Death was easy. All it took was one well placed IED. I never felt a thing. Scratch one Marine. Three points for the bad guys.

When I opened my eyes, the Humvee, my crew and the Iraqi desert were all gone. The temperature was 4o degrees cooler and thick underbrush surrounded where I stood, except for a path leading away from my position.

I still had my sidearm strapped to my belt, my M-16 at the ready. It was a weird scene, no kidding, but I then remembered the explosion that killed me, so I figured, dead or not, it was time to move out.

I followed the path.

The first ambush caught me by surprise. Five Japanese manned a machine gun nest in the middle of the path. I took them out with a grenade. Then, in quick succession, attacks came from a Korean sniper, a Palestinian suicide bomber and ten Iraqi riflemen.

I killed them all.

The path led to a clearing in the center of which stood an angel.

“Welcome home, Marine,” she said.

I slung my rifle and followed her as she swung open a golden gate.