FreeWrite: Burning Cause

In a battlefield, . This is a snapshot of oppressed people sending a message.

Burning Cause

"We have to move!"

My comrade's scream woke me up from the distraction. I braved through my burns and the dust in my mouth. "Got it!"

We ran through the cracking fire, passing behind the remains of the Tank we just destroyed. I killed three people there, probably more. No time to confirm.

"Another One!" My comrade pulled me behind a wall with him.

The tank commander seemed to notice us and fired.

My vision went white. My ears felt deaf. Moments later, I regained awareness. We survived the cannon fire... Somehow.

I fired my last missile at the new tank. "For Our Cause!!" I yelled.

Three... Four more people are now dead. I didn't want to do this, but we had no choice. The war had already begun.

"For Our Cause!" My comrade clapped his hand with mine, and we ran towards our base.

"Time to re-supply." We probably won't survive this day, but we sent the message. That's what's important.

They oppressed us for decades, now they'll have to face the consequences.

The End

The 5 Minutes Version

The cracking of the fire, and the dust in my mouth shook me out of my distractions.

"We have to move!"

We passed behind the remains of the Tank we just destroyed. I killed two people there, probably three. No time to confirm.

"Another One!!"

The deafening sound moments later woke me up. We survived the cannon fire. I threw my last missile at the new tank.

"For Our Cause!!" They oppressed us for decades, now they'll have to face the consequences.

Author Notes

This is a Freewrite entry based on the Prompt for 10 Nov: "Face the consequence." Though I'm not sure if something like this is allowed.

This is inspired by the conflict of Palestine and Israel in Gaza (October 2023.) The situation is too messy. I don't see any (objectively) good answer. If I'm being subjective either way, I'm siding with Palestine/Hamas against the genocide they're facing.

I wanted this story to be seen as fictional though.

I'm completely ignorant about things in a military environment, so I had more than a few corrections to the 5-minute version as I looked for information about how things work on the battlefield. I believe this is one of my better FreeWrite pieces.

What do you think?

If you're interested in another micro-fiction works by me read "Dead Lands Never Bloom" and "Backyard." You may find other stories in my "Where to Start?" List. Please comment below if you like this.

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