His face burned, his stomach churning as the whole world seemed to be cut off from him.
Everything was dark and hazy, golden and red dots flying in his vision as his ears rung. The sound was high pitched, drowning out everything else around him.

He breathed heavily, having lost all sense of the world. He didn't even understand if he was laying down or standing or maybe he was even upside down. He couldn't tell.

He blinked his hazy eyes, seeing the white flash in the darkness as time seemed to speed up once again. The familiar sound of bullets rung in his ears, but the sound was just slightly muffled as if he was underwater.

He was on the floor, in the space between the bed and the wall as he stared at his hands. One moment they were covered in blood, the next, they weren't. He hyperventilated, groaning under his breath as his temples pulsed with pain and legs shook as he pulled some pants on, his brain immediately going to the war zone as he swayed on his feet, eyes glazed over as he looked for his rifle.

Rifle, rifle, rifle, where was his rifle?

His eyes landed on the girl who was on the floor due to the heavy blast, he breathed heavily, eyes moving up the wall that was earlier covered with pale yellow wallpaper and elegant golden flowers.

Instead, he was now starting at the night, out into the streets, smoke and flashes of light in the dark as bullets flew like arrows of death through the darkness, piercing the flesh of soldiers who were screaming for strength and victory. They screamed so the adrenaline would drown their fear and terror. And instead, hate would rise and make them kill and kill and kill.

And Will knew he had to kill, too. In order to survive.

But where was the rifle, rifle, rifle...

His blue eyes wide as he stood in the room, the dust and gunpowder reaching his nose as the door suddenly blew open. His startled eyes looked up to the angry eyes of Johnathan Lawford who was screaming at him while covering his own head with the helmet. Will didn't really hear, but he felt the man's finger dig into his shoulder as he tried to you'll him away from the collapsed room. “Downstairs, Cap is sending us to the forest, we have to surround them!” he rushed out, his green eyes wide as he pushed Wills rifle into his chest.

The younger tugged on his shirt and jacket and boots, the fastest he ever did. The training in camp coming to use as he tied the laces of his boots in a split second. “Wait.” he said through gritted teeth, the shock starting to fade as they rushed down the stairs. “Wait!” he said louder, trying to get John to stop. “What!” he hissed, turning around abruptly as they both ducked while the whole building shook. “Th-the girl!” the British soldier scoffed and turned around, keeping low as he started jogging towards the entrance of the building, keeping his rifle ready. “Forget it, the wench is dead. Come now.” he said lowly, disappearing into the night as the sky was covered in thick smoke. Confusion and a large amount of guilt made him nearly trip, but the flashbacks of a large pool of blood and oddly bent neck came to him in Tsunami waves.

William followed, making sure his gas mask was still attacked to his gear just in case. He jogged in the shadows, keeping close to John as they swiftly jumped over the bodies that littered the ground. “Come, this way, Theo and Hoare are coming from the other side, we need to round them up.” he said, raising his rifle as he shot down two German soldiers who had appeared from behind a corner of a hair salon.

William felt sick as he refused to look at the two warm corpses, the amount of blood and the smell of iron suffocating him. He followed John, glancing behind them as they rushed on in the darkness of the night. A swift movement and the glint of metal made Will act in instinct. He pulled the trigger, the sound of another body hitting the ground echoing in his ears. He turned around, blocking away everything else as he followed John.

They rounded a corner, the sound of bombs echoing from the centre of the town. His gear kept pumping against his hips as they fell into a steady pace, his head clearing from the earlier booze and... Something else.

“These bastards had been waiting for us, they knew we were coming and played us.” John said furiously, his green eyes narrowed as they slid over the dark houses and broken windows. Before William could answer, a dark shadow fell over them and Johnw a suddenly pushed down with a loud grunt. A massive man was laying on top of him, spitting words in german as he plunged a small knife between John's ribs. The soldier gasped, his hand going up the nazis throat as his face was twisted in pain, blood soaking his green jacket.

William pushed him down, growling under his breath as he sat on top of the large german man, balling his fists as he grabbed the hem of his jacket. Eyes burning with anger, his fist made contact with the man's dark painted face, hearing the satisfying crunch under his hand. Again and again, his fist made contact with the angular face, dark pain mixing with the blood that looked nearly black in the cold light of the moon. Behind them, a large building was caught in fire, the flames licking high into the sky.

“He's dead, kid, let's go.” John said through gritted teeth, grabbing his shoulder as William breathed heavily, lowering his wide eyes as a piece of blond hair fell over his eyes. The face of the middle-aged german soldier was unrecognizable, the blood oozing from the fatal wounds onto the man's jacket and the ground. His knuckles were red with blood and heavily bruised, but he barely noticed as he swiped them against the clean patches on the man's jacket, trying to get rid of the blood as a lump was growing in his throat.

Despite the sickening feeling in his chest, the bruised knuckles, pounding head and the bulletrain behind them, the young soldier pushed himself up. He threw the cold rifle over his shoulder, allowing John to lean on him as they both dashed down the streets, their boots making no sound against the ground.

The man beside him was growing paler with every step, his one hand under this jacket as he left applying pressure on the wound. “Heavens to Betsy.” Will grumbled, throwing Johns limo hand over his neck to keep the man upright. “Stop bleeding, you're getting your blood all over my clothes.” he breathed out, eyes scanning the dark forest to make sure there were no barrels aimed at them.

“Shut up you arse, stupid-looking American child.” John whispered under his breath, ranting out the anger that actually calmed William just slightly. Brought him back to Earth as he allowed John to lean on a bruised pine tree as he held up his finger for a second. William then turned around, bent over and empties his stomach of whatever was left in it. He rested his hands on his knees, feeling his stomach clench uneasily as the sound of footsteps reached him. “John? Fuck. Here, lean on T, Frank the medic is with the other group, he'll get you to him. The drunkard and I will meet up with the captain, we'll burn those rats to ground.” a heavy hand landed on his shoulder, hazy blue eyes meeting the grey eyes of Pappy. His eyebrow twitched into half frown as William studied him for a second. There were drips of blood on his cheek, it wasn't his.

William watched with relief as Theo rushed John away, not saying anything as he committed himself to the task. William followed Hoare closely, noticing how light his footsteps were compared to Johns who was so much lighter than him. Low to the ground, they jogged through the forest in silence. There was nothing to be said, and William was thankful there was a little light outside from the large moon and morning to come.

A large form startled him, making him raise his rifle as Hoare clasped his fingers around the barrel, pushing it down forcefully. William glanced aside, meeting his emotionless grey eyes as rough fingers suddenly grasped his chin. “Thank God you're alright.” Captain Carter breathed out in relief, taking a step back after looking the startled boy over. The worry was immediately masked with determination and anger. Fury that was not aimed towards William or Hoare who stood on guard, but towards the Nazi soldiers who had killed many units that night.

With the swift move of his fingers, he commanded them to follow him.

And even though Will knew he was keeping him that close because he was so young.

But... Will didn't feel that young anymore. Because when they entered the cloud of smoke made by the bombs and guns, his legs didn't shake anymore, he didn't feel as though he was going to faint as soon as he nearly fell over a pile of corpses.

No, he raised his gun, stood by the captain and the next in command and did what he was taught to do. His mind went blank and body numb, and they killed and killed and killed.

Because all soldiers are products of war.

***
Uh oh

I mean, feedback would be hella nice guys, but to all the ghost readers(, I love you and hope you enjoyed it :)

With love,
Someone