(Disclaimer: Gore and Swearing)
The 30th division marched through the desert, heading towards the southern border of the enemy country. The troops were tired, fighting the losing battle of keeping the sand out of their eyes. As the sun set over the dunes of the desert, the Army found a small valley in between two dunes to set up camp. They parked their vehicles and set up their tents, some broke off to take inventory of their supplies, and others set up campfires. The Sargent stepped out of his truck and clapped his hands.
“Alright, men, we’re settling down for a few days as our contact gets back to us and we make a plan. So, get comfortable,” he called.
“Yes, sir!” the men called back. The sun cast long shadows over the orange desert as they finished setting up camp and gathered around the campfire to cook their rations.
A group of two gathered around the fire and watched the sunset.
“Any word from home?” Daniel asked the man next to him.
“No, no connection can make it out here, and when they do, my family misses the time window,” Samuel responded. He ran his hands through his sandy blonde hair and looked at his food on the ground next to him.
“What about you, any word from your brother?”
Daniel shook his head.
“No, there were rumors that they would be doing a prisoner swap soon, but there hasn’t been any word on if Paul was included on that list,” he said. Paul had been captured in a failed ambush on the swampy north border of the enemy country, and there hasn’t been any word on what’s happening with him, even if he is still alive. Samuel looked at him sadly.
“I’m sorry man, that’s terrible,” he responded.
Daniel shrugged, picking his rations out from next to the fire and starting to eat, the sun vanished behind the hills, and the stars peeked out from the fading blue sky. Daniel saw a strange shimmering across the desert in the fading light. Rubbing his eyes didn’t clear it up.
Weird, he thought.
The soldiers set up the watch schedule, and Daniel was picked to take the midnight shift with a man named Jay.
“Sucks to suck, dude!” Samuel said he had gotten the first shift, meaning he spends an hour and a half by the roaring fire and then peacefully sleeping in his tent for the rest of the night.
“Yeah, yeah, enjoy your shift jerk. See you in the morning,” Daniel responded. Taking one last look at the shimmering desert, he ducked into his tent, crawled into his sleeping bag, and tried to get a few hours of shuteye in.
However, all too soon, he was shaken awake by another soldier, signaling the start of his shift. Dragging himself out of his sleeping bag, he stepped out of the tent and went to the fire’s dying embers. Poking at it with a stick, he got a small flame going, trying to relight the sand-covered wood.
“Daniel,” a voice called. He jumped.
“Jay, don’t scare me like th—” he started. When he looked up, he saw Jay staring past him, across the desert, hand on his pistol.
“What?” Daniel asked. Looking over, he saw a small fire in the distance, with two shadowy figures around it.
“Shit,” Daniel said. He stomped on the small flame to put it out. The flame across the desert was also doused, and Daniel drew his weapon.
“Do you think they saw us?” he asked.
“I hope not. What are they doing out here?” Jay responded.
Daniel shrugged. “Go wake the Sargent. I’ll wait here for you,” he said. Jay nodded and ran off. Daniel stood silently in the darkness. His mind was a whirl, had the enemy found them? Why were they waiting? Who were they?
The camp alarm went off, and within seconds the entire division was gathered around Daniel. All 30 men peered out into the darkness. Daniel could see movement from the shadows on the other side of the desert. He looked to the Sargent for orders.
“Take a defensive position, then turn some lights on,” the Sargent commanded. “Let’s see what we’re dealing with.”
Daniel hunkered behind one of the jeeps, exchanging his pistol for a rifle that he took from the weapons tent. Soldiers brought large lights to the edge of the camp, ready to discover who this other Army was. The Sargent took his place behind one of the tents, peeking out he counted from three, and the lights came on.
The camp was suddenly flooded with nearly blinding white lights. Squinting, Daniel peeked out and saw a large camp lit up across the desert. Emblazoned on one of the jeeps was the symbol for their Army.
They were allies!
The 30th division came out of their hiding spots, seeing the other Army come out simultaneously. The Sargent sighed.
“What’s another division doing here?” he asked. The Army gathered, still wary of the men across the desert. Daniel picked up his binoculars and investigated the newly lit up campsite.
A man with brown hair looked back at him, dressed in a green Military uniform. He stared at Daniel through his own set of black binoculars.
That’s odd, Daniel thought.
The uniforms and tools are all standard issue, and if there was any word that could be used to describe Daniel’s physical characteristics, it was average. Still, the way the man in the other camp was staring at him was unnerving, almost as if he saw Daniel looking and was looking back.
“Hey, Sam,” Daniel muttered, reaching to his left to tap his companion on the shoulder. At the same time, the other figure moved, reaching his hand out to a blonde-haired man on his right.
“What the fuck?” Daniel said a little loudly. On the other side of the desert, the Army turned to look at the other man, who had dropped his hand to clutch at his binoculars. Daniel felt the eyes of his comrades on him. He stared at the man with the binoculars, then raised his right hand. Across the desert, the man raised his hand as well.
“It’s copying me,” Daniel said.
“What?” Samuel responded; he took the binoculars and looked at the other camp. Daniel waved at him, and Sam’s mouth fell open. Others from the Army looked through their own binoculars. They began moving sporadically, looking at the Army mirroring their movements from across the dark desert.
“I’ve never seen anything like that,” the Sargent said.
“Should we approach them, Sargent?” a soldier asked.
“Not all at once. One of us should approach and try to see what’s going on,” the Sargent responded. With a command, the lights died, and the Mirror Camp vanished into the darkness. The group poked the campfire back to life and gathered around it.
“What is this?” Daniel asked. Sam shrugged.
“What’s going on?” another soldier asked.
“Stay calm, men,” the Sargent said. Daniel looked around, trying to catch a glimpse of the other camp.
“Are we all here?” the Sargent asked, a headcount began. Daniel called his name when it got to him, then looked towards the darkness. His tired mind was having trouble wrapping around the situation at hand. He didn’t understand what was happening, why was there an identical army across the desert, how did they get here, and where was Jay?
“Where’s Jay?” the Sargent asked, repeating Daniel’s thoughts. The Army stopped and started looking around.
Daniel felt tense as if he was being watched. Looking around, he caught a man looking at him from behind a jeep.
“Jay!” he said. The rest of the group turned to look at the man, who stood up and sprinted away. Daniel could see the name of his country on his sleeve, mirrored from the country on Daniel’s own.
“It’s the other Jay!” Daniel yelled, “The Mirror one!”
Without a word, the Sargent raised his pistol and shot the other Jay in the head, a flash of light coming from both camps.
“They’re attacking!” one of the soldiers yelled. Within seconds both armies were in position, ready to shoot. The lights came back on, revealing Jay and his Mirror’s dead bodies in between the two camps.
“Wait!” Daniel said.
“Fire at will, gentlemen,” the Sargent said.
“STOP!” Daniel yelled. The group froze and looked at him.
“They’re mimicking our movements. If we shoot them, they’ll shoot us back.” Daniel explained, “Listen, all we need to do is watch them, don’t do anything rash.”
The Army paused, looking to the Sargent for further instructions.
“He’s right, men, stand down. Daniel, you’re done with your watch. We’ll have Jack and Dylan keep an eye on this — other camp and raise the alarm if the situation changes,” the Sargent said. The camp doused their lights, leaving the fire roaring to better see the mirror camp. Daniel crawled back into his tent, unable to sleep. The camp sat in tense wakefulness for a few hours. Until the silence was broken by a gunshot and a scream. The camp lights went on, and the Army raced out of their tents.
Dylan was on the floor bleeding badly, with Jack standing over him, pistol aimed at the wounded man’s head.
“Jack, what the hell are you doing?” Dylan screamed, clutching his bloody side and trying to crawl backward away from the armed soldier.
“I can’t stop myself!” Jack said, tears welling up in his eyes, “I can’t control my—”
The gun fired, and Dylan hit the ground, his blood seeping into the sand. Jack turned to the Army, who was staring at him with shock.
“I was just looking over at the other camp when suddenly I-I just shot him!” he gasped, crying. “I can’t control myself!”
Daniel’s eyes glued to the Jack across the desert, which firmly placed the gun under his own chin. He wanted to rush towards his Jack, knock the gun out of his hands, and stop him from pulling the trigger, but he couldn’t move. He caught the gaze of the other Daniel, watching him. But this time, there was a difference between their appearances. Daniel felt his face twisting in fear and horror.
The Mirror’s was smiling.
The gunshot rang through the desert, and Jack hit the ground with Dylan. Daniel looked at the mirror camp while the Sargent stepped forwards and looked down at the bodies.
“What do we do?” Samuel asked.
“I- I don’t know,” The Sargent admitted. Another soldier picked up his gun, and Daniel noticed the panic in his eyes and drew his weapon.
“Sir!” the soldier yelled, aiming his weapon at the Sargent, “Sir, look out!”
Daniel held the gun up, aiming at the soldier’s shoulder. The man noticed Daniel out of the corner of his eye.
“Do it!” he yelled. Daniel shot at the man’s shoulder, realizing too late that his Mirror had raised the gun, so it was aimed at his head.
Four people had died that night, and they weren’t even fighting an enemy.
“We have to retreat!” Sam yelled out. The air went quiet as every soldier went still. Then slowly, their eyes turned to The Sargent. They moved towards him, picking up sticks or holding their weapons out. Daniel panicked as he turned his pistol and held it by its barrel, holding it out like a blunt weapon toward the Sargent’s face. As his men surrounded him, the Sargent’s face grew solemn. He pulled out his gun and shot three soldiers in the legs, breaking the circle and making a run for freedom.
“Go, Sarge, you can make it!” Daniel called as he reached out and grabbed the fleeing man.
“Shoot us and escape!” Sam yelled, bashing the butt end of his rifle into the Sargent’s head. The man hit the sandy desert ground as his soldiers surrounded him. The Army shouted encouragement, kicking him and beating him with their weapons, trying to instruct him on how to escape the circle he had found himself trapped in. They only stopped when the bruised and broken body stopped breathing.
The soldiers all looked over towards the Mirror Camp as if waiting for instructions from their puppet masters. Daniel’s eyes were blinded by tears as he felt himself turn and move towards one of their military vehicles.
“If you have control, try to take cover,” he shouted, climbing into the driver’s seat and starting the engine. His hands turned the wheel as his feet operated the pedals. He shut his eyes as he felt the vehicle lurch forward under the Mirror’s control and hit the hapless soldier standing near it.
For the next hour, the 30th division unwillingly attacked themselves. Daniel drove over as many soldiers as he could until somebody managed to shoot out his tires. Kicking the door open and shooting the other soldier in the head, Daniel leaped out of the vehicle back onto the now blood-soaked ground. He found Sam again, who was holding another soldier’s corpse over a burning tent. The blonde-haired man’s eyes were red with tears.
“Daniel, I-I can’t stop them,” he said. He dropped the corpse into the flames and held his gun up at Daniel’s face.
“Me either,” Daniel said, walking towards the gun and holding it to his forehead. The two stood in silence, listening to the screaming of their camp die down. Soon there was only the sound of the body burning.
“You’re a good friend, Daniel,” Sam said.
“You’re one of my best friends, Sam,” Daniel responded. He closed his eyes, waiting for the shot.
A gunshot fired, and Sam fell into the burning tent, dead. Daniel dropped his pistol as he fell backward and regained control over his body. Opening his eyes, he looked at the blood-soaked camp, filled with the dead soldiers. He was the last one left alive. He was the last one standing.
Him and his Mirror across the desert. That bastard sat in his own empty, bloody camp, a smile etched across his dirty face.
As the sun peeked over the horizon, Daniel grabbed his gun and marched towards the Mirror camp. Seeing the other Daniel approach as well, he felt something in his mind snap.
“Bastard, I’m going to fucking kill you, even if it means I die too!” Daniel muttered. Him and his Mirror stood face to face. Daniel saw the bloodied remains of the Mirror camp beyond the brown-haired soldier. It was back to mimicking his movements. Seeing red, Daniel raised his gun and aimed it at the Mirror’s face, staring down his own trusty pistol’s barrel.
Without warning, Daniel’s head swung towards the east. Just catching the sunrise peeking over the sand dunes. Looking back, he saw the Mirror Daniel and the entire camp behind him twist in the rays of the morning sun, disappear into the shimmers he had seen the evening before, then fade into nothingness. Leaving Daniel alone in the desert, with nothing but a camp of dead bodies behind him.
“No, No!” Daniel yelled, firing where the Mirror had once stood, “get back here, you freak, get back here, you monster! No, No, No! …no….”
He sank to his knees, looking at the space in front of him. He looked at the gun in his hand.
“I’m going to kill you,” he muttered to himself, a grin twisting up his blood-covered face.
“I’m going to fucking kill you! Did you think you escaped me? You forgot something!”
He held his pistol up and stared at it. A chuckle escaped his mouth, followed by maniac laughter.
“You fucking forgot something. I don’t need to kill you to win, do I.”
He aimed the gun at his own temple, laughing.
“I win bitch, I fucking win!”
A gunshot filled the air of the empty desert, followed by silence.
Will Fall Writings 