Dealer of Death

In the southern village of Sirnak, Turkey, Colonel Mars Redrick returned to the barracks located in front of the village to collect his thoughts after his most current mission. He was to identify the positions of multiple battalions of rebel army. Mars had heard the rebels advanced often, and stopped only when needed. His discoveries of this mission were unsettling. The war had progressed through the northern points of Baghdad, and rebels were beginning to close in on his position. The rebel army commonly hid among civilians, and were sometimes impossible to detect. With this knowledge in mind, Marines were extra careful when it came to identifying the enemy. Requiring consistent focus for the next day, Mars cleared his mind and fell asleep.

The next morning Mars was outside preparing field rations for his platoon. He was known for being an exceptional leader, with clean cut ideals. Halfway through his generous act, he noticed something on the horizon. The object held his attention as it progressed toward him. Mars pulled out binoculars, and was able to identify the strange thing as a man on a horse. Too far away to see with the naked eye, Mars continued to stare hard at the man and his horse through his binoculars. The man then also pulled out binoculars and began to stare back at Mars. The strange man’s head turned slowly, panning the length of the shabby barracks the marines were living in. He then placed the binoculars back into his bag, and rode away incredibly fast in the opposite direction. Paranoid of the enemy rapidly approaching, Mars feared the strange horseman was a spy. Having several other pressing matters to deal with, Mars continued to prepare his Marine’s breakfast.

That night, as Mars lay on his cot, the ground erupted just outside his tent. Dirt showered the barracks, and a gaping hole punctured the ground. Mars immediately rose, and began sprinting to alert the other Marines. Upon entering the main tent, Mars discovered every last one of his Marines sitting on their beds in proper positioning. Each of their heads were cleanly severed, and neatly placed beside them. He realized he had been sabotaged and attacked. As mars began sprinting back to his tent, more mortar shells punched into the earth, blinding his senses, and sending him into a rage. The horizon was filled with rebel army, swiftly approaching the barracks. Seeing no hope in his situation, Mars returned to his tent and called in a massive air strike on the entire surrounding area. He sat in his tent to die bravely when an extremely small helicopter landed fifty yards away. Mars quickly realized the friendly extraction, and boarded the chopper. As he flew to safety, he left the sickly arranged corpses of the marines, the approaching rebels, and the thousands of souls to die in the deadly air strike that was coming. Three months later, Mars Redrick was stationed in Mosul, Baghdad. He was with a small group of missionaries researching water supply for civilians. Almost every night, Mars heard a smooth sound in the wind. It sounded like nothing at first, however after many nights of the same sound, he was able to identify it as a phrase. “Bunu yaptı! Bize bunu! Bunu yaptı! Bize bunu! Bunu yaptı! Bize bunu!” Every single night he would hear this, as if it was routine. One night, it almost drove him insane. The next day Mars approached the village’s language interpreter, to question the mysterious phrase. Mars discovered the repetitive phrase was Turkish for, “You did this! You did this to us!”. Extremely disturbed by the meaning of the words, Mars retired to his cot for rest. That night he did not hear the phrase in the wind. Mars slept better than he had in months. As he awoke in the morning he found a large bloody stain on his shirt. He removed the shirt to find coordinates carved into his skin. Writhing with painful confusion, Mars frantically searched through records to find what the coordinates meant. In complete disbelief, Mars realized the coordinates were the location Sirnak, the village he had been stationed in months before. Trying not to recall horrible flashbacks, Mars pulled himself together and exited his tent. As he walked down the street, not a single person acknowledged his existence. He was used to the villagers crowding him, because he had resources. Nothing of the sort happened that day. He became slightly driven mad at the constant neglect. Returning to his tent, a small man sitting on the ground looked directly at him, and said nothing but, “You must go there”. The small man said nothing else, and turned his attention elsewhere. Disturbed by the experience of the day, Mars returned to his tent, and began to pack his belongings.

As Mars Redrick approached the ruins of Sirnak, he realized the sheer destruction of the airstrike. Buildings were turned to dust, the ground was blackened and pulverized with craters. Collecting the despair of his actions, Mars approached the town center, where his heart skipped a beat, and the war hardened dealer of death vomited. Writhing around the town square were the mutilated corpses of civilians. Some were completely destroyed, others missing limbs, even faces. The gruesome animated corpses began to slowly crawl toward Mars. “Bunu yaptı! Bize bunu!”, they screamed, “You did this! You did this to us!” In complete despair, Mars began screaming, “No!” “No!” “That was three months ago, you should all be skeletons!” The massive group of mutilated civilians continued toward him. “Bunu yaptı! Bize bunu!” Completely broken by the consequences of his actions, and the impossibly insane situation, Mars removed a sleek black pistol from his holster. He slowly slid the cold barrel into his mouth, and pulled the trigger.

Credit To – Joe Baietto