War: A Business

Chapter 25: Memories of a Child Soldier

    We flew to the skies. Bullets whizzed past the plane as the cannibals tried to shoot us.

   The four surviving mercenaries and my younger brother mourned for the lives that were lost below. In the duration of the month that I fell unconscious, I can tell that they formed a bond with the other mercenaries. I can tell that they are guilty for failing to protect the innocent civilians in the hospital.

   They remind me of the time when I was a child soldier.

    I suddenly recalled the exact date that I last felt guilty for the lives that I cant protect. I remember the worse years of my life vividly.

August 4 2064.

  I remember the Chinese that had called themselves the Last Dragon Corps. They claimed that they will take back China, state by state, because their prime minister sold their own country to the five major economic South Eastern countries, including my homeland, Philippines.

     I was only 14 years old then. The Chinese para-military rebel kicked me out of their truck.

     The supposed leader held my brother in chains. He dragged my younger brother to the mines to work their with the other younger children. I cant fight back, knowing if I do, they'll kill my brother.

    Being taught by them to learn Mandarin, I understood their commands.

"Go to your assigned squad in the killing fields!" the insurgent commanded me in Mandarin.

"Yes sir." I replied weakly, tired and hungry, in the same language.

    I walked to the killing fields. The ground that I walked was moist. The air surrounding me is foggy and moist.

    I almost cannot see anything except the silhouette of the thin trees. I still wore the clothes from when we were kidnapped, a white sleeveless shirt and yellow basketball shorts.

    They appeared damaged and dirty. I walked barefoot to the killing fields, where we "practice shooting", but the targets were prisoners.

    After a while I arrived at the killing fields. Children at my age and above are lying prone on the moist ground with their guns. I saw an empty space with a light machine gun propped up on the middle of the child soldiers.

    I proceed to lay down on the ground and aimed down the sights of my light machine gun.

    I saw the prisoners hiding in a hut. They are mostly native Chinese and Filipinos.They are holding assault rifles.

    But the adults said that rifles are loaded with blank rounds to have the illusion of hope. This is the third time that I have done this execution method.

   An adult terrorist walked to us.

"Fire!" he said in Mandarin.

  I pulled the trigger, along with the other children.

   Holes burst through the bamboo hut. Bullets hit the ground and through the hut.

   Screams were heard inside the hut. One of the prisoners got out and tried to shoot us, but the bullets were blanks. The prisoner was shot instantly with a hail of bullets.