Creative Writing: The Dawning

Blood was everywhere. Panic ensued. Screaming could be heard but for the two cadets it was little more than background noise. They were staring into space unable to snap back into reality and seemingly unaware of their surroundings. Their mouths were slightly open as if they were in shock. At their feet lay the body of their former comrade, Arthur Manson. His face was a pale blue and his lifeless eyes stared at the cloudy, grey sky. Over the two soldiers’ heads, the distinct sound of bullets could be heard but it was almost as if the soldiers were in too deep of a trance to notice.
Finally, one of the two soldiers’ started to stir. He blinked once and turned his head taking in his surroundings, as if he just realised he was there the whole

The hole that was supposed to be a grave.
“It doesn’t matter”, said Tommy quickly. “I’ll do it myself. Arthur and I were good friends. It’s only right.”
Joe nodded in agreement, quietly relieved that he did not have to touch the corpse. Tommy took a deep breath and started advancing towards the body. He approached it slowly and was extremely cautious when handling the body. He made sure that his fingers wouldn’t feel the cold, hard corpse. Bending over he pushed the deceased Arthur into the grave and quickly stood back up, straightening himself. He took a big sigh of relief.
“I suppose we should throw some dirt in, you know to cover him up a bit" said Tommy. Suddenly he must have felt an aggressive wave come over him as he turned to Joe and bellowed: "Throw the dirt in

“Don’t you dare be longer than two minutes okay? Bury the body and leave straightaway. No lingering. Your life is on the line.”
“Yes I understand” said Tommy, with a stubborn and frustrated tone, “Just leave so I can get on with this”.
Joe nodded and he immediately scrambled hard for the ridge without taking any glances to the direction of the bullets or to Tommy who was still busy throwing the earth on Arthur’s corpse.
Tommy was almost there. He filled the shovel one last time and took a moment just to look down at the grave. Then he took a deep breath in and let it out once he let the shovel drop. Finally it was time for him to leave.
Joe waited impatiently behind the ridge for Tommy, not poking his head round just like Tommy had instructed him to. He continuously checked his watch that his Grandfather had given him years ago. The two minutes had passed and Joe was getting more nervous by the second.
Eventually he mustered up the courage to take a peek. Slowly he crept his way up back into a standing position from sitting on the floor. He was almost bent double as the ridge was not a very tall one. Steadily he looked around the ridge and scanned the area for Tommy. He was nowhere to be