Johnny Comes Marching Home Again

by Joel Woodard

A badly injured soldier awakens to find himself helpless inside his own body. High tech battle armor is keeping him alive and marching back to base. He is not alone. The dead and the dying march with him across hostile territory with no memory of how they got there or what they have done.

Helpless and confused, the soldiers find themselves unwilling passengers in their own bodies forced to observe as complex machinery decides what is necessary to keep them alive. They struggle to decide where the machine ends and the person begins.

Are they slaves to the machine or is this their first taste of freedom?

62 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 28, 2015

Reviews

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this online. It was a very good, harrowing story that made me cry. It also made me think about humans. What lengths we will go to to make war and what devices we’ll come up with. It is a modern story for the online age, but it has a post-WW2 sentiment to it. However, I was also kind of impressed by the premise. There is bravery and horror right next to each other.

I shouldn’t attribute false meaning to a Reddit story though, and the writing is a bit boring in that Reddit post way. However, the ideas and themes are terrifying and sad.