Talk to the kids

You step out of the shadows slowly, hands visible, rifle still wrapped.

“Easy,” you mutter. “Same side.”

The taller kid sixteen, maybe seventeen jerks his cigarette up like a weapon before he sees your patch. The shorter one just stares with huge eyes under a helmet two sizes too big.

“Thought you were a ghost,” the tall one says with voice cracking halfway through. He tries to laugh it off and fails.

You nod at the bus. “Quiet shift?”

They both glance at each other, then back to you.

“Our lieutenant told us to hold this corner,” the short one says. “Said if we left the post he’d shoot us himself. So we sit here while they…” He jerks his chin toward the screams deeper in the city. “While they do that.”

The tall one spits the cigarette away. “We signed up to kick the old government out. Free the country. Nobody said anything about this.” His voice is small, almost embarrassed. “They’re dragging girls and women out of houses, man, and old people too. Shooting dogs for fun. This isn’t… this isn’t what we thought it's gonna be like.”

The short one hugs his rifle to his chest like it’s cold. “They promised us food, uniforms, a future. Not… not this.”

Both of them look at the ground now, ashamed to be wearing the same patch you are.

You study their faces, kids. Actual kids, faces still round with baby fat and hands shaking around weapons they barely know how to use.

Wind carries another scream from three blocks over, followed by coarse laughter.

The tall one whispers, “I think about running every minute.”

Silence stretches. The city burns behind you. Ahead, the cathedral waits with your sister inside, or what’s left of her.

You wet your cracked lips.

You could tell them to throw the rifles in the ditch, strip the patches and disappear into the dark before their lieutenant comes back. Or you could say nothing, walk on and let them stay chained to this checkpoint and whatever comes after.

Your next words will decide if these two kids live through the night as soldiers or start living as something else.

What do you tell them?