1st File: D3FNR - 4A53

I groaned as I stretched out my legs, then I slowly blinked open my weary eyes. The muddy trenches greeted me with a similar tired grimace. I chuckled for a spell, wondering where my mind was going. A curse brought my attention elsewhere. To my left, crouched over a broken box, sat my buddy.

“Yo, Nao, ya good?” He looked up, grime smeared over his normally handsome features, and frowned.

“Flakes.” Nao kicked the now useless box aside, revealing a handful of potatoes stuck in the mud. “I’m good. Dunno ‘bout these potas though.”

“Mmm, yeah, boss ain’t gonna like that. Here, let’s clean it up ‘fore he sees it.” I whipped out my canteen and scurried over to his side, keeping my head down all the while. There hasn’t been a reported attack in several weeks now, but you never know. I uncorked the flask and quickly washed off the potatoes that Nao was cradling. I stared mournfully as my precious golden firewater cleaned up the mud.

“Thanks man, ya sure ya wanted to do that though? Firewater is hard to come by these days. I could’ve taken the blows.” Nao wrinkled his brow as he gazed upon mine. I gave a small smile and patted him on the shoulder, opting to not give an answer.

“The potas our ration?”

“Yeah. It was dished out by that cute girl again. Ya know, the one with the red ribbon?”

“I remember.” I chuckled at the sight of Nao’s smitten smile. “I also remember that she has her eyes on someone else. Keep yourself in check.”

“Yeah, yeah…I know.” Nao’s smile didn’t exactly disappear, but his shoulder visibly slumped. “Les get these to our unit.”

We crouched and shuffled our way through the trenches and made our way to the small bunker that served as our unit’s outpost. Jims and Hueran were already there, playing cards on a wooden plank and using dried out mud clods as chips. The boss was nowhere to be seen. I sat down with them, pulled out my own bag of mud chips and asked to be dealt in the next round. Meanwhile, Nao placed the rescued potatoes in our only bowl that sat in a corner of the bunker.

“Hey Flakes. Saw ya nappin’ earlier. Yer lucky the boss was out.” Jims chuckled heartily and scraped all the cards into a deck again. He then expertly shuffled and dealt the cards out. I checked after the cards were dealt and scoffed inwardly. A terrible hand. I placed a large mud chip and put on my cockiest grin.

“Ooooh, looks like Flakes is fishing again. Poor fella.” Hueran met my grin with an even more confident smirk. He made sure that our eyes met and held it there while he slowly placed two mud chips in.

“Well, ya never know, ya never know.” Jims dealt out a red four which did not match my hand at all. He flipped up another card, revealing a witch. Inwardly, I sank even further into my misery. My day after this is going to suck. I added two more chips.

Inside the bunker, Nao finished polishing up the potatoes even more before grabbing a sack. He made himself comfortable against a wall and got in a position to play. “Anybody’s got a request?”

“The Garden.” Hueran said immediately, moments before Jims could open his mouth. He stared indignantly at him.

“How do ya always know?”

“You always pick The Garden. It’s like the only song you know.” Hueran snickered before flipping a mud chip at Nao. He deftly caught it and threw a thumbs up.

“Oi, are ya gonna deal or what?” I muttered, waiting, praying, for that final card flip that’ll change everything. Jims apologized and then immediately dealt out a crown. I threw my hand down in disgust. Hueran, the punchable guy he was, chuckled and picked up the chips I had earned the previous night. I sighed and scooted myself to the side so I could have a trench wall at my back.

Nao cleared his throat, took a deep breath then pressed the sack to his face. He then began to sing, the sack muffled and added reverb to his voice.

I used to know a girl, who saw the world for what it was.

I used to know a garden, who housed a tiger without claws.

Her silken voice, entrancing. Its floral embrace, enchanting.

I used to kn…

“Ahem.” Nao immediately stopped and the unit looked up at the imposing figure whose shadow seemed to have blotted out the sun.

“Sir.” We chorused.

“Soldiers, back to your posts. The General is planning to use the Right Wing to gain ground. Our unit alongside the Middle Wing will provide support. Get ready.” The boss turned on a dime, impressive with how all of us are either crouching or sitting, taking up the majority of the space. He soon disappeared down the trench that led to the rest of Middle Wing.

There was a moment of hesitation. We had just gotten comfortable and I for one, really did not want to get back into that awkward crouched position. Nao was the first one to move, grumbling all the while. He patted my back on the way out before bumbling his way down to the left. I bid Jims and Hueran adieu and followed. I stopped before he did and shuffled onto my belly, making sure my head was barely visible above the muddied parapet. A quick scan of my surroundings showed me exactly what I expected.

An outline of a nearby abandoned village, a mere 500 meters away. Besides that, a scorched plain as far as the eye could see. There had been much speculations amongst the units about why we hadn’t taken the village, the most popular theory right now was that a nest of Darklings had made its home there. If that truly were the case, then why were they, the Nachbarn Anti Darkling Division (NADD for short), still held up in the trenches. I hadn’t really gave it much thought, simply concerns bigger than myself.

I sighed and picked up the rifle I had stashed the night before. A fourth generation FarShot, equipped with laser targeting and a thermal scope. Standard issue for recon types like myself. My little inspection reminded me of that, the entire reason why I was in this unit in the first place. I sighed again and lined up my gun towards the village and peered through the thermal scope. As I was trained to spot the differences between all the things that could produce or store heat, I could easily locate any abnormalities, should any arise.

“Great.” I muttered and flopped onto my back and let the cold of the mud seep into my body. It was an unpleasant feeling but not unwelcoming. It helped passed the time, focusing on the cold. I peered at the lands we were defending. The country of Nachbarn. Only a month after the catastrophe, President Filo made an emergency decree and the NADD was made. The following months were brutal from what I’ve heard. You’d be hard pressed to find a veteran who lived through those days. Since then, the years have been mostly bloodless, a battle happening every once in a while. But the skirmishes were frequent enough to have a 24/7 watch in the trenches. I was one of the unlucky to be drafted a year ago, not that it mattered. I probably would’ve volunteered.

I sighed. Those moments always made me melancholic. I wondered when the Right Wing would make their move. Those moments were usually signaled through a small rumbling under the ground. I shook involuntarily and shivered. The cold was getting a bit too much and I prepared to roll back to my position when I noticed a hazy figure making its way across the barren lands of Nachbarn. My mouth fell open. I swung my FarShot a full one eighty and peered through my thermal scope.

“Oi, Flakes! Wrong way.” I ignored Nao and kept on looking, wondering if my boredom had finally created a hallucination. Nope. The thermal scope picked out a heat signature of a person. I let the gun drop in awe. “Flakes, what’s gotten into ya?”

I looked up and saw Nao hovering over me with a concerned expression. I chuckled with a tinge of hysteria. I pressed my gun into his hands and pointed at the figure in the distance. It was simply inconceivable that a person would just be casually strolling topside like that. Barbed wire, landmines, and turrets littered the entire field should Darklings ever break through the frontlines. There was also the fact that this person slipped past the final line of defenses too, a giant wall complete with military outposts. And to make matters worse, the person was coming straight towards them.

“Ah, I see now.” Nao lowered my gun and struck a pondering pose.

“What should we do?” I hissed as I frantically looked up and down the trench. Nobody in sight. Jims and Hueran’s posts were on the far side and the nearest unit was an even further trek. “Civvies aren’t supposed to be here!”

“How do ya know that’s a civilian? Could be a General or someone even higher. I mean, it ain’t everyday ya see a person walk casually over topside.” Nao reasoned before looking through my gun again. “Huh, she’s not wearing any uniform.”

“There’s no ping! Only civvies get no pings. Also…she?”

“Yeah, it’s a woman.” Nao chuckled and passed me my gun. I took a peek and sure enough, a woman in civilian clothing walked towards us, easily sidestepping mines and barbed wire. Then I blinked.

“Hold on, how did ya turn off the thermal?” I looked at my gun with confusion.

“The button that side thermal, nugget.”

I sighed and leant back into the mud. “This situation is too bizarre. How ‘bout we don’t do anything ‘bout it. Let brass handle it, surely they’ve seen her.”

“Sounds…” Nao broke off what he was going to say as the ground started rumbling. He immediately scrambled over to his post while I fumbled around with my gun.

I took a deep breath and closed the world around me, focusing my entire body and soul to one purpose. I maneuvered into the optimal sniping position and looked through the scope. Soldiers who were registered in the database had nametags in the scope’s heads up display. Over 200 of them made a mad dash over no-man’s land. 54 units from Right Wing.

I watched as the unit leaders, marked by a star by the HUD, rushed ahead another good 100 meters or so before chucking a small cube. Those 54 cubes began whirring, a noise even I could hear from such a distance, and a trench started to form. TerraCubes, invented for anybody to make a quick hole should the need arise. The stupid idea was then taken by the military and advanced it to the point where multiple TerraCubes could dig out a trench within seconds.

The unit leaders slid across the ground and dropped into the new trenches then immediately planted turrets and aimed their RapidShots towards the abandoned village while the rest of their units scrambled to catch up.

A silence followed.

Five.

Ten.

Fifteen minutes.

I let out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding and eased my shoulders slightly.

As per regulation combined with pure nerves, I continued to keep a vigilant lookout for the next hour. I didn’t let up until Nao tapped me on the shoulder. I groaned as feeling flooded back into my body and had him heave me up to my feet.

“Thanks Nao.”

“Don’t mention it.” He patted me on the shoulder then did that awkward crouch shuffle back to the bunker. I chuckled as weariness settled into my bones and followed.

When we arrived, Jims and Hueran were already there, yet again. Jims cracked a grin when he saw us and held up his deck of cards. Nao and I sat down and fished out our bag of mud chips and waited to be dealt.

“Can I join?”

The effect was immense. Unlike the boss or any other military grunt, we knew their presence and what kind of aura they emit. Whoever this person was, they were completely foreign. I dove to the left and simultaneously grabbed the pistol strapped to my leg. From the corner of my eye, I saw Nao go right, into the bunker where spare guns lay, Hueran kicked up the wooden board, scattering the cards and whipped out the sword he always had strapped on his back, as for Jims, he dove forward underneath the kicked up board, and rolled up with his own pistol crouched behind Hueran, and faced the intruder.

We panted, weapons drawn, as the sudden adrenaline spike dipped once we noticed that the intruder was no other than a woman. A woman who was leaning casually against the trench wall, her head well above the parapet. My aim dropped as I immediately recognized her as the woman who was topside two hours ago. I groaned and ragdolled, mentally exhausted.

“Oh, come off it!” Jims flung his pistol to the ground and slumped to the side as well.

“Woah.” From my flopped position, I barely made out the woman’s surprised expression. “Uh, I come in peace?”

“Yer that woman from earlier.” Nao said, his head barely in my field of view.

“Woman?” Hueran hadn’t lowered his sword.

“Yeah, the one who was crossing topside like it was a stroll in the park.” I answered, not even bothering to get up. That flopped position felt like a comfy bed after all those tense situations. “Also, lady, could ya duck down like the rest of us? Yer exposed head could give us away.”

“Ah, sorry.” She ducked down and raised her hands in the air. “Could you tell your friend to lower his sword?”

“I’d rather not.” Jims muttered. “A woman who crossed topside like it was nothing strikes me as suspicious. I’m sure the rest of the lads think so too. Hueran, whaddya think?”

The four of us glanced at him. Out of our unit, the boss included, Hueran was the best when it came to people. Could read them like a book. His eyes narrowed as he peered down at the woman. She smiled nervously.

I took that moment to fully look at her. A decent figure, athletic, fit. Good curves too. Her facial structure was attractive, complete with sharp but kindly teal eyes, and her hair was as red as dusk over the barren lands of topside. Her clothes were what gave her away as a civilian. Black sweatpants, purple t-shirt, sturdy combat boots, and to top it all off, a black leather jacket with a sunset icon stitched into the right sleeve. What surprised me the most was the giant sniper slung over her back. Once I noticed that, I spotted a few other things. Despite being civilian clothing, they were scratched up, dirtied, and had patches everywhere. She also had a belt that looked suspiciously militaristic, no doubt packed with ammunition and other tools.

“She’s good.” Hueran sheathed his sword and went about cleaning up the mess. There was an audible sigh of relief from the woman.

“Thank you.”

“I believe this goes without saying, but just in case, should you misbehave, we won’t hesitate to put you down.” Hueran flicked the thrown pistol over to Jims who deftly caught it.

“Right.” The woman flopped to the ground as well. “Makes sense.”

I groaned heavily and heaved myself over to the upturned plank. This was a much better position to see everything. It was here that I saw that Nao had pulled out our unit’s only shotgun and was now storing it away.

“So, whatcha doing here?” I asked. It must’ve been a sorry sight, an exhausted soldier, belly down, and mud everywhere. “I mean, it ain’t everyday somebody walks topside.”

“I’m trying to get home.” She replied. Hueran nodded indicating that she wasn’t lying. I took that into consideration.

“Home. Where’s that?” She simply gazed over no-man’s land. “Ya can’t be serious.”

“Deadly serious.”

“Power to ya, lady.” Jims said and gave a mock salute. “I admire those who know what they want and will do anything for it.”

“Ya sure?” Nao asked while he helped Hueran pick up the cards and mud chips. “Darklings are all over Heim, surely there ain’t anybody left.”

“I’m sure. I’ve had 15 years to be sure.” She spoke with such conviction I couldn’t help but be in awe.

“Oh, what yer name?” I realized, then mentally smacked myself for how desperate I sounded.

“Wouldn’t it be more polite for the hosts to introduce themselves?” She replied with a smirk.

“Ah…my name is Flakes. This here is Nao. Hueran and Jims. Unit 42 of Middle Wing.”

“Nice to meet you. My name is Sunset.”

“That’s a beautiful name.”

“You think? Thank you.” She smiled down at me and suddenly I felt very conscious of what I was wearing. I hastily scrambled to a sitting position and did my best to brush off the mud sticking to my uniform. Her chuckle made my ears burn which then turned a fiery red when I saw the other three trying their hardest to keep it in. I sigh and slump against a wall in defeat.

“Deal me in.”

“Ya got it, Flakes.” Jims grabbed the finished deck from Hueran and began shuffling. The rest of us gathered round and explained the rules to Sunset. We played a couple of test matches, and the results did not bode well for me. After that, we played about ten more games before I decided to strike up a conversation.

“So, Sunset. How’d you get a sniper like that? I’ve never seen the model.”

“Oh, this bad boy? Yep, custom made. She called it a WeitShot. Make what you will with that.” Sunset unslung the sniper and presented it to the group. After handling a few snipers during my time in recon training, I recognized the superb craftsmanship that went into it. Light but powerful. I opened my mouth to ask another question, but a red flare burst overhead.

Training kicked in as Nao and I dashed down the trench, making sure to keep our heads under. I reached my post first as I skidded into the dip that served as my sniper nest. I quickly snatched up my FarShot and scanned the horizon for any movement.

There!

Three large dark shapes hurtled toward the new Right Wing. The scope’s HUD marked them as Darklings and without hesitation, I fired. The pleasant and relatively quiet afternoon was now filled with gunfire from every direction. There was the occasional scream or curse, but other than that, it was a constant thrum of bullets.

Five minutes later, it was quiet. The HUD announced them dead with the appropriate skull and bones icon over their corpses. There were a few more hovering over the new trenches which caused a pang in my heart. I let myself slump down and took my first conscious breath, then another. It never gets any easier.

“FLAKES! TEN O’CLOCK!”

I bolted upwards and chambered another cartridge and swung my gun to the left. I barely registered two more Darklings bearing down towards our unit before I fired a round straight through the chest of one. Anybody could tell you that a single bullet, even if it came from a FarShot, would not be able to take down a Darkling. I fired again, and again, and again. The corpse flopped directly in front of my post. I gasped and jumped backward, which immediately proved to be a mistake. My footing found no purchase and the ground came rushing upwards. I was a mess when Nao hauled me up to my feet and all but demanded me to move.

I followed his lead as the two of us pushed through the trenches, up to where the second Darkling was causing havoc. Nao burst past the bunker and was promptly smacked to the side by a ginormous obsidian claw. I shrieked and slipped on some mud, sending me to the ground yet again.

My senses were immediately flooded with shouting, screaming, and guttural roars. I groaned as I pushed my useless arms to do my bidding. I chambered a round and fired. A putrid green liquid oozed out of its head but it didn’t pay any attention to me. Instead, it bounded towards Hueran’s post. I cursed and scrambled to get my legs and pushed my aching muscles forwards.

When I slid into the next trench, all I could see was blood and that monster standing over my friend. I screamed myself hoarse as I chambered yet another round and fired point blank. The Darkling roared and whipped its spiked tail into my chest. Gravity disappeared as well as my breath. That split second turned into agony when I slammed into the trench wall. Breathing became hard and some part of my brain concluded that I was dying.

No!

I lifted my head, determined to fire another shot at the very least. Instead a beautiful sight filled my vision. The sun's rays spilled its golden rays over the barren lands, silhouetting the Darkling and a woman straddling said Darkling. The monster bucked upwards which sent Sunset high into the sky. Instead of screaming or losing control, she merely unslung her WeitShot and took aim. I gaped in shock as she hurtled closer to the Darkling’s open jaws. Time seemed to slow as Sunset fired. The recoil pushed her slightly to the side, away from the Darkling. As for the round, it went straight down through the Darkling’s gullet and split the beast in half. The monster choked out an attempt at a roar before coughing and then ultimately collapsed on its side.

I watched mournfully as its green blood mixed with the blood of Hueran. A sob threatened to burst out of my cracked ribs. The pain reminded me of my own plight and I looked down. My chest was a mess. My uniform was shredded, parts of my ribcage had caved in and from a nasty looking hole, dark blood had seeped out at a concerning pace. I chuckled brokenly, there was no saving me.

I rolled my head to the right and saw Nao’s broken body further down the trench. There was no movement. Good. He didn’t suffer. I rolled my head back to the Darkling’s corpse. I choked out a greeting when I saw Jims struggling to climb the corpse. He eventually made it over and allowed himself to fall forwards. On instinct, I tried to move to his aide, but the excruciating pain held me in place. Jims placed his bloodied hands on the ground and pushed himself upwards. He scanned the carnage before his eyes locked on mine. I gave him a smile that felt more like a grimace.

He chuckled wetly and pushed himself over to me. It lasted an agonizing amount of time, but he ultimately made it to my side. He flipped himself so his back was against the wall and his shoulder was touching mine. From my peripheral I could see his injuries, or more accurately, a black spike buried into his side.

“He…hey Flakes.” His voice was raspy and wet.

“Hi Jims.” Those two words left me breathless. I wanted to cough, but it came out more like a wheeze. Also, it hurt like hell.

“Good…good run.”

“Ay…aye.”

I closed my eyes. It felt so nice, so refreshing, inviting even. A noise interrupted my peace. I opened my eyes and saw Sunset crouched over the remains of Hueran. She had her hands clasped and I saw her mouth move with what I would imagine a prayer would be. After she was done she looked over to where we were. Her eyes softened when she noticed our wounds. I looked over to Jims and noticed that he wasn’t breathing. I turned back.

“Hi…unset.” Blood spilled through my teeth.

“Hi Flakes.” She said sadly. She walked over to where I was but her boot clanged into something. Hueran’s sword.

“Take…” I coughed out more blood. My vision dimmed a little. It was too much effort to keep my head up. I let it drop. “Take it.”

“Okay.”

“G’bye…set.” I closed my eyes again and let the peace wash over me.

“Goodbye Flakes.”