Lost at War

War

Brendon didn't want this life. He was forced under law to be put in the Navy. The sea wasn't friendly with his stomach and a few others as well. Everyone was miserable as they were getting pushed into combat so early. Nobody could have imagined that their country would go under a siege that lasted years to come. Ryan, Brendon's lifelong friend, was also forced into this. Brendon didn't get to contact his family or friends before he left, and neither did Ryan. They were alone out on the water, going directly towards the enemy. The lightning smacking off into the distance and the thunder rolling above in the pale like clouds. Brendon pulls out a small rubber ball burrowed in his pocket, giving him memories of his family. Kyla, his oldest sister, handed it to him a few days before it got bad. She told him "life may keep you down, but you always have to roll with it." The memory comes to an abrupt ending as the waves start to turn the boat in all different directions. The ball slips out of his hand and it falls into the abyss of the sea. Brendon watched as it was in slow motion like all of his hopes dying before him. Snapping him away from the moment was the Commander, his voice sounds worn out, but hell, so was everyone else's. None of them had slept for over 2 days. "Get ready for war, we're crossing enemy lines at nineteen hundred hours." Ryan was on the other end of the boat, but he often looked back to see how Brendon was, which was pretty depressing. Knowing Brendon for so long, he could pinpoint when he was sad almost every time, and this, this had to be one of the most depressed states he had ever seen Brendon in. They were getting close, gun shots can be heard from no more than 100 meters ahead. Ryan being nervous, makes sure his gun is on fire. Brendon is clearly out of his head, and this only worries Ryan more. Canons are now being fired and the shots are hitting the water causing the boat vibrate furiously. Tidal waves ensue, making this experience even more hell than it's supposed to be. Brendon is startled forward, reacting to the gunfire, he loads his rifle and sits quietly as others yell and scream. The waves are knocking them side to side, causing several to hurl. The enemy base comes into clear view and the bullets are now flying at their boat. The Commander stands up and yells out with more of a stern voice now "Be ready for war gentl-!" His speech cuts short as he gets shot in the head. Everyone is in panic but Brendon, Ryan is frantically yelling at everyone, trying to tell them what way to go. No one can hear him over the gunfire and canons being fired off. They're around 30 meters from shore when a tidal wave picks up the boat and turns it over. Ryan grabs his gun, and makes topside along with four others out of the nine remaining on the boat. Brendon is one of the four. The remaining that are still underwater, well, they're a mess. Two of them are hooked onto the boat, one couldn't even swim, and the last accidentally blasted his head off when the boat was tipping. Goes to show how badly in need the military needed people. Ryan swims aggressively towards a huge rock, it has a pretty good cover. Brendon follows but the others swim to the battlefront. They get shot dead before they even reach land. Ryan makes it safely, but Brendon gets shot in the shoulder. He falls underneath the water unable to stay up from the pain. Ryan looks around for Brendon behind him and sees nothing. He was easily terrified at the thought of his best friend being murdered. Luckily, Brendon showed back up from the water and swam onto the hard rocks where Ryan is hunkering at. Feeling relieved, Ryan smiles until he sees Brendon's grizzly looking shoulder. Ryan says, "Urie, don't scare me like that ever again. Now, hold still. This is going to hurt." Biting off a piece of his sleeve, he wraps Brendon's shoulder tight to relieve the pain. Brendon looks up and scoffs, "I'm the one who always won at War." Ryan smiles but soon breaks it to go look for a good vantage point. Brendon looks worried as he stops seeing as many boats flooding in. Under his breath he mutters, "They're killing all of us. We're all dead." Ryan comes back with an emotionless face, "We need to wait it out, we can't move from our position until we break into them some. I know it's a risk that we're both going to have to take but I'm not asking you to agree with me. You're free to do whatever call you want." Brendon looks up and sets his hand on Ryan's knee, "We always told ourselves when we were younger that we were going to be there for each other until the end. That doesn't change now." He vaguely lets out a smile and Ryan returns one also. They wait half an hour, bickering back and forth about everything that they were put through during training. The boat amounts have decreased in activity almost entirely. Ryan looks genuinely terrified at the thought of having no back up. Brendon looks over at him and says "It'll be okay." But right before Ryan gets to say another word, they're surrounded by a unit of the Vietnamese. The looks on their faces are ghostly and they're unable to speak at all. They throw their hands in the air and are both knocked out with the end of the foreigners rifle.