The Last Post by S.A.Todd

Added: 2026-05-17

[00:00:01]The last post.

[00:00:06]One summer's night, I lost the war with grief.

[00:00:11]I felt them closing in on left and right.

[00:00:15]And yet, no matter where I swept my aim, no target ever fell into my sight.

[00:00:22]I used staccato warding bursts at first, till twitching undergrowth and crawling sounds compelled a switch to automatic fire. A kill storm of full metal jacket rounds from belt-fed stoicism raked the trees.

[00:00:39]I knew this spurned street fights, preferring raids.

[00:00:43]A belly sliding forward that no one sees.

[00:00:46]Blurred faces, empty eyes, and dirt-smudged blades. Appearing suddenly behind, pale hand across shocked mouth.

[00:00:55]The last thing felt before knife in, twist out. Next day, post found unmanned. Two rain-filled footprints on the jungle floor.

[00:01:07]I manned that gun for years. I held the line.

[00:01:12]I kept the slinking wolves from off the door.

[00:01:16]The last line of defense for a long peace that reigned like Novocaine in me before this cruel adversary moved in force and threatened everything that I hold dear.

[00:01:28]I knew that if they won, my world would end.

[00:01:32]And thus was bravery merely bridled fear.

[00:01:37]And yet, though brave, it seems I was not wise to specters spawned from weary wars in past.

[00:01:46]Tired eyes had thought to see a loved one rise, lost and bewildered in the chest-high grass.

[00:01:53]Their name, a yearning yell from deep within, I scrambled forth, ran to them desperately.

[00:02:01]I barely felt the tripwire on my shin, but felt my world explode and parts fly free.

[00:02:10]To my great shame, I'd welcomed void's embrace.

[00:02:16]My shell-shocked nerves had given all they could.

[00:02:21]I knew another soldier would replace me in the monsoon mists and fetid flood.

[00:02:28]As I emerged from morphine's sweet release, despairing tears, unlike I'd ever wept, poured forth from a maimed soul without surcease.

[00:02:38]I saw my savior's face.

[00:02:42]As I had slept, this field medic had reached me, expertly bound life to shattered limbs through care and skill.

[00:02:51]The present sutured so what comes may be.

[00:02:55]Though scars can fade, this memory never will.

[00:02:59]A fact I wrestled with as I grew stronger, a puzzling bittersweet in strife's relief.

[00:03:07]It mattered not that I could fight no longer.

[00:03:11]The medic who had saved my life was grief.