Securing the Future (Day 104)

It was the first time I killed a man in the name of something greater. Had I killed others before this? Of course. That's what soldiers do. Those enemies were faceless. Demonized. Different. I got paid for it. When I first enlisted, it wasn't because I was patriotic, it was because I was broke and uneducated. The bullets I had fired then were in defense, a roar against oblivion, a roar to be taken seriously. This time it was different. And yet--

An unfamiliar voice crackled to life in my ear piece. "Mark, are you there? HQ is reporting that you've stopped moving."

I knew what was at stake, how important the mission was but I couldn't shake the feeling that something terrible had happened, something no one had warned me about. "It's done. There's no where to go."

The voice turned aside. "_He did it_!"

In the background, cheers exploded. They were for me but I felt nothing. The voice reoriented. "Secretary Burke wants to know if he was lucid there in the end."

"He died like every man dies." I said wearily.