The sounds of battle dim as I slump to the ground, a gaping hole in my side. My strength begins to fade away as I remember….I remember playing on the playground as a child with my friends. A hazy memory appears, fades away, then appears once more - the sweet memory of a time before the monsters, a time when we were children, a time where we could feel…

When the arachnoids attacked, the militaries of the world fell swiftly. These fearsome creations began as experiments, a way to reduce human casualties in battle. Soon, however, the arachnoids grew intelligent, enough so that they killed their creators and turned their wrath on humanity. Desperate for salvation from the engineered horrors, military scientists were given every liberty; nothing was off limits, not even children.

We were taken from our homes, robbed from our parents, and made into their experiments. After months of psychological conditioning, physical augmentation, and rigorous training, the perfect soldier was created. Now there was only one thing left to do: eradicate our fear and pain receptors. In the final surgery, our heads are carefully cut open, and parts of our brains are lobotomized. Now, there was nothing to stop us, no fear of death, no sting of pain, we were the salvation of humanity, but we had lost our own.

It’s odd, but I miss it. I long for it. Not my humanity, as that has long been butchered by the toils of war. No, I miss pain itself: harsh and bitter, but real, nonetheless. Even now, I know I am dying, but I feel nothing. I want to feel again. I can almost remember what it was like…

The memory dissipates, and I hear the arachnoid’s attacks once more. The monster tears through my comrades with such ease, like shears through a lamb’s wool. I count the sheep, one-by-one as they fall. I close my eyes, breath a final breath, and listen to the fading sounds of battle. The purring of the plasma rifles, the humming of the arachnoids’ laser, the percussion of grenades: it becomes a symphony that reverberates in my ears. The symphony reaches its finale, an incredible, booming crescendo. It sustains a final note, then fades away with the dying percussion of my heartbeat…..

The nightmare is over.