Everything began to slow, my thoughts numbing from the realization of what was occurring. Whether from its atrocity or that I was its architect I’m still unsure. My mind drifted to the crows, gently gliding through the night sky catching the breeze from the 8 o’clock train as it made its way over streets below. They flew without care for what was beneath them, unfazed as they make their way forward to their destination.

The heat came first. My chest singed with the hot air as the pillars holding the tracks exploded in a brilliant fire illuminating the dimming night. There was no stopping. The path was gone and the train began to plummet to the streets below. How I wished to be a crow.

My senses came jolting back, the impact an eruption of concrete and steel that echoed through me. The cars screeched, a torrent of destruction in front of them and no room to stop. Screams came from every direction. Howling from the streets as people fell victim to the coming drivers. Wailing from those inside as the bombardments collapse the roofs above them. Cries from those in the train as they watched their inevitable demise near. A choir of death and I the conductor.

“Jesus Jack…all these people…how could...” “You know I had to. We couldn’t let those troops make it to the front line.” “Those weren’t just soldiers Jack! There were normal people on that train. Mothers, fathers, children…..Jesus Christ the children Jack! How the hell—“

“And how many of us would they have killed?! How many parents have we buried, how many children? You think they had a moral dilemma when they gunned down Terra?” “Don’t you mention her Jack. She would’ve never agreed to this!” “Well I guess we’ll never know will we.”

The embers flew between us, the aftermath leaving a river of cinder in its path, the wind carrying the wailing echoes of those still alive. The crows had all gone, leaving me to watch what lay below in their place. “We’ve failed so many times in the past. We’ve fought for so long. But now i realize there’s only one way to end this war. And I mean to end it soon.”