Rip's Adventure

 At the loud piercing scream of pain, Rip looked over to his right.  The soldier's arm disintegrated and he passed out.  This was supposed to be a more humane war.  Guns and bullets were obsolete and the pain with them.  Such was not the case.  Just ask anyone who survived the lasers.  There was less blood, but the wounds were more severe.  What did not get cut off clean, fried and fell off later. Other than that, war was the same as it had always been; men screaming in fear and pain, praying and a lot of cussing.  The smells were the same, unwashed bodies, bad breath, the wind bringing in the Oder of the latrines  and rotting flesh. 
     Most men signed up for war to protect home and country, but this war was different.  The army was a collection of different beings from planets across the galaxy.  They did not even realize what happened to them.  Just woke up one morning and were at the battlefield, with no memory of the past or how they arrived here.  All of them responded to their name, but that was all they knew.
     "Get down, Rip, don't forget where you are!"  Orsen yelled.
     "Thanks" Rip replied.
     "Did you know him?" asked Orsen.
     "No, he just got here I think, what about you?"  Rip replied.
     "No, but I think he was from Earth.  They should really train us better before they just throw us in here."  Orsen said,
     "We are just bodies to them, they could care less if we live or die." replied Rip.
     "Yeah" said Orsen, and with that the settled in for the night.  The two lost souls watched the fireworks on the horizon and dreaded the morning.
     The only thing worse than war at night is war in the daylight.  In the pre-dawn light hell was slowly coming into view.  Broken ships and vehicles were ghostly images.  As the dawn brightened the real horrors came into focus.  Hundreds of bodies strewn around, stacked on top of each other.  Some with heads, some without, some with arms, some without.  Some cut into and some with no visible wounds at all, but all were dead.
     "Such a waste, and for what?"  Rip heard Orsen say under his breath.  No need for a reply so Rip just nodded his head in agreement.  However it caused him to think, what is this for?  They never saw the officers and very seldom did they see the enemy.  Just day after day of being trapped in this hell, watching men die or worse, getting wounded and not dying.  Listening to the screams, cussing and praying was enough to make a man crazy.
     Rip and Orsen were humans from earth, but their friend Tom was not.  His bright red skin and stocky build made him an imposing sight.  He was a fierce warrior, afraid of nothing and always heading for the front.  He was a gentle giant though that protected his friends.  He had been hit a couple of glancing blows from the lasers and suffered no harm.  They are saving me for hand to hand." he said and gave a great guttural laugh.  Rip, Orsen and Tom had formed a close relationship over the last few months.  That was frowned on by the establishment and corporeal Shirah set out to destroy it. 
     Cpl. Shirah was a jackass and lorded his will over the men.  He was a short, fat bald ass and had the long ears and buckteeth to look the part.  "You three are to split up or die!"  he hee-hawed.  Too many warriors becoming friends was a threat to the establishment and would not be tolerated.  The heavy fighting of the last few days had led to cpl. Shirah not being able to follow up.  Not only was he a short, fat balding ass he was a nasal whiner.  "Chicken shit" was Tom's assessment of him.  The cpl. had been here a long time and should be used to the war by now.  However loud and boisterous he was, he could not hide the fear in his eyes.  The more he compensated for it the more apparent it became.