We Need Discipline!

"We need discipline!", barked our crusty old sergeant. Stupid cracker, for sure. 'Course, dark as it was, he could've been a Jewish Eskimo, for all I could tell. He clearly enjoyed being our senior, but someone has to give orders; might as well be someone who likes it.
The darkness was overwhelming. So was the smell - so many of us packed into one small space.
"We must maintain our discipline! It is the only way we may arrive in one piece!" I couldn't see him, of course, couldn't see any of the others, since it was so dark, but there was no avoiding his presence. He owned our crowded space. It, and us, were his to command. No one would dare move against him.

"Now, I don't want to see any of you -" several of us snickered - "fall out, and by the way, you think that's funny? You think I wanna see you sorry bastards? I know some of you are falling to pieces already. I'd say you're a disgrace to your parents, but you probably don't have any. You're a disgrace to whatever assholes put you together, not to mention your country and this unit. God knows why I put up with you all. Flaky, the whole lot! Damn miracle we got this far."

I'm sure if he could have, he would have begun pacing. "Now, as I was saying, we must maintain our order, must not fall out of line, or else all is lost - if one falls out of place, we, as a unit, will crumble."

It's times like this I wonder about my life - it seems like all I can remember is being pushed this way and that, never really on my own. Well, I guess things haven't been so bad. We were all real soft before, real doughy, you know, but now we're hard. Real hard. I like that. I like feeling that way... but, it's like I've been on a conveyor belt, shoved into some damn box, and shipped off to who-the-hell knows where, for... no one seems to know. Maybe that crusty old bastard, maybe he knows, but he won't say. Special orders or something. That's how it always is.

Oh, I should mention the shaking. Yeah, none of us can see, and I'm not sure exactly what's going on, but I know for sure we're moving. There's a whole lotta shaking. Has been for a while. Not so much that I'm gonna fall to pieces or anything; hell no, I wouldn't give our sergeant that sort of satisfaction; but we are not exactly on a first-class type trip. So some of the guys are probably a little shook up. Yeah, I'm glad the old bastard up front can't hear that joke, he'd probably want to use it himself. heh. Bad enough I thought of it.

"Now, I know some of you are feeling a little shook up -",
"Fuck," I thought to myself -
"and I know you ain't never been away from home before -" I could feel his smile in the dark, when he made that damn joke - "bunch of softies, but we got picked. We're a special order, you know that? Not like the rest. No, we're made a little differently."
That was for sure - especially the guy behind me, who was way too damn happy to rub up against my backside. Well, I couldn't help but do the same to the guy in front, packed tight as we were, and what with all the shaking. Different for sure - like a whole bunch of queers, is what we were.

"It won't be long before -"
There was a horrible tearing sound. It came from - oh shit. There's daylight. Daylight is knifing its way in through the rip. Can't see a damn thing, but there's lots of yelling, and we're moving now.

- Think I heard sarge yelling.

- Can almost see something - wait, what the -

..giant hand?
crushing...damn strong. got me, now.
Tried getting away. Me and the others.

Oh God -

The heat...the heat...and the gnashing of teeth...it...can't be. They're...shit, oh shit, oh shit, they're all being crushed, I can hear them crunching, like bugs, like...bones?, into that gaping maw, into that...into the pit - "Into the darkness, where there will be much weeping and gnashing of teeth..." No! No! Never! I-!"



And then the boy finished his crackers. They were quite good. The way they crunched was especially delightful. And the wrapper! That salty, crackery smell! He felt as though he was in heaven. He hoped there would be more tomorrow.