A Candle

Rifles rang out across the woods. The snow and the thick fir trees deadened all sound, so instead of a sharp crack, the gunfire thudded into the night air. I scrambled along our trench lines, feet caked with frozen mud and ice. I half ran, half slipped my way into a bunker, and a shot whizzed overhead. They always seemed to know where we were.

I pulled out my radio and listened, but there was nothing. The retreat had gone without a hitch, until now. In the mad dash, nobody had armed the detonators on the booby trap explosives. How we were supposed to blast the enemy’s advancing troops sky high without a proper demolition team was anybody’s guess, and now we were paying for it. This is what you get for leaving demo work up to conscripted men.

Naturally, I was the one to fix it. Pick the guy who worked in a munitions factory in the last war. True, I know my way around a fuse, a detonator, a blasting cap and who knows what else, but that doesn’t mean I was prepared for live explosive charges laid out by amateurs. This was a nightmare.

Suddenly I heard voices, the words unrecognizable. I paused. It was clear. I was being cut off. Knowing it or not, the enemy was advancing into our trenches before we expected them to. Everyone had banked on the fact that nobody advances at night. It just wasn’t the civilized thing to do, but there they were: enemy voices, whispering towards me and behind me.

Now I had a choice. Run, or die and take them with me. I felt my boots slowly making their way deeper into the mud. The night air, still pestered by the odd rifle shot, tasted fresher than I had ever known. I would sacrifice myself. I pulled my boots from their pudgy holes in the bottom of the trench and slogged onwards.

The bunker was only a few yards away. I paused again. Nothing. The sound of voices couldn’t carry that far. I walked more quickly now.

Inside, a mess of cables. Exactly the kind of disreputable work I knew I would be dealing with. Agonizing minutes crept by as I sorted things out. It was good they sent me after all—who else would have been able to untangle this maze of deadly engineering? I found the piece I was looking for. Click. All set. And now to wait. It wasn’t long before I heard it.

A huge crashing sound, like a twisted, mangled train on its way down a canyon-side, rushed towards, heaving metal and surging earth. The rumble grew into a crescendo and I felt the world around me flash and brighten as it leapt into myriad pieces, heaved into the dull, dark night.