been in war. At this point, if you ask me why we are fighting, I would not know what to say. Most people believe that we are fighting for good, but the guys that we kill in the other side probably believe the same thing. Everyday, I go into the trenches, shoot a couple of piles of dirt with my Springfield rifle until I'm ordered to go back towards camp again. A war like that isn't too bad, until some of my comrades disappear, and I am reminded of how dreadful it truly is.

You see, I'm pretty much stuck on the trenches, where almost nothing changes. I mean, what kind of idiot would simply rush over to our trench to die? You'd have to be suicidal if you wanted to do that. Actually, some people are kind of like that. Ana, a girl which every guy in the squadron has invited her to have fun in their bed, is like that. She is a Hunter. Hunter's are people with a gift received by a devil a long time ago. Most people claim that it was a goddess, but what sort of goddess would create such chaos for this world? I refuse to pray for such a being. Anyway, Ana is suicidal because she is sort of hard to kill. You could call it bravery, but I mostly call her an idiot. A gentle breeze swept into the room. A young lieutenant entered the quarters. He orders us to go out into the field and shoot some more people. He made a joke about how the Hunter are probably going to be the ones actually fighting. Most men in the quarters growled. I get ready and start heading towards the field.

The battlefield is the same as always. Huge piles of ashes combined with the dirt in the ground formed a dark substance that encases the floor. The smell of decaying bodies, blood, and gunpowder remains in the air, suffocating those that need the oxygen to survive. There are no white skies today, only darkened green. Those are signs of war. Too much gunpowder in the air has made our once white with traces of yellow sky turn green and black. It's hard to see anything at a distance. At this point, I think both sides are just staring at each other, afraid to get close, yet wanting to bring glory home to be able to feed their family for their rest of their lives without having to kill anymore.

I spot Ana leading her squadron. Ana and I used to be friends a long time ago, until she was recognized as a Hunter. Now, she and I are just strangers, people destined to recognize each other but never know them. Her squad has always been grim looking, this just makes her look even more dazzling. She comes towards my station, and she selects various officers to accompany her squadron towards the middle of the battlefield. Most of these men never return. I was almost confident she would not choose me because maybe she thought that we were still friends, but this time she did. Of course she did. The men that had not been chosen let out a sight. They knew that today they weren't going to die. I was the one that was going to.

We start heading towards the middle of the battlefield, slowly. Hole by hole, trench by trench. Now that we were closer, I finally was able to see her measly squad of five. There was Ana, another woman who was actually quite pretty, but paled in comparison, a quiet buff man with tattoos on his arms, a skinny man who was constantly telling jokes and another man, who wouldn't stop sarcastically responding the jokes with what he called satirical comedy. The men that were selected with me could only be called depressed, middle age men that probably had spent all their life in war. Only Hunters could leave the war, so me and these men had only two options, die in the war or live long enough to die of old age with it. Truly a blessing.

Hunters, on the other hand, could actually leave the war. The government always had them leave because they needed them to search for whatever bullshit the goddess had promised. We kept changing trenches to trenches until we reached the very first one. One abandoned millennia before by people that are almost the same as us. We kept going. Now, I started to get nervous. I said in what was almost a whisper that I hope someone tells my family I already died out in the field. Ana heaves a small sight and keeps going forward.

One of the men that were with me said, "Kid, your family already pronounced you dead the moment you weren't recognized a Hunter". The only response that came out of my mouth was a nervous and awkward giggle. Ana suddenly stops, and tells the ones in her squadron that they have reached their destination. A rather small, round facility in the middle of the battlefield. It had a cylindrical shape, a white color that has been lost due to the dirt and ash covering it, and doors that could let in an enormous amount of people. It was impossible to see from the trenches, as we walked quite a distance and there is nothing for us to scout this position from such a faraway place with our poor monoculars.

As we get closer, I brace myself. Wasn't there supposed to be conflict going on right here? Why is there a small space in the middle of the battlefield? But we knew the answer already. I reached for my gun, and the men next to me do the same thing. The Hunters continue as usual, and start getting closer towards the place. I'm getting a bad feeling. I ask Ana what is going on.

"The battle is inside" she says without letting her eyes leave the cylinder structure.

I give the men the warning. They are already ready.

"Ana, did you know that I have always loved you?" I say nonchalantly.

"What?" She asks, turning around and letting her eyes leave the strange structure. At that sad moment, she realized what was going on, and with eyes filled with tears, I shot her and blew her brains out.