threateningly. "Don't."
Mathis continued to make the move towards drawing his firearm.
"I said don't!"
"It’s time to stop running. It’s not right. You shouldn’t have saved me. You should’ve saved the others." He pulled the USP out and proceeded to bring it up towards Cole.
Cole moved with blinding speed, raising the barrel of his M4A1 at Cole’s head. "I'm not doing this Mathis!"
"No?" Mathis questioned with a sardonic grin.
"No. Now put down your weapon."
"I got no weapon. I got nothin’ left but my memories."
The words made Cole uneasy. "Down."
The weapon came down hesitantly and Cole dropped his guard slightly, pausing.
Mathis reached to his other side, pulling out his flask as he unscrewed the lid.
"What’re you doing?" Cole shouted.
"If you don't want this water, then you won’t mind if I let it go to waste will you?"
"Don't!"
The larger soldier paid no attention as he began to empty the water over his dirty face.
Cole sped on ahead, this time with his combat knife engaged, as a wave of adrenaline surged throughout his body. Mathis grinned and threw the flask carefully to the side. Bringing up his USP at the last moment, he fired off an earth shattering shot.
It was as if at that moment, the desert shuddered, feeling the resonating echo of the bullet bouncing off Cole’s glossy metal blade.
Mathis fired again but Cole, with his sudden heightened awareness, worked to quickly dodge the shot as he went straight at his opponent’s midsection with his blade extended.
A final shot rang out.
The deafening silence hung over the still air as Cole’s face hovered over Mathis’s in wonder and bewilderment. A look of pain masked his features as he gazed at the amused smirk looking back at him.
"Ma— Mathis?" he stuttered painfully.
The dark skinned soldier smiled and gulped once before a thick trickle of blood escaped his lips and descended down his face before landing on Cole’s hands as they gripped the handle of the plunged knife. He breathed out slowly before bringing his lips up to Cole’s ear. "I'm… the cold halo encircling your thoughts."
Cole stared on in horror as realization of what he had done sunk in. He released the hilt of the blade, taking several steps back as he examined the stabbed man.
Mathis’s body began to shudder violently as he gasped several times before collapsing to the floor. The setting sun cast an ambient maroon hue that mixed well with the red sand now soaked with Mathis’s blood.
"Cole…" Mathis looked up weakly at the man ahead. "Why…? Why’d you just run away and let them die?" His voice began to become softer, as if fading.
Cole blinked, clutching the sides of his head in agony as he fell back and shook his head furiously. "Mathis!" he screamed with clenched eyes. "Shut up! You don't know what you're saying!"
"Cole… you just let them die.” The distant voice whispered before appearing to get whisked off with the rushing wind.
Everything went still and quiet as Cole opened his eyes for what appeared to be the first time. He gasped as one would gasp once emerging from a body of water after much needed air. The setting sun shone directly into his shimmering eyes while they filled up with glistening tears that threatened to spill.
Blinking, everything finally came into clarity and focus, as if the invisible blanket was lifted at last.
He looked ahead but there was nothing there anymore but the fine white sand. No Mathis. No body. Nothing. He was all alone, as he had been for the past several days, being the only survivor of the insurgent attack. The gunshot wound in his abdomen serving as a reminder of the horrific event.
He finally remembered now, how he’d deserted his unit after getting shot. He remembered how he’d watched them get slaughtered from a distance, feeling helpless. He remembered the feeling of guilt that consumed him when he fled and never looked back. And lastly… he remembered Leah’s bruises the day he’d been deployed… The look of relief on her face the instant he’d gotten on the bus. He remembered now. He remembered everything.
Dropping to his knees, he clutched at the wispy sand as his tears emerged freely, exposing the earth below to the alien liquid. “No… no, no, no…" he kept shouting repeatedly while rocking back and forth on his knees.
The sun descended peacefully into its slumber, shrouding him in a sea of darkness. It exchanged a silent, unseen smile with the desert below as it made its final goodbye.
They had finally done their job: They had succeeded in killing Cole Mathis.
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