The Black parade

We marched past a hillside that had burnt out trees and grass, the branches looking like skeletons fingers reaching out. No sooner had we passed the dead tree, did I see large groups of men marching from the left and right of your column. They were wearing old World War One style uniforms, their dull Grey helmets and gear clicking and clanking as they trudged wearily by.

Suddenly the sound of airplane motors could be heard, so I looked skyward. The men around me did as well, a biplane thundered by, passing us, then turning back. It dropped down low, lining itself up with the soldiers, then opened fire with it's turrets. The dust around us stirred up, men started to scream in confusion, as they were shot down on the spot.

"What in the hell?! What is going on here?!" I exclaimed, looking over at Virgil for an answer.

Virgil pursed his pale bluish lips, "It was only a matter of time before we crossed into her domain! This is the war zone...Mother War's house. Tread carefully, and no matter what you see, keep moving!"

I looked around helplessly as the soldiers started to run madly for cover, the biplane tearing them to pieces with it's air assault. Zeppelins started to appear in the sky, their swollen forms blotting out any light. A loud air raid siren sounded, adding more chaos and confusion to the turmoil.

Our column marched on by, unmolested by the attacks. To the right and left of us lay dead men, their faces gaunt and twisted with unimaginable pain and suffering. Their blood too, was brackish and coagulated. The soldiers now, were digging hasty foxholes, trying to hunker down for the fight, but soon incoming mortar rounds began to tear up the scene. The loud, high pitched whistle, of the artillery was maddening!

But just as soon as it had begun, it ended. It became dead silent....

Those soldiers still alive, rose to their feet and called an all clear. They all reassembled into a formation, lining up in what appeared to be a deep trench to our left. Suddenly a loud whistle was blown, and all the survivors leapt out of the trench and started to run across the same path that were walking. Machine gun fire from nowhere, cut their advance down, piles of men falling and stumbling. Some men made it to the other side of the road, but were cut down when they became entangled in the barbed wire. More mortar shells blew apart the men.

Mud, smoke, blood, body parts, and shrapnel filled the air with every explosion. The men screaming. Every body that we passed, that was still alive, was uttering..."Mama...Mama" as they died.

"Why do they keep saying that?!" I shouted over the explosions, still amazed that none of us were being killed by the salvo.

"Simple my boy! Cause we all go to hell! No matter how much you wish and they wish you well, their mama, and hell's mama will see them all going to hell!" Virgil explained.

A soldier ran by me, "Mama! Were all gonna die!" he screamed madly, as he slipped around in the mud, until a machine blast silenced him into a bloody heap.

"What is the whole point of this?! Is this my trial?!" I shouted.

"My dear boy, for once, stop asking me questions..for I'd hate to see you cry..for every single man here, they're all going to die..." Virgil said sadly, with a sick smile.

"But who and why are they fighting?!"

Virgil ignored me.

Another young looking soldier stumbled by, "Let the fires just bathe us!"
I thought he might actually make it, but he slipped and fell over one of his dead comrades, slowing him up enough for a sniper to put a bullet in his brain.

"The world likes to make them sound so famous, but they'll never let anyone know. Most of them go, and never return to their loves." Virgil said, stepping over the dead bodies that littered our path.

"They're all full of lies? I don't get it!"

"They're just meant for the flies! They realize that there building a coffin their size, so they are full of lies, denial if you will my boy!" Virgil explained, still taking care not to step on any of the dead.

"Why am I here?! What is my trial?! Tell me!" I demanded, stopping in my tracks.

Virgil stopped, his back to me. He was silent, the bombs and bullets filling the void. He slowly turned and faced me.

"Very well, as usual, we shall wait here, while you go on your way. Climb over that small hill there, and see what it is that you want to see."

I looked to where he was pointing, "Over there?! That's a steep hill!"

He nodded, "No one said these trials are to be easy for you, now did they?"

I sighed, "Fine, I'll go, and I'll be back..I hope.."

Virgil chuckled, "Good luck my boy!"

I stomped through the bloody mud to the hill, and slowly climbed my way up it, occasionally slipping and sliding down it's slope. But after a few moments of frustrating grabbing and pulling, I was able to complete my ascent.

I found myself standing over a decimated battle field, dead horses, men, broken vehicles, and miles and miles of mud, bomb craters, and barbed wire awaited me. I caught glimpse of a lone soldier, making his way through the scenery.

He was young, maybe 18 years old, his khaki uniform caked in mud. He wore thin framed spectacles, his face muddy and unshaven. He occasionally slipped and fell in the mud, but continued to ease his way past the dead. He was close to crossing a barbed wire fence, when suddenly, a burst of machine gun fire erupted from his left flank.

I gasped in alarm..and hurried down the muddy slope to aid him. I don't' know why...but I felt compelled to help this man...