This was again part of the 100 Word Stories Weekly Challenge. Voting’s back, so you can vote for it and listen (and read) the rest of the stories over at the 100 Word Stories site. If you just want to listen to mine alone, you can do so using the player below. (If the player’s borked – like in some feed readers – try this link.
I go over the edge of the trench with the gas. It rolls in thick liquid clouds.
The enemy is surprised. Both of us are hampered by gas masks. My bayonet slices up, straps snap, and his mask falls away.
His eyes widen into owl eyes, pupils dilating from the poison. Snot and blood pour from his mouth and nose. He clutches his chest and gasps to a stop. His bowels release, staining his trousers as he dies.
I breathe in through my mask’s charcoal filters. I smell nothing.
I raise my rifle and shoot a stranger twenty feet away.