Death.
Something that everyone will experience at some point in time.
Our Lives are just the culmination of every experience our soul encounters.
But what happens after we close our eyes, take our final breath, and our heart ceases to beat.
What happens after death? It is the single most significant question in human existence. One that has no answer until your time comes to experience it.
Many believe in deities that will ferry your soul to its final destination, while others subscribe to the theory of reincarnation.
I follow the theory that many Gods have existed since the beginning of time.
Figures that grasp in the palm of their hand the ability to destroy everything we know and hold dear single-handedly.
If someone were to ask me which deity I have a connection or belief in, my answer would be the All-Father, Odin, from Norse mythology.
While a vast amount of people in this day and age have chosen to ignore religion as a whole, there is still a majority of humans who live their lives praying to some form of a higher power.
Why am I bringing all this up at the start of our tale?
That’s simple. Today it was my time to obtain the answer that has eluded our whole species.
Today at 29 years old, I Died on the 5th of November, 2021.
It wasn’t a quiet or painless death.
I didn’t simply fall asleep or succumb to a disease.
It was something violent, loud, and painful.
But I am not alone in this final moment.
Watching the seemingly ever-expanding flash of bright light with me is my younger brother Brandon and dozens of other militiamen who were just ordinary people up until a couple of months ago.
Let us go back about three months before our current clip in time.
August 23 2021 6:30pm
The sound of an action-filled fight scene roared through the whole house while my brother and I had our happy butts sitting on the living room couch. We were watching an anime about a Viking kid who kicked some serious ass before shortly after, the ending credits and theme began to play.
“Damn, Tyler, you were right about this show.” My brother mumbled while standing and stretching from the position where he had been perched for the last 8 hours straight.
“Tsk, seriously, one of these days, you’re going to start taking my word every time I recommend something to you. Hell, this show should have been on your watch list ages ago, but you’re only just now getting to it.” I chirped in response while watching my brother Brandon move towards the kitchen to toss out our empty cans of soda and the empty pizza box that was leftover from dinner.
“What can I say? I’m a busy man. It’s hard to find time to sit still for so long only to binge-watch a whole season of a show, especially since I’ve spent the last nine weeks training other officers.”
My brother is a well-liked police officer in his department, so of course, they would throw training all of the new cops onto him. His being in this position is partly due to him being a former marine and partly due to him just being absurdly good at his job.
“Oh, look at me. I’m so important and have no time to hang out with my awesome older brother.” I quipped snarkily at his self-righteous tone.
His face contorted into a cross between anger and annoyance. “Listen here, you little shit, get over here and do these dishes while I go take a piss.” He said while walking out of the kitchen and down the hallway towards the direction of the bathroom.
“Yeah, yeah, whatever, I got it, give me a second,” I replied while standing up from the couch and dusting crumbs off my lap.
It was only a dozen or so feet from the living room to the kitchen, so it didn’t take me more than a few seconds to reach the sink, where I proceeded to wash the plates we had used for dinner.
My typical habit of looking out the window directly in front of the sink kicked in. Since I was a kid, it was like some weird tick where if I’m washing dishes, my first instinct wouldn’t be to look at what I was cleaning, but instead, I would zone out by looking directly out the window.
Generally, all I see is the empty backyard; if I was lucky, maybe a squirrel or some other small animal would go about their lives. But tonight was different.
Now by no means was my brother’s backyard large, maybe only a couple dozen square feet. Large enough that the back porch lights would barely reach the edge of the fence, bathing the backyard in dim light. But for some reason, the light that was usually on wasn’t.
Which in itself is weird since I was the one who flipped the switch before it got dark out.
Grunting in annoyance, I leaned over to the left of the sink where the switch for the porch light is and proceeded to flick it over and over a handful of times, only for the light to still be off.
‘Weird, maybe the bulb is just burned out; I’ll tell Brandon and have him fix it in the morning.’ I pondered while shrugging and going back to wash the remaining dishes. However, just as I was shuffling back towards my dishwashing spot while shooting one more glance out the window, something caught my attention.
It was only for the briefest of seconds, but it was a slight flare in the distance, something like a camera flash.
Without realizing it, my body shifted slightly to the right, and in doing so, I unintentionally avoided something perilous.
Because when I shifted unconsciously, the window in front of me exploded inwards, followed by an off in the distance soft bang.
In shock, I fell backward onto my ass and stared wide-eyed at the shattered window in front of me.
“Son OF A BITCH! BRANDON!” I yelled at the top of my lungs while kicking off the cupboard in front of me and doing a backward somersault, putting some distance between myself and the kitchen window.
“What the Fuck?” I heard my brother’s voice from the other side of the house.
My mind was reeling from what had just transpired. I’ve always been quick-witted and apt at instantly piecing together situations on the fly.
‘Flash of light, window exploding, bang in the distance. Someone just took a God damn shot at me.’
To add insult to injury and muddy the already ever increasingly chaotic moment, both my smart-watch and cellphone started loudly shrieking in sync.
Paying no mind to either device at the moment and Keeping low to the ground, I moved towards the side of my brother’s house, arriving quickly by his side as he read the alerts with an emotionless expression plastered on his face.
Seeing him be so attentive, I took a second to glance at the notification on my own devices. The gist of the messages was simple. The country was under attack. Foreign governments had banded together and unleashed a massive zerg tactic attack on the entire eastern and western coasts of the United States.
The Axis essentially consisted of every enemy nation we had accumulated over the last 60 years.
World War 3 had just kicked off out of nowhere on that quiet night. Now I know what you’re thinking. How could it already be considered WW3? And well, my response is simple. If half of the superpowers in the world join forces and attack the self-imposed “Number 1,” would that not make it a “World War.”
Anyway, since we lived only 20 miles from the ocean in Florida, we just so happened to be smack dab in the middle of the initial confrontation of the just beginning war.
Brandon calmly placed his phone down and disappeared down the hall and into his bedroom without a word. Left alone for the moment, I closed my eyes in his absence and just focused on my hearing. In the distance, I could faintly make out the sound of several explosions and what sounded like gunfire.
While I was zoned out, Brandon was quietly rummaging around his closet. He wasn’t panicking; as someone who had spent several years in the marine corps and as a cop, his mind was just fundamentally different from an average person. Instead, years of training and experience had instantly kicked in.
It only took him a few seconds to retrieve a few sizeable complex plastic cases and return to my side. Silently he thrust 2 of these cases unto me. Then, as if in a trance, I swiftly unhinged the latches on the larger box, my hands quickly removing its contents. Then, with experienced motions, I began assembling the broken-down AR15 assault rifle. Doing a simple check to ensure the rifle was correctly put together, I promptly slapped in a magazine with one hand and quickly racked a round into the chamber.
Once finished with the rifle, I carefully placed it against the wall, barrel pointing towards the ceiling, and opened the second case.
While smaller, its contents were a lot more numerous, A single Glock .45, a leg holster, and around a dozen magazines chocked full of ammunition. The first four magazines contained .45 rounds, while the remaining eight held .223 rounds for the rifle.
Noticing I had emptied my cases, Brandon tossed me one of the tactical vests he had due to his part-time position on the SWAT team.
The two of us, fully geared and ready to go, knelt on one knee while removing the pendants we had always worn from under our shirts.
His was an expensive-looking gold chain with a well made golden crucifix hanging from it,
Mine was a worn-out, moderately sized steel chain sporting a heavy, upsidedown hammer inscribed with intricate knots and runes. Mjolnir, a sign of my Norse faith.
Each of us said a quick prayer and stood up.
Not another word would leave our lips; it was like an invisible rope had been created between us, allowing information to flow wordlessly. A simple look in the eyes made verbal communication unnecessary.
With this, the two of us entered into World War 3. The initial invasion had somehow wholly avoided all of the military’s advanced systems and caught the whole country with its pants down.
It didn’t take long for the entire system to collapse completely. Despite the fact that guns are not banned in the United States, it caught the Axis power entirely off guard when over a million ordinary citizens took up arms and began fighting back before the military could even start its first counterattack, throwing the whole “War Machine” into chaos.
Brandon and I quickly joined up with a small militant group, and we were doing our part. Over the next few weeks, with the military’s aid, the United Forces started pushing back, and eventually, we came to the 5th of November.
The last hoorah of two brothers who had faced multiple challenges of death and pain throughout their short lives, even in this simple, peaceful world of law and technology. Pain that many people had never experienced.
And on this night, as we watched a seemingly never-ending wave of bright lights trailing smoke soar into the sky, we knew it had come to an end.
As these thoughts finish, We come back to the moment I spoke of before. The notification had gone out minutes earlier; The Axis powers had launched over a hundred nuclear weapons targeting significant positions in the united states. One of which, unfortunately, was where Brandon and I were standing.
We didn’t need words.
We knew damn well it was a warrior’s death for both of us, just like our father had instilled into our heads as kids, to fight till we couldn’t keep fighting anymore, and we had done just that. Despite my brother’s continued combat in the military, I never let my reflexes or knowledge dull after many years of training our physique and mentality.
It was the end
While we didn’t know what would come after we died, we both had our beliefs.
Brandon Fully believed he’d be going to heaven, while I, on the other hand, couldn’t wait to go to the Great Hall of Valhalla.
Slowly, our eyes followed the incoming nuclear missiles as several broke through the countermeasures put in place by the military and headed directly for us. Unlike what everyone else around me was showing, I couldn’t stop grinning like a madman. With nowhere to run and hide, I turned my head to the left and saw the same expression on my brother’s face.
Raising my rifle over my head and shouting, “ONWARD TO THE GREAT HALL,” I broke off, sprinting towards where I estimated the impact would be. Hot on my heels, Brandon followed suit; while the people behind us either collapsed or cried, the two wild brothers would rather face death head-on.
There was no explosion. First, all I saw was just a bright flash. Then, shortly after followed the most intense heat I had ever experienced. Lastly, an extreme and unimaginable pain.
Then.
Nothing.
I had died.