War Within

My grandfather had told me about war. When Grampa had been younger, they had fought in places such as Iraq and Afghanistan. And although sometimes there were tricks with mines and other traps, you could actually see the enemy. They were real...or at least human.

Well, this enemy was real, that was for sure. At least the end results. I didn't want to think about that as I looked at my fallen friends splayed around me in the cave we had found to hide in and regain our bearings.

Hiding didn't help from this enemy. Somehow, it could get inside and fight from there, using its own type of explosives to take you out '" a war within.

My eyes snapped open as I realized I was falling asleep leaning back against the rock wall near the entrance to the cave. "I can't stay here, I have to do something...anything," I told myself.

As I went to step outside, I cringed and jumped back into my security as I heard the sound. The sound that always came before we were attacked. It was a whirring sound, sort of like a standing fan set on high, yet with a high-pitched inhuman screaming sound underneath it. I was always told that I had some balls...yeah, they were in my throat at this point.

As I waited for the enemy to pass, I tried to piece out the attacks. First, the noise, the wretched noise alone was enough to drive a man mad. Then the blindness. The men who were attacked became blinded fairly quickly. Then the screaming began. A violent, gory death from within happened in just minutes.

The noise was gone, had been for a while, but I was feeling rather like chicken poop and wanted to get my thoughts back on survival before leaving the cave. I steadied myself, "Game face on," before stepping out into the bright, sunlit day.

Suddenly, a green film began to cover my vision. It was a sickly sort of chartreuse color that seemed to grow thicker and thick until I could no longer see the world around me. But I wasn't totally blind as I had believed I would be. Suddenly I could see into another world, a ghastly world full of black slithering forms all set against the sickening green backdrop.

Then I saw it. I hadn't realized that a spiritual battle could have such physical consequences as I screamed for mercy.