The Celestrial Chronicles

Sean sat heavily on his ruck sack. He breathed a deep heavy breath into his lung, feeling the fire from his cigar burn the back of his throat. His rifle leaned against his shoulders. He reached down to his left knee, and anxiously fingered the iron ring that ringed the site of his surgery. Sean was only Twenty Seven but had already been in three war zones, his last one cost him dearly. This was his first exercise since his leg was amputated. They took his leg just below the knee and fit him with a remarkable prosthesis, it was made of titanium but was shaped exactly like his old leg bones, except of course for the servos and motors that governed their motion. His friend Sam walked up to him and looked down at him. The Lieutenant looked down at his grizzled Sergeant quizzically.
“How you holding up Sean?” He asked.
Sean took his cigar out of his mouth, looked at his officer in the face, and stood up. “Just fine sir, when are we moving out.”
The Lt. Looked over to his NCO, he sighed. “Sean you don’t have to push this hard, if you don’t want to.”
“Don’t even sir. I am a soldier, that’s all I’ve ever wanted to be, and I will not let something as trivial as this leg hold me back, do you understand me.”
In any other case this would have been considered insubordination, although no officer could ever reprimand a man as decorated as Sean McBride. Sean was an excellent soldier, though he received only three commendations, the silver star, the Overseas duty Ribbon, and the highest decoration the United States bestowed.
Sean grabbed his ruck sack and slung it over his shoulders, grunting slightly as the weight crashed down upon his leg. He still had to get used to that. Straightening and adjusting his pack he grabbed his rifle and went outside. He walked over to his platoon and made sure they were ready for the mission. No Kevlar, just soft covers. Sean opted for a basic soft cover with a ranger roll. He got his men up and told them to head for the staging area.
They began the march. Sean’s men were tired and hungry, but they pushed on. His man in the rear began to stumble, and Sean went back to help him up, this man was carrying their SAW and was laden down with more ammo than your average rifleman. The night was rainy and they were marching along a trail high above the base. They could look out and see the base off to their left.
It was a long and dark march; they had begun marching the trail from the Hangar. The storm had sprung up quite by suddenly, and the men were swamped in mud before they had even reached the halfway point. Sean made sure the men were motivated and tried to keep their spirits up.
The storm was picking up steam. Lightening strikes were hitting the base and they could see sparks rise up into the sky. Thunder shook the very earth they stood upon. it was as if the bible decided to add a chapter right then and there. A lightening strike broke a tree branch right ahead of Sean. The march halted and the men were confused, something had to happen. Sean raised his hand over his head. “Keep moving me, stick close to the inside of the trail and you should be fine.!” He cried.
His men began to move, Sean stayed behind to ensure that the stragglers were moving, when it happened. His SAW operator was heading up the trail when the tree broke. The branch fell on top of him driving his body into the ground as a nail. The man lay prone beneath it groaning in pain. Sean moved up to aid his soldier.
As he moved his left leg felt like a pin being driven in and withdrawn from a sponge. He got up to his man and called the medic over. “How ya doin kid?” Sean asked. The medic began to check over the soldier and looked over the branch to see if there was any splintering or piercing of flesh.
“Pretty good Sarge, I’ve woken up next to heavier.” The soldier responded painfully, chuckling to himself.
Sean smiled with him. “lets get this bitch off of him!” He cried to his men. They all crowded around the fallen man attempted to move the branch. Sean slung his rifle and moved to the outside of the trail to try and help remove some outside pressure. They all lifted in unison, and Sean felt the earth begin to move. Perhaps his position was more tenuous than he had first thought.
The men finally got up enough leverage to extricate the fallen man. He pushed himself from underneath the tree. As the man removed himself, Sean felt a great sense of relief. With a great strength he raised his part of the tree over his head, “YYYYYEEEESSSS!!!” He cried happily. Unfortunately his enthusiasm cost him more than he thought.
Sean felt the Earth give way behind his left leg, the Lieutenant grabbed Seans wrist weakly and for a moment their eyes locked. Sean had enough time to mouth “Help me.” before his doom was made final.
Their wrists slid apart and each mans finger made one last desperate spasm for contact before they too slipped beyond grasp or reach. Sean watched as his Commander cried out to him, strangely he heard no sounds escape his lips. Indeed, it seemed as though all sound had faded beyond the range of his hearing.
He fell, down out of sight. He was facing the ground now as an arrow being shot from a bow on its final approach. His ruck slipped from his back, and fell away from him. Sean made a desperate grab for it, but his hands found only his rifle. He grabbed it anyway. No sense going out without a fight, he chuckled to himself.
The great earth raced to greet him, he saw his pack impact the generators below and cause a cascade of sparks to fly up to greet him. Strangely the fall seemed to be slowing, as if time were stopping. Sean’s life screamed its way to the forefront of his consciousness. The sparks collided with his flesh and he could feel their searing heat burn many marks into his flesh.
Yet he could think of only his mothers cooking, his fathers zany work ethic, the goofy German Sheperd he would never see again, and the three siblings he never got to know well enough.
Then a strange thing happened. Sean saw a great white light open before him. As if a rift in time and space were opening as the arms of god to preserve him from death. His body slowly breached its rim and suddenly time began to speed up again. Indeed much faster than he could ever have imagined. He was vaguely reminded of the waterslides at an amusement park he used to frequent. His body was sliding beyond memory or legacy and he could feel his body lye on the bottom of whatever tube he was in. As if he were lying face up in the slide.
Suddenly he broke through the other side of the rift, he saw trees rise over his head. He felt the air whip past him, and he heard a muffled cry of surprise escape from somewhere. He continued to fall as a stone skipped across the surface of the water. That is perhaps more accurate than Sean may have at first thought. Indeed, as soon as the though entered his head his neck and shoulders did in fact break the surface of water.
He threw up a great plume of water that rose in two fans arcing ahead of him. The water slowed him down and he gradually came to a stop his shoulders rising above the surface. He was on the shore. He suddenly felt very tired, and began to lose consciousness. His head fell to his left side and he thought, for an instant, that he saw two shapes running up to him. But that couldn’t be.
That Couldn’t be.