Free Sample Essays > Literature
The Cold Stench
“Get the hell out there soldier!” shouted the captain, jolting Adam from his trance of depression. Adam was content with staying in the trench, but he knew he would be immediately executed on the spot if he dared question the authority of the captain.
In the Air the misty stench of blood and gunpowder reeked. The sky was a greenish vomit color, even though it was day. This sight envisioned death not far away, shouts and screams never stopped echoing in Adam’s head. ‘Death can’t be worse than this…’ he thought to himself. “Did you hear me, soldier?” the captain barked.
“YES SIR!” Adam shouted back. With a giant battle scream he took up the steps to death valley where his destiny awaited him. He lay down on the floor with the barbed wire in his path providing moderate cover. The noise was relentless, the constant sound of gunfire and German artillery hitting their marks deafened Adam for minutes at a time. He couldn’t hear a thing.
He looked up; dangling in the barbed wire was a dead human body at least 2 days old. The decomposed flesh sent tremors of foul odor up Adam’s nose. “God! Why, why?” he screamed. His rifle was at his side, he shot rounds at the enemy. It was impossible to tell whether Adam hit his mark or not as he couldn’t tell which were his bullets. ‘I’ve gotta get up,’ he said to himself. ‘Maybe I’ll get shot in the head and won’t feel a thing.’
He looked past the barbed wire but a dense cloud of smoke blocked his vision. He got up and ran forward as fast as he could “Come on you fuckin’ German bastards! Come on!” he screamed at the top of his lungs.
An agonizing pain sent a wave of shock through Adam’s body. He looked down and saw barbed wire sticking into his flesh. “AAAAAARRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHH!” he shrieked. His blood spurted out in thick streams. He tried tugging his way out of this horrid predicament but to no avail. His worst fear now was for a stray German bullet hit him on the body. “CHRIST! HELP! SOMEBODY PLEASE HELP!” he screeched. He grabbed hold of a length of barbed wire and tugged as hard as he could. The pain was horrendous, he slumped down to the ocean of mud once more and crawled back to safety. A warm and unpleasant sensation deep in the pit of his stomach distorted into a long stream of red and yellow vomit that spewed out of Adam’s mouth.
Medics rushed to the scene where Adam lay at the bottom of the trench where mud and human excrement dominated the sight and smell of the surroundings. This experience was one Adam would never forget for the rest of his life. There, in the stinking trench, Adam fell into a deep and uninterrupted coma that would last for 3 weeks…