There's blood on the sands. There's a dew drop slipping down the rim of a sniper's scope and a blue bottle buzzing around his eye. There's sweat slickening his grip on the wooden body. There's a scuffed shirt rubbing grains of dirt at the elbow. There's grass casting tiger stripe shadows on a prone body.
There's people on the beach. There's women and there's children.
There's a short intake of breath. There's oxygen exciting capillaries. There's fuel in the blood. There's a small motion of an index finger.
There's a small chemical explosion. There's a vast release of energy.
There's a crack in the wind. There's a scream over the waves.
Paddy Dobson
19th April 2022