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Weapons Training

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“Hello, I’m Boarder First Class Alex Greer. My lovely assistant is Boarder Third Class Emily Moran. In case you don’t know much about the Navy, Boarders are the security detail on Navy ships. The First Class comes from my rank, Petty Officer First Class,” Petty Officer Greer was standing at a podium in front of 2nd Battalion. Petty Officer Moran was sitting on a stool next to a rack that held two unfamiliar firearms.

“So, I’m here today to teach your Battalion about two weapons that the Navy has been using for a few years. Due to the evolving nature of warfare, and your units upcoming deployment to the city of Urbs, close quarters combat is be becoming more and more of a reality. The first weapon is the Frost Gun. Em, could you hand me one and walk the aisle with the other,” Petty Officer Greer walked over to Moran, who handed him one of the firearms. She then picked up another one and started walking the aisles.

“This is probably going to be more well known to some of you who grew up in the country. The Frost Gun is a pump action shotgun. That means in order to fire a round, you have to pump this back,” Petty Officer Greer pumped the shotgun, “It takes a round from the tubular magazine and pushes it into the chamber. It holds six rounds plus one in the pipe. When you get range time I’ll show you how to load it. Now if you’ll all turn to Petty Officer Moran.”

Petty Officer Moran was standing in the middle of the room. She held up her Frost Gun in one hand and put her other hand on her belt, “Hi, as Bee One said, I’m Em. The Frost Gun also has an attachment for when you run out of the seven rounds. It has a bayonet lug on the front that can fit the same bayonet that you’ve used on the Standard Ethslin Rifle you all are issued.”

Moran drew the bayonet from the frog on her belt and held it out, “I don’t necessarily recommend this sword bayonet though, you can cut it down to about half the length, which still gives some reach, but you can actually take corners well if your moving through corridors,” She then sheathed the bayonet and reached around for the frog on her opposite hip and drew a shorter bayonet and fixed it to the shotgun, “I was on the Effingham last year when it was boarded, and one thing my party noticed was that we couldn’t aim our Frost Guns when we were rounding the corners, so we went the the Machinist’s shop and had our bayonets cut down.”

“Em makes some good points,” Petty Officer Greer moved to put the Frost Gun back on its rack while Moran made her way back, “The Frost Gun has an accurate range of 30 meters. Next, Em, could you grab my favorite toy?”

“Yes Bee One,” Moran grabbed the two odd looking firearms next to the Frost Guns, she handed one to Petty Officer Greer and walked out into the aisle with the other one.

“Now this little thing is beautiful, This is the Blaire Auto Gun. It has a thirty round magazine that fires the same rounds as the Benett Pistol. It is a new kind of firearm, called a ‘submachine gun.’ It fires fast like a machine gun, but it weighs the same as a rifle. It has a range of about one hundred meters,” Petty Officer Greer demonstrated the action on the Blaire Auto Gun, “There is also a safety near the trigger, point up for safe, point forward for fire.”

Aiming the Auto Gun, Petty Officer Greer pulled the bolt back and clicked the trigger, “In my experience it’s best if you fire in short one to three second bursts. Any more and you just waste ammo. That seems it for right now. See y’all on the range.”

Petty Officers Greer and Moran started clearing out while the silhouette of a woman appeared in the doorway. Evans could see that she was wearing the skirt of an officer, but that was it. After about a minute, when the two Petty Officer’s left out the back door, the officer entered the room and stepped up to the podium.

Her shoulder boards had the insignia of a Major. The major didn’t have the tie color of the 202nd. She opened up a folder she had been carrying and opened it on the podium, “Hello, I’m Major Allison Strummer, just transfered from the 194th. I guess Petty Officer Greer let the cat out of the bag. The Navy has cut off the Vledscan supply ships at White Beach. Their General in charge is going to officially surrender within the week. So we are being transfered to the Dry Forest region.”

The Major looked out over the battalion, “I’ve got some even worse news. We’re going into Urbs. Newacre says we can’t bypass the city, and can’t just blast the place to Hell with artillery, so we’ll be going in to try and secure the place for Armored Car support. Those chaps will then roll in and claim credit for winning the battle and the infantry will once again be ignored.”

She shuffled the papers on the podium, “Alright, We are going to do a slight reorganization of the platoons to deal with city fighting. Each Rifle Team will have two soldiers operating a Frost Gun with a Benett Pistol as a sidearm. Each rifle team will also be assigned a Blaire Auto Gun. Officers are now to be assigned Blaire Auto Guns to supplement their sidearms. Each platoon will be assigned specific roles as well. First Platoon of each company will have a Machine Gun team attached to their unit. Second Platoon will have two Marksmen attached to their unit, one with a Charles Rifle and one with a scoped Standard Ethslin Rifle. Third Platoon will have a Frost Flame Projector team attached. Machine Gun Platoons will be reassigned to Regimental HQ and will be replaced with an addition Mortar team for each Company.

“While Company Commanders are given discretion, it is recommended that Second Platoon acts as recon, First Platoon acts as support, and Third Platoon will take out hard points. Mortar Teams will be assigned mostly smoke rounds, to screen infantry movement. I know that sounds BS, and I’ll try and get more explosive rounds.”

The Major nodded, “That’s it for today, Schedule for Company weapons training is posted. Company Commanders have been given orders on the new teams assigned to their companies. And, I don’t really care for pageantry, so, Lieutenant Simmons, you’re a Captain now. Dismissed to company meetings.”

The battalion got up and split up into companies. The Company Sergeant lead Fox Company to a room on the right, where they all reseated themselves by platoons. Captain Simmons walked to the front of the room and opened a folder. He nodded to Lance Corporal Chambers, who skittered out the door and down the hall. After a few minutes, four Corporals and four Lance Corporals entered the room. Captain Simmons looked over at the new soldiers, “Corporal Holman.”

One of the Corporals stepped forward, “I’m Corporal Myra Holman, I’m the Gun Commander for the Machine Gun team. The two soldiers under my command are Lance Corporals Wesley Olivier and Toby Lockwood. We were with the 351st at Dry Forest during the thick of it.”

“Next we have Corporal Calepino… Am I saying that right?”

Two Corporals stepped forward, “Yes sir, I’m Corporal Silvio Calepino. This is Corporal Eva Blake. We are the Marksman team. Fought through Tsiv River, then were moved as staff to the Marksman training school.”

“And finally Corporal Irvine.”

The last three stepped forward, “I’m Corporal Rory Irvine, the Mortarman. This is Lance Corporal Emma Sutcliffe, my spotter and Lance Corporal Edwin Purcell, my Loader. We were all in more traditional mortar units up at the Northern Gate.”

“Alright, now that we have met our new friends, let’s start the rest of this meeting. First off, Range times…”

Geology

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“Now that you’re all settled in Lieutenant, you should pick your runner. I suggest Private Evans here, he’s been my runner for about a month now,” Lieutenants Simmons and Stoddart were seated at a table, while Evans was packing up the last of Lieutenant Simmons’ things.

“Can I select anyone for my runner?” Lieutenant Stoddart flipped through his notebook.

“Yeah, you can pick anyone really. Since you’re at full strength they’ll be sharing a room with you.”

“Private Clark. I happened to talk to her the other day and she apparently was a secretary before the war.”

Lieutenant Simmons nodded and looked at Evans, “Alright then, can you hand me my bag. And you’ll want to teach Clark everything she needs to now.”

Evans held up his bag and handed it to Lieutenant Simmons, “Nice serving under you sir.”

“I’ll see you around the Company Evans,” Lieutenant Simmons slung his bag, put his garrison cap on and exited the room.

Evans turned to Lieutenant Stoddart, “Sir, do you want me to get Private Clark?”

“Yes…” Lieutenant Stoddart paused a moment, “Wait a moment.”

“Yes Sir,” Evans paused by the door.

The Lieutenant sighed, “Look, I’m sure you’re a great runner and all…”

“Honestly I don’t care sir. I’m sure Clark will be a fine choice sir,” Evans started opening the door.

“It’s just, I figure, hey, if I’m going to have someone with me all the time,” Lieutenant Stoddart started writing down some notes, “I might as well have someone I could have a little… you know with. Never mind, Dismissed Private.”

Evans exited the room and moved back to the platoons barracks. He entered the common room and looked around. He saw the young blond women and waved, “Hey, Private Clark, Lieutenant Stoddart wants you in his tent. Bring your gear.”

Clark smiled, “OK Jimmy… Evans… I feel special, being called into the Lieutenant’s office. Hope I’m not in trouble.” She grabbed her bag and left the barracks.

Lance Corporal Newey turned to Evans, “So what’s that about.”

“She is the new runner for the new Lieutenant, So I’m back in your team Sergeant Campbell,” Evans walked over and patted Sergeant Campbell on the back.

Laughing, Newey looked over, “She does have certain qualities that you lack mister Evans.”

“Yeah, I like how he didn’t go with subtlety with this decision. First, he picks the cute spunky blond. Second, he pretty much told me he wanted to sleep with her,” Evans sat down and put his feet up on a table, “I am glad I don’t have to do any more paperwork.”

Laughing, Lance Corporal Newey threw a ball of paper at Evans, “Oh come on, if there’s anyone who shouldn’t be allowed to talk about this is would be you. Replace blond with brunette and we have you and Zwev.”

Before Evans could respond, Clark’s voice called from the entrance, “Attention!”

Lieutenant Stoddart walked into the room, “As you were soldiers.” The Lieutenant looked around, “Um, is everyone here?”

The Sergeant’s quickly looked around. Sergeant Campbell nodded, “All present and accounted for Sir.”

“Thank you Sergeant,” The Lieutenant nodded and pulled a notebook out of his breast pocket. “So I think I should introduce myself. My name is Winston Stoddart the Third. I studied Geology at the University of Newacre. I’d like to use the knowledge I’ve gained from my years at University to teach you how to improve the trenches.”

Lieutenant Stoddart walked over to the map of White Beach on the wall, “So this is where you lot were about a month ago. Did you notice anything about the soil there?” The platoon sat in silence, “Well then… So the soil at the White Beach cliffs, where our trench line is set up is a Sandy Clay Loam for the first meter. Underneath that, it transitions into a Clay.”

Evans leaned over to Newey and whispered to him, “Hey, Anna’s train is leaving in about twenty minutes. Could you distract him so I can slip out? I feel like this will go on for a while.”

Newey nodded. He stood up and walked to the map and pointed to it, “So you’re saying that there is clay on top, followed by sand underneath?”

With the Lieutenant distracted, Evans slunk out of the common room and made his way through the base to the train depot. He looked around at the soldiers standing at the train. In the sea of green-dyed uniforms Evans noticed a strangely blue-red dress. He moved towards it. “Anna!”

Anna turned around and smiled, “James! Shouldn’t you be with the platoon?”

“I uh, came to see you off,” Evans hugged her and took a step back, “I’ve never seen anything like this color before. I can’t decide if it’s blue or red.”

“It’s called Mauve, which is a kind of purple. Some chemist invented it and it’s been all the rage in the cities,” Anna swished her dress back and forth, “It’s the dress I showed up to basic training in. I’ve had it in the bottom of my kit ever since.”

Making a move to pick up her bag, Evans smiled at her, “Well it looks beautiful on you.”

Anna grabbed Evans’ hand, “The trains been delayed for an hour and a half because of shelling down the line, you don’t need to grab that yet.”

“So, um,” Evans put his arm over Anna, “I bet that dress would also look beautiful off of you.”

Snickering, Anna kissed Evans on the cheek, “I obviously didn’t marry you for your smooth talking. And um, where would we go?”

Grabbing her bag in one hand and her arm in the other, Evans gestured with his head, “The new Lieutenant is giving a long and boring talk in second platoons barracks. So his office should be free.”

“Wow, I feel scandalous,” Anna walked over and sat on the bed, “On the new Lieutenant’s bed? The sheets seem to be messy already. I thought you usually did that first thing?”

“Lieutenant Stoddart picked a new runner,” Evans looked around the room, “Finally won’t have to deal with any of this anymore.”

 

Straightening out his uniform, Evans smiled over at Anna as she put on her dress, “Well I should probably get going, and your train will be coming soon. I’ll see you before the 202nd goes back to White Beach.” Evans walked to the door.

Anna threw a sock at him, “Aren’t you going to kiss me goodbye?”

Evans shrugged sheepishly, “Well I figure we already did a bit more than that.”

“Get over here right now James,” Anna smoothed down her dress, “If you die I’d prefer my last memory of you to be fully clothed.”

Evans kissed Anna, “Well I think you look great without that dress.” He turned around and went through the door, “Bye Anna.”

When he got to door of the Platoon Barracks, he waved and got Newey’s attention. He nodded and walked over to the Lieutenant, who was struggling to hold several rocks, “Sir, which one is Conglomerate sir? That’s a metamorphic rock right? Because it’s from a volcano.”

“No… That’s completely… Ooh, I think I saw a good one over by the tracks.” The Lieutenant paused, put the rocks in his haversack and sprinted out of the room.

Evans ducked against the side of the barracks while the Lieutenant sprinted away. He then walked through the door and took a seat far in the back. Everyone was silent for a moment before they started bursting into laughter.

Tiscornia looked at him, “I can’t believe he didn’t notice. This guy is going to be beautiful in combat.”

“More importantly Evans,” Private Hunt leaned closer to Evans and smiled, “How was your visit with Mrs. Evans?”

“She was wearing the most beautiful looking dress. She said it was ‘Mauve’,” Evans smiled and leaned back, “Apparently Mauve is a type of purple.”

Lance Corporal Turner smiled, “I used to have a nice mauve dress. I bet it was real pretty.”

“And you ripped it off her?”

Evans kicked Newey’s chair, “That’s a very personal question. Now let’s quiet down before the Lieutenant finds out what I did in his bed.”

Just as Private Clark was about to protest, Lieutenant Stoddart came in, with a heavy haversack, “So, guys, I mean soldiers, I managed to quickly get some. I found some really good basalt… Which is weird because there isn’t much volcanic activity in this region.”

Reinforcements

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“Evans. Evans.” Anna was kicking Evans’ bed with excitement. She tried to stay quiet so the rest of the Rifle Team wouldn’t wake up.

“Yeagh,” Evans rolled out of his bunk. He slid his feet into his boots and started to lace them up, “What brings you to Rifle Team One? Is Team Three that boring at,” he looked at his wristwatch, “Five AM?”

“Come outside Evans, I need to talk to you,” Zwev smiled and played with her kepi. After Evans got up, she exited with a bit of spring in her step. When she and Evans got outside, she grabbed him and kissed him, “It worked!”

Evans stepped back, “Whoa now, what happens if someone sees us?”

“That doesn’t matter anymore!” Anna smiled and spun around, pretending to play with an imaginary skirt. She bent over double and puked. She stood back up, “That’s what I’m talking about James! I’m pregnant!”

“You’re sure?” Evans smiled and hugged Anna.

Anna nodded, “I woke up about an hour ago vomiting, I missed my period, and I even did the old wheat and barley thing,” She smiled and gestured to Lieutenant Simmons tent, “And the Lieutenant seems to be awake.”

The two walked over to the Lieutenant’s tent. Evans knocked on the sign on the tent. Lieutenant Simmons yelled from inside, “Just a minute! Evans isn’t on duty for an hour, so I don’t have a runner right now.”

“It is Private Evans sir. And I’m with Private Zakrzewska sir,” Evans waited by the door of the tent.

“Oh, come on in Private Evans.”

“Yes sir,” Evans opened the door gestured for Anna to come in. He moved to the portable stove to start it up, “Do you want some coffee Lieutenant? And um… Private Zakrzewska and I have something to talk to you about Sir.”

“Yes, coffee Evans, and make some for yourself,” The Lieutenant was seated at his desk, going through some paperwork, “And what is it Privates? Is it quick, I need to finish this up in an hour.”

Anna saluted the Lieutenant, “Sir, One month ago, during leave, Private Evans and I got married in secret. Over the course of said month, Private Evans has impregnated me, and as such, I am no longer fit for service in the army sir.”

Lieutenant Simmons nodded, “Well you picked a good time to tell me Miss Zakrzewska. Or I guess its Miss Evans now isn’t it?” He pulled another form out of his desk, “I need to ask you a few questions. First off, do you have the marriage certificate?”

Anna reached into her pocket and fished out the paper, “Here it is, the Pastor was Daniel Blair.”

Lieutenant Simmons grabbed the paper and started copying down information, “Any in unit witnesses to the wedding?”

“Yes sir, Lance Corporals Tiscornia and Chilcott sir.”

Evans walked over to Lieutenant Simmons with a mug of coffee, “Here sir, any sugar today?”

“No thank you Private,” Lieutenant Simmons grabbed the mug and sipped, “Why don’t you get your wife some Private, and since your here, can you start filling out these forms,” The Lieutenant gestured to the paperwork he had been working on earlier. He turned back to Anna, “And when did you first realize your were pregnant?”

“This morning all but confirmed it sir,” Anna smiled, “I haven’t had my period in over a month, and this morning I woke up nauseous. I also have done the wheat and barley test, and that worked.”

The Lieutenant nodded, “Alright Miss Evans, that is about everything, I’ll put this up the chain, but you’ll need to see the Regimental Doctor to have your status confirmed, and then we can return you to… Ah, where are you expecting to go?”

Private Evans handed Anna her cup of coffee, “Thanks James, And um, we actually bought an apartment in Seahaven. So I’ll be going there sir.”

“Very Well,” The Lieutenant signed at the bottom and held out the paper, “Can both of you sign at the bottom of this form, and Miss Evans, take it to the Regimental Doctor.”

Evans grabbed the paper and a pen. He quickly signed it and offered it to Anna, who did the same. She kissed Evans then ran out of the tent, and out of the war.

Evans turned turned back to the Lieutenant, expecting to be berated. Instead, the Lieutenant gestured back to the paperwork that Evans had barely started, “You should get back to work Private, this needs to be over to Colonel Darling by six. And I’ll need you to run it, I have a general scheduled with the platoon at that time.”

“Company sir,” Evans handed an envelope he had just opened to the Lieutenant, “You’re now Fox Company commander sir. Congratulations on the promotion. We’re apparently receiving a new officer, Lieutenant Winston Stoddart the Third to take over Second Platoon.”

“Huh,” Lieutenant Simmons grabbed the paper from Evans, “So it goes Private. I’ll be sure to recommend you as runner for the new Lieutenant. And the platoon will be brought back up to full strength again, so you can drop your duties as a rifleman.”

“Thank you sir,” Evans looked through the forms, “Um sir, should I change this to fourteen enlisted soldiers needed as replacements? Since Private Zakrzewska is leaving the unit.”

“Yes, and you can just say ‘Anna’ Private Evans, I’ll know who you are talking about,” the Lieutenant took a sip of coffee and flipped through some papers, “And congratulations on your marriage Private.”

“You’re not angry Lieutenant?”

Laughing, the Lieutenant responded, “Some folks just aren’t fit for a war. Best that they leave before they break during combat. And Hey, aren’t I allowed to enjoy a good love story?”

About ten minutes before six, the two had finished all the paperwork. The Lieutenant gathered it all in a folder and handed it to Evans. Evans nodded and left the tent. It didn’t take him long to snake his way through the camp to Regimental Headquarters. He knocked on the door and waited for a response.

After a few seconds, a Corporal opened the door, paused for a moment, then said, “You’re the runner from Fox Company Second Platoon right?”

Evans nodded and held out the folder. The Corporal gestured towards an office near the back, “Colonel Darling is expecting you, in there.”

Evans nodded and walked through regimental headquarters to the Colonel’s office. He stopped at the open door and saluted, “Sir, I’m here to deliver the reinforcement request form from Fox Company Second Platoon.”

Returning the salute, Colonel Darling waved Evans in and grabbed the folder, “You’re the Platoon with that slut who got herself pregnant. Did you include her disgrace in your totals?”

“Yes, I included my wife in the totals sir,” Evans tried to restrain himself.

“If it were up to me both of you would be shot,” The Colonel quickly added a few signatures to the forms in the folder. He looked on a roster and wrote down fourteen names from it on the folder. He handed it back to Evans with a disgusted look, “The replacements are getting inspected by the regimental doctor. And if you run fast, your whore might still be there.”

Evans grabbed the folder, saluted, did an about face, left the room, and immediately punched a wall. After he had regained his composure he walked through the halls of the building, following the signs that pointed to the doctor’s office. When he entered, he saw Anna, sitting on a bench, wearing a hospital gown. She smiled at him and waved.

He sat down next to her, put his arm around her, and kissed her on the cheek, “Met with the doctor yet?”

“No, Colonel Darling yelled at me for a while,” Anna laughed and hugged Evans, “But I don’t care, I won’t have to see him again.”

“Well I will, and he does not like me,” Evans gestured to his folder, “I have to go turn this in and grab the reinforcements. Stop by Fox before you get the train home.”

“I will, and did the Colonel give you that ‘I should have you both shot’ line?”

Evans laughed, “Yes dear, now I really have to go.” He kissed her one more time then walked into the doctors office. An orderly was sitting on the examination table, smoking.

“Hi, I’m here to collect fifteen reinforcements,” Evans showed the folder to the orderly.

Without taking the cigarette out of his mouth, the orderly responded, “Take that door right there. They’re all waiting in a staging area out back. Doc Laurie is finishing up with them.”

Evans thanked the orderly and exited out the door the orderly had gestured to. A few hundred soldiers were lounging on the parade grounds. There was a stage and a podium in front of the group. The doctor was in front of the podium doing quick medical checks on a few soldiers.

Running through the crowd of people, Evans saluted the doctor, “Sir, I’m here to collect fourteen soldiers and one officer.”

The doctor nodded to the podium, “Theres one of those sound amplifying cones under the podium. Yell in that, it will be louder.”

Evans nodded and stepped up next to he podium. He grabbed the cone and opened the folder, “Privates Kristin Clark, Wilfred Hoste, Vivien Kempe, Marianne Cayley, Thomas Penney, Robert Huntley, Feliks Macczek, Victor Delage, Hugo Ordon, Joseph Wood, Adrian Hawke, Rebecca Ullman. Lance Corporal… Iosif Ustinov! Sergeant Christopher Gabriel. And Lieutenant Winston Stoddart the Third. Come over to me. You’ll be in Second Platoon of Fox Company, Second Battalion.”

Fifteen soldiers got up and started making their way over. One of them jogged over, when they got closer, Evans realized it was Ustinov, “Hey Ustinov, they gave you Lance Corporal just for getting shot? Sounds like a pretty sweet deal.”

“Yeah, I’m tempted to get shot a few more times so I can be an officer,” Ustinov laughed before adopting a more serious face, “So I take it Green was killed.”

“Yeah, attack came the day after you left. Shell killed her and Renoir. Also ripped off Frankland’s arm,” Evans wiped his face, “We also lost Griffith, Davis—”

“Haven’t you been taught to salute officers?” Evans and Ustinov looked up to see a young Lieutenant looking at the two with disdain. They both sighed and saluted the officer. The officer returned the salute, “And you Private, take my pack.” The officer unbuckled his webbing and handed it to Evans.

“Yes sir,” Evans slung the gear onto his back and turned back to Ustinov, “We lost a lot of people, we can talk later. But on a more positive note, Private Zakrzewska is no more, She’s Anna Evans now, and is being discharged from the Army as we speak.”

Evans looked around and counted the soldiers, fifteen, “Alright everyone, lets get you to Fox Company.”

Evans and Ustinov led the group through the camp. The Sergeant jogged up next to them, “Hey, I’m Sergeant Gabriel. I take it you two have already seen a show?”

“Yeah, I’m about two months green, but I was at White Beach,” Evans shook Sergeant Gabriel’s hand, “Had a heavy attack though, why we need fifteen replacements. Private James Evans by the way.”

Ustinov offered his hand, “I’m Lance Ustinov, wounded the day before his show at White, but I caught the tail end of Tsiv River. How about you Sergeant?”

“Fought at the Saints River, very beginning of the war. Got captured in an attack. Spent a few months in a prison camp, decided it wasn’t for me and left.”

Love and Marriage

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“Pull the truck off the road here,” Tiscornia pointed to an area just off the road, about a hundred meters from the ocean. Evans turned the car off the road and shut off the car.

The group got out of the truck and gathered outside. Evans stretched and walked over next to Zwev, “Hey Anna. How was the ride?”

Smiling, Zwev responded, “Yeah, and I’m glad we’re finally here. Nice driving by the way.” She stretched her arms, “So this is the beach. What do you think?”

Evans looked around at the beach. The waves crashing up against the shore. He looked at Zwev, “Kinda seems like the desert. Except damper.”

Tiscornia walked between them and put his arms over their shoulders, “Come on, it’s great. Now let’s set up the lean to.”

The group started setting up the lean to connected to their truck. It took them about half an hour. They started to unroll their bedrolls and set up their beds. Tiscornia waved to Zwev and Evans, and pulled them out of the tent, “Hey, you two want to set up in the back of the truck, after you know, we head out. Which…” Tiscornia looked at his watch, “We should leave soon for.” He put his head in the tent, “Hey Chilly, we should get going.”

Chilcott yelled to the others, “Hey, Dom, Evans, and I are going out to get food, we’ll be back in a few hours.”

The four set off, to walk the two miles to the local church. It was a short walk, and when they arrived, they found a man sitting outside on a lawn chair. He called out to them, “Hallo! Can I be of assistance?”

Tiscornia bowed, “Are you the pastor here?”

The man got up and nodded, “Yes I am, do you need access to the church?”

Zwev grabbed Evans’ hand and stepped forward, “James and I would like to get married sir.”

“Alright,” The pastor nodded and walked to the front door of the church and unlocked it, “Follow me, and James, would you and your fiancee write your names down on the marriage list?”

Evans and Zwev nodded and moved forward. Evans knelt down and wrote, James Evans. Zwev knelt next to him and wrote, Anna Zakrzewska. The pastor peered over her shoulder, “Miss, for the marriage, I need to know how to pronounce your name. And would you like a dress? I have a few for soldier’s weddings.”

“It’s Zakrzewska sir. And yes, I would like a dress sir,” Anna stood up a swirled an imaginary dress.

The pastor gestured her into a side room and closed the door behind her. He then turned back to the three men, “Alright, you two can take a seat up in the front pew. James, could you follow me to the front?” The pastor walked to the front of the church, to the podium under the large X. Evans followed and stood next to the pastor. The pastor nodded, “So son, where are you from?”

“I’m from Halton. Its a small town near Strongfield. We’re mostly a railroad town,” Evans shrugged, “And whats your name sir?”

“Ah right, I am Pastor Daniel Blair,” Pastor Blair shrugged, “Anna is quite beautiful.”

Evans smiled, “Yes. She deserves better than this war. And speaking of…”

Zwev stumbled out of the side room, tripping over the long white dress. She smiled at Evans underneath her veil, “Hey James.” She picked up the tail of her dress and walked down the aisle. She stood up next to Evans and smiled at him.

Pastor Blair pulled a small book out of the podium, “We are gathered here today to join James Evans and Anna Zakrzewska in marriage under our lord Joshua,” He flipped through a few pages, “I’ll skip the hymns. Um… Please rise… Heavenly Father, who is in heaven above, thank you for the joy that has brought these two together. Let Anna and James be lifted up in your spirit, and may you bless this marriage. Let them be fruitful and live a life in your honor. In Joshua’s name, Amen.”

Tiscornia and Chilcott sat down. Pastor Blair flipped through a few more pages, “Since your parents aren’t here I’ll skip over that part… Anna and James, I charge you two to remember that you are being married under the Lord our God. You must trust and love each other. It is your duty to always be faithful, to love each other, and accept the love of God. Um… I’ll just skip to the end. Do you James Evans take Anna Zakrzewska to be your lawfully wedded wife and promise to love and cherish her for the rest of your natural born life?”

“Um, Yes, I do.”

“And Anna Zakrzewska, do you take James Evans to be your lawfully wedded husband and promise to love and cherish him for the rest of your natural born life?”

“I do,” Zwev smiled.

“Since James and Anna come here of open heart and pure intention, I pronounce them husband and wife,” He turned to Evans, “You may kiss the bride.”

Evans lifted the veil and kissed Anna.

Day After

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“Adesciâséi amîgi.” Evans opened his eyes, Zwev rolled out in front of him, letting the flickering light from Tiscornia’s candle in. Evan’s crawled out and grabbed his rifle, leaning against the trench wall. He looked through his pockets for a little dried meat to chew on. Leaning against the wall for stand to, he tried to find anything familiar in the landscape, but the artillery barrage had rendered it utterly alien. The terrain, which before at least had a neat looking trench cutting through, was now completely pock marked

The stand to, normally marked by at least some short bursts from a machine gun, was completely silent. No one spoke. After the stand to was finally over, Lieutenant Simmons called a meeting. The remains of the platoon trudged to a small open space in the communication trench.

“We had a tough day yesterday. I’m very proud of y’all. To start this meeting, I’d like to read my list of out comrades killed or wounded yesterday,” Lieutenant Simmons pulled a list out of his breast pocket, “Lance Corporal Jennifer Green, Sergeant Virginia Griffith, Corporal Ellen Davis, Lance Corporal Chelsea Stanhope, Lance Corporal Michelle Stoneman, Lance Corporal Hugh Rogers, Privates Hannah Cain, Nicole Alden, William Frankland, Lambert Renoir, Sam Cook, and Kimberly Barnes. They will be sorely missed. But their deaths were not in vein, we held the line. Most of us have fought together in many battles, but I’m sure this was one of the roughest attacks we’ve endured. So pray for those who were injured, that they may return to our ranks, and pray for the families of those who now with God.”

The Lieutenant put the list back in his pocket and paused for a moment, “Today’s work will be light. As you might have seen, we have another company taking over watch for us today and tomorrow. So we can focus on repairing the trench as best as we can. I also need a volunteer to carry the mail and act as my runner until I can get a replacement.”

It was quiet for a moment until Zwev raised her hand, “I can sir.”

“Thank you Private Zakrzewska. I also need two soldiers to go back to Regiment and get some ammunition pallets and wood for duckboards.” A few hands raised. Lieutenant Simmons looked over the group, “Head and Nazzari… Alright. That’s about it. Head and Nazzari, y’all can get down to regiment now. Zakrzewska, can you come over to me. Everyone else, report to your Team Leaders and get to work.”

The platoon split up and Evans went to Sergeant Campbell. Sighing, he unclipped the shovel from his belt, “So… We are taking the right end of the trench. We need to dig eight feet down, install the duckboards, then build up the fire step and loopholes. Three hours on one hour off. Newey, you can take the first hour off. Evans, you next. Then Morgan. Then Hardin. Then Me. Restart from there. Alright, let’s go.”

Evans grabbed his shovel and started digging. He tried to think about home, but he couldn’t really remember it anymore. He could think of names and faces, but he couldn’t really think of anything besides the superficial.

Morgan started to sing, “Oh, hey, who’s that soldier boy?”

Hardin and Campbell joined in, “That soldier boy marching down the square. Looking so fit and nice, who’s that soldier boy?”

A few Vledscan shells rushed over head. They burst about a hundred meters behind the trench. Evans had learned how to identify where a shell was going to hit. And whose shell it was. Only the fifth day in the trenches. He tried to imagine what soldiers like Tiscornia had been through. How had he not… Evans tried to shut off his thoughts. Just think of the now. Dig down at the beginning of each verse, toss with the end of the verse. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

The clay sand was tough. The shellfire had softened it a little, but not enough. He was glad he started off digging, to take his mind off the war. The fighting. The death. His shovel struck something rubbery. Maybe a buried tire. He bent over to grab it and stopped. A hand was reaching up from the dirt. Evans dry heaved. What little food he had in him then came up.

“Oi, Evans, you gotta grab on and yank it out. It’s probably not attached to anything.”

Evans vomited again and stood up. He reached down and gripped the hand as tight as he could and yanked. It stayed in place. He put one foot next to the hand and pulled as hard as he could. He could feel the moment that the arm was ripped from the body it had still been attached to. Evans went flying into the trench wall opposite him. He reached over to Sergeant Campbell and raised the hand, “Sergeant. I…”

Sergeant Campbell nodded, “Toss it over ‘ere. I’ll take care of it.”

With a quick toss, Evans passed the arm to the Sergeant. Sergeant Campbell caught it and threw it far into No-Man’s land.

Evans went back to digging until his hour was up, then ran over to get some water as a few more shells passed overhead, these burst a little closer this time, a few bits of dirt showered the trench. He grabbed a canteen off the ground and uncapped it, his had been destroyed during the attack the day before.

When he finished drinking, he capped it and looked at it. It wasn’t the usual metal one he was used to, it was a leather water sack, with a Vledscan writing branded on it. No matter, it still held water. He took another drink. He looked up at the sky as rested.

Another shell, this one hit pretty close behind. He ducked his head down as the clods of earth and bits of wood showered over him. It seems like this one hit a trench.

Lieutenant Simmons pointed at Evans, “Private, go run back to Fox HQ and see if all our communication trenches are alright.”

Evans clipped the canteen to his leg, shouldered his rifle, and jogged down towards the communication trench. It was still intact, some clods of dirt had fallen in, but nothing to bad. Then he emerged into Company Headquarters. Everything seemed to be in disarray. He saw a table shudder.

Evans pulled out his shovel out of instinct. Something began to emerge from underneath. Blood red, a female figure began to stumble out. It’s clothes in tatters and her hair scattered, it looked like a wraith. It stumbled towards him. Evans was terrified, he drew back his shovel to strike when he realized.

The shovel clattered to the ground, “My God.” Evans reached out and embraced the wraith, “What happened?”

Zwev opened her mouth to talk, but no words came out. Evans walked her over to the table where he sat her down. Unclipping the canteen from his built he poured some water in his hand and splashed some on her face to begin washing the blood off.

She stared off into the distance while Evans washed her. Evans kept trying to ask her questions, but she couldn’t answer. Finally, when Evans had finished cleaning her face, she opened her mouth and coughed out a few pieces of meat, “Captain’s dead.”

Moving onto her hair, Evans prodded her a little more, “What happened.”

She half gestured to the bits of meat, “Vaporized. Shell hit. Boom. I don’t know why I didn’t die. He was right there. Then boom. Gone.”

Evans pulled back and stared into her eyes. She seemed to stare right through him, when she closed her eyes, “Evans… Jim. James. Let’s get married.”

“What?” Evans took a step back from her and cocked his eyebrow.

Zwev started nervously scratching the table, “I don’t want to fight in this war. I can’t take it. If we get married, and I get pregnant, I won’t have to fight. I won’t be in the Army.”

“Um… I… We’ve only known each other for about two weeks. And maybe it gets better?”

Zwev got up and stumbled towards him. She fell to her knees and grabbed his legs, “Please. Fuck, you were flirting with me. The topic was going to come up at some point.”

Kneeling down next to her, Evans patted her on the head, “How about we wait a few days until we’ve been out of the trenches, then we can talk about it again. In the meantime, hows about we go talk to Lieutenant Simmons. And, where’s the Captain’s runner?”

“I’m not going to change my mind. And I don’t know where they went, they were gone when I was here.”

Evans helped Zwev up and they hobbled back to the front line trench. He tried to pay attention to what was going on around him, but he couldn’t. Marriage? They were nineteen, not unheard of, but… He liked her, but this was war. He distracted himself by thinking about Lucy. Where was she? He should probably go look for her when he finishes bringing Zwev back.

At long last, they got to Lieutenant Simmons, who was smoking a cigarette and looking at the Vledscan trench through a periscope, “Sir! Private Zakrzewska has news to report about the Captain!”

As the Lieutenant turned around, Zwev slowly let go of Evans arm and saluted. When Lieutenant Simmons returned the salute, she took a breath in to calm herself, “Sir. I was receiving an order from the Captain, when…” She paused a moment to choke back tears, “Shell hit out of nowhere, He’s dead.”

“Shit.” The Lieutenant wiped his brow and paused for a moment. He drummed his thigh, “Alright, Private Zakrzewska, strip down to your underclothes. That uniform is almost gone. Evans here will go get you a new uniform from Battalion. And Evans, report in the loss to see what we can do about it.”

Evans turned to run as he saw Lieutenant Simmons kneel down next to Zwev and offer her a drink from a flask. The communication trenches seemed to blur by as he ran through. It didn’t seem to take him that long to reach the new Battalion headquarters. He saluted the first officer he saw, the Lieutenant from the day before, “Sir! Permission to speak to the Interim Battalion Commander.”

The Lieutenant returned the salute, “That’s me for the moment. Let me guess, it’s about those shells that hit up in Fox?”

“Yes Sir. Captain Jackson was killed by a shell Sir.”

The Lieutenant nodded, obviously over his head, “Well shit. Um… I guess I’ll tell a runner to go see the Colonel.”

Evans then nodded, “One more thing sir, One of my comrades had most of her uniform destroyed in the blast, and she needs a replacement Sir.”

“Alright Private, Um… I think Regiment has some female uniforms in storage, What size?”

At that moment, Evans noticed Lucy wandering back from Regiment, “That soldier is about the same size as Private Zakrzewska sir.”

Lucy noticed Evans and walked over. She saluted the Lieutenant, “You need me sir?”

“Yes, what unit are you with?”

“I’m the runner for Captain Jackson sir. In fact I’m running a message down to him now,” She tapped one of her pockets, where a letter was poking out.

The Lieutenant put his hands on his hips, “Bad news, Captain Jackson is dead. I need you to run down to Regiment to tell Colonel Darling. I also need you to get a female uniform that is your size from Regiment and deliver it to Second Platoon of Fox Company. Take this Private with you, he’s from Second Platoon. Dismissed.”

The Lieutenant turned around and walked away. Lucy turned to Evans, and let out a little laugh, “So Goldfish, here we are again?”

Evans shrugged and paused for a moment, “You aren’t surprised or sad about the Captain?”

“It’s war, if I cry over everyone I’ve lost, I’ll just be a waste of a person eh?”

“I guess that’s a thought,” Evans looked down the communication trench to Regimental headquarters, “Let’s go.”

Lucy smiled, “Alright Goldfish,” Lucy and Evans headed down the trench. Lucy cocked her head at Evans, “I’m wondering something… Are you the sidekick or am I the sidekick?”

Evans looked at her with an incredulous look as he squeezed through past two soldiers with an ammunition pallet.

“Well, we keep seeing each other and having wacky little adventures with each other, and I’ve seen enough shows to tell that one of us has to be the sidekick.”

Evans laughed a little, “We keep going on wacky adventures? This is the second thing we’ve gone on together. And isn’t this our job anyways?”

Lucy made a face at Evans, “What about the night we first met, Doesn’t that count?”

Evans stopped and stared at her, “The night we first met, you did three things. One, you threatened me with your rifle. Two, you went to the bathroom. And Three, you very crassly asked me if I wanted to have sex with you. I would hardly be bragging about that ‘wacky adventure’”

Lucy laughed and walked towards the nearest officer, “You’re definitely the sidekick.” She then saluted the officer, “Sir, I have a message to give to the Colonel and submit a requisition form.”

The officer returned the salute, “The Colonel’s busy, and I’m just the arty officer. Sergeant Major is in that dugout though.” The officer pointed to a dingy looking dugout entrance.

Lucy and Evans walked towards the dugout and entered. They walked down further until they reached an opening. The Sergeant Major was seated at one of the tables, peeling an apple. He looked up and drove his knife into the table, “What can I help you with?”

Evans spoke up, “Captain Jackson from Fox Company has been killed Sergeant Major.”

“Is that all?” The Sergeant Major took a bite out of the apple and chewed a bit. He looked at Lucy and said, “So what the fuck are you here for? Doesn’t take two to deliver a message.”

Evans nodded and gestured to Lucy, “We need a replacement uniform. Private Chambers is about the same size as the Private who needs the uniform.”

“Why didn’t that Private just come down here herself instead of sending you two?”

“Well, she needs to wash off Captain Jackson Sergeant Major,” Evans fiddled with his bayonet sheath.

“Ah, one of those. I hate blood showers,” The Sergeant Major looked at Lucy and gestured to a crate behind him, “Rummage through that crate, we should have some in there.”

Lucy walked over to the crate and started looking for a uniform that would fit. The Sergeant Major turned to Evans, “So Private, was yesterday your first full show?”

“Yes Sergeant Major, I just joined the regiment about two weeks ago. Graduated Basic the week before that.”

“You picked the wrong fucking time to join the regiment then,” The Sergeant Major laughed, “Haven’t seen shit like this since Tsiv River,” the Sergeant Major leaned back in his chair, “Ah well, the war will probably be over soon, after the Dry Forest Offensive.”

Lucy popped up from behind the Sergeant Major with a slightly large jacket and pants that didn’t quite make it down to her ankles, “Does this fit?”

The Sergeant Major, still looking at Evans replied, “Yep. Now get your uniform back on and skedaddle.”

Lucy shrugged any pulled off the jacket, shirt, and pants. She haphazardly folded them and placed it on the table in front of Evans. She threw her clothes back on and led Evans out of the dugout.

Crawling Back

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Evans woke up. He looked around him. The son was bright over him. There was a constant ringing in his ear. He looked down at his body, surprised to find that he was uninjured by the blast.

He crawled up the edge of the shell hole and looked around him. He saw the Vledscan soldiers across the line start sprinting back. The attack had been broken. Evans crawled back down into the hole and watched the retreating men jump over him while being raked with machine gun fire.

One soldier fell into the same shell hole. Panicking, Evans quickly drew his bayonet, which was still attached to his hip. The soldier say this and reached for his rifle. Evans quickly dived forward and drove the bayonet into the soldiers chest and pinned the man into the ground. Ripping the rifle out of the Vledscan soldier’s hands and started beating his head in with the rifle.

After the soldier was thoroughly killed, Evans planted his boot next to his bayonet. Gripping it with both hands, he yanked it out, knocking himself back onto the other end of the shell hole. He wiped the bayonet off on his trouser leg. In one quick motion, he sheathed it and crawled up towards the edge of the shell hole. Evans started making his way back to the Ethslin lines.

About halfway back to the trench, Evans heard a great rushing sound overhead. He looked back just in time to see the first shell burst on the Vledscan line. Figuring that the Vledscans would have their heads down, Evans got up and started sprinting. Two shots whizzed past him as he ran. He then dived into the trench.

Evans turned around to see a rifle pointed in his face, “Holy Shit, Evans.” A hand reached down. Grabbing the hand, Evans was yanked up, and he was staring eye to eye with Corporal Hardin, “How the fuck did you survive that? We all thought you were fucking dead.” Hardin smiled, “Oh, you should go see that pretty Silesian chick you are always talking with. She was bawling after the attack ended.”

Evans jogged down the trench line until he saw Zwev digging the trench line down. He walked over and tapped her on the shoulder. She responded without looking, “Look Lance Corporal, if this isn’t an order, I don’t want to fucking talk right now.”

“Wow, thanks for the promotion Zwev. I’ll be sure to write my parents.”

With a clatter, Zwev dropped her shovel. She turned around wide eyed. For a moment, she just stared at Evans. Lurching forward, she embraced Evans, “I thought you were dead.” She then kissed him momentarily, before realizing what she was doing.

Blushing, she stepped back and picked up her shovel. Tiscornia walked over, “Evans, how the Fuck… I mean… You should probably get back to your rifle team.”

Nodding, Evans walked through the destroyed trench back to Corporal Hardin. He tried to find the dugouts, but they seemed to have been destroyed by artillery fire. He tried not to look at the bodies littered all over the trench. He walked up to Hardin, “I said hello to Zwev… I uh, lost my rifle and shovel during the attack.”

“No shit, you were hit by a fucking artillery shell. I don’t know how the fuck you are even alive. I’m sure we can find some,” Corporal Hardin’s face suddenly turned somber, “We lost a lot of people. From our Rifle team… Stanhope bought it, bayonet. Cain caught some shrapnel in the chest early on, got pulled back. We were lucky, only two. Second Team only has Chilly and two Privates left… Let’s go, see about that shovel. Trench is blown to hell and we need all hands for this.”

Evans nodded and looked for the closest body. He saw Renoir’s lifeless face staring up at the sky. It was strange that he didn’t seem to feel anything. He bent over and unclipped the shovel from the Renoir’s belt. He turned and started to help repair the trench.

It took all day, but by the evening stand to, the platoon had managed to cobble together a defensive position and clear the bodies away. The stand to was quiet, there was only some feeble machine guns firing from the Vledscan side. At about the end, of the stand to, great whooshing noises started overhead, followed by flashes appearing on the Vledscan front line. The barrage intensified as the hours dragged on. Zwev and Evans were exhausted from the days work, but neither could get to sleep, so they stood up next to the soldiers on watch to stare at the shells bursting.

“You know, It’s almost peaceful,” Evans stared out. He noticed something strange. Every few shell bursts he saw a silhouette leaning up against a tree. The man he had killed two days before. It didn’t really bother him anymore. Another flash, and the tree and soldier disappeared.

“Kind of like a fireworks show eh?” Zwev grabbed Evans hand. Evans shrunk away momentarily, then relaxed and squeezed Zwev’s hand.

“You know… I’ve never seen fireworks.”

Zwev giggled a bit, “I knew you came from a small town, but no fireworks?”

“Nope,” Evans watched a few shell bursts, the barrage seemed to be intensifying. He turned and looked at Zwev’s face, intermittently illuminated by the shell bursts, “What happened during the attack?”

Sighing a sad sigh, Zwev stared silently for about a minute, “We held the line. They broke in at one point. But we drove them back. We saw you get hit right before they sent there second wave. Evans… Jim. When that shell hit you… I’ve never been more terrified in my life. I though you’d been ripped apart.”

Evans didn’t respond. He let go of Zwev’s hand and stepped down from the fire step and started hacking at one end of the trench with his shovel. After a minute, Zwev stepped down to join him. They eventually managed to scrape out a small shelter, barely large enough for the two of them. Evans wedged himself in the back corner, and Zwev huddled in in front of him.

ARTILLERY

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Everything seemed to have slowed down around Evans. It seemed almost peaceful. He was floating through the air, and the world was silent around him. He saw his rifle flying away from him, he tried to grab at it, but only succeeded in pushing it further away.

He tumbled a bit and saw the ocean. He admired it for a few seconds before gravity forcibly slammed him into the ground.

 

Putting some cotton into his ears, Evans offered some of it to Zwev. She accepted. Evans took out his notepad and wrote, “Wiring Party yesterday. Only 3 hour sleep. Watch nine to midnight yesterday. Then this barrage wake us now. Only 3 hour sleep. Angry.”

Zwev grabbed the notepad and replied, flinching every time a shell hit near, “How long you think last?”

“Hope not long. Need sleep.”

Renoir crawled towards them and waved. He grabbed the notepad and added in, “Be ready. Attack usually after.”

A few hours later, at about six, the barrage suddenly stopped. Sergeant Campbell stood up and yelled, “MOVE MOVE MOVE! GET ON THE LINE!”

Evans grabbed his rifle and sprinted out of the dugout and took a step up on the fire step as he heard a whistle blow. He looked around, most of the trench had been destroyed, and the platoon had set up as best they could in the remnants.

Simmons yelled out, “FIRE!”

Evans shook himself out of his trance. He aimed his rifle and opened fire as more artillery shells began to fall on the line. Everything seemed like a blur. His bolt was flying back and forth. Evans wasn’t quite sure if he was even hitting anyone. But the attack didn’t peter out like it had two days before. The Vledscan’s kept coming.

He heard Green come up near him and yell to Lieutenant Simmons, “SIR! They’ve broken through Eagle’s lines!”

“SHIT! Green, go back and set up the rear wire!”

“Yes-”

A shell hit the trench. Evans was momentarily deafened. He felt a tap on his shoulder, “PRIVATE!”

Evans turned around, Lieutenant Simmons was standing, covered in blood and bits of flesh, “I need you to run back and set up the rear wire and then go back to Company HQ to get reinforcements and request artillery support.”

He slung his rifle and stepped down. As he left, he saw the aftermath of the shell burst. Lance Corporal Green was lying on the ground in two pieces, having been ripped in half by the shell. Renoir was lying next to her, brains spilling into a puddle. An extra arm was lying in the puddle as well. Evans shook his head and ran.

He reached the rear wire and used his rifle to knock it down. Carrying on, he ran to Company HQ. He passed Lucy, who was madly firing downrange. He ran up to the Captain and saluted, “Sir! Lieutenant Simmons sent me to-”

Interrupting him, the Captain said, “Reinforcements and Arty? I need you to leg it down to Battalion telephone line must be blown out, I’ve been trying to reach them on the blasted thing and my runner has not come back. Bring Private Chambers with you.” The Captain pointed to Lucy.

Evans ran to Lucy and tapped her on the shoulder. She fired off two more shots, turned to him, laughed, and yelled over the roar of gunfire, “I really don’t think this is the time to fuck!”

Leaning close to Lucy’s ear, Evans screamed, “Captain wants me to take you with me to Battalion!”

Lucy nodded and shouldered her rifle. The two took off down the winding trenches towards Battalion. Lucy stumbled in first and stopped still. Evans caught up with her and looked over at the utter devastation. Several shells had scored direct hits, killing almost all within.

“Holy Shit,” Lucy nervously played with her rifle, “No wonder they weren’t fucking responding.”

Over the shellfire, Evans heard a gurgling noise. He looked and saw a man under a smashed table. He ran over to the table and attempted to lift it. Lucy saw Evans and ran over to him.

With Lucy’s help, Evans managed to lift the table off the man. Only his left leg was still attached, and then, only barely. He groaned at the two, and mouthed, “Help me.”

Lucy turned to Evans, “Were the fuck can we move him to? Company is swamped as is.”

Evans nodded and drew his sword bayonet, “I’ll amputate his leg, you get ready with some sort of bandage. We can carry him to Regiment. I mean, we should probably go there next. Get the fire support there.”

Lucy nodded and took off her jacket. She removed her gauze roll and applied it to the right stump while Evans psyched himself up.

With one swift blow, Evans cleaved through the remaining attached flesh. Lucy took off her shirt and stuffed it into the wound. She put her jacket back on and stood up, “Let’s go.”

Evans sheathed his bayonet and nodded, “Can you carry my rifle?” He dropped his rifle and picked up the wounded soldier. The pair then stumbled their way down the line. After a few false starts, they finally got to Regimental HQ.

Lucy saluted the first officer she saw, “Lieutenant, requesting to speak with the Colonel!”

The Lieutenant was momentarily flustered by the ragged nature of Lucy, Evans, and the soldier. Evans right side was coated in blood from the wounded soldier. Lucy’s undershirt was coated in blood and sweat. “Um… Yes, and You, Private, you can put the man down there.” The Lieutenant pointed to a map table.

Lucy ran over and cleared everything off while Evans laid the man down. The Lieutenant took them to a dugout, with various wires running out of it. Colonel Darling was standing over a map and yelling orders at a runner.

The Lieutenant saluted waited for the runner to leave. The Colonel turned and returned the salute, “What is it Jones?”

“These two privates came down the Second Battalion trench sir!”

“I just sent a runner down that way, what’s going on their, their telephone isn’t responding.”

Lucy nodded, “Sir, I’m Captain Jackson’s runner, we were having the same issue. Everett and I ran through, and we only found one survivor, he’s on the map table outside.”

Evans saluted, “And I’m here to ask for reinforcements and artillery support for Fox Company Sir.”

Colonel Darling cursed and then looked at his map. He turned to the Lieutenant, “Jones, I need you to set up a temporary Second Battalion HQ and rewire the whole area.” He then picked up the handset for the field telephone, “I need artillery support 20 meters ahead of trench lines Seventy Three, Seventy Four, and Seventy Five.”

Colonel Darling turned to Evans and Lucy, “You two are dismissed, thank you, and I’ll get those reinforcements.”

Evans and Lucy saluted and walked out. Before going back to the front lines, they slumped down in the trench to take a few drinks from their canteens. Evans looked at Lucy, “It’s Evans.”

“What?” Lucy took a gulp from her canteen.

“You called me Everett. My name is Evans,” Evans stood up and reached down to help Lucy up.

She grabbed his hand and stood up, “Oh, sorry… Goldfish.” Lucy swung around Evans rifle off her shoulder and handed it to Evans, “Shall we?”

Shouldering the rifle, Evans nodded. He slid the canteen back into it’s pouch and sprinted off down the trench back to Fox Company.

They arrived back at the Fox Company and Evans ran up to the Captain, “Sir, Colonel Darling says reinforcements are arriving soon.” Evans turned, waved goodbye to Lucy and ran down the communication trench towards Second Platoon.

After the first bend, Evans came across a collapsed portion, blocking his path. Evans used his Rifle to drag himself out of the trench, onto the surface. He stayed low and sprinted, pausing a few times to fire a shot at figures he saw on the cratered surface, figuring that anyone else above the surface must be Vledscan.

After about half a minute, Evans dove into a shell hole to avoid machine gun fire, still not knowing where the trench was. He poked his head up and heard a yell over the din of the gun fire, “EVANS!”

He looked back, and saw Hardin, standing about thirty meters back, halfway out of the trench and waving.

Evans stood up to try and sprint to the position.

That was when the shell hit.

 

Everything seemed to have slowed down around Evans. It seemed almost peaceful. He was floating through the air, and the world was silent around him. He saw his rifle flying away from him, he tried to grab at it, but only succeeded in pushing it further away.

He tumbled a bit and saw the ocean. He admired it for a few seconds before gravity forcibly slammed him into the ground.

Arrival

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The train pulled to a stop. The Major at the front looked at his chart, “2nd BATTALION, 202ND INFANTRY!”

Private Evans grabbed his kit bag and slung it over his left shoulder. On his right shoulder he slung his rifle. Edging past a few soldiers standing in the aisle, he exited the train. Leaping out onto the sandy ground, he looked around the camp. In front of him was a large carved Eagle. A Corporal sat underneath it reading a magazine. Evans approached the Corporal, “Excuse me, Corporal, I’m new here, I’ve been assigned to F Company. Where can I find it?”

The Corporal raised his eyebrow and pointed up, “This Eagle.” He pointed to the right, towards a green flag, with a red fox on it, “That Fox.”

“Thank you Corporal,” Private Evans jogged towards the green flag, where he saw two dozen other Privates with their kit bags. He approached them and waved.

The closest stepped forward, shifted his weight, and offered his hand, “Hi! I’m Eddy Head! You just got in off the train too?

“I’m Jim Evans, This is F Company?”

Private Head nodded, “Yep!”

Head looked like he was going to continue before he was interrupted by an olive skinned Lance Corporal, “Oi, belinoìn! Shut up.” The Lance Corporal pulled out a list from his breast pocket, “Privates Cain, Evans, Geary, Head, Hunt, and… Zak… Something? I can’t pronounce that mèrda. You six need to come with me.”

Evans readjusted his weight and followed the Lance Corporal, along with the five other privates. He looked to the private next to him, “Hi, I’m Jim Evans, you?”

“Anna Zakrzewska. Most people call me Zwev on account of the name,” She smiled at him and looked back ahead of her. The Lance Corporal was weaving between tents and various soldiers working outside.

A larger tent came into view, A small cloth sign read, ‘Second Platoon Headquarters’. The Lance Corporal walked in and saluted, “Lieutenant Simmons, these are the new bagarìlli.”

The Lieutenant, a stocky man, returned the salute, “Thank you Tiscornia. Take Cain, Evans, and Geary for training. I’ll have Chilcott train the rest.”

Lance Corporal Tiscornia raised an eyebrow, “Wouldn’t it make more sense if I trained Zak? I’m guessing she’s going to be in my fire team and I might as well get to know her now.”

Lieutenant Simmons nodded, “Leave Geary then. And grab Chilcott from the main building.”

Tiscornia nodded, “Cain, Evans, and whatever your name is with me.” Tiscornia walked out of the tent. Evans, Zwev, and a female Private who Evans assumed to be Private Cain followed.

The first stop was a building, that had a bustle of activity. Tiscornia pointed to a room with several bunked beds, “Pick a bed, take your hat and ribbons off, put your kit away, grab your helmet and rifle, and meet me out in 5 minutes.”

Evans nodded and went for the closest bed. He dropped off his kit on the bed and unslung his rifle. Feeling a tap on his shoulder, he turned to see Zwev, smiling a bit funny, “Hey, Evans, could you…” She gestured to her kit bag and pointed upwards, to the bed above his. Evans smirked and helped lift her kit bag onto the bed. She smiled at him then hoisted herself onto the bed.

Evans pulled the single ribbon off his jacket and dropped it onto the bed, along with his hat, he rooted through his bag and pulled out his helmet. Putting it on his head, he adjusted it and turned to the other Private, who was putting her things on the bed opposite to his, “Hi, I’m Evans, are you Cain?”

The Private smiled and dropped her hat on the bed, “I’m Hannah Cain.”

“I’m Zwev!” Zwev yelled down from her bed. She swung her legs around and sat up, with the helmet sitting cockeyed on her head, “You from the Medway area? My Uncle Stanislaw went there when he moved to Ethslin. I can tell from the accent.”

Working through her bag for her helmet, Cain replied, “Yes, and how long have you lived in Ethslin, you don’t have much of an accent?”

“Five years ago, but lived near the border growing up,” Zwev bent down to look at Evans, “Where are you from Evans?”

“Halton, it’s a small railway town in the middle of nowhere.”

Lance Corporal Tiscornia walked into the room “And I’m from Liguria, now do you three have you’re things ready? I need to get you down to the range.”

Evans grabbed his rifle as Zwev slid down next to him to grab her rifle leaned up against the wall. Cain put her helmet on flat and picked her rifle off her bed. The three followed the Lance Corporal out of the building. The Lance Corporal started talking to them as he walked them to the rifle range, “Alright, bagarìlli, this is Fox Company Second Platoon. Lieutenant Simmons is our Platoon Leader. Captain Jackson is our Company Commander. I’m Lance Corporal Tiscornia, and I have the distinction of being the most experienced soldier in the Platoon, so you should listen to what I say.”

Cain spoke up in confusion, “If you are the most experienced soldier in the Platoon, why are you only a Lance Corporal?”

“Because Miss Cain,” Lance Corporal Tiscornia turned around and started walking backwards, a suddenly serious face, “I really don’t want that much responsibility. Have you ever been in charge of 13 soldiers? I was, a week after picking up Lance. Bad barrage and ill timed attack left me in command of a company… Well, the thirteen privates still able to fight.. I got transfered to the 202nd because my battalion was wiped out. And there is no way in hell I’m going to command in combat again.” Tiscornia shook his head and turned around, “And Zak, how the fuck do you say your name?”

“Zakrzewska Lance Corporal. You can call me Zwev.”

Tiscornia nodded, “Yeah, I think I’ll go with Zwev.” He looked up ahead at the empty rifle range. Sergeant Major Laurie was sitting next to the ammunition crates. Tiscornia yelled out, “Sergeant Major, permission to bring three Privates in for initial?”

“Granted Dom. New kids or Transfers?”

“Bagarìlli. Sounds fancier that way.” Tiscornia paused for a bit, and then turned to Evans, Zwev, and Cain, “Alright, you three play with Sergeant Major Laurie. He’ll do your Rifle tests.”

The three privates nodded. Evans took the lead onto the Rifle range and presented his rifle to the Sergeant Major. The Sergeant Major grabbed and inspected it, “Alright kid, looks ready to go, take Lane One.” He paused and looked to Tiscornia, “Dom, give get thirty rounds, ten for each.”

Evans took his rifle back and walked to the lane labeled One and checked the sights on his rifle. He then pulled the bolt back and waited for the test to begin. He smiled and looked up at the blue sky. It was peaceful, a few birds lazily soaring overhead.

Tiscornia walked up and held out ten rifle rounds, “Here, load your rifle, lie down and get ready to fire. Wait until the Sergeant Major tells you to fire. Fire all ten rounds at the target.”

Evans took the rounds and nodded. He clicked them in one by one, until the internal magazine held all ten rounds. He slid the bolt forward and knelt down on the ground, aiming the rifle carefully downrange. He looked to his right at the other two lanes. Zwev was kneeling on the ground, still loading her rifle, and Cain was still receiving ammunition from Tiscornia. Sergeant Major Laurie was sitting down looking at a clipboard.

Grinning, Evans looked down his sight at the target, flicked his safety off, and waited for the command. Evans had been one of the best shots at his company in basic training. Now to just shoot a max, impress Tiscornia and Zwev, and he’ll be set.

“Alright kids! Aim your rifles downrange. On my mark, fire all ten rounds at the target, you will be judged for accuracy and time, so when you are done shooting, raise your right hand and I’ll note it. Only fire at your own target, and remain in place until everyone is finished,” Sergeant Major Laurie took a breath in and shouted, “FIRE!”

Evans opened fire. In what only seemed like a moment, Evans had fired all ten rounds downrange. He drew the bolt back one more time while flicking his safety on and threw up his hand. A few seconds after him, the last rifle fell silent, as Cain fired her last round.

The Sergeant Major yelled out again, “Tiscornia has placed ten more rounds near you, Load them and prepare for the standing fire test.” He turned to Tiscornia, “Dom, go run and switch the targets out. And score everyone when your done with that.”

Evans propped himself up and picked up the ten rounds, this time they came in two stripper clips. He clicked one in and pushed the five rounds into the magazine. Pocketing the first clip, he grabbed the second and loaded it in. He slid the bolt forward and stood up. He looked downrange at Tiscornia, who was fumbling with the targets. He looked over at Zwev, who had slung her rifle over her right shoulder, “How do you think you did?”

Her eyes looked up over his left shoulder and shrugged, “I dunno. OK I guess. You?”

“I think it did well.”

Sergeant Major Laurie shouted out at the three, “Ready your rifles!”

Evans turned to face the target, checked his bolt, and flicked the safety off.

“Aim!”

Evans aimed downrange.

“FIRE!”

Evans opened fire at the target. Twenty seconds later he had expended all his ammunition. He raised his left hand while he flicked the safety on with his right hand. After the last rifle fell silent he slung his rifle and turned to look at Sergeant Major Laurie

“Alright kids. Lance Corporal Tiscornia will collect your targets, I need to go over a few more things.” The Sergeant Major then turned to speak to Tiscornia, “And score them when you’re done Dom”

Evans walked over to Sergeant Major Laurie and knelt down next to Zwev and Cain.

“So, this is my range. And, if I understand correctly, your company will be here for the next week before you head to the front, and in a month when your rotation brings you back here, you’ll be at my range again. I am the range master and will be here from dawn until dusk on most days,” the Sergeant Major paused, looking for the right words, “You should probably practice at least two or three hours outside of your normal training, after all, you three are riflemen, so you should be good with rifles. Unless there is an official training going on, you can come here at any time it’s open. That’s about it for that.”

The Sergeant Major the looked over at Tiscornia, who was still collecting the targets, “You kids are lucky to have Lance Corporal Tiscornia in your company. We were in the same Battalion at the Battle of Tsiv River. He was one of the six soldiers to survive Charles Company unscathed. So listen to what he says.”

Tiscornia had finished grabbing the targets and jogged back to the four. He picked up the clipboard and tallied the scores. He looked up at the three, “Which one of you was lane two?” Zwev raised her hand. “Well really good job Zwev. Some of the best scores I’ve seen for someone just from basic. Lane One and Three, average scores overall, Lane One, you might want to adjust your sights, all your shots were a bit low. And if you are done with Sergeant Major Laurie, we have a few more things to do before you are assigned to your Rifle Teams.”