"Aakraman !!" Screamed the Colonel. Stupidly , I thought" attack" would have sounded better. The hindi version just didn't have the crack-of-a-bullet sound to it . Then , he shrieked-"Fire!" Now, that was much better. Understood in all languages . Transcending all barriers .
Everyone , and I mean everyone , Vijju the nerd , who would play "temple run" till his phone ran out of juice , bhola the unit joker , Karamchand of the valley of brave hearts , banerjee the sissy thumb sucker , all leapt out of the trench , all guns blazing , like a single massive predator, shouting ,screaming,shooting at random. All except me. I was frozen , like a statue. Every thing was happening around me , but I wasn't in it. Like an out-of-the-body-experience. It was like a scene from a movie . Only grislier.The enemy guns took half-a-second to retaliate. A bullet hit banerjee, and he crumpled ,like a cartoon character,seeping crimson river into brown mud. More bullets kept hitting him, and his lifeless body jerked with each impact.
A hysterical laughter, primeval , strange , incongruous, bubbled inside me . Bullets were flying every which way.
Everyone , and I mean everyone , Vijju the nerd , who would play "temple run" till his phone ran out of juice , bhola the unit joker , Karamchand of the valley of brave hearts , banerjee the sissy thumb sucker , all leapt out of the trench , all guns blazing , like a single massive predator, shouting ,screaming,shooting at random. All except me. I was frozen , like a statue. Every thing was happening around me , but I wasn't in it. Like an out-of-the-body-experience. It was like a scene from a movie . Only grislier.The enemy guns took half-a-second to retaliate. A bullet hit banerjee, and he crumpled ,like a cartoon character,seeping crimson river into brown mud. More bullets kept hitting him, and his lifeless body jerked with each impact.
A hysterical laughter, primeval , strange , incongruous, bubbled inside me . Bullets were flying every which way.
I must have laughed for I heard the Colonel spit out an expletive , and felt his rifle point nuzzle me . I also saw the fear in his eyes , for he must have read the insanity that had , in that instant , taken a grip over me . I raised my gun and slowly swivelled it to face the Colonel , my team leader, our God , who had sent my mates to death, and was cowering like a rat in this hole.
Everything seems so crystal clear to me . It was as if it happened yesterday. I can even freeze frames in my memory and tell you how dust, blood and bits of clothing flew and hit my face as I faced the startled look of the Colonel. I even saw an enemy soldier looming over me . He too was startled. Not knowing what was happening.I had bayonetted him , even before I could think. Screaming , killing, I had transformed into a beast, and I was not even aware .
I emerged out of the trench, and saw Bhola gasping on the ground . His eyes met mine and his lips moved . A bullet caught me below the knee and I keeled over ,my head hit the ground , and all went black.
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