Lives lost in the line of duty

“He deserved it. Every bit of it for the shit he has done to people. If they have done some terrible shit to people then I have the right to do ten times worse shit to them,” Ted said as he looked at Oscar with anger in his eyes and voice.

Ted swung the machete in his hand with all his power hitting the decapitated head of the rebel on the ground in front of him that it suck deep into the flesh and skull and got stuck. He then took a deep breath as he gazed at the blue sunny sky and let go of the machete stuck on the forehead of the severed head.

“They deserve every painful death we can give them,” Oscar said as he cleaned his bloody hands on his uniform.

Oscar folded his long sleeves to the point that they were above his elbows on both hands. As he looked around he saw a man run across who was on fire and screaming on top of his voice as the rest of the rebels gave him way. This made Oscar’s heart hurt even more and he felt as if he could just go out in the open and kill every one of them but the only thing that made him shift from such thoughts was the fear of jeopardizing the lives of the innocent men, women and children. He stood motionlessly for a while lost in thought until he was brought back to reality by his friend Ted.

“Oscar,” Ted said a bit louder than the usual tone they had been using.

“Yes Ted,” Oscar said as he shook his head that was covered in several spots of blood that had splashed on him from the recent killing he had made, “we need to talk to Bob and Frank to see how far they are with the program. We are out of time. They are killing people already.”

Oscar reached for his radio on his left shoulder, he pulled it towards his mouth and switched it on.

“Frank, come in,’’ Oscar said into the radio and waited for the response anxiously.

“Oscar….Oscar it’s Bob. Frank is unconscious. He stepped on some kind of trap that cut his foot clean off. Shit! He has lost a lot of blood and am not sure if he is going to make,” Bob replied with a shaky voice.

“Stay calm Bob! We will be there shortly. Did you kill the targets? The shit has just hit the fan and I need to know that much from you?” Oscar said as his heart pounded and his head hurt.

“I just told you that Frank is hurt and you ask me about the targets,” Bob replied quickly in the usual shaky voice.

“Hey Bob, shut the hell up and grow some balls. I asked about the targets because this is our mission to save these people from these sick savages already killing them. When we came here we knew what we signed up for and Frank knows it too but the villagers don’t deserve what they are going through and we are the only sane people who can help them. So please give me a clear no sobbing answer so that I can give the go ahead to the captain,’ Oscar said in an angry voice as he shock his right hand vigorously.

“Yes we did Oscar. We did,” Bob said as he tried to sound as normal as possible.

“Okay, stay put we will come and get you as soon as possible. Find a place to hide Frank and yourself. Ready your gun and kill any of those cavemen who get close to you” Oscar said and hang up.

The captain looked anxiously at the village through his binoculars and was hoping to receive the signal for a go ahead from the team that was sent to clear path for them. He had already seen enough bloodshed for the day and was not prepared to continue seeing people being murdered. If it was not Oscar but any other soldier he would have assumed the worst and ordered the attack but this was his best soldier and he never made mistakes. If people were being killed now and Oscar was seeing it, it was for the greater good of the many who would survive. He agreed to wait for his call despite how hard it was to see the villagers being burnt and chopped to pieces as they were being rounded up to the center of the village for the public execution as the story always went where ever the Kamunyama rebels attacked.

“Be ready boys they will signal us any moment now.”

“Sir!” They all replied at once.

Captain Matthews looked through his binoculars one more time to the village center and saw a group of women, men and children lined up in a single queue to the executioner. And in a short moment the rebel leader appeared from behind a hut carrying a human head and showed it to the villagers as a sign of what was going to happen to all of them. Then the ape of a man gave the order to the rebel to start executing the villagers one at a time. The queue started moving slowly towards the executioner as he sharpened his large axe.

“Kid please give me that goddam signal. These lives are about to be lost and we are just here watching,” Captain Matthews said as he watched in terror of what was about to happen.

The first in the line was a woman who had been ripped off from her daughter’s grip. She was slapped and punched several times before putting her in the front position. When she reached the executioner she was instructed to lay her head on a large piece of wood as he stopped sharpening his large axe. Then the big strong goon moved towards the large piece of wood were the woman’s head lay. He positioned himself properly and shook his body to show his readiness to perform the beheading. Tears rolled down the woman’s eyes as she looked at her daughter crying out in the tight grip of two rebels.