Paradise

The day was more beautiful than you could imagine. The salty waves came up to touch the sand on the beach so softly. The rays from the sun gave everything a beautiful bright yellow tint. Sea gulls could be heard some distance away. The smell of paradise filled my nose. Paradise and death. The bodies of my friends were everywhere. Their blood seeping into the sand and mixing with the ocean to create a horrible red brown bog. Some of them were missing arms, fingers, legs, I think I saw one without a head, and another that was split in half waist to waist. We never saw them coming.
One minute I was standing thigh deep in water a few dozen meters away from the group, enjoying the cool water and isolation, the next I heard explosions that knocked me face first into the water and made me go deaf. Well I wish I had gone deaf, a few seconds afterwards I had gotten out of the water and took a few steps onto the beach when I heard it. A sound no one should have to hear. My best friends, guys I had known for years, months, even some I had just recently met. I heard them screaming, shrieking, they sounded like some kind of animal. Eventually their screams became so loud and frequent that it sounded like one continuous horrid moan.
I hurried over to the one nearest to me. He was getting stabbed in the gut over and over again by some asshole with a bayonet. I grabbed him by the head and wrenched him off my friend. I swore I almost broke his damn neck. He landed face down in the sand. I drew my pistol and put a hole in the fuckers head without a thought. I grabbed his rifle, checked the clip, and went over to my friend. He was dead. Poor bastard bled out. I saw the others down the beach. Some of them were fighting back, even getting the upper hand. But there were too many. I ran as fast as I could. Kicking up sand and cracking sea shells under my boots. When I came within range of one of them I raised the stolen rifle and shot. I missed the first one, but the second one found its mark, it bit through the soft skin and muscle of the guy's neck. I stopped over the body for just a second to make sure the guy was dead, or incapacitated. That was a mistake. The one second, that one god damn second cost me everything.
Right before I started to make my way back to my friends, I felt a boulder hit me. Only this boulder was a man. And he wanted me dead. I was face first in the sand, with him on top of me, he slammed his fist on the back of my head. I lost pretty much all control of my body after that. I felt him grab me by the collar and drag me a few feet towards the water, where he proceeded to turn me over, put his hands around my neck, and shove my head underneath the waves. I couldn't make out much of his features through the water. But he was big and looked angry and blissful. A combinations of emotions I never thought possible.
I struggled to breath, I had been under for maybe thirty seconds or so. The shock from his punch started to wear off, and the second I gained control of my arms I reached for his hands. Clawing at them and trying the pry them off. I think I saw him laugh at that. Then I went for his face. Trying to gouge out his eyes. He bit me. Bit down on my left pinky. I screamed when I realized I only had nine fingers left. I thought I was going to die right then and there but he let go. It took me a second to register what had happened. I breached the water, and instantly doubled over, coughing. I was horrified when I saw bits of red mixed in the water I coughed up. When my fit was done I looked up and realized why he had let go. The group of pricks that attacked us surrounded me. I guess a commanding officer ordered him to let go of me. I also realized that I was probably the only survivor of the attack. Though I knew that wouldn't last long either.
People always say that your life flashed right before your eyes when you're about to die, and its true. But they never tell you what you think about the most in those few seconds of reflection. Its the little things, those tiny things that you never did. The movie you never saw, the place you never traveled to, the time you told your parents you were "too busy" to spend time with them, that girl you didn't ask out, that job you didn't take. All the opportunities you never took. All those little things you never did.
I looked up at what I guessed was the commanding officer, standing just a few feet away, gun aimed right at me. I tried to stand with my hands raised in defeat. But before I got all the way up, the fucking prick put a bullet in my skull, and I bled out on that gorgeous beach, with the smell of paradise filling my nose.