The Final Stand

"Is this the beginning, or is this the end?" I ask Nush. We sit hand-in-hand now as the flames of war come in the distance.

"You know it wasn't always like this." She looks at me, and I look back at her.

"I know. Can you still remember what it used to be like?" She smiles with me for old times sake.

"Yeah." She rests her head against my shoulder. "Do you remember when you and I first met?"

"Those were the days sweetheart." She looks up at me from my shoulder.

"I don't want to die,” she tells me.

"I know sweetheart, I know." I can tell she was holding back tears. I place my hand against her soft white cheek, "Don't cry baby. Don't cry ok." I remember back five months ago, when she and I first came to this country trying escape the rapid death, which struck all the larger countries.

"Why are they doing this to us? We weren't part of the resistance, and we for sure aren’t part of the axis." She shivers in my arms. I try to comfort her in my arms, but for how much longer can I suffice her pain and worries?

"I'm not sure, but I guess it's too late to say we surrender, right?"

"Uh huh." I don’t want this to happen to her. I don’t want her to die for something she has had nothing to do with, but now that thought is irrelevant among other thoughts. She’s just too damn young to die this kind of death. No one should die at the age of 17.

"If I could find you a way out of this shit would you take it?" She looks at me with her mouth open and eyes tearing up.

"Uhhh... how could you say something like that, and after all we've been through? Six months ago I took a vow to never leave your side, and today I still remain in that vow. I love you with all my heart. I could never leave you; even if death be the results."

"No Nush. It's just not right. I can understand my dying by the war machine, but you? I mean look at yourself; you have every reason more than to live than I!”

"No, I don't have any more right to life than you do. I won't leave you." I can see it in her eyes; she’s so serious about her words. I am at a loss of words, because I know I can not convince my lover to leave my side in this time of darkness. Gunshots ring out just blocks away, and my house shakes as bombs burst even closer.

"Their army will be here in a less than a quarter of an hour Nush, and if we don't leave they'll kill me, and try to have their way with you. I'll be damned if I let that happen to you my dear."

She grasps me by the arm and kisses me on my cheek. "I love you too." The building rattles, signaling a shell hitting nearby.
"Sweetheart, we must to leave now."

"We don't have to, do we?" Such a hardheaded girl, and yet I stay with her.

"I guess we don't have to, but a shell could hit this building..."

She puts her finger against my lips shutting me up. "I know what can happen to us honey, but that's a chance I'm willing to take." I know where she is going with this. She wants to die by suicide, which isn't such a bad idea if you think about it. Instead of being captured by the tyrant's army and being executed or tortured; we could just overdose on morphine, which would really be much more peaceful.

"What are we going to do instead?" I ask her, as if I don't know what she's going to say.

"You still have a few of your hunting riffles right?"

"What? Are possibly suggesting that we should try a full assault on them? You must be joking, right?"

"What were you thinking we're going to do? Commit suicide, wait for them to come, or just maybe wait for the flames to reach us, I say we go out with a bang,"

"And suppose that they capture us?"

"Then we'll die with our dignity."

"What? Die with our dignity, they'll fucking torture me, and rape you! You call that dying with dignity?" An explosion comes from downstairs. "Ok, then grab one of my heavier riffles. The weaker ones aren’t going pierce their armor." We go back into the bedroom, and open my closet. I hand Nush a forty-five, and one of my heavy caliber riffles. I take in my arms another riffle. "Look sweetie, if we are to die; I just want to let you know that I love you."

"I know, and I love you too." She looks at me and we kiss passionately as the door explodes open. Two men come running through it. She raises her riffle, letting off a shot at one of the soldiers, striking him or her in the chest of the metal plated suit. As for the other one, he catches one of mine in the head. We both reload really fast, but it isn’t any use. Within seconds we are subdued and captured. My Nush is taken from me. They pick her up, and she is kicking and screaming.
Oh those bloody screams, god I can’t forget them. "Jonathan!!! Jonathan!!! Save me!!!..." One of the men punches her in the face knocking her out cold. I bust though the men holding me, and I run right for her. I pull my own .380 and shoot one of the soldiers, holding her, in the face; taking him down for good.

"I'm here sweetheart." I feel a great amount of pain in the back of my head, and then it all goes black. Next thing I know; I'm looking down at my body. I’m not dead, but I am astral projecting, while my body regains its strength. I guess one of the soldiers has knocked me cold. Nush is already gone, and as they leave, they grab my body.

I regain consciousness sometime later, and am scared at what I see. This is it; this is the end. The firing squad has been assembled. Ahead in the line by four people is Nush. It looks as if they have beaten her severely. Her face is covered with bruises and scrapes.

"Do you know why you have been brought before this squad," the commanding officer asks Nush.

"Yes."

"Do you except the charges of treason?"

"Never!!!" she screams.

"Ready! Aim! Fire,"

"No!!! No! No!" I break down to tears when I see her body slump over to the ground.

"Grab that one." the leader says to one of the grunts. He points me out of the crowd. Two grunts grab me by my arms, and drag me over to where Nush's body lay now. They throw me against they wall; I guess hoping I will fall to the floor beside Nush. I, thankfully, catch my balance with my shoulder, and struggle to my feet.

"This…" said their leader, as he comes strolling to me, "…is what will happen to another one of you who gets out of line." He grabs me by my hair, and forces me to look at him with my tear stained eyes. I spit on him.

"You dog,” He screams, pulling his golden revolver from his chest holster. He raises it to my face, whacks it against the side of my head; I see two of my teeth come flying out of my mouth. I want to scream in pain, but it will only make things worse. "Did you love that dog of a woman?” He takes his revolver and shoots her head again, and this time her cranium splatters. I try to hold back my rage, but I fail.

"Ahhhh!!!" I head butt that son of a bitch’s revolver from his hand, and then POW. It all goes black. This time, though, it stays black, and I know I am dead. I know I am in heaven when I open my eyes and everything around me glows with such vibrant color. I wake up laid out in a bed, but that isn’t the best thing. Right before my eyes I see Nush standing looking out the open window, in front of the bed. She looks so beautiful, dressed in a long white flowing dress, her hair blowing in the wind, and her flesh so unblemished.

"Is it you,” I ask.

She turns to me and smiles, "It's me babe, and guess what; we won!" I arise from the bed and walk to the window, and stare out upon what I imagine must be heaven. I take Nush by the waist and pull her to me. She turns her eyes upon me, and we kiss. She is right we had won, or at least in death. Now finally I can rest. She and I soon fell into the bed, and you can guess where that went. At last we can be together forever, she and I.

"This is the beginning," she speaks softly to me. I know now that she is right.
THE END