2,170 words (9–12 minutes)
Genre(s): War fiction, Psychological horror
Originally published in Tales of Soldiers and Civilians (1891)

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In the aftermath of a brutal Civil War battle, a weary Union captain wanders through a corpse-strewn forest until he finds the mangled, barely-living body of his closest friend. With grotesque realism and unflinching detail, Bierce explores the blurred lines between mercy, duty, and despair. As dusk falls, The Coup de Grace becomes a harrowing meditation on the cost of war and the unbearable weight of compassion.