A re-imagining of an occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce.
Image via Wikipedia
A man stood on a dirt floor in a dark alley somewhere in the streets of Bagdad, Looking down at the swirling dust at his feet. The man’s hands were behind his back, the wrists bound with a nylon cord. A blind fold covered his face only allowing him to see the ground below. He heard the incessant Arabic chatter of his captors as they fumbled with a video camera. The light from the camera penetrated the thin bandana being used as a blindfold. The man in charge of the operation may have been the equivalent of a captain. The captain Hammadi Awdah abd Farhan ordered two of the militia men to drop the young prisoner to his knees. A couple of sentries stood at each end of the alley and cars could be heard driving by. The sentries held AK-47 rifles, Russian or Chinese it didn’t really matter the country was awash with them.
Beyond the sentinels and the alleys lies a great city. A million people lived in the urban jungle no doubt the prisoner had friends nearby, but also in the maze of buildings and alleys lay a thousand enemies ready to cut him down on sight. In the house behind him he could hear the spectators; some he knew would work with the American’s if it were profitable or fulfilled a need. Others were true believers in the cause and would lay down their lives willingly at the guns of his friends or in a brilliant flash of death tearing apart a marketplace full of their fellow citizens simply to send a message.
The man on his knees was about twenty- one years of age. He was a soldier, a man who had voluntarily walked into the army recruitment office and signed up. He was a good looking and strong soldier-His features were a broad nose, and strong jaw, kind eyes but serious in nature. His hair had grown slightly since his capture but was still cut close enough to meet army regulations. The clothes he wore were the same since capture. They held the sweat, stench and pain from weeks of confinement. Had the blindfold been lifted the captors would have seen defiance. This prisoner was a dedicated soldier whose belief in God and Country held him strong. He would show no weakness and hadn’t despite being displayed on video once before he had never broken. He was certain they would kill him but as a good soldier does he resigned himself to death and filled his thoughts only with escape or opportunities to do harm to those who held him.
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