One Every 24 #24

FADE IN/FADE OUT (Outtake #3): Death of a Henchman

They brought the letter into the barracks at mail call
She was leaving him for that salesman with the nice car
His brothers in arms told him to buck up, what's a woman
But a shot to the heart that doesn't kill you and won't heal

The alarm practically rattles itself off the wall
Booted legs race out the door. hands peel rifles
From the rack. there is much yelling and falling out
Word spreads that an intruder has breached the secret

Compound. he first gets sight of the intruder from a distance
The intruder is a whirling, white-hot light
His uniformed brothers in arms pull toward
(He suddenly wonders if all this time the moth has been trying

To douse rather than reach the flame.) the intruder
Sends broken bodies flying in brutally fantastic ways
Fools, he thinks of his brothers in arms, blindly rushing in that way
Then it's his turn, and the hitch of what she's done

Inserts itself for an instant between his mind and his training
Banking on blood fury. he screams his rage. rushes in, blazing
For the intruder, and, to be honest, for everybody watching
He's a second thought. less than one of many.