Last Orders (STC Entry)

Furious sounds of motors screaming
Rotors hungrily clutching for tepid air
Red crosses flashing across dimming vision
Thundering explosions drowning human cries
Leaping skyward, ground shrinking below
Papers ripped from cooling fingers
Sucked into the tumultuous void
Homecoming joy shattering in a tragic instant
.
.
.
Rifles raised in final salute
Shots fired…
once…
twice…
thrice…
.
.
.
A bugle's mournful cry permeates the air
Lingering echoes enveloped by a shroud of silence
Broken by a chorus of quiet sobs
As the chaplain reads to grieving family
Last Orders