Friday Fiction. A Rifleman, A Ghost, and Their Bond
"Epiphany" is the short story of Corporal Andy Migliore and his squad mate, Shank. It's 1943 and Migliore is an American rifleman fighting the Germans in war torn Italy. Shank? Well, Shank is the ghost of Migliore's best friend. Andy's tired of walking, tired of fighting, and tired of caring, but when his dead friend saves him from an ambush, Migs must decide, once and for all, how he wants to live. The story is free on Amazon until 10/14/14. Click here to get your copy.
Epiphany
By Mark H. Walker
Shank
was grinning at him, part goofy, part good humor, and all Shank. Corporal Andy
Migliore could see the gap between Shank’s front teeth, and the glitter in his
blue eyes, but that wasn't possible. Shank was dead. Not only dead, but dead
without a head. So Migs knew the grinning face couldn't be Shank, and with that
knowledge the face began to fade.
The
smile faded, first losing the curve of the lips, and then the lips themselves.
And then the face, losing form like wax in the sun, till nothing was left,
nothing but the guilt. Shank had died. Migs hadn’t. And then came the shaking.
“Sir,
sir, wake up.” The hand was on his shoulder, the shaking insistent. Migs
blinked, he hadn’t been asleep. Or had
he? He was so tired he didn’t know, but he did know that Shank’s visits—whether
dreamed or not—were all too frequent.
The
hand shook again and he brushed it off, glaring into the face of the latest in
a stream of replacements, so latest he didn’t even stink. “Get off me jerk,”
Migs barked, “I ain’t a sir. The pimply-faced kid with the butter bars on his
collar is the sir.”
The
replacement straightened, color flushing his cheeks. “Sarge sent me. Says we’re
moving in five.”
Migs
stood and stretched. Stretching wasn’t a good idea in Italy, not in the winter
of ‘43. The bad guys were gone for now, the smoldering emplacement, not a dozen
yards distant, attested to that, but you could just never tell when a random
sniper might decide you were a juicy target. He lowered his arms and shrugged.
Worrying could drive you insane. Shank’s face flashed through his mind. If I’m not already there.
The story is free on Amazon until 10/14/14. Click here to get your copy.
Mark H. Walker served 23 years in the United States Navy, most of them as an Explosive Ordnance Disposal diver, he is the author of Desert Moon, an exciting mecha, military scifi novel with a twist, with plenty of damn science fiction in it despite what any reviewer says, as well as World at War: Revelation, a creepy, military action, with a love story, alternate history, World War Three novel thing, Everyone Dies in the End, and numerous short stories. They are all available from Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing right here. Give them a try. I mean, what the hell?
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