Our ballista slams out another volley. My loader slaps my shoulder. I open up through the wire with the big Browning.

Through the fog I see burning tracks littering the wheat fields. Our main gun cycles as actinic light sears the horizon.

My melted eyes weep. Gods, please not again.

David Arnold is a former Army officer and retired academic administrator. He has recent published work in Narrative, Raven’s Perch, Microfiction Monday, and This Old Boat. He lives in the Bluegrass Region of Kentucky with his wife Rose, Bonnie the Dog, and Mosel the Cat.