Thunderous explosions echoed throughout the sky, followed by a shining star that seemed to be climbing the heavens. However, after a few moments of climbing, the bright star made an arc in the sky and started falling from the heavens. As the star moved closer to the ground, a sharp wheezing sound silently emanated from the surroundings. This didn't last; as the star descended, the sound became louder. Thus, the silent wheezing sound became a scathing screech at the moment before impact.
The world rumbled as the star that descended crashed into the ground and exploded, creating a shockwave that stripped the surrounding forest bare, followed by a cloud of dark, billowing smoke, leaving a humongous crater of eternal fire.
On the ground, in the sea of trenches far from the point of impact, a person stood alone above the trench with a trench whistle in his hands. The man observed his surroundings, with no shots nor enemies in sight, then breathed a large amount of air, which he blew as hard as he could on the trench whistle.
As if the barren no-man's-land came to life, dozens, if not hundreds, of silhouettes responded to the trench whistle with only one goal in mind: to make it across the fields and take over the enemy trench from the enemy side so that the army could advance further into enemy territory.
Meanwhile, as the smoke from the point of impact was clearing up, a person stood up and looked over the trench. What he saw was forever ingrained in his mind. It was like an avalanche—a human avalanche that was coming to kill them. He glanced at the sides of his comrades and saw them disorganized and still recovering from the numerous artillery barrages of the past few hours, and so, with a mouthful of air:
"Yankees advancing on the front!!!"
With a single shout from the man, the disorganized army looked in horror at the advancing enemy. However, it did not last long as they found their resolve to give up their lives for the motherland.
Men of all ages, no matter their career, all grabbed a weapon—be it a cooking pan, a gun, a stick, or whatever they had. They held whatever could kill. With fear and courage in their hearts, they took up their positions, aimed down their sights, and eventually pulled the triggers.
Amid the fields of no-man's-land, the enemy was pushing through. However, they were too late, as they did not expect the wind to be strong today, which dispersed the smoke screen that the explosion had made earlier, and so they were now sitting ducks in the middle of the battlefield. Unfortunately, losses had been made, so progress must be made, and so they advanced with heavy hearts toward the other side of the trenches from which they had come.
The first casualty came as the advancing army was met with a barrage of bullets; the ground was dyed red, flowers of death bloomed, and a river of blood soon followed.
The army felt more fear with the enemy advancing into their trenches. However, bravery and courage were needed on this battlefield. After all, if they faltered now, the enemy would get a breakthrough and spread its black wings over the meadows of the motherland. With it, their friends, families, and all the people they cared about would perish in a sea of fire. This was why they could not falter, no matter the cost, and so, even with calluses on their hands, injuries all over their bodies, and hallucinations from sleep deprivation, they still held on to their weapons, pulling the triggers.
After breaking through the barbed wire, the enemy poured into the trenches. The first one to enter stabbed their adversary with a bayonet from the rifle, to the horror of the person who was stabbed. The bayonet, though highly sharp, did not penetrate correctly through the flesh, and so the person pulled the trigger, the sound echoing throughout the system of trenches. With horror evident in his eyes, the stabbed man grabbed the service pistol from his side. Seeing this action, the enemy who had stabbed him attempted to pull out the bayonet. However, the man grabbed the rifle where the bayonet was attached, as if refusing to let the enemy pull it out.
With sweat dripping down his back, the enemy looked in horror at the adversary he had just stabbed. Even in death, they were cunning. However, his horror turned into surprise and back into horror as he saw the man smiling at him.
"Go to hell!" the man smiled and shouted at the enemy in front of him before he unloaded an entire magazine into the stomach of the enemy. The enemy blurted out a mouthful of blood before going down, while the other person also fell, with a bayonet in his stomach.
Another man on the other side saw the events that had transpired. However, this man was vastly different from the others in the trenches; he was of a higher rank. He clicked his tongue, brought out his service pistol, and unloaded everything onto the people coming toward the trenches. One by one, they fell. Unfortunately, an enemy got past his sight and managed to aim down and shoot him.
The officer groaned as the pain emanating from his shoulder was comparable to the extreme of all extremes. Nevertheless, even with a bleeding shoulder, he still used it to grab a magazine from his side pocket to replace the empty magazine in his service pistol. Unfortunately, days without sleep had caught up to him, as he did not notice an enemy approaching him. He only noticed it when a mouthful of blood came out of his mouth.
Now that he had been stabbed, with his eyes losing light, he looked at the enemy who had stabbed him one final time. The enemy was smiling as he reached for his neck. Anger welled up inside him, but he found no strength to resist. The enemy grabbed and stole his Medal of Honor—the greatest shame and insult a soldier can ever feel and experience. With that final scene in his eyes, the officer finally lost consciousness.