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story identification - SF short that I read in 1987


I'm trying to find a story that we read in class back in 1987. The story has two soldiers that find themselves pitted against each other, but separated by some kind of force field or line or something like that. At the end of the story, the protagonist defeats his opponent and crosses the force field to inspect his kill. While looking down at it he's disgusted and repulsed by its physical form. It's then that the reader realizes that the story is being told from the alien's POV and not the human's because he says something to the effect of, "It doesn't even have scales."


The whole class was just blown away. When you're a little kid it's incredibly difficult to see something from someone else's perspective so this just messed with us. I'd love to read this with my son. I've often wondered if it was something published in those weekly school magazines, but I just can't be sure. Any help would be greatly appreciated.





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