As the gunshots were heard from outside, us officers from the inside became wary and vigilant, it seemed one of us had already knew that the one that didn’t come, escaped, he didn’t want to be executed like this.

We took our pistols from our pouches and took position on the wall, leaning on it tightly, we pulled our pistol’s slides and released it and prepared ourselves for last fight, then a large crash suddenly rang out inside the room, as we looked behind it was none other than Brigadier General Riquze.

He placed a large black bag onto the damage table that took our attention, he then opened the large black bag’s zipper and inside was a large storage of submachine guns and rifles, he then also brought to the table another bag which housed the ammunitions of the guns. He then looked at us with a glare and said.

“Take your guns, I won’t die at a place like this, I negotiated with some of the soldiers and told them to block any reinforcements without my permission… so think of them as the first wave.”

He then took a light submachine gun, to be precise, a heckler Koch MP5, an unloaded one and then took a magazine similar to the MP5 from the other bag, he loaded his magazine and then pulled the operating rod, arming the MP5.

“Well? Why don’t you guys take your guns? There’s more than plenty.”

***

“Sergeant, are you sure they're here? It’s just a desolate ghost town?”

“Shh, Dammit.”

A small platoon of at least 20 men waited outside the outskirts of the ghost town, with more hiding on different parts of the ghost town and inside the forest.  They had recently captured an officer that tried escaping and interrogated him, telling their secret hideout. As the officer budge the men immediately prepared and went to the place he mentioned. But it seemed they were tricked.

“Did he lie? We even sent out a letter to the general to send us reinforcements.”

They were getting impatient hiding at the nearby forest, until a man in an officer’s attire went outside with both his hands up in the air. The soldiers then were relieved that they got the right address.

The Sergeant then did a hand signal to his men, telling them to capture the man alive. As he gave the hand signal a group of 5 men stood up and walked to the officer, with their guns pointed at him.

***

Meanwhile inside the building, all of us had finally armed ourselves, all of us had light submachine guns and automatic rifles, that were just surplus from the States.

“They took the bait, Brigadier General.”

An officer told Riquze, by this time we were allowed to call each other by our names, as our ranks were no longer official or important as we were about to be purged. Our lives were on the line, if we escape, we could settle in a few countries but in the end, we’d have to leave the land we promised to protect.

“Ok, you know the drill.”

As the armed men got closer, it was no doubt, they were our men, just from a different division. As they got closer to the Lt. Colonel that was the ‘bait’ we rolled 1 stun grenade and then 2 smoke grenades to the ground, behind the Lt. Colonel.

Our projectiles got the men’s attention and just like planned they were stunned thanks to the stun grenade, then the smoke grenades created a smoke screen for our escape. As the smoke screen became larger and larger, we escaped, but of course it wasn’t easy.

As we ran, we heard a voice of a man shouting ‘fire! Fire! Don’t let them escape!’, and after that was a huge barrage of bullets that rained upon us retreating officers.

“Loose your formation! We’re too tight!”

One of our officers yelled but I couldn’t tell who since we ran through the smoke screen, there was only one goal, enter the forest and escape through the river and leave, that was the plan or that was what we hoped for.

As we finally reached the forest and out of the smoke screen, a large explosion was heard, like that wasn’t an attention grabber, or so much for a silent and secret purge of your own officers.

“Hurry the fuck up! Don’t forget to shoot!”

A Major yelled at us, being no more than sheep’s being hunted, all of us still respected each other it was only our ranks and position that we didn’t cared about, we didn’t respect each other as officers of the army, but as comrades still wanting to live and see the next day.

Just like he yelled, me and a handful of others at the far back of the loosed formation group shot back at the men chasing us, emptying our chambers, as I kept shooting my MP5 it soon jammed, maybe because it wasn’t cleaned or there was a loose part, nonetheless, I still threw it on the ground.

I then took another MP5 at my back, but this time set it on semi-automatic, I was more experienced in the accurate semi-auto mode rather than the quite inaccurate automatic mode, as we ran we made sure to keep shooting back at out pursuers.

“Keep shoo-“

Some of us were unlucky enough to be shot at the head, some were also shot at their legs or ankles making them unable to keep up, one of these examples was the young officer that escorted me to the secret room earlier, I wasn’t able to ask his name, but I remembered him begging for mercy, prostrated at the ground and at the feet of 5 of our own soldiers with their guns all pointed at his weak body, I guess you know what would happen to him already.

I kept my speed and ran with the other remaining officers I could now only guess we were at 9-14 left alive and running.

“Do everything! The General will inspect the bodies!”

I heard as we were being chased.

General? There are only two generals left in the army, both of them were old and wanted to end the war, but I didn’t know who was the one negotiating.

I thought to myself, as I was in a daze in my thought’s an explosion suddenly exploded near me, making my entire body fly to the right, I was then in a state that can be killed at any moment.

My mind was blank, my breathing faltered, my vision blurred, my body weak, my bones, I could fill them cracking and breaking from the inside.

I grunted in pain, I thought to myself in those moments, ‘my gun, where is it, I still need to fight.’

I tried moving my left hand, but it wasn’t there, my left hand was obliterated from the explosion, I couldn’t feel the bleeding, I was losing blood.

Goddamnit!

I took a long towel from the interior of my long-sleeved officer’s shirt and covered my bleeding hand using its surface  it was to block and try to stop my left hand, I mean my left shoulder from bleeding. I felt my spirit disappearing, my hope was lost, I was dying.

I made a pool of blood, I still heard the sounds of gunshots, yells and screams from those that were chasing us and my comrade officers that were unable to run. I pushed myself and to a nearby large stone boulder, my gun was a few meters away from me, I just stopped taking it and decided to take my last rest.

But I didn’t want to go out like this, I still had my consciousness, I could still move, not that much as before but it would do. I then remembered a soldier talking about a general coming to inspect our corpses, it finally thought of a perfect way to go out.

I forced my left leg to push my right shoe off my right leg, then took a grenade at my waist, it was only one, but it had to do, Afterall:

I only want to kill that son of a bitch general.

I took the grenade with my remaining arm and inclined my body forward to my right leg that finally had my shoe off, I placed the safety pin ring off, making the safety ring fall off, but it didn’t explode, that was because I still didn’t release the safety lever, it’s my present to general.

And in the remaining course of the night, I practiced the perfect way to hide it whilst not exploding and the way I’ll hand it to that ‘general’

***

“G-General! Y-your early!”

A young lieutenant saluted and greeted an old man that was finally stepping off his car. He then walked to a nearby major and asked.

“How is it? are they all gone?”

“Yes, General! Riquze still fought till the bitter end, but nonetheless it was futile.”

“I see, I’d like to see one them.”

He requested the major, to which he then responded.

“Well, there is still one alive, but he is in dire condition and will die any moment.”

The General having caught interest finally rotated his palm clockwise, showing his palm to the Major, then asking.

“Who could it be?”

The Major Hesitated but still answered.

“T-the ‘Grim Reaper of the Remnant Army’, Colonel Theo Holland.”

As he heard the young major’s response, he then gave a shock expression, he didn’t think that out of all officers that could’ve live he was the one that survive.

“Ho? He really survived?”

He said in a calm but controlled-shocked voice. He then raised his hand and requested a group of escorts to meet the Colonel. As he got his escorts of 30 soldiers he then entered the forest.

***

“Haah… haah…”

I gasped for air, I knew it was my final moments, as I finally perfected my grenade form, I will die before I even gave it to him.

I was about to close my eyes and die until the voice of an old man suddenly praised my dying state. He clapped his hands as he left the shade of the forest and to my shock it was none other than one of my close’s friends, that I even remarked as family.

“Bravo! Colonel! Bravo!”

General Proy Hustavo, my father’s friend and my so-called uncle, he was the one that sent my father on a suicide mission just to get promoted to General, to think he was the man behind the purge, he even had the backing of not only the high command but also the government.

I lifted my head with force, trying to take a glimpse of that man’s face, I then gave of a faint smile, I could still feel my own blood dripping through my mouth.

“My, look at your condition, just looking at it makes me want to coup de grace your sorry state.”

I faintly laughed at him, before coughing a significant amount of blood, that made me lose my strength. But I still had the ability to move only limited and not that strong as before.

“Haa, Uncle, no General, you never change.”

I blatantly said in front of his face. I knew I wasn’t able to give him the grenade like I planned, so I just had to throw it at him, now or never. Because I was lost in my thoughts about thinking of how I would give the grenade at him, I didn't move or blink, he then thought I finally died.

Thinking I died he went closer to me to inspect my body, to which I took to my advantage, I slowly moved my hand to my pocket and then I suddenly pulled it out with the grenade in my hands, I placed it in one of his shirt’s chest pockets and flicked the safety lever off the grenade, giving him the 5 second countdown he needed to escape from the explosion.

I could see in his face the fear, the fear of dying, he was scared to die but he already killed more people than he can count and he didn’t even have a justifiable reason.

“Ciao, General.”

I said to him, but to my surprise he was lucky enough to get it out of his pocket and in just a 2 second mark left he threw it near us, to be precise, the bush near us. Before I could react, it had already exploded taking both of us and his own men by surprise.

The grenade explosion rang out from afar and both the general and me, were dirtied with our officer clothing filled with dirt, leaves, ashes, etc. But one thing for sure I was still alive but slowly dying, whilst he is severely injured and knocked down on the ground.

I saw his limp body down on the ground forcing himself to stand up from the dirt-filled ground, he didn’t want to be seen weak, very funny.

“You… You! I was going to be nice and give you chance to live! You just made your one-way ticket to hell!”

He yelled whilst on the ground, as he was finally in a prostrated position, he called for his men.

“Lieutenant! Line up! Give this bastard a taste of his own medicine!”

Well, it was almost successful, it was good when it lasted.

In the middle of the chaos I felt time slowed down, the general’s movement slowed, the soldiers that ran about to be lined up in front of me were running in the speed of a turtle.

Is this my punishment? I know I killed not only hundreds of thousands, but millions, I remember everything… will it end like this? I wanted to die my way…

“Form your Line!”

I heard the lieutenant’s voice.

“Ready Arms!”

This is how I die, I guess…

"Aim!"

I looked at the front of me to see a line of 20 men armed with automatic rifles aimed at me, that was when I knew, it was not just a single volley about to be fired at me, they wanted to riddle my body with bullets to the point I won’t be recognizable.

“Fire!”

Then, the dry sounds of gunfire, I finally heard them, directly in front of me, Aimed and was about to pierce my body. In that moment I thought in my mind.

Will I even be accepted in hell?