The Night Before

Cody shivered and wrapped his blanket tighter around him in a vain attempt to sheild himself from the icy wind. He closed his eyes and tried to fall asleep so he could gather his energy for tomorrow.

He couldn’t get out of this now. He had made his commitment and couldn’t back out of it. But he was only seventeen years old. He had his whole life and a beautiful girl waiting for him back home. He wouldn’t leave them behind.

Around him the other soldiers were like the living dead. Their faces pale from the cold weather and their eyes held not a single trace of emotion.

They staggered to their beds which were more just piles of worn blankets thrown over the snow. Their supper consisted of little more than canned soup and stale crackers.

They had been marching for days and all were tired, cold, and hungry. But they were all hopeful that the battle tomorrow would be the battle to end the war.

They had close to 500 more troops now. All together they totaled 1,273. The enemy was lucky to have 750. Just the knowledge of that was enough to keep them going until morning. They couldn’t give up when they were so close.

He rolled over on his back and put his hands behind his head and sighed. There wasn’t a single star in the sky. Not a single star to make a wish upon to return home nor to count himself to sleep.

The moon was partailly covered by clouds. In the dark of night they seemed black, so different from the achromatic clouds that shone during the day. Since he could come up with no easier way to fall asleep, he simply turned on his side and willed himself to a dreamless slumber.

He woke to the sound of a horn while the sky was still dark. There were still no stars and the moon had become enveloped by the dark, ominous clouds that had so haunted him the night before.

Over one thousand troops wearily rose to their feet and prepared themselves for one of the most horrible things they could ever even dream of.

Cody was placed near the middle/back of the formation. For that he was glad. Marching in the front lines meant almost certain death.

He hadn’t been walking long before he heard the sound of guns and cannons firing in the distance. He shuddered, not from the cold but from fear.

His panic rose as he neared the battle field. They were moving the enemy back and slowly winning the battle. He could tell from the scattered corpses as they marched through the icy field.

The guns were so loud now. He could feel each bang from the cannon deep in his chest. The anxiety was coming off the troops surrounding him in waves. He closed his eyes, said a silent prayer, and took a deep breath.

He was walking through the smoke from the artillery now and was ready to fight. He took one more deep breath and raised his gun, boldly marching into battle…