Teen Ink

The Beginning of the End

I sat, crossed-legged, on the dirt floor, carefully cleaning and sharpening my weapons. They supplied everything I needed to charge headfirst onto that battle field. I absolutely loved how their weaponry consisted of both modern and medieval. Swords and guns, air-crafts and horses, bows and arrows and gas. Suddenly, the tent flap pulled back, causing me to jump. “Nervous, much?” The man asked with a smile. “Uh, no. No, no, no. I’m just going into battle for the first time ever. Typical day here,” I said sarcastically. “Of course I’m nervous. What kind of question is that? For a guy so smart, you can be pretty stupid.” He laughed. We fell into a silence that seemed to be common. I continued my work as quietly as a girl can while sharpening a sword.
Horns suddenly rang out in the distance, the sound like music to my ears. "It's time," he said ominously, turning toward me. Quickly, I slung the quiver on my back, hid a few small throwing knives in my clothes, sheathed my sword, and finished loading my gun. "Ready to, well, die, I guess," I shrugged. He opened the flap wide enough for me to squeeze through. Outside, birds sang merrily and animals scurried along the ground, unaware of the chaos that would be wrecked in just a few short minutes. Above the cliff our base was comfortably settled on, a giant flatland stretched from here to the other side of the valley which was measured to be about four football fields. It was the perfect battlefield. On the horizon, I could see small black dots that formed to one big blob. "There they are. Right on time." I smiled. "Sounds like they're being invited for dinner." But, my humor fell flat with no laughter. The happy mood had been long gone and was replaced by a new one: ultimate doom.
Another man, much larger than my companion, called for attention. "Men," he began before quickly adding, "and women. This will decide the fate of our entire race. Some of you might not come back, but isn't that the right price to stay peaceful among our own kind?" Cheers erupted from the mob of roughly one hundred-thousand in reply. The guy knew just what to say to get this crown riled up. "For the Monsters!" Someone in the crowd called. The rest echoed. We weren't the most organized troop in history of battles, but we had a strong motivation: the protection of humankind. We were marched down the cliff and onto the battlefield. This is it. "Charge!" Our leader called. We charged forward.