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“YOU BASTARD!” Shouted Joakim “YOU FUCKING BASTARD!” He screamed, as he was held down on the ground by two soldiers. “HOW COULD YOU?!” He cried out as his own hot tears fell down his face, while staring up at his commander as he was forcibly pinned to the ground.
“How could I?” venom coated the commanders’ words as he approached Joakim, and bent down to his eye level, “Why, they were insurgents!” he declared, with a cold dead smile.
“NO, THEY WEREN’T!” Joakim roared, “THEY WHERE INNOCENTS! AND YOU SLAUGHTERED THEM! ALL OF THEM!”
“He’s right, you fucking prick!” Spat out Thobbe, who was on his knees also being held down by armed soldiers.
The commander rose from his position and quickly approached Thobbe, he grabbed a fistful of the man’s hair and forcefully craned the man’s head back, as he made direct eye contact, “What did you just say to me, boy?!” he growled.
“Fuck you!” Thobbe cried as he spat in the officer’s face.
The officer reeled back in disgust and wiped his face, earning a laugh from Throbbe that was quickly silenced when a punch was thrown directly at his face.
A loud crunch followed suit.
Thobbe’s nose had been broken, and the younger man wailed in pain as his nerves where sent into overdrive from the painful sensation.
The commander laughed at Thobbe, “What a pitiful thing you are!” A callous and uncaring grin on the man’s face.
Somehow, Joakim was able to overpower the men holding him down and he made a beeline to the officer, which caused some soldiers to cry out in surprise and warn him.
He turned just in time to deflect the punch thrown at him, grabbed his arm, and pulled him down, followed with one swift motion, he kneed Joakim hard in the stomach.
Joakim sputtered as he collapsed the ground in pain once again, this time he was forcefully grabbed by the collar of his shirt, so much so that for a moment he was unable to take in air.
The soldiers made quick work of tying his arms together in front of his body, one soldier even going as far as to place his foot on Joakim’s chest to keep him from moving, gun aimed at his head.
Joakim struggled to regain his breath as he coughed hard, the pain searing from his stomach made him want to throw up, but he resisted the urge and instead looked on with a pained expression as the commander made his way over to his three friends.
Pär, Chris, and Hannes watched on silently as the officer approached them, he grabbed a first full of Chris’ beautiful long brown hair and pulled his head back, with the other free hand he pulled out a knife, “I should punish you for your friends’ insolence” he hissed into Chris’ ear.
Chris has his eyes closed and he was biting his lip, afraid that if he said anything he’d have his hair cut off, something that he was proud of and that took him months to grow out.
“Don’t” Pär exclaimed, when the commander’s piercing blue eyes made contact with his ocean blue eyes, it made Pär almost regret opening his mouth.
He let go of Chris’ hair and walked to Pär, grabbing the man’s chin harshly as he forced him to look at him in the eyes, “Come again?” he asked, clearly amused.
“Don’t punish him” he spoke once again
“Oh?” a smirk formed on the commanding officer’s lips, “And whys that?”
“Punish me, but not him…” Pär swallowed his pride before he finished, “Please”. Clearly, he cared more for his friends’ safety than for his own.
A devilish grin spread like wildfire on the officer’s features, “Oh… with pleasure”.
“PÄR, NO!” Both Chris and Hannes shouted
“SILENCE!” bellowed the officer as he turned to face the duo, before turning to face Pär once more, he struck the man on his face with a punch, breaking his nose in the process.
The soldiers who were holding him upright let go, once their officer laid in on Pär, an onslaught on blow after blow flew down on Pär, each other injuring him further.
The beating continued for a solid ten minutes in which the officer, who finally deemed himself satisfied left Pär on the floor, beaten and bruised.
He turned to face the soldiers who held down Chris and Hannes, “Tie their hands together, and prepare the firing squad… I want these traitor’s dead.” He spoke and turned to leave the room.
The soldiers wordlessly did what they were told.
“Y-…You’re m-making a mist-take…” manages Joakim to one of the soldiers as he watched them.
Neither of them spoke back to Joakim, and he knew why, they’d all been manipulated and brainwashed by the commander’s ways into believing that what they were doing, was right, after all, they were fighting for their home country.
When the soldiers left, Chris began to sob hard, his whole body shaking.
Hannes moved to Pär’s side, and examined the older man, he found that he was still conscious but unwilling to move from all of the pain, he tried to wipe away some of the blood on his friend’s face, “I’m so… so sorry…” he whispered, unsure of what else to say.
“ ‘s ok” managed Pär, his mouth already swelling from the punch he received, making it hard for him to speak properly, “I care ‘bou’ you ‘wo… I ‘nt wan’ see you ‘et ‘urt” he spoke, his voice trembling involuntarily.
Hannes too began to cry and as he sunk himself close to Pär so as to feel closer to him, his attempt at some sort of comfort. Pär shakily raised his bound hands to Hannes’ cheek and tried to caress them to calm him.
As Joakim sat up, a wave of nausea hit him hard, causing him to reflexively gag and then vomit the day’s meal he had earlier.
Thobbe shuffled his way to Chris and hugged the man the best he could despite their bound hands, Chris softly wept into his friends embrace.
- - -
Roughly, an hour later, five soldiers entered the room that the group of friends where held in, and roughly picked each one of them up, and ushered them out of the room to their execution.
Neither of the five said a word on the way there, as their stomachs were busy being tied in the various knots that anxiety-riddled them with, their hearts beating faster and harder, so much so that they could hear their own pulse in their ears.
They were taken outside of the military building that they worked and lived in, and taken to a farther secluded section of the Iraqi desert that had an old abandoned church.
As they were guided to the side of the massive dilapidated building, there in front of them stood a squad of twenty armed soldiers, their rifles out and ready on the palms of their hands.
The men that were guided them stopped them for a moment and blindfolded each one of them so that they wouldn’t have to face those who they once deemed their brothers in arms on their final moments of life.
“Line up the prisoners!” commanded the officer.
Blindfolded they were guided to the wall that they would have to stand infront of.
“I hope you can live with yourself, officer” spat Joakim
“Ready weapons!”
“It was an honor serving with you boys…” Chris spoke, his voice threatening to crack as he choked back a sob.
“Take aim!”
“I ‘ove you boys” Pär replied
“Stand proud, because at least we didn’t fuck up like they did” Joakim added
“I hope you all rot in hell, you bastards” spoke Thobbe
“Fuck all of you!” Shouted Hannes one last time.
“FIRE!” came the last command and out rang the explosive noise as each and every gun fired.
A few bullets managed to miss their intended targets altogether and stuck the wall behind them violently, as parts of concrete flew off.
However, not every bullet missed, and those that didn’t did hit their targets.
Joakim was the first to be hit, as a bullet went right through his throat.
The first thing he felt was the intensely searing hot sensation that filled his entire body, he collapsed from the force of the shot and slumped against the wall. The next thing he noticed was how the air was entering and exiting from the two new holes.
Pär and Thobbe were the next two to fall, as they were shot square in the head, the bullet made a clean entry and exit wound, skull fragments inside breaking off like rice crackers.
The wall behind where the two once stood was painted crimson red in both blood and brain matter, they dropped to the floor like flies, their bodies making soft a thud as the bodies slumped against the wall.
Joakim felt their bodies land next to him, but the pain in his body rendered him useless as he gasped and groaned in pain from the wound.
The third to go down was Hannes, as he too like Joakim, had been shot in the throat, except he was lucky, the bullet hit a major artery, he was both steadily losing blood and consciousness and would die in just five minutes.
Lastly was Chris, who was shot in the heart, he screamed in pain as he fell back against the wall from the hot pain that swelled in his chest.
The Last thing that Joakim heard before the darkness finally enveloped him was the lone exploding sound of two bullets.
