Remember Me(James Calton) The noise was unbelievable, the whistle screamed and we all leapt from our bunks. They were coming. This was it. We had trained, and it finally happened, it was our time; this is why we were here. So why was I so scared?

Rifles in hand we flew along the trench to our posts, ready to repel the enemy. The rain came fleeting down making it almost impossible to see. The barrel shook in my hand as I pressed my nose against the sights, my wet finger shivering on the trigger. My best friend Robert was standing a few feet from me, always by my side. Outwardly he laughed, he looked calm and solid but I could see the terror in his eyes. The world stopped, time was nonexistent. For a second I thought, no I hoped that they weren't coming.
A loud sharp clang rang out and I saw bob drop to the floor, his helmet flying backwards with a hole through the centre. The machine guns started in response to the attack but still I could see no one. More men fell hitting the floor with a sickening squelch as the mud, blood and body all merged in to one.

We started to fire in to the darkness. If we were trying to kill the night then, we were winning. More screams, more explosions, more death all around us. Then in a moment of flawless silence, a flare rocketed up in to the abyss, and we saw them. Twenty, thirty, forty men, some racing towards us, some caught in the razor wire, some crying as they ran. Bullets fizzed in all directions. We were falling, they were falling, the only person winning was death.

Every now and again one of them would jump in to our trench but before they touched the mud with their boots they were shot or run through with bayonet. Bodies everywhere! Some parts of the trench disappeared under the sheer number of corpses that scattered across the floor. Still the machine guns rattled and bellowed, still the shells rained down, still the bodies fell.

GAS GAS GAS!!

The call came and our guns were dropped, I grabbed for my mask. I had practiced this time after time; I had drilled myself to make sure I got this right. If I was going to die it would not be by gas. My mask was secure, my rifle back in hand, I looked round. Others hadn't run the same drills as I had. I could see two men, hands clawing at their throats as they fell to the floor choking and drowning, the gas burning away the last seconds of their fight. Silence hit us like a hammer to the heart. The words we all longed to hear were called from the rear, “Cease fire”.
I had survived, I had made it through, and for a second my heart soared. I was safe. I could leave. Realism hit like a ton of bricks as I realised that tomorrow it was our turn. Remember me.

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