“We never understand how little we need in this world until we know the loss of it.” – James Matthew Barrie
From Author: This story is written much like World War Z. Just me playing around with different writing formats. Enjoy! 24122010.
SC: The York Ranger
Third War Memorial Burial Grounds, Greenland Zone, Earth [Sol] 25122255
I had just finished my second interview of the day when he showed up about twenty minutes early. I had just finished writing my notes and reviewing the material from my last interview when he took the seat opposite from me and waited patiently to finish my work. It didn’t take long for me to finish my work and for us to exchange pleasantries. His name was Colonel Stephen Phillips of the U.S. Army and he was a tall man with salt and pepper hair and dark green eyes that shone with the sun. His eyes gave off a strange, almost radioactive glow. Only about a few thousand human beings in the entire United Systems exhibited this characteristic feature which told everyone that they were augmented humans. These augmented humans were far more advance then even Homo Sapiens Superior, the current evolutionary stage of man.
[Recorder switched on.]
“Hello Stephen Phillips, thank you for coming. I’m going to ask you a series of questions about the Third War, please answer truthfully. This interview is being recorded for the benefit of future generations. I want you to know that whatever you say cannot be used against you in a court of law. You are protected under the Third Human Civil War Amnesty act of 2119. Do you understand?”
“Yes I do.”
“Let’s start with your place of birth.”
“I was born in Toronto, Canada on July.18, 2029.”
“Canada? Tell me more about it.”
“Canada existed before the Third War and the era of mega nation-states. It was a happy little country just north of the United States. We had no enemies and Canada fared particularly well in the Second Great Depression. Then we merged with the Americans sometime in the twenty forties, I forget when. If you asked me at the time about the merge I would have told you that it was complete bullshit. Canada was just fine by itself. Canada didn’t need to be associated with those fat irresponsible fucks. It wasn’t our job to buoy their economy and counter balance the Chinese Hegemony.”
“You sound bitter about it.”
“That’s putting it mildly. After all these years I still miss it. I mean Canada still exists today, kinda, but I miss the days when I was a lad and Canada was sovereign. We even had our own money with loonies and toonies and five spots with hockey players on it. No one wants to see their country disappear. I remember it happened in phases and the providences became states. It was a relatively peaceful merger, only the French Fries and Rednecks caused any trouble.”
“French Fries?”
“Yah, the French Canadians of Quebec. They were probably the most pissed about the merger. They had a big riot in forty eight that left like sixty dead. The U.S. government gave the Frenchy’s autonomy comparable to the Native Americans, but still they caused trouble. Couldn’t really blame them. Like I said before no one likes to see their country disappear and heritage die. The French Fries were given a chance to vote for full independence in 2055, but it never happened.”
“Whys that?”
“The war. The U.S. government postponed it for another five years. I remember a lot of nationalistic Canadians were pissed, I know I was. If Quebec left, Ontario wouldn’t have been far behind. That’s for sure.”
“Did Quebec ever vote for independence?”
“HA! No. By the time the 2060 vote was supposed to be scheduled half of the United States and half of what used to be Canada was under occupation. On the day of the cancelled vote the French Fries had a riot and the U.S. military shot and killed a ton of them. The U.S. government wasn’t putting up with that kind of shit. The war changed everything.”
“Tell me about your role in the war.”
“I served with the U.S. Queen’s York Rangers for the duration of the war. We were based out of Toronto, but we ended up fighting almost everywhere. The Canadian wilderness, South America, Europe, China, you name it. Everywhere the Americans fought, we fought. Where they died, we died. In the end, the war did more to unify our countries then the politicians’ bullshit propaganda and speeches. North Americans is what we all started to call ourselves, the term ‘United North America’ also became a popular way to describe both the United States and Canada. Thinking about it now, some things were just plain weird then. Amusing, but weird.”
“Like?”
“The Star Spangled Banner. After the merger it was still the national anthem for all of the U.N.A. Nothing funnier than a hockey stadium full of former Canadians singing a song about how Americans kicked their great great great grand papi’s butt. [We both laugh] They finally changed it to the current national anthem sometime in the early sixties. Another thing that comes to mind is the ‘U.S.’ in front of my units name, we gained it when our militaries merged. The very first institution from both countries to do so. Anyways, not much changed for the Rangers except for our name and who was ultimately in command. We kept our organization, heritage, and history. Which is why the U.S. in front of our name is so damn funny, the York Rangers made its name during the American Revolution kicking American ass. Hell, at the battle of Yorktown we never surrendered our colours to the Americans. We smuggled it back to Toronto where it still sits today. History definitely has a sense of humour.”
“Tell me about the Canadian wilderness campaigns.”
“Where to begin? When the war broke out in 2055 we were deployed in Alaska. It was uneventful. Five years of nothing. There was talk of sending us to India to help them in the cold Himalayas against the Chinese, but it turned out to be nothing but talk. Then all of a sudden all hell broke loose. Late 2060 nukes rained down all over the U.N.A. taking out major western population centers, the capital, and big military bases. The Chinese then poured shock troopers all up and down California and my unit were rushed down to engage them, but we never got the chance.”
“Why’s that?”
“The CFR invaded Alaska and the western Canadian states a week after and we were pulled from the Rockies to engage them. The CFR invasion was smaller in scale, but we literally had nothing to stop them. What little forces the U.S. had was fighting in the Rockies and prepping the Mississippi for a last stand. Canada was fucked, but we still fought as best we could. The war up north was much more fluid then it was down south in the old states. More run and gun. We staged a ton of hit and runs and ambushes. The CFR may have ‘controlled’ [He makes the “quote on quote” signal with his hands] a lot of real estate on paper, but we were able to move about with impunity. We knew the land and there were tons of places to hide. The CFR didn’t have nowhere near the amount of boots on the ground to hold the vast cold expanse of Canada. The Chinese were busy in the south and India so they were never around to help the CFR. The Holy Islamic Empire sent a million troops to help the CFR in Canada, but just like at Oslo they couldn’t cope with the cold. If we didn’t kill them, Mother Nature would. I remember once around Edmonton we came upon a whole division of dead Islamic troops naked and frozen by the side of the road.”
“Naked?”
From Author: This story is written much like World War Z. Just me playing around with different writing formats. Enjoy! 24122010.
SC: The York Ranger
Third War Memorial Burial Grounds, Greenland Zone, Earth [Sol] 25122255
I had just finished my second interview of the day when he showed up about twenty minutes early. I had just finished writing my notes and reviewing the material from my last interview when he took the seat opposite from me and waited patiently to finish my work. It didn’t take long for me to finish my work and for us to exchange pleasantries. His name was Colonel Stephen Phillips of the U.S. Army and he was a tall man with salt and pepper hair and dark green eyes that shone with the sun. His eyes gave off a strange, almost radioactive glow. Only about a few thousand human beings in the entire United Systems exhibited this characteristic feature which told everyone that they were augmented humans. These augmented humans were far more advance then even Homo Sapiens Superior, the current evolutionary stage of man.
[Recorder switched on.]
“Hello Stephen Phillips, thank you for coming. I’m going to ask you a series of questions about the Third War, please answer truthfully. This interview is being recorded for the benefit of future generations. I want you to know that whatever you say cannot be used against you in a court of law. You are protected under the Third Human Civil War Amnesty act of 2119. Do you understand?”
“Yes I do.”
“Let’s start with your place of birth.”
“I was born in Toronto, Canada on July.18, 2029.”
“Canada? Tell me more about it.”
“Canada existed before the Third War and the era of mega nation-states. It was a happy little country just north of the United States. We had no enemies and Canada fared particularly well in the Second Great Depression. Then we merged with the Americans sometime in the twenty forties, I forget when. If you asked me at the time about the merge I would have told you that it was complete bullshit. Canada was just fine by itself. Canada didn’t need to be associated with those fat irresponsible fucks. It wasn’t our job to buoy their economy and counter balance the Chinese Hegemony.”
“You sound bitter about it.”
“That’s putting it mildly. After all these years I still miss it. I mean Canada still exists today, kinda, but I miss the days when I was a lad and Canada was sovereign. We even had our own money with loonies and toonies and five spots with hockey players on it. No one wants to see their country disappear. I remember it happened in phases and the providences became states. It was a relatively peaceful merger, only the French Fries and Rednecks caused any trouble.”
“French Fries?”
“Yah, the French Canadians of Quebec. They were probably the most pissed about the merger. They had a big riot in forty eight that left like sixty dead. The U.S. government gave the Frenchy’s autonomy comparable to the Native Americans, but still they caused trouble. Couldn’t really blame them. Like I said before no one likes to see their country disappear and heritage die. The French Fries were given a chance to vote for full independence in 2055, but it never happened.”
“Whys that?”
“The war. The U.S. government postponed it for another five years. I remember a lot of nationalistic Canadians were pissed, I know I was. If Quebec left, Ontario wouldn’t have been far behind. That’s for sure.”
“Did Quebec ever vote for independence?”
“HA! No. By the time the 2060 vote was supposed to be scheduled half of the United States and half of what used to be Canada was under occupation. On the day of the cancelled vote the French Fries had a riot and the U.S. military shot and killed a ton of them. The U.S. government wasn’t putting up with that kind of shit. The war changed everything.”
“Tell me about your role in the war.”
“I served with the U.S. Queen’s York Rangers for the duration of the war. We were based out of Toronto, but we ended up fighting almost everywhere. The Canadian wilderness, South America, Europe, China, you name it. Everywhere the Americans fought, we fought. Where they died, we died. In the end, the war did more to unify our countries then the politicians’ bullshit propaganda and speeches. North Americans is what we all started to call ourselves, the term ‘United North America’ also became a popular way to describe both the United States and Canada. Thinking about it now, some things were just plain weird then. Amusing, but weird.”
“Like?”
“The Star Spangled Banner. After the merger it was still the national anthem for all of the U.N.A. Nothing funnier than a hockey stadium full of former Canadians singing a song about how Americans kicked their great great great grand papi’s butt. [We both laugh] They finally changed it to the current national anthem sometime in the early sixties. Another thing that comes to mind is the ‘U.S.’ in front of my units name, we gained it when our militaries merged. The very first institution from both countries to do so. Anyways, not much changed for the Rangers except for our name and who was ultimately in command. We kept our organization, heritage, and history. Which is why the U.S. in front of our name is so damn funny, the York Rangers made its name during the American Revolution kicking American ass. Hell, at the battle of Yorktown we never surrendered our colours to the Americans. We smuggled it back to Toronto where it still sits today. History definitely has a sense of humour.”
“Tell me about the Canadian wilderness campaigns.”
“Where to begin? When the war broke out in 2055 we were deployed in Alaska. It was uneventful. Five years of nothing. There was talk of sending us to India to help them in the cold Himalayas against the Chinese, but it turned out to be nothing but talk. Then all of a sudden all hell broke loose. Late 2060 nukes rained down all over the U.N.A. taking out major western population centers, the capital, and big military bases. The Chinese then poured shock troopers all up and down California and my unit were rushed down to engage them, but we never got the chance.”
“Why’s that?”
“The CFR invaded Alaska and the western Canadian states a week after and we were pulled from the Rockies to engage them. The CFR invasion was smaller in scale, but we literally had nothing to stop them. What little forces the U.S. had was fighting in the Rockies and prepping the Mississippi for a last stand. Canada was fucked, but we still fought as best we could. The war up north was much more fluid then it was down south in the old states. More run and gun. We staged a ton of hit and runs and ambushes. The CFR may have ‘controlled’ [He makes the “quote on quote” signal with his hands] a lot of real estate on paper, but we were able to move about with impunity. We knew the land and there were tons of places to hide. The CFR didn’t have nowhere near the amount of boots on the ground to hold the vast cold expanse of Canada. The Chinese were busy in the south and India so they were never around to help the CFR. The Holy Islamic Empire sent a million troops to help the CFR in Canada, but just like at Oslo they couldn’t cope with the cold. If we didn’t kill them, Mother Nature would. I remember once around Edmonton we came upon a whole division of dead Islamic troops naked and frozen by the side of the road.”
“Naked?”
The York Ranger
Fri, 24th December, 2010
A Canadian soldier speaks of his role in the Third World War.
Feel free to leave a comment and post here.
Feel free to leave a comment and post here.
“Yah. Naked. Bare blue asses as far as the eye could see. [We both laugh] It looked like they planned to hit Edmonton, but a sudden blizzard got to them first. Not to mention that that wonder drug that the Islamist troops usually take to make them damn near invincible also makes them dumb as rocks. All they had by their bodies, aside from weapons, were their light summer uniforms. I guess they wanted to lighten their loads or be able to move unhindered by heavy winter gear.”
“Why were they naked?”
“It’s a symptom of hypothermia called paradoxical undressing, it makes your brain think your body is warm, but you’re actually freezing to death. [I look at him confused and he notices] Hypothermia is very rare nowadays and damn near nonexistent on Earth, but millions of people from both sides died from it during the war. We didn’t have Planetary Weather Control Systems or anti-weather suits like we do today. Plus as the war dragged on things like cotton, wool, and even fire wood became scarce or even extinct. So many hapless civvies died that way. I’d find them all the time. Frozen solid in some abandoned building, huddled together under a bed. [He looks away into the distance, clearly remembering a disturbing memory]
“Tell me more about the CFR in Canada.”
“Like I said before the CFR never had enough troops, at one point they seemed to have bussed them in from its conquered territories in Europe and Central Asia. They would force these poor bastards to fight for them by surgically implanting a bomb into their brain. If they refused to fight, rebelled, or even looked at a CFR officer the wrong way they would detonate the bomb and kill ‘em. Fucked up, eh? Well it worked pretty well for the CFR for a time until some egghead in Vancouver figured out how to prematurely detonate the bombs. It’s a great story and I wish I was there to see it, but I was fighting in the wilderness at the time. Sometime in late 2063 the CFR decided to finally take Vancouver Island, they tried once before in 2061, but that was a disaster. The CFR didn’t have enough Amphibious Landers for the invasion and they probably didn’t expect the kind of resistance they received from the people of Vancouver. Anyways in 2063 they tried it again, figuring that two years of blockading the island would have softened them up. The CFR go ahead and borrow a bunch of Water Dragons from China and land 100,000 of these brain slaves along with the usual CFR walkers and armor on Vancouver Island. The defenders of Vancouver waited until they all came ashore and then set off the bombs. All 100,000 dropped dead and the defenders quickly mopped up the remaining CFR walkers, armor, and officers. The Chinese were particularly pissed about the whole thing.
“Please elaborate.”
“Well. Most of those Water Dragons that were used in the invasion were either captured or destroyed. That damn near crippled the PLA’s mobility and ability to resupply its American occupation force from mainland China. Another nice ‘fuck you’ to the Hegeemo’s and side benefit from that battle was that all of a sudden we gained 100,000 new guns and body armor. The weapons and armor was immediately put to work, a bunch ended up with the American resistance down south and I even got a new body armor suit myself about two months later. That armor was sweet. Best damn Christmas gift ever and its funny it came from those Godless Hegeemo fucks. I still have my armor to this day; it’s sitting on my mantle. It’s a thing of beauty. I remember painting over the CFR brown and giving it a nice coating of artic white with a big red maple leaf over where my heart is. The Americans who saw it would always make a stupid joke about how it was a bulls-eye for the enemy. They would always think they were the first to make that joke, but fuck ‘em. I was still a proud Canadian at heart, eh? [He flashes me a smile] Others must have felt the same way because soon every Canadian was painting their armor the same way. It became our unofficial colours. The maple leaf was back and if you didn’t know about the merger back then you’d think we were still separate countries. Yet, we were closer then any other two people. We still bullshitted, but in the end of the day we were brothers and sisters. We still died together in droves and I buried so many young Americans in the Canadian wilderness. I sometimes wonder if they still rest in their unmarked graves or were found and reburied here. [He points towards the endless rows of graves beyond us]
“You mentioned before about the CFR walkers, tell me more about them.”
“Those things FUCKING SUCKED, our side had our own of course, but the CFR walkers were the absolute worst. Thank God there weren’t that many of them running around. If we saw one, we got the fuck out of there. We were recon and guerilla fighters. We just let the Air Force and the Japs deal with that shit.”
“Japs?”
“The Japanese, you know Free Japan. Before Japan fell to the Hegeemos a ton of them were able to evacuate to the United States and they brought their sweet war machines and knowledge about robotics with them. The Japs have always had the best robotics and most of the Hegemony walkers particularly the unoriginal Chinese shit were carbon copies of the Jap machines. Only the CFR walkers were any different and that’s what made them particularly deadly. It was like a bastardized version of the Japanese walkers; bigger guns, thicker skin, slow, and ugly as hell. You know a typical Russian. The Canadian wilderness was full of these monsters; it was the only real effective weapon the CFR had, especially since its brain slaves didn’t work out as planned. They were still around, but after Vancouver they weren’t used as much in a large scale. Not for lack of trying. The CFR would change the method, code, signal, or whatever the fuck it took to detonate these brain bombs and we’d crack it all over again. [He chuckles at his own pun and then suddenly begins to unbutton his uniform blouse] I do remember a time when a CFR walker got the drop on us during the liberation of Alaska. Me and my mates were just coming back from the front and were slotted for some R&R, but this fifty ton fucker just pops up and mows us down. Damn thing breaks out of the snow like it was sitting there for weeks waiting for some poor bastards to fall into its lap. [He lifts up his undershirt and shows me a horrific scar across his stomach] That’s how I got this, [He points to his scar] and I barely survived. Took me out of commission for five long years, when I was fit for duty again I did some fighting in Europe, but nothing major. I was given my black ribbon in 2072 and I retired to Halifax. I was called up again to fight the Huellok, but that was another war.”
“Did you ever get your stomach fixed?”
“Yah, may not look like it, but my innards were restored. I can shit properly now. I left the scar to remind me just how close I came to buying the farm in Alaska… Plus the misses loves it. She was born 100 years after the war and you know how the younger generations are. They have this sick fascination with the Third World War like it was sort of New Year’s celebration. I love her though, so whatever gets her rocks off. I still retain the right to wonder who actually is the crazier person in the relationship.[I laugh]
“Speaking of the younger generation, is there anything you want to say to them and future generations still unborn?”
“Don’t fuck this up.” [He points to the Great Reconstruction Ribbon on his uniform and then points to the blue sky above]
“Is that it?”
“If you fuck up this second chance there will be no one left to bury us. [He points to the endless rows of graves] and we’ll deserve it.”
[We both shake hands and he gets up to leave after he buttons up his blouse] “Merry Christmas.” [He places a small object on the table then leaves towards the graves]
“Merry Christmas Phillip.” [I lift the object, it turns out to be a small burnt out hollow cylinder covered in long dried blood. Inside I find a picture of a young man smiling in his black uniform. I flip the picture and discover a note in Germen]
Lieber Soldat,
Wenn Sie dies lesen, mein Bruder, dann hast du mich getötet. Ich bete, dass ich noch nicht zugefügt Schaden auf Sie und Ihre Kameraden. Meine Handlungen waren nicht meine eigenen. Dieser Krieg wie die beiden vor enden wird, aber wenn der Frieden wiederhergestellt ist und die Welt wieder aufgebaut. Mai freie Menschen sein wie du sein Meister.
“Why were they naked?”
“It’s a symptom of hypothermia called paradoxical undressing, it makes your brain think your body is warm, but you’re actually freezing to death. [I look at him confused and he notices] Hypothermia is very rare nowadays and damn near nonexistent on Earth, but millions of people from both sides died from it during the war. We didn’t have Planetary Weather Control Systems or anti-weather suits like we do today. Plus as the war dragged on things like cotton, wool, and even fire wood became scarce or even extinct. So many hapless civvies died that way. I’d find them all the time. Frozen solid in some abandoned building, huddled together under a bed. [He looks away into the distance, clearly remembering a disturbing memory]
“Tell me more about the CFR in Canada.”
“Like I said before the CFR never had enough troops, at one point they seemed to have bussed them in from its conquered territories in Europe and Central Asia. They would force these poor bastards to fight for them by surgically implanting a bomb into their brain. If they refused to fight, rebelled, or even looked at a CFR officer the wrong way they would detonate the bomb and kill ‘em. Fucked up, eh? Well it worked pretty well for the CFR for a time until some egghead in Vancouver figured out how to prematurely detonate the bombs. It’s a great story and I wish I was there to see it, but I was fighting in the wilderness at the time. Sometime in late 2063 the CFR decided to finally take Vancouver Island, they tried once before in 2061, but that was a disaster. The CFR didn’t have enough Amphibious Landers for the invasion and they probably didn’t expect the kind of resistance they received from the people of Vancouver. Anyways in 2063 they tried it again, figuring that two years of blockading the island would have softened them up. The CFR go ahead and borrow a bunch of Water Dragons from China and land 100,000 of these brain slaves along with the usual CFR walkers and armor on Vancouver Island. The defenders of Vancouver waited until they all came ashore and then set off the bombs. All 100,000 dropped dead and the defenders quickly mopped up the remaining CFR walkers, armor, and officers. The Chinese were particularly pissed about the whole thing.
“Please elaborate.”
“Well. Most of those Water Dragons that were used in the invasion were either captured or destroyed. That damn near crippled the PLA’s mobility and ability to resupply its American occupation force from mainland China. Another nice ‘fuck you’ to the Hegeemo’s and side benefit from that battle was that all of a sudden we gained 100,000 new guns and body armor. The weapons and armor was immediately put to work, a bunch ended up with the American resistance down south and I even got a new body armor suit myself about two months later. That armor was sweet. Best damn Christmas gift ever and its funny it came from those Godless Hegeemo fucks. I still have my armor to this day; it’s sitting on my mantle. It’s a thing of beauty. I remember painting over the CFR brown and giving it a nice coating of artic white with a big red maple leaf over where my heart is. The Americans who saw it would always make a stupid joke about how it was a bulls-eye for the enemy. They would always think they were the first to make that joke, but fuck ‘em. I was still a proud Canadian at heart, eh? [He flashes me a smile] Others must have felt the same way because soon every Canadian was painting their armor the same way. It became our unofficial colours. The maple leaf was back and if you didn’t know about the merger back then you’d think we were still separate countries. Yet, we were closer then any other two people. We still bullshitted, but in the end of the day we were brothers and sisters. We still died together in droves and I buried so many young Americans in the Canadian wilderness. I sometimes wonder if they still rest in their unmarked graves or were found and reburied here. [He points towards the endless rows of graves beyond us]
“You mentioned before about the CFR walkers, tell me more about them.”
“Those things FUCKING SUCKED, our side had our own of course, but the CFR walkers were the absolute worst. Thank God there weren’t that many of them running around. If we saw one, we got the fuck out of there. We were recon and guerilla fighters. We just let the Air Force and the Japs deal with that shit.”
“Japs?”
“The Japanese, you know Free Japan. Before Japan fell to the Hegeemos a ton of them were able to evacuate to the United States and they brought their sweet war machines and knowledge about robotics with them. The Japs have always had the best robotics and most of the Hegemony walkers particularly the unoriginal Chinese shit were carbon copies of the Jap machines. Only the CFR walkers were any different and that’s what made them particularly deadly. It was like a bastardized version of the Japanese walkers; bigger guns, thicker skin, slow, and ugly as hell. You know a typical Russian. The Canadian wilderness was full of these monsters; it was the only real effective weapon the CFR had, especially since its brain slaves didn’t work out as planned. They were still around, but after Vancouver they weren’t used as much in a large scale. Not for lack of trying. The CFR would change the method, code, signal, or whatever the fuck it took to detonate these brain bombs and we’d crack it all over again. [He chuckles at his own pun and then suddenly begins to unbutton his uniform blouse] I do remember a time when a CFR walker got the drop on us during the liberation of Alaska. Me and my mates were just coming back from the front and were slotted for some R&R, but this fifty ton fucker just pops up and mows us down. Damn thing breaks out of the snow like it was sitting there for weeks waiting for some poor bastards to fall into its lap. [He lifts up his undershirt and shows me a horrific scar across his stomach] That’s how I got this, [He points to his scar] and I barely survived. Took me out of commission for five long years, when I was fit for duty again I did some fighting in Europe, but nothing major. I was given my black ribbon in 2072 and I retired to Halifax. I was called up again to fight the Huellok, but that was another war.”
“Did you ever get your stomach fixed?”
“Yah, may not look like it, but my innards were restored. I can shit properly now. I left the scar to remind me just how close I came to buying the farm in Alaska… Plus the misses loves it. She was born 100 years after the war and you know how the younger generations are. They have this sick fascination with the Third World War like it was sort of New Year’s celebration. I love her though, so whatever gets her rocks off. I still retain the right to wonder who actually is the crazier person in the relationship.[I laugh]
“Speaking of the younger generation, is there anything you want to say to them and future generations still unborn?”
“Don’t fuck this up.” [He points to the Great Reconstruction Ribbon on his uniform and then points to the blue sky above]
“Is that it?”
“If you fuck up this second chance there will be no one left to bury us. [He points to the endless rows of graves] and we’ll deserve it.”
[We both shake hands and he gets up to leave after he buttons up his blouse] “Merry Christmas.” [He places a small object on the table then leaves towards the graves]
“Merry Christmas Phillip.” [I lift the object, it turns out to be a small burnt out hollow cylinder covered in long dried blood. Inside I find a picture of a young man smiling in his black uniform. I flip the picture and discover a note in Germen]
Lieber Soldat,
Wenn Sie dies lesen, mein Bruder, dann hast du mich getötet. Ich bete, dass ich noch nicht zugefügt Schaden auf Sie und Ihre Kameraden. Meine Handlungen waren nicht meine eigenen. Dieser Krieg wie die beiden vor enden wird, aber wenn der Frieden wiederhergestellt ist und die Welt wieder aufgebaut. Mai freie Menschen sein wie du sein Meister.
