Ryan sat alone in his room at the Chateau de le Rhone, at Arles, southern France. In his hand was a shiny, nickel-plated snub nose revolver; a box of bullets lay open on the desk in front of him. Images flashed through his tired mind; he could feel the fine layer of sand on top of a hard concrete floor. He could hear his friends as they screamed in the next room over. All around him were bodies, bloody and beaten, it had been two weeks since the team’s capture, and no one was coming to help them. He could hear Jack’s voice, broken and defeated, but he couldn’t make out the words over all the screaming. He couldn’t hear a thing.

Slowly, he pulled back the hammer and raised the gun to his temple. Then, for just a moment, the whole world was silent. The trigger gave way to the pressure of Ryan’s finger, he closed his eyes, and it all went black.

Slowly, the pictures crept into his mind, this time he could feel himself being pulled up under the arms and dragged down the hallway. They pulled him into a room on the right hand side as Ryan regained his footing. “Get up!” shouted one of his escorts as he crossed the room towards the battered man laying face down on the floor. Ryan watched as Jack pushed himself up onto his hands and knees, just to get kicked in the gut and collapse once more. “You want to know what’s funny? This whole fucking thing… You know-this thing-is your real mission! Isn’t that funny, soldier man?” Said the man standing over Jack, laughing manically at his two captives. “You were sent here to die, you know? Your people, they say, ‘Mufeed, we pay you to do this.’ Did you know that? It is funny, no? Come on, soldier man, why will you not laugh with Mufeed?”

“My family, they say, Mufeed is crazy! You think me crazy too eh? To laugh at this, euh, this… Murder! Eh? This long, bloody killing… It is tragedy no? Certainly, it must be tragic for you, yes? You watch all these people die, and you think, maybe I am next? How awful this must be, no? So why do I laugh, you wondering, eh? This is not funny, you feel. But it is! You just can not see the joke yet!” The madman continued, circling around the tiny room. “All this, euh, brutality, shall we say, it is not really my doing you see, it is the work of your government!” 

“Once we are done here, the military will find this place, and then there will be public outcry, demanding justice for you men. Then your superiors will have greater funding, you see? Maybe you think you die for your duty, huh? You think this is noble death, but now you see there is no honor in this world! You dress up like soldiers and you think maybe you are a part of something meaningful, but this is not the case. You think me crazy, but I know what you do not! All life is meaningless, it is lie, all a joke!” He kept laughing, as Ryan watched the disbelief growing in Jack’s eyes, and Ryan wondered if Jack could see the same in his. “But do not fear, my friends! Though all of the things you once believed in may have turned out to be a lie, this is not always bad, no? Surprise! You have certainly come to terms with your death by now? Have you not embraced it? Now I tell you that you shall not die here!”

Mufeed pulled his gun from its holster and shot Ryan in the kneecap. He cried out in pain and fell to the ground, clutching his shattered leg. “Now, brave soldier,” Mufeed said, turning to Jack, who by now had risen to his hands and knees again. “It is time to decide. Shall you carry your friend across the desert, or will you leave him behind to die?” Ryan could only scream out on top of the ensuing conversation, trying unsuccessfully to muffle his cries.

Ryan watched the pain in Jack’s face take over, as the reality of the situation began to set in. He had always been such a strong man ever since he had joined the military, using its purpose to drive him forward. But now, it was gone. Tears ran down his face and the sound that haunted Ryan’s dreams emerged from Jack’s throat. It was not a scream, nor a cry, it could only be described as the sound of agony, as it violently erupted from the human soul. “Why?” Jack sobbed, “Why couldn’t you let us die with our honor! Why tell us this, now? Why let us free? WHY?”

“Because, little soldier man,” Mufeed laughed, “In this world, our lives are no more significant than our deaths. There is no reason! That is the very best part; can’t you see this? One more body on the pile means nothing, and one more broken soul wandering the desert means even less. Neither in life, nor in death, will you ever matter… Just like Mufeed…” He said, staring emptily into his victim’s eyes, “Just like Mufeed…”

“You’re lying!” Shouted Ryan, still crippled on the floor.

“Ah, well you only need to live long enough to see the headlines, then!” Laughed Mufeed, “But now as much as I have enjoyed our time together, dear friends, I am afraid we must leave, I wish you farewell…” Soon after, their captors had left the room and then the facility itself, leaving Ryan and Jack alone, sobbing together on the dirty floor.