Red and Blue

Mary Flint: Creator of Breathtaking Worlds and Heart-Racing Adventure

Member of Author Masterminds

I laid on my back on hard dirt, the remains of a field, explosions and fires erupting around me, the smell of smoke as thick as the dark haze that seemed to float around me. I stared at the soot and ash swirling through the sky, falling like black snow from a black sky. The bomb blast had sent me flying, and I must have had a concussion because my vision was fuzzy, and it was hard to think. There wasn’t a medic anywhere near me, at least, there hadn’t been before the blast, but I had no idea how far I’d been thrown. I couldn’t move my arms or legs. Maybe I was just in shock? My eyelids were heavy. Of course, I’d be tired after all the fighting. Surely there was nothing wrong with closing my eyes for a moment. 

Something blue caught my eye, and I started back awake. I wanted to see what it was. It was difficult with my blurred vision, but I finally figured the blue was fabric, soiled with soot and mud, and embers had peppered the fabric with tiny holes. It was an enemy uniform, I realized. I had landed beside a fighter from the other team. He didn’t look so good. He was starting to fade. I wondered if I was, too. 

“Hey, you okay?” My voice was a bit raspy, but I think he heard me. He stirred a little. 

“I-I don’t know,” he called back to me shakily. 

“Can you move at all?” I asked.

“No,” came the reply.

“Looks like we’re in the same way, then.”

“I guess so.”

We were silent for a moment, listening to the sounds of the battle around us. Then, the other fighter asked, “I wonder who’s winning?”

“Good question,” I replied. “I guess we’ll find out in a minute.”

I saw a spark of light as he faded further.

“Do you ever wonder why we’re fighting?” he whispered.

I would have shrugged if I could have. “I think I might have once or twice, but it usually makes a glitch.”

“I see,” the fighter said. “I guess; I just wonder what we win in the end.” He looked over at me, his body glowing. “Too bad we weren’t on the same team. We could have been good friends.”

I smiled a little. “Who knows? Maybe we’ll be on the same team next time.”

He smiled, too. “Maybe. I’d like that.”

“What’s your name?” I asked. “I’ll look for you.”

His face went distant. “We don’t have names. We’re not Mains.” 

“That’s right. My mistake.” I smiled again, hoping to put him back at ease. “See you in the next one…friend.”

He smiled faintly once more, then faded into a cluster of lights that raced up and disappeared in the sky. I sighed, watching my own health gauge drain to zero. Oh well. I’d be back in less than a second, and I wouldn’t remember any of it. He wouldn’t either. 

I became a cluster of lights, flying into the sky, then there was only a moment of darkness. Then I was back, my clothes clean, my items and health replenished, back at the Player 1 base. I guess the blue team had won last time since the battle was starting over. Other fighters began to leave the base, out into the fray, but I glanced at the fighter next to me. He looked familiar somehow, like perhaps I had seen him before, but wearing blue. But that must have been a glitch because then I didn’t recognize him, but I think we would be great friends if we could ever talk.

Red and Blue was first published with Readers and Writers Book Club: https://readersandwritersbookclub.com.