Thanatos
“Don’t look directly at the light!”
This was the repeated warning the soldiers were given before they were loaded up onto flatbeds and driven to a remote patch of desert. There were sandbag covered holes waiting for them. The troopers obediently crouched in their shallow ditches in the sand and waited.
They had heard stories about how the flash melted eyeballs and the heat seared the flesh. They saw pictures of shadows imprinted on stone by atomic obscura. The featureless black human outlines were all that remained of the people touched by the light.
The desert air was dry but pleasantly mild, and the mood among the men was one of cautious optimism. Some seemed entirely at ease even excited about what they were about to witness while others quietly sat and stared sand.
Thier heads trained upwards as they watched the trail of white smoke streaking across the unblemished blue sky. The order came and the soldiers squatted in the foxholes. They collectively held their breath and waited for detonation.
There was the hot white flash. Men became giddy and immediately jumped up so they could get a glimpse of the firey form of Aries. The stem of thick gray smoke bloomed at its peak into a glowing inferno that quickly began to dim. The shockwave raced out in all directions and struck the onlookers in the chest with prickly hot air. The roaring mushroom cloud continued to fatten as it roared in the sky. The soldiers picked up their rifles and lept from the safety of their shelters and marched into the nuclear light.
If you like my work, please consider making a donation. I one day hope to have enough to hire some artists to work with and adapt some of these pieces into graphic novels. In the meantime, though most of the money will probably go towards pot and coffee.
This was the repeated warning the soldiers were given before they were loaded up onto flatbeds and driven to a remote patch of desert. There were sandbag covered holes waiting for them. The troopers obediently crouched in their shallow ditches in the sand and waited.
They had heard stories about how the flash melted eyeballs and the heat seared the flesh. They saw pictures of shadows imprinted on stone by atomic obscura. The featureless black human outlines were all that remained of the people touched by the light.
The desert air was dry but pleasantly mild, and the mood among the men was one of cautious optimism. Some seemed entirely at ease even excited about what they were about to witness while others quietly sat and stared sand.
Thier heads trained upwards as they watched the trail of white smoke streaking across the unblemished blue sky. The order came and the soldiers squatted in the foxholes. They collectively held their breath and waited for detonation.
There was the hot white flash. Men became giddy and immediately jumped up so they could get a glimpse of the firey form of Aries. The stem of thick gray smoke bloomed at its peak into a glowing inferno that quickly began to dim. The shockwave raced out in all directions and struck the onlookers in the chest with prickly hot air. The roaring mushroom cloud continued to fatten as it roared in the sky. The soldiers picked up their rifles and lept from the safety of their shelters and marched into the nuclear light.
If you like my work, please consider making a donation. I one day hope to have enough to hire some artists to work with and adapt some of these pieces into graphic novels. In the meantime, though most of the money will probably go towards pot and coffee.
