《A month in trench》


 Ch1 The boys from village

    "How is the field today, honey?" The wife asked her husband who just came back from his tiring work with his son for the day. Yesterday their potato fields were destroyed by an animal. Judging from the tracks left by the savage beast they assumed it was a boar. And the boar, they tend to come back.


    She waited for her husband''s answer nervously as these potatoes were their only source of income for this year. They also planted cabbages and tomatoes but had not much luck with them. So the potatoes were their only hope.


    The husband caught his breath first as he fanned himself with his hat before he hung it on the door.


    The husband answered in a ragged voice, "The bastard got us again." It was filled with anger and helplessness.


    He threw himself onto a chair and asked his wife for a glass of water. Out of breath, he could not even say it out so he waved his hand and fingers. Married for 20 years, his wife knew exactly what he meant and brought a glass to the table.


    Soon their son followed into the house with a shovel in one hand and a toolbox in another. A young man yet he was also drenched in sweat after hunting the boar for a whole day and reinforcing the fence around the field when they could not get it.


    The moment he was inside, he dropped the toolbox and ran to his only joy, the newspaper.


    "Oh_ it is here," shouted the boy cheerfully.


    Since young, unlike the other boys in their village who loved playing football or hunting with their fathers, he enjoyed reading.


    Every day when he reached home from the field, he read the newspaper before doing anything else. Although the newspaper was out in the morning, it reached their distant village only at noon so he never got to enjoy it at morning tea like everyone else.


    He sat opposite his father and read the headlines.


    Seeing how his son''s face lit brighter like a sun over a newspaper made him angrier. He gulped down his glass and said mockingly, "Great. Here I am worrying about how to fill our stomachs for next year while my sophisticated son read some news from big cities and worries about the whole nation."


    The lad heard his father but he chose not to. He kept reading the front page in full focus. The mother glared at the father to stop bothering her son. He had helped his father without complaints so she believed he deserved some self-time.


    "Right. It is better. These crops are getting worse every year. Become a writer and get some money for us. At least it won''t be eaten by a boar."


    His father continued grumbling. The mother gave him another glare from the stove while she prepared dinner. The man stopped and tore a bite from a loaf of brown bread his wife put on the table for dinner.


    "So what''s new today," asked the father to his son.


    "The Goli arrested a businessman from our country again." The boy replied.


    "*Urg* these bastards. They are doing it again. Didn''t they arrest some good workers last week? Why can''t they let hardworking men provide for their families for god sake?"


    This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version."They also arrested some businessmen last year," added the boy.


    "Hell. What is the reason this time?"


    "Our man found an oil field worth millions at the border and the Goli said they own it."


    "Damn black gold, they sure are convenient to run everything today so."


    "And it is big this time. The man arrested, Frederick Roger, is I think the brother-in-law to our prime minister," the boy told his father. He read the exact words from the paper, "The foreign minister denounced the latest aggressive act from Goli as savagery and uncivilised, and request the release of all Davians arrested or there will be serious consequences."


    The boy assumed the scope this time is worrisome considering the man arrested was from the top brass. His father concurred with him. The man sighed deeply as he mumbled dejectedly, "It was already bad enough with the drought. If they closed the border again, our potatoes will drop in price."


    "Or there could be another war like five years ago," the boy revisited his memory while he was in middle school.


    It started when a top brass was found dead in Goli. The Davian government accused Goli of assassinating a Davian official and started a war. Luckily the third nation reported the death was natural and ended quickly.


    Since the atmosphere turned gloomy at the table, the mother switched the conversation to light up the room again.


    "Don''t be so down for something that hasn''t happened yet. Goli has been doing that for some time and nothing happened. Our government will make some deal and it will end. So Vicka, my boy, tell me some local news. Is there anything interesting?"


    Vicka was the boy''s name. He turned the paper to the last page and read an article. "An inter-village football cup will be held to choose athletes for the regional team."


    "Oh_some good news. I suppose Dickson and Clooney will be thrilled to hear that. Will they take part?"


    "I believe so. It is eight hundred for first place."


    That night, his father did not talk much after the dinner. He had too much to think about how to deal with the boar. Should he ask the hunting party from the village or hunt alone so that he does not need to split? He was sure the money from crops alone would not be enough for next year.


    While his mother who was a bright person kept talking the same old jokes to lighten up the mood.


    The next day his father asked for a hunting party with Vicka''s closest friends, Clooney''s and Dickson''s fathers. Six of them hunted the boar quietly so that the other villagers would not notice. However, they failed to find the boar after the whole day. Though good news was the fence Vicka and his father built did keep the beast away from crops.


    On their way back, Clooney and Dickson asked Vicka, "Hey, you heard about the football cup? Why don''t you join us as the keeper?"


    The sudden proposal from his friends baffled him. He was stunned by the ridiculousness. They knew he do not like football. He had only played once at middle school and never again.


    "Are you serious?" He asked his friends. They nodded.


    "You are the tallest in our village so_ we already discussed it with the team too."


    "Stop messing with me. You all know I can''t play."


    "We are serious. Others who can play are out of the age limit. We only have ten so we need you. You are the most suited among those who can''t play. Don''t worry. All you need to do is block with your body. And I doubt you would even touch the ball considering how good we are." Clooney told him while laughing.


    Vicka looked at them. They seemed serious. They were quite confident in their skills and so should they. At school, they and the boys from their village were the best.


    Since the reward money might relieve his family''s financial crisis so he decided to give it a try.


    "I am in."

 Ch2 The nations in conflict

    "AND... It''s a GOAL!!"


    The commentator shouted excitedly as the ball hit the bar and bounced back inside the goal. Followed him was the loud cheer from Greenly side and the dejected groans from Keeley.


    It was Clooney who marvellously tricked two players and passed to Dickson for a powerful header. The keeper could only make a twitch and it was in.


    Day after day, they kept winning. Of course they also had to give some goals but the middle led by Clooney gave little chance for the opponent to start an offense. In fact it was not because they were really good neither. For real, Vicka really did not need to block some balls as their opponents could not even shoot straight to the goal. They sucked as hell, he concluded.


    "I am back!" Vicka announced his return after his second victory. It was a knockout Cup tournament_divided into two groups. Each group contained eight teams. After two wins they reached semi final. One more and they would be at final.


    His mother welcomed him happily with a big hug but not his father. He was too tired chasing the stupid boar that had been bothering him for one and half week. It came back again yesterday and made a hole in the fence then ate some crops. He searched it the whole day but no luck in it. Sometimes he started to think it was just in his imagination and not a real boar. A phantom might be playing with him, he reckoned.


    "You couldn''t find it again," he asked his father. He did not get a reply but a blank stare by his father to the corner of the house. When he had much to think, he always stared at there. It was his ritual.


    He did not asked again and sat at the table for his usual dose of joy, the newspaper. The moment he read the front page, he sighed deeply.


    The tension between Davia and it''s neighbour Goli became worse. Yesterday there was a small clash between two armies at the site that was supposed to had millions of gallons of oil. Just earlier this week, some villagers near the site from both countries fought with sticks and stones while trying to illegally drill the oil. They hit each other with clubs and slingers to prevent the other. Now that the military involved, things could get escalated.


    "Is there no way to get out of it?" His mother asked. Vicka contemplated for a while then he answered, "we could give up the oil. It is inside their border anyway. Since they don''t have advance technology, we could provide it and share the profit."


    The mother sighed in relief after hearing it. She was worry that the growing tension would close the border and dropped the potatoes priced. Potatoes are major crop export to Goli.


    "Anyway, when was your next match?"


    "The day after tomorrow, mother."


    "Good. Help your father with that pig before then. It must end now or he will be having nightmares soon."


    "Sure."


    He checked his father for a reaction but his father still seem to be in trance so he continued reading the news.


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    Another week passed in the blink of an eye. Both the football and the boar problem was over too. For the boar, it was real but his father did not get it. It was another man from the village who came across with it in the forest and shot it down, so Vicka''s family did not get any money out of it. However they won the cup in inter-village and Vicka got some money from it thankfully.


    And just being in a winning team, most of players from their village was scouted for the regional team. Vicka was in the list.


    He rejected the offer because it was not his dream to become a footballer. He wanted to be a writer. He even wrote a short story and submitted to local paper. However his work was rejected.


    His dream was failing and the crops from the farms were dropping prices from border clashes. To make it worst, the next day, the prime minister Balling Roger called for an emergency assembly after his son in law was found dead in Goli prison due to poor health.


    By night, the PM addressed the nation at parliament and it was broadcasted live on radio. Vicka and Clooney''s families were having a celebratory dinner together at Dickson''s home that night.


    "Today, the nation has lost a great man who had provided jobs to thousands of families; an examplanry citizen who had organised countless charities. It is a great lost for us."


    He stopped for a moment before he continued his speech. The microphone did a good job recording the voice fulled of sentiment yet gave out courage and determination.


    "He could have brought much more to this world. He was detained unjustly and killed unjustly in a Goli prison. And his crime? Being a Davian. Since a year ago, the barbarians in Goli have been persecuting our citizens, the good and hardworking Davians who tired to help modernised Goli economy. They helped but their kindness was repaid with pain and blood."


    He raised his voice after clearing the throat. "These barbarians have tested our patience time and time. We tried our best in civilised way. But they do not understand. If force is the only language they understand then we shall give them the talk they want. My brother may not be the first but I swear_ I swear to God and to the whole nation; that he will be last. We will tell them that our nation is good to be a friend and the worst to be an enemy!!"


    The congress stood to give a standing applause at the end of the speech. Even Dickson''s father stood up from her chair while he was in the middle of eating lobster. With a big shell in his hand, he pointed its thumb to the radio placed on the shelf and yelled, "yeah! Let''s give those savages some discipline. You can''t expect to go free after unjustly detained a person and killed. No civilised world will just watch."


    As Mr Dickson gave kudo to Balling, Mr Clooney kept nodding his head. He also seemed to agree with it. He told Mr Dickson, "we have superior economy, better weapons and larger army. It is an easy win. They messed with the wrong person. If it was former prime minister, he would have chose peace and dialogue. But Balling, he has big balls."


    "Right. We will give them lessons. We will show them how to be a civilized society. Cheers."


    The two clanked their glass of champagne as they predicted a win already before the start of war. But Mr Klein, Vicka''s father, could not be happy along with them. Now that there was war, all his hopes and prayers to reopen the border had finally gone down the drain.


    He cut the mutton on this plate and put a big chunk in his mouth as he chewed it tastelessly. It could possibly become the last decent meal for him and his family.


    Meanwhile for Vicka, the declaration had help him to decide one thing clearly_ that he must get into the regional team or there might not be food on their plates next year.

 Ch3 The draft

    A month after the declaration of war, the three friends along with twenty other boys of around the same age were called by the region to form a regional football team.


    They left their villages and entered a training camp at Plum, the regional administration town.


    Since the players for the national team would be chosen from this, all regional administrations put extra effort into born more representatives from their region. It is a competition of pride for them.


    The war? They did not care. Their systematic and highly capable standing army was doing its job properly. Every day on the news, they won battles. They were gaining ground. So whatever was happening in the land of Goli, they did not concern. For the people in the inner parts of Davia, war was something on paper which they read during their peaceful morning coffee.


    Vicka joined as a substitute goalkeeper while Clooney and Dickson were in the first lineup.


    Although they did miss their village and its serene environment, none of them regret coming to town.


    Every day they would eat breakfast at camp had some training, lunch, and some more training and then by evening it was their self-improvement time. And self-improvement meant_


    "Wow, so many cars. So cool."


    "Hey look at that girl at three. She is freaking hot."


    "Yeah. All the girls here are so pretty."


    "Stop staring like that or they will know we are country bumpkins."


    "I think she winked at me. Should I go talk to her?"


    "Of course. Go!"


    Girls, drinks, movies and parties. The time at the camp would become the best five months of their lives.


    There was another good thing for Vicka. It was the newspaper. Now he could read it at the same time as others, in the morning, while enjoying a cup of warm coffee and biscuits. From time to time, Clooney and Dickson would ask him to read it aloud. They were too lazy to read on their own. And he was happy to read for them.


    "What''s new today?" asked Dickson while he stood up to get the pepper for the egg.


    "We won a major battle near V¨¡lance. Soon we will control the town." Vicka answered enthusiastically.


    "How about that oil field? Did we get it?"


    "Yes. At the start of the war. It was the first ground we gained. ... You didn''t know?"


    Vicka was surprised by how ignorance of his friends about the current situation. It had been three months into the war. For their defence though, they did know everything about the names and stories of war heroes. Those are what they enjoyed.


    _Sir Mustard from the armoured division destroyed two entire squads in a battle.


    _Sir Edward shot down an enemy tank and annihilated a squad while soaring in Goli''s sky like an eagle.


    _courageous soldiers freed Davians from Clad, a town where hundreds of Davians are harassed by Goli for being a Davian.


    _private Michalson bravely gave his life to free his encircled comrades.


    Those stories brought them excitement and inspired dreams to be a hero themselves. And watching them all excited about such a story convinced Vicka to pursue his dream. Unlike other boys, upon hearing those stories, Vicka wanted to be a journalist who could move millions of hearts with an article he wrote.


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    "Damnit. It says Goli are driving out Davians from home and forcibly deported to Davia with bare hands. All properties left in Goli were burnt or robbed." Daniel, Vicka''s friend from the camp, read the article from the last page aloud. The horror fellow Davians suffered in Goli was reflected on the faces of everyone.


    Angered, one of the boys said, "Why don''t we do the same to them?" Luckily the coach heard him and stopped his misbehaviour beforehand.


    "Are you a barbarian? Because what you said is the act done by such people."


    One day, while they were enjoying their self-improvement time as usual, Vicka saw a man in his fifty, some parts of his hair had turned grey, sitting in an alley. He seemed to be angry at something. He was puffing out his pipe violently while reading a newspaper. A cup of tea on a nearby table could not calm him down.


    But the reason the man was caught in Vicka''s eyes was that the paper he was reading was something he had never seen before. It enticed his enthusiasm. So Vicka approached the man politely.


    "May I know where this newspaper is from?" Vicka asked the man. The man did not seem pleased by his intrusion. He raised his eyebrows and asked back grumpily, "What? You police?"


    It flustered him. So he had to explain to the man that he was a boy who like reading the news and that from where he came from, there was no newspaper like the man was reading. He explained that he was interested in the paper. Only after that, the man lowered his suspicion.


    The man confirmed one thing with Vicka, "so you have been reading news only from one source."


    Vicka nodded.


    The man shook his head with pity, "then you were reading propaganda. Not news, lad. You aren''t getting smarter. You are being molded. See this paper. You have never seen this because they were banned by our civilised government after an anti-war article. Here read this."


    The man shoved the paper into Vicka''s hands. He read it immediately. The article was as followed_


    _Behind every beautiful war story were pointless deaths of men, both armed and unarmed: hundreds of soldiers decimated unnoticed for V¨¡lance, a town where no Davian to be free, while a unit of Davian beheaded residents as an act of revenge_


    As it turned out the man was a captain for a commercial shipping line. With his connection to foreign lands, he smuggled foreign newspapers for himself. And through those papers, he found out the truths behind the propaganda.


    From that day onward, Vicka did not enjoy his morning-coffee news anymore. The more so he hated reading those sugarcoated war stories to his friends. When he saw the posters or heard stories from the radio, he turned to the other side, while in his head he mumbled, "urg* this repeated propaganda. When will this end?"


    For the next two months, he went to the man every evening and together he read the news from all different sources to find out the real stories. And through there he found out how bad the war had turned into. Just in a week alone, thousands perished combined on all fronts; while in local news only victories and small setbacks were covered.


    While everyone including his closest friends enjoyed parties and girls, he noticed a whole different life was coming for them soon. After all, where was better to recruit new troops than a training camp full of energetic youths.


    His prediction was right.


    After six months in the war, prime minister Balling had signed a new decree that would affect them all.


    From the radio: Because of the hard resistance from Goli troops in the most ruthless and savage ways, the nation has been in a deadlock to advance. To penetrate through the enemy line, colonel Mckanthy shall open a new front. To embrace our certain victory sooner and return to peace earlier, the brave men of Davia are called upon to join the new recruitment for the great army of Davia. To arm! To victory! Glory to Davia!!


    And so a recruitment officer came to their camp the next day.

 Ch4 Man up!

    "What''s your name!!?"


    The drill sergeant shouted to the face of a young man who just came here on a truck after leaving his family for the nation. After the nationwide draft, many youths were also enlisted in the army for the new front led by Colonel Mckanthy.


    The moment the words came out of his mouth, the spits also spew along with them. It soiled the young man''s face yet he did not dare to wipe them.


    "I said what''s your name!!" The instructor yelled again. The poor boy answered in a shaky voice, "Br... Bruno, sir!"


    "No!! You are private! Understand? Private!! Twenty sit-ups."


    "Yes sir!"


    After scaring the first kid, he chose his second target. He glared at the lad as if he would eat him alive.


    "What''s your name!?" He asked again.


    "Kline, sir!"


    The answer made the sergeant angrier though there was no reason to be angry in the first place.


    "Wrong!"


    He shouted into the lad''s face. The spit drenched him.


    "You are PRIVATE! Understand? Private. How many times do I have to say!? Twenty sit-ups."


    "Yes sir!"


    The drill sergeant turned to the next one. It was Vicka. Again he asked the same question. After the two earlier were drenched in saliva, Vicka answered confidently. "Private, sir!"


    The sergeant raised his eyebrows. Then he closed into Vicka''s face until they nearly touched. The sergeant glared at Vicka with his red eyes.


    "Being smart, huh? Do you think you are so smart? If you are private then how DO I Differentiate you and those two earlier!? Huh!? Thirty sit-ups."


    The reply from the sergeant baffled him. Drowned in spits like he just showered under some sticky smelly water, Vicka believed he and everyone were being ridiculed for no reason. When they said their names, the man said wrong. When he spoke what the man told, he was still wrong. The heck? This is so bizarre. This is bullying. Vicka thought to himself.


    After his third victim, the sergeant turned to his fourth. This time, it was Clooney. He asked the name. Clooney straightened his back and shouted his name loud and clear.


    "Private Clooney, sir!"


    As soon as he heard the answer, he stomped his feet proudly. "That''s right. Private CLOO~ney. That''s how I can tell if you are Major Clooney who I have to kiss his ass or rat-ass Private Clooney who I told to kiss my smelly ass. One point to private Clooney."


    Clooney''s uncle was a retired major colonel. He got some how-to-survive-in-boot-camp tips before coming here. That was how he was not intimidated by him and could think straight. It was also Clooney who persuaded Vicka to enlist in the army when the football tournament was cancelled.


    After the nationwide draft, the regional tournament was cancelled and a recruitment officer came to Plum Town for new recruits. Although it said voluntary recruitment on paper, on the ground, it was mandatory enlistment. A draft. A set number of recruits must be met or they would be taken randomly by force.


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    Clooney and Dickson enlisted immediately since they had nothing to do. They believed this was their chance, their calling, to become a war hero themselves, to be part of something greater.


    They called Vicka to enlist together. Vicka hated it.


    He believed the war was bloody stupid and built on lies that he wanted to take no part in it.


    The man from the alley said that the real reason was the oil aka the money. It was why the area around the oil field was the first place taken by massive force from Davia; not the border town of Narim¨¦ where lots of Davians were suspected to be persecuted.


    Then again, his journalist career was in no progress and his family had no money to survive for the next year so enlistment would give some breather for his family. His salary would provide the tuition fees for his older brother who was in medical school in the capital.


    Also, Clooney''s words convinced him even more. In his exact words: _no one will read an article written by nobody. But an article by a war veteran who had served the nation with his life will be in the first column. Once you get popular, you can make anything a success._


    The sergeant continued his speech with his ragged voice. He had been yelling the whole time so it become ragged. "For the first three days, you all will be given a stick. Yeah! A fricking stick because we don''t trust you yet. Think of it as your gun. Understand?"


    "Yes sir!"


    "Now, MOVE your ass and take one each from that rack. Then get up that hill and return before noon. If anyone of you returns over the noon, all of you will say goodbye to your first lunch!"


    And so, Vicka, Clooney, Dickson and ninety-seven others had to run up a huge hill without any warm-up. They also had to carry their bags which were given out to them the moment they were dropped off the trucks. They were full-combat bags.


    The sergeant first class sat down by a tree bark near the field after his nonstop shouting his ass off while the lower two sergeants ran along with the recruits.


    "Move it. Move. It is eleven-ten now. You lazy asses better hurry up."


    The hill was farther than they thought, and steeper than they imagined. Some might even call it a small mountain. With the load on their back, it took a toll even on fit people like Dickson who had a lot of stamina. They thought it would be easy after being trained to run around for ninety minutes.


    "The hell with this big ass shovel," a recruit complained, "are we making full toilet on frontline now?"


    "Tell that when you have an axe on you. I don''t understand why they gave me a big axe." Another one told while panting hard.


    Vicka looked back at his bag. A shovel. Same with Clooney. But Dickson was carrying a toolbox. A hammer was sticking out of it.


    The moment they reached the top, some dropped to the ground. A few were retching while a chubby boy was vomiting the food he shoved in during the ride. A person looked around suspiciously if anyone was watching him. Then he took out a can of food from his bag and hid it inside the bush to make his bag lighter. Unfortunately, Vicka locked eyes with him. They stared at each other for a moment. Then he realised Vicka would not snitch so he took out another one.


    "Get up you sissies. Your trips aren''t over. MOVE!"


    The recruits resumed running again after the sergeants pushed their asses. One of the recruits shouted angrily while pointing at the chubby boy, "Hey! Someone pulled up that fat ass or none of us will get to eat."


    Vicka remembered the shouting guy as Kline. Kline was already pulling up another guy. Vicka and Clooney quickly ran to the chubby boy and pulled him up from each shoulder. Dickson got his bag.


    "Hey, what''s your name?"


    "Private Berry, sir!"


    "I am Clooney. This is Dickson and Klein. We will help you so get up."


    "Thank you, sir."


    "Stop your ''sir''. We are recruits like you. Now get up or every starving man here will eat you alive."


    And so, by helping each other, they made it by a close margin. The moment they reached the dining hall, none of us could eat right away. They needed time to breathe.


    The first three days were the same routine. They ran up the hill in the morning. In the evening, they dag then refilled then do that again the next day. While some had to chop wood.


    On the fourth day, they saw their first gun. It was 1909 issued bolt action rifle that could easily kill from 500m. The magazine was fitted to load 9 bullets.


    "This is Dir ''09, the standard rifle of our great army. From here onward, this is your new soulmate. Love it like you love your wife, a newlywed. Not twenty-years-together wife. Do not lose sight of it or you will pay dearly."


    It excited the boys. That''s what they were here for anyway. The guns, knives and grenades which the boys loved to play. It made them feel like the real soldiers now. Like the ''real'' man.

 Ch5 A promise or childish dream

    It did not take long for Vicka and 99 others to get their excitement got real. By the seventh day, a middle-aged man with a big insignia on his shoulders came to their boot camp. He had a very impressive moustache.


    "Company, line up! Salute!"


    The moment the roar of sergeant first class was heard, the hundred men saluted their officer almost at the same time. Seven days ago, they were frightened by that roar. Now it became their rhythm. The shock from the stomping of their hoofs echoed through the camp.


    "I am lieutenant colonel Winslate. Your battalion commander. You will be attached to the other nine hundred to form a battalion. Yes. It seems to be fast. It was only seven days. But I believe you are ready. You all came here as boys. Now in my eyes, I see men, standing strong, standing tough and standing deadly. You all came out as men_real men. That is what I see and I always believe what my eyes see. So I will ask you. Do you believe what you see too?"


    Like Vicka, the rest also looked at each other after the speech. They were not so sure. Just a week ago, they were boys playing soccer. Now they had to go to the frontline? Their eyes wavered. However, there was one who did not. It was Clooney.


    He stomped his feet as he took a step forward. He shouted clearly, "I believe so, sir! I now stand as a man."


    "So do I, sir!" Another man stepped forward as soon as Clooney did. The second man was chubby Chad, Private Berry.


    After the heartfelt performance by Berry, everyone stepped forward, including Vicka. At every stomp they heard, they felt a war-drum was beating right at their heart.


    And they felt prouder at themselves, especially at the moment lieutenant colonel Winslate saluted them back. "You men are the pride of Davia. With me, let''s liberate our brothers in Goli and beat those Goli bastards!"


    After the seven days of training, the hundred youths who were now called ''men'' lined up in their kaki brown uniform with blue and white columns on their right arm representing their glorious Davain Flag.


    Vicka strapped a metal helmet and belted a bag loaded with ammunition behind his back. Then he carried a box full of mortar rounds from the armoury to the truck he was assigned to with another recruit.


    When he reached the truck, he saw his friends Clooney and Dickson, even Berry on it.


    His eyes became teary when he found out they were assigned to the same unit. For a moment he thought they were assigned to different units when he did not see them at the armoury. He loaded the box then got on the truck and gave them a passionate hug.


    Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere."Let''s be together like this till the end."


    The five kakhi trucks moved out of the camp slowly then they joined with the ten other trucks at Plum Town. As soon as the townspeople saw them, they waved at them with lots of smiles. Some random grandmas came to them with baskets of biscuits for them to enjoy on their trip.


    "Be back home safe, son." A middle-aged man patted a soldier lightly. His voice was crackling. While a woman who seemed to be the mother was crying her eyes out behind the man. Words would not come out of her.


    A young woman in her twenties was giving a kiss to her lover. She was not crying but her red nose and puffy eyes showed that she must have cried till her tears were dried before coming here. She was trying to look strong for her lover. "I will be waiting for you."


    Vicka felt choked by the emotions returning to him in flocks. For the past few days, he forgot all human emotions. At the camp, all he did was trying not to get yelled at and try to become the best shooters of Goli dummies. What have I become? He hit himself. A week away from his papers and he became a lap dog of the government. Then again he had no choice. It was he or his brother who would become a doctor one day and provide for the family.


    He checked his friends who were sitting across from him. Like him, Clooney and Dickson were turning their heads like a fan, searching for their families.


    Dispirited, Dickson told Clooney, "I guess they won''t make it here in time."


    Greenly was a remote village, a little far from Plum Town than the other villages so they knew their families might not be able to come on such short notice. Still, they had hoped to meet their families and the faces of their mothers and fathers before they were off to the frontline.


    Berry''s parents could not make it here like theirs. But his sister who worked at a bakery in Plum Town came to see him off. She gave him a box of biscuits she made herself. They were special chocolates with extra milk and sugar so that a bite would give them energy for the day.


    "Share it with your friends," told the sister to Berry. Then she looked at Clooney who was sitting next to Berry and said, "My brother may be a handful but he is a good-natured boy. I hope it may not be too much if I ask you to take care of him."


    "Sure. I will," assured Clooney to her, "actually, he truly is a handful but when he is into something, he can be tenacious and reliable. We are relying big on your little brother too."


    A moment later, they heard a series of horns as a small kahki car drove passed the trucks. When it reached the front of their convoy, the wheels of their trucks started to roll. It mercilessly broke apart the hands which were holding to.


    Then Vicka saw Uncle Dickson from afar. The three families just got here from their little village. But it was too late. All they could do was wave their hands endlessly until they were out of the horizon.


    "Let''s all get back home safely. Okay?" Dickson asked for a promise. Without thinking much, Vicka and Clooney promised him.

 Ch6 Frontline

    A column of trucks drove past the towns and villages of glorious Davia. Every time they saw the passing of trucks, the people waved at them with all smiles and cheers. On their way, they saw more and more trucks joining them. Now the whole convoy was an endless column of trucks.


    Due to the dust flying off from the front cars, those at the rear could no longer recognise each other. They were all covered in dust.


    After they drove nearly a hundred kilometres, they crossed a river that marked the border between the two nations through a makeshift bridge. Near it, they saw another bridge, parts of it collapsed into the river making it no longer passable. The poor bridge must have witnessed the horror of war, Vicka imagined.


    It was the same for others. If a big concrete structure could be broken into pieces what would have happened if it were them? The troubling thought put fear in their hearts. They went silent.


    Soon they reached the land of Goli, the land of the enemy where they had to kill another man to see the another day, to keep the promise they gave to their loved one.


    After several kilometres in, they heard the sound of a big horn from their rear right. Everyone on the truck turned their heads to it.


    It was a greeting from their side, a train loaded with deadly cannons and the latest war machines they called tanks. The looks of those steel behemoths were menacing. How to fight it if they were to face one, Vicka could not imagine.


    The soldiers from the train shouted cheers at them along with the big horn. So they returned their cheers.


    "Hey!!" Dickson shouted. So did everyone. They waved and shouted at each other. Greeting from their fellow Davian soldiers did cheer them up a lot. Smiles and laughter filled the air when the road got closer to the track and went parallel to it.


    It was only a while until they parted ways again as the road turned to the left. But it was enough to lift the spirits and built comradeship. They would not miss them for they knew they all going the same frontline.


    The truck reached the crossroad between a Goli town and a small village. Their trucks turned to the left where the village was.


    "The train must be stopping in that Goli town," Dickson stated the obvious.


    After a long boring and exhausting fifteen hours ride, the column of trucks stopped near a small Goli village. The moment they saw the khaki trucks coming to them, the villagers shook their heads in despise. It was clear that they hated Davian coming to their village. The glare in their eyes showed unwelcome.


    Dickson found it eerie that no young people were found in the village. Clooney made fun of him that since a Davian woman broke his heart, was he aiming for a Goli woman now. "Screw you." Dickson bushed out.


    Through a huge signboard that said ''camp victoria'', they entered their frontline camp on foot. It was a huge camp made up of nearly hundreds of tents. They marched into an open field in front of the commander''s camp where a big white flag with blue and red stripes waved proudly over the Goli land.


    Now that they were finally here, the frontline where the real actions happened, they were thrilled and excited. It was their turn to make their names on the paper.


    Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


    "Welcome to the new Goli frontline, my fellow brave soldiers of Davia. I am Colonel Mckanthy."


    A man addressed himself to the new privates. He was in his mid fifty. His short blonde hair was mixed with grey. But his handsome jawline made him look tough. He whiffed a puff from his pipe before he handed it over to Sir Winslate to put it down.


    He continued, "this is the very important frontline and I expect you to do your duty loyally and properly. Because this could very well decide the fate of our glorious nation."


    The moment they heard the fate of their country lay on their shoulders, it excited their crazy-war heroes-dream hearts.


    "This front will be very brutal. More so than you imagined, more so than you had trained for. So braced yourselves. One month. You will serve here for one month. After that, you will be able to get out of this hell front as heroes and laid back in your home until your next deployment. Understood? So I expect you all to fulfil your duties and followed orders precisely in this one month. I won''t take a ''no''. And I do not tolerate desertion. Now break up and get to your position. The enemy won''t wait for you to be ready."


    The tough briefing pumped them up. The flying bullets, the bombs, the explosions, the tanks and the planes; all those things they heard only on paper would be in front of their eyes now.


    However, when they reached the frontline, it was nothing but a gloomy quiet grass plain where some of their fellow soldiers were sporadically digging holes here and there. There were no explosions, no flying bullets and no enemies.


    An old Goli woman was cursing at some of the soldiers for digging out the tombs where her ancestors were buried. "You Davian orcs! You invaded our land and now you destroy my land where my father rests!? Do you have no conscience, no respect for the dead!? I pray you all die like pigs and your remains are eaten by dogs and then burn in hell eternally!!"


    The Goli grandma cursed them explicitly but the Davian officer with a petty moustache seemed to be not affected. He picked his ear in boredom and signalled a soldier to take her away by force. Then he saw Vicka and 19 other recruits joining his squad.


    "The heck are you standing idle there? Drop your shits and start digging there," yelled the officer. He seemed to not like them for no reason.


    "For godsakes, look at those boys. They don''t even seem to be cut-off milk. What the heck is wrong with this nation lately? Soon they will send off babies to fight for them."


    Frustrated the officer spit on the ground near the tombs and complained to his fellow officer.


    Without anyone telling them what to do exactly, Vicka and the boys looked at each other. Since the officer seemed to be in a bad mood, they decided to do exactly what he just told. They dropped their bags and started digging around with their shovels. They felt out of space and confused.


    The officer saw them and yelled again, "The heck are you guys digging there!? A toilet? Look around at what the others are doing. Where is the sergeant in charge!? Hell. Look at this mess. I guess we will all die in this shitty place. Seargent! Seargent Hammond! Shit. Laurice! You take those boys with your team for now and tell them what to do. When their sergeant arrives, tell him to see me first. Understand?"


    "Yes sir!!"


    "That bastard Hammond. Did he go for a piss again? He should check his prostate."


    The officer left the place while mumbling something quietly. After meeting their CO, Vicka and the other had concurred that it was gonna be a very long month.


    A sergeant came to Vicka''s group and asked who was the private first class. Clooney lifted his hand. Sergeant Laurice took out a blueprint from his pocket and showed them what they were supposed to build.


    It amazed them. What they were building was a mega fortress, not on the ground but ''in'' the ground that spanned across the entire region.


    And they must build it in a week.

 Ch7 The longest week

    *huhu *huhu


    Vicka panted heavily as he dag the ground. It was all he had been doing for six days along with other eight thousand men.


    He stuck his shovel on the ground and swiped his sweat away from his forehead as he took a small interval. He dropped his butt onto the ground inside a one-meter-wide hole and glanced at the sun. He accidentally met eyes with Private Berry who was also sitting by the edge miserably.


    He tapped Berry''s leg lightly with his shovel. "Get off from the edge. *Pant* I will fricking kill you if it collapses."


    When Sergeant Laurice first explained it to them, they could not believe their ears. They thought it was impossible. A mega fortress in the ground made of trenches in zigzags which spanned across the entire region. It even had bunkers and dugouts to sleep in, storage for food and ammunition, and even command posts. There were tunnels connecting to parallel trenches so that no one had to go above ground between the frontline and supply line.


    Berry replied nonchalantly, "it is fine. They could stand the weights of sandbags anyway."


    "You weigh more than those bags. Move."


    Since Vicka insisted, Berry moved his butts away from the edge unwillingly. He was as exhausted as Vicka. They all were. One by one, they all flopped down to the ground and admired the structure they just built within a week. It was nearly finished. The great fortress in the ground, though only from the sky, one could see the insanity of it.


    Meanwhile, back at the main command camp near the village, Lt.colonel Winslate saluted Colonel Mckanthy for his daily report.


    "The trenches in section 3 are near complete sir. All that''s left is to add some sandbags on parapets, to place some barbwires and to reinforce the dugouts with planks."


    "Good. Fire steps and firing bay are all that matter. These trenches are useless if we can''t fire. ... What about the machine guns?"


    "We placed them behind the front line, hidden."


    "Good. Forget the barbwire. No barbwire. I want full men working on sandbags and covering them in the dirt. Understand?"


    "Yes sir."


    "Great. Now that section 3 is also almost completed, we can safely say we did it. All we need now is the situation of the enemy. What is our scouts'' report?"


    Mckanthy asked Lt Col Henry from scouting and reconnaissance. Henry stepped forward with a report paper and placed it on the table. His face did not seem well.


    "We lost contact. I believe they were caught. But we got some news from back home. Our intelligence got a credible report from an inside man that nearly ten thousand are deployed from Goli side."


    "Ten thousand?"


    The number of enemies shook the officers in command. It was twice the size of theirs. They only had six thousand deployed currently although they initially asked for eight.


    Lt. col Winslate twisted his moustache out of nervousness while Col.Mckanthy took a whiff and scratched his head with the pipe.


    "I hope it is enough."


    8th day in the frontline, 1st day in the trench;


    somewhere inside the 3rd section;


    "Finally, all the digging and all the wiring are over," said Clooney while lighting a cigar from the ration, though it was hard to call it a cigar. It was a mix of some leaves and little tobacco rolled in a piece of paper.


    "My back is killing me," Dickson complained as he took the fire for his own from Clooney''s cigar by bending near. "Are you sure you don''t want them?" He asked Vicka. They got the cigars from both Vicka and Berry who did not smoke. Vicka gave them away for free while Berry exchanged them for half a chunk of meat from both at every meal.


    They could not understand why Vicka did not smoke or drink. It was not like Vicka had to take care of his lungs. He would never play football again anyway.


    "I thought writers smoke or drink a lot."


    "Just because they do them, I don''t have to. I am not writing a book and have a thought block or something. I have no reason to. I have nothing to stress about." Vicka replied.


    The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon."I thought you hated this. Coming here. This war. All this digging we have to do every time we shit."


    Dickson made him think for a while. It was true that he hates it. "I guess I just don''t want to."


    While they were chatting leisurely, Berry came back from his business. Dickson shouted to him why it took so long for him to finish his business. The officers allowed only one from each squad to go toilet at the same time so he had been waiting his turn to piss. Dickson yelled, "I told you not to eat too much meat. Eat more vegetables."


    "It is not that. Okay? It won''t come out while another man is sitting across from me. I hate meeting eyes."


    After hearing Berry''s reason, they could not control their laugh. They also knew how ridiculous and awkward that was. It was something they all could understand. It gave them a good laugh.


    "Oh wait. I forgot to tell you guys. Breaking news. One column is moving out tomorrow," said Clooney, "I heard it from Bruno while I went for rations. Kline, Hillstone and Borough were in that battalion."


    "Why?" It picked Vicka''s interest. He found it ridiculous to go out after all the digging for perfect defence. "A squad would be enough for scout. They don''t need a column. Where are they moving out."


    "Into Goli. I also don''t know why. Maybe they have to raid some villages nearby to cut off supplies before the enemy comes."


    "Raid a village? Why would we need to kill civilians? They must have brought rations anyway."


    "Well. We are not experts in military tactics and strategies, are we?"


    As Clooney said, three columns did move out the next day. They sent them off with waves and cheers. After that, the whole region turned silent. There was no news. No fighting. No explosion. Nothing but some caws from ravens and chirping from sparrows. They felt like they were in their village in Davia. It was too peaceful. Sometimes they wondered that were they really at the frontline.


    On 4th day in the trench,


    "What are we doing today, Clooney?" Dickson asked his friend who was private first class, their superior.


    "Nothing. They told us to sit tight and wait."


    "Well. If the enemies are not here, can we play some football above?"


    "I have already asked. They said no. They specifically told that no movement, no activity above ground."


    Clooney answered Dickson impatiently while he dragged Berry down from the firing step, who was playing with grass above ground through the firing bay.


    "Hell," Dickson complained, "I am bored. The worst is guarding at night. We can''t even smoke. No entertainment. Those crickets are the only thing accompanying me. I think I am turning insane."


    "Everyone feels the same," Clooney comforted his friend.


    "I miss playing football. I miss those passes and corner kicks you made with that foot of yours. Remember how I headed those balls into the goal? Damn. I was good at it. We were really good at it. We are the best duo. Do you guys remember that article? It called me a head that should be golded." Dickson reminisced about his golden past.


    Vicka chuckled after hearing that. "Isn''t that reporter your girlfriend at that time?"


    "Yes. But you know how unbiased reporters are. They are professionals. She would not write it if it wasn''t true." Vicka defended.


    It made them laugh. Especially to Vicka. It was the best joke he ever heard.


    12th day in the frontline, 5th day in trenches;


    "Any new today?" Dickson asked with hope. But it was shattered with one word from Clooney, "Nah."


    14th day in the frontline, 7th day in trenches;


    Dickson did not ask with words anymore. He looked to Clooney when his friend came back from officer post and Clooney would shake his head.


    Since he had little hope in Clooney, he swiftly changed his target to Vicka who was writing a journal.


    "Care to save your dying friend from boredom."


    "I started yesterday."


    "It will be enough to entertain me. Please. I beg you. These seven days. I feel like it has been seven months. It is so long to pass a day here."


    "Fine." He knew how annoying Dickson could be so Vicka decided to read some lines rather than being annoyed all day. "I will read some lines I have written today."


    "Cool."


    "In light of the 14th day, the youths who were full of energy and excitement finally accepted their ill fate. The enemies are not coming. And no chance to become war heroes. Their bodies were stuck in those 1-meter-wide hellholes called trenches while their restless mind started to get jealous of their comrades who got to advance early.


    The frontline that was full of thrilling actions and exciting stories in the news was, in fact, a sitting club where youths took dumps while staring at each other.


    To conclude in one word, it was ''fricking stupid''."

 Ch8 Surprise suckers!

    15th day in the frontline, 8th day in trenches;


    Vicka''s squad had to fall back to the supply line since their week was passed. To prevent extensive stress on soldiers, they were rotated between the frontline and supply line each week.


    "Gosh. Fourteen days in and we haven''t seen a single enemy. Now we have to wait in the supply line where there will be no actions."


    Dickson disheartened his comrades.


    Vicka chuckled. He was the only one enjoying this. He could write his work peacefully while his family got financial support from the government. It had been working out well for him.


    When he first came here, he thought he would be murdering some Goli, especially some civilians, like that foreign news written. If so, he would hate himself forever.


    "Isn''t this better? In two weeks, our service will end and all of us will return home unscratched."


    "And we will become laughingstocks. A war veteran who had never fired a single shot. We will be made fun of. I came here to be a hero, Vicka. I can''t return as a joker."


    "Don''t be too bitter, Dickson. The moment we return home, you will find out how many of them wish to be like us. Most veterans pray for it and it did not come to them."


    "Gosh. You know nothing, Vicka."


    "Maybe. Maybe not."


    Vick gave a confident smirk.


    Soon Clooney joined them with Sgt.Hammond. Vicka noticed a paper in Seargent''s hand while Clooney did not look too well. His shoulders shrugged, his back humped, his eyes staring ground as if he had sinned.


    "All right boys," called Hammond to Vicka and 22 others, "listen up. Your private first class came to the meeting late so we were left with only two options_cooking duty and toilet duty. Then this genius said that every one of you sucks at cooking. So."


    "Oh Hell no!"


    "The heck, Clooney?"


    "Wait, before your verdict,  please listen to me. In my defence, the other team has a former chef who can cook really well. Our meals will be great so it came out naturally."


    "For god sake. We are in the army. We aren''t here to eat some gourmet."


    "You got to be shitting me. Literally."


    The fight went on for a while. Toilet duty. That was the worst one. Clooney had no way out of this. He promised to make up but what was done was done. Meanwhile, there was one person who was silent all through it. It was Berry. He was contemplating whether to say it or not.


    "Ermm...guys. Since we are on toilet duty anyway, can I build some covers around the pit so that we don''t need to watch each other butt?"


    Berry dropped the bomb. And it saved Clooney.


    "Gosh Berry."


    After the morning toilet rolls were refilled and digging a new hole, they had lunch and got some naps till evening. The whole day seemed to be uneventful like every other day. Until they heard some faint sounds of gunshots and explosions in the distance at dusk.


    Then they saw some headlights coming straight at them.


    "Hey, is that the enemy?" Dickson asked.


    "I don''t know. But those are clearly gunshots." Vicka replied.


    "Oh hell no. Why does the enemy have to come when I am in supply?" Said Dickson in frustration. For a whole week, he had been waiting and they did not come.


    Clooney tried to sound the alarm but Sergeant Hammond stopped him and said it was the order from officers. Clooney could not understand why but he followed the order.


    When the trucks got closer, they found out it was their kakhi trucks from the column which advanced into Goli six days ago. They were rushing back to them hurriedly as they were under fire.


    Vicka saw more trucks in the same situation at other sessions too. A whole Goli army was chasing after them in hot.


    A tank fired a round and it landed near a truck. It nearly tripped over but did not. The khaki truck kept driving to the trenches desperately. The lives of the soldiers were depending on it.


    Since a tank was coming, the Davian officers decided to put more men in front-line. Half in supply was ordered to move front. Dickson''s wish came true. Immediately the whole of Vicka''s squad ran to the front line through the communication trenches while carrying crates of grenades to destroy the tank.


    Although the enemy was closing in, a strange order was put by the officers. It was _not to make a sound or a light. They must prepare to battle in complete silence_.


    Vicka saw Seargent Hammond and Clooney carried a makeshift bridge and placed it over the trench. On it was phosphorus painted in two dots at each tip.


    Each moment a bullet hit the truck, a strand of hair stood up in shiver. Each moment a round of shells exploded near the trucks, their hearts skipped a beat.


    Watching how closer each explosion got to the trucks, made Vicka at the tips of his toes.


    If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.He turned to Clooney who felt the same.


    "Seargent Hammond, private first class Clooney requesting permission to go up and saved our friends. I believe we could push them back with our firing power."


    "Permission denied, soldier. That is the order. Stay quiet in your hole and do not engage until further order."


    "Fricking hell," Vicka swore in silence. It was dusk and the temperature dropped below 10¡ãC yet he was drenched in sweat. It entered his boots and formed a puddle inside. The closer the trucks reached them, the faster his perspiration became.


    "You can do it. You are gonna make it. Just a little more." He cheered for the kakhi truck that said 617(a) on its plate. It was coming straight to the bridge Clooney and Hammond made. "Oh god, please. Let it pass us safely."


    He prayed desperately.


    "Sir, private first class Clooney, requesting permission for support fire. It can definitely make it if we..."


    "God damn it, Clooney. I am not blind. Stand down. That''s an order."


    It was only a few dozens of meters left. When Vicka saw some other trucks pass elsewhere, his cheer for 617(a) became louder in his mind. At that moment he saw a Goli tank readied its turret right behind it. In a split second, by instinct, a bad feeling came into his mind. He stopped breathing for a moment.


    He hoped it would not happen. He prayed.


    However, the velocity of the shell seemed to be faster than his prayer. It mercilessly hit the base of 617(a). The explosion violently threw the kakhi truck in the air and flipped it over.


    Vicka angrily turned to Officer Lt.Lupin who gave out an order to sit duck in the stupid hole. To his surprise, he found a tear on the man.


    He thought Officer Lupin was a selfish ruthless bastard yet he saw that tough man grinding his teeth and punching his leg desperately so that he would not break his own order. Vicka turned back to his front.


    He could hear his soul screaming as he watched the poor kakhi truck burn on fire. The yellow light from the fire reflected on the bodies of his fellow soldiers lying lifeless on the ground which were only a few meters from him and he had to watch it helplessly. Some of them were familiar faces; Kline, Hillstone and Borough.


    Then he saw a pair of eyes flinched and it stared straight at him. It was the driver. Since the shell hit the back of the truck, he was seriously injured but still alive.


    Vicka turned to Clooney and Sgt.Hammond. They saw it too. But none of them moved up to save the man. The driver thought his fellow soldiers did not see him in the dark so he slowly crawled out to light. However, before he made it out, the fire reached the petrol tank and the truck exploded.


    Till the last moment, the driver desperately clung to his life while putting his faith in his fellow soldiers that they would come up to help him. Yet he was betrayed. The country betrayed him.


    Meanwhile a few hundred meters behind front-line; inside the camp Victoria;


    Colonel Mckanthy received an urgent report of the enemy attack. "Got it. Proceed as planned." He dropped his radio phone back and threw himself to a rocking chair; there he smoked his pipe leisurely.


    Since it was dusk when the environment was neither light nor dark, the Goli would only see their prey who were desperately running. Their visions were blinded by their overwhelming victory against hateful Davians in front of them. They failed to see that it was, in fact, a frightening lure to a deadly trap devious Mckanthy created at the expense of 300 of his men.


    Nearly three thousand Goli soldiers advanced rapidly, believing that Davian did not prepare for defence yet when columns came inside carelessly. Their officers thought Davian was using the same tactics at the start of the war when a huge division of Davian seized many Goli towns and villages with their superior manoeuvre of tanks and trucks combination.


    Their scout report said a huge Davian camp was seen near a village. Goli officers even talked among themselves about how stupid and old fashion Davian was, building a big camp on the ground ready to be destroyed by modern artilleries. They did not see the perfectly hidden dark trenches in front of the well-lit camp which was intentionally built to bait them.


    They thought they got the upper hand with the surprise element. Except it was them who were to be surprised.


    "Got you." Col.Mckanthy mumbled proudly while Officer Lupin yelled, "Surprise suckers!"


    The moment the unsuspected overjoyed Goli troops came deep into their firing range, Lt. Col. Winslate gave out an order.


    "Fire."


    In an instant, the sky near a small Goli village lighted up brightly. The trenches that had been waiting silently for half a month now roared like a tiger which had met its prey.


    Magazine after magazine, Vicka gritted his teeth and shot at the Goli soldiers who he now called ''bastards who killed his friends''.


    Once a beautiful plain with fresh air was now smelled of smoke from gunpowder and stenches of blood. Sparks from barrels of rifles lit up in the manner of revenge. Each round of artillery sounded like a clap of thunder.


    Suddenly, the area beside Vicka lighted up brightly as if a sun had come to shine near. It was a flamethrower. A kaki-green soldier was burning up the Davians like barbecues. Vicka could feel the scorching heat even from his place. He threw up at the smell of charring flesh.


    At that moment, Vicka heard Dickson yell profoundly, "Die suckers! Die!!" as Dickson picked up a grenade from a fallen comrade and threw it toward the enemy flame thrower. When the grenade exploded, it also blew the gas tank and busted out in flames. Dickson watched it proudly as the flames consumed the Goli soldiers.


    It was not just a battle. It was a massacre.


    That night, at the plain of Bangoli, hundreds of Goli soldiers were killed brutally while another hundred were grievously wounded. Some would argue that Goli''s causalities exceeded half a thousand.


    It became a huge humiliation for Goli officers while a total victory for Colonel Mckanthy.

 Ch9 A ridiculous way to go

    After their first battle which they would never forget the thrill and blood rage they felt, Vicka and his squad along with four thousand others lay on their back from exhaustion inside the trenches.


    Although the battle was over by midnight, they had to stand guard throughout the night till dawn.


    "That was one hell of a battle," Dickson claimed proudly. He was smiling with satisfaction.


    "Yeah. It was the craziest night," concurred Clooney while Berry could not. Sgt Hammond had to console him all night.


    Last night he saw a man''s skull open right beside him. The fallen soldier was from another squad but it still gave a shock. A few centimetres to the left and it could have been his head.


    Vicka tried to rest but the stench of blood made him awake. Although it was a huge victory on their side, he believed it was not much of a victory after the deaths of a hundred men from the column and another hundred from yesterday''s battle; especially when he was watching his fellow soldiers carrying a corpse of his comrade out of the trench.


    Clooney also was injured. Luckily it was a scratch to his side by a flying shrapnel from a shell.


    Vicka crawled out of his dugout and went to help the two soldiers struggling to throw a body over the trench. They failed it the first time and it broke an arm of an already deceased man when the body fell and hit with a firing step during its fall.


    Dickson told him to sit and rest since it was the reserves'' duty to clean up the bodies but Vicka insisted. He said he could not rest with all of this anyway so he helped the two struggling soldiers.


    Clooney, watching the three of them trying hard to put it over the wall, told Sgt. Hammond that it would be better to carry along the trenches than over the ground. Although the distance would be longer, only the soldiers of the same session would see the body and it would be better for the morale. It would be too traumatizing if the whole army would see the bodies kept coming over.


    Sgt.Hammond concurred with the idea and reported it to Lt.Lupin. Soon a direct order from Mckanthy came out to only transfer along the trenches.


    Vicka went over the ground to get some not-so-fresh air. He saw a once greeny land become a barren mess with holes. The tranquil landscape of Bangoli had completely vanished. He picked up some burnt grass and let it be blown by the teasing wind.


    The reserves were rummaging through the Goli corpses and salvaging what they could, ammunition, medical supplies, and valuables before they returned the bodies to Goli.


    Vicka picked up a journal which a Davian soldier threw out from a Goli. The front pages were tainted with dry blood and stacked but some latter pages were still readable.


    He read it; ''_23rd May, I will be able to go home next week. I got a letter from my ma yesterday that my pa broke his ankle in an accident so the farm needed someone to help. Thankfully I heard Luvita helped my mother with the farm. I must be the luckiest man on earth to have such a kindhearted girl as my girlfriend. As soon as I got home, I will propose to her._''


    _''24th May, we got a report that hateful Davian columns had been looting our Goli villages like devils they are. Although I wished to be peaceful in my last week, it can''t be helped. As a son of a farmer myself and as a soldier, I must defend the crops that our farmers grew in blood and sweat. The pain of our farmers is the pain of mine. I shall kick out those invaders before I get back to my village.''_


    Vicka closed the journal and put it back where it belonged. He marked the body ''looted'' so that another soldier would not loot the body and threw the journal away as useless. After they had looted, they radio the Goli and soon the Goli picked up its sons. Vicka watched until the body with the journal got safely on the truck then he returned to his trench.


    After that battle, they did not see any activity from the Goli side for a long time. For a week there was no activity at all from both sides. Same old as before, Vicka and his squad had to bundle up inside the trenches. It pissed Dickson a lot.


    Dickson believed Davain should advance and hit hard before the heavily-beaten Goli built a defence line. A victory made him a war expert suddenly.


    "That night I killed five of them. Two of them are headshots. I am that good," he told his fellow soldiers full of confidence. He continued, "In fact, I believe we all are that good. It is proven. Right? We have better guns, better artilleries, better tanks and better training. We could crush them if we charge them now. We should have before they built these trenches for themselves and hide inside."


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    Although most soldiers in the ranks were eager to charge the Goli now, the officers decided not to. The Goli still exceeded two thousand over their size even after their huge victory.


    22nd day in the frontline, 15 days in trenches;


    Goli''s trenches reached them. The middle land between the two sides became the no man''s land. A few meters in and he could say goodbye to his miserable life.


    At the same time, the rain started to come by the reach of June. Although it was dribbling, it was enough to wet their coats and socks.


    "Hey Vicka, do you have any spare socks? Mine was dipped in mud." Clooney asked while he rummaged through his stock.


    Vicka shook his head. It was the last dry one for him too. They were not prepared for the rain. With the draught in Davia, they thought it would be the same in Goli so they brought only three pairs of socks. It became hard to dry with constant rain. Sgt. Hammond reassured them that officers ordered new socks for everyone from home. But Vicka knew it would take them a while to make thousands of new socks. For a while, they would be stuck with dirty socks.


    The life at front line became hell. The shift became tighter with Goli at their front. They were under constant stress, especially for Berry. He had nightmares since that battle and occasional firing of artillery from the camp did not help. He would shrink in fear and cower in his dugout every time he heard a loud bang.


    "Come on. Are you still scared of those shitty firing? It has been a hundred times already." Dickson talked to Berry while leaning onto parados and smoking his cigar carefreely.


    Dickson knew those firings were just to disturb Goli soldiers in their sleep. So did Goli do the same to them.


    Officers from both sides had been firing artilleries at each other sleeping time. It was their psychological warfare. Those officers knew the shells would never reach their command line which was hundreds of meters behind the front line. The shell would reach the supply line at most so it never broke their sleep. But soldiers in the front line and supply-line, they had to close their ears and sat down at every bang.


    "See. It just exploded at the land behind us," continued Dickson, "they never hit us. It is impossible actually. Those blind shots would never land inside a hole that was only 1 meter wide. So ignore them and sleep tight." He reassured Berry.


    Days passed just like that. 23rd day. 24th day. Vicka had been counting the days when their battalion would be withdrawn from the frontline and replaced with another. For the health of soldiers, the mandatory service was one year with alternate months of frontline and home. Four more days and Vicka together with his friends could go back to Greenly.


    At that moment, he heard a scream from a soldier beside their post. It was quite loud so it alarmed everyone. They thought the enemy had shot at the soldier. Except it was a rat. A rat bit the soldier while he was sleeping in the dugout. Since that battle with Goli, rats had been around due to the stenches of blood and flesh.


    "It fricking bit my ear," yelled the soldier in shock. He had never seen a rat this daring to bite a living human. "Maybe they start liking human flesh." His friend told him. Another joked him to eat the rat back.


    "You want me to eat the rat that ate my ear? You fricking psycho."


    And it broke out into a fight.


    Everyone had been on edge lately because of insomnia and stress. Even a small joke could turn into a brawl.


    25th day at the frontline, 18 days in trenches;


    Vicka wrote in his journal during his free time: _After a hundred and fifty explosions, Berry does not scare of the artillery anymore. Although the noise still broke his sleep since he is a light sleeper like me. Clooney still struggling with his muddy socks. He has this stupid habit of not being able to lift his other leg while wearing a sock. It is a mystery. Dickson. Dickson is still being a dick. Hammond kept telling him to shrink whenever artillery is fired but Dickson does not oblige. He kept standing and leaning onto the parados or parapets whenever Hammond is not around. Like always, he loves showing off._


    At that time, a shot of artillery from Goli was heard so Clooney asked Dickson to duck down.


    Dickson chuckled after hearing that and said, "Come on, Clooney. You are my friend. Don''t try to sound like Hammond."


    "Call him Sergeant Hammond and for your information, this is his 4th deployment. He knows more about this than anyone of us. So duck when he says ''duck''."


    Clooney could not let it pass this time. It was becoming a habit for Dickson and it was dangerous for him so Clooney decided to confront his friend.


    Just then the shell landed several meters in front of them. Dickson, while leaning onto parapets, mockingly pointed to where it exploded to imply that he was right.


    Again another shot was heard.


    This time Clooney was not joking around anymore. He insisted Dickson to duck. "Sit down. That''s an order, Dickson."


    Dickson did not like how his friend sounded and act like a superior but the others were watching so he decided to comply. Before he sat down, he inhaled a big one from his cheap cigar. At that time, a shell landed right on the parados where Vicka''s squad was. It exploded and the shrapnel spewed all over the place.


    One flew right through the right eye, penetrating the skull and hitting the brain. Dickson fell instantly like a broken puppet.

 Ch10 Broken promises

    28th day in the frontline, 21 days in trenches;


    Vicka slowly crawled toward the barbwire to change position. They used the wires to form a maze-like pattern in front of their trenches to slow the enemy''s advance and they would change the pattern daily.


    The mud spluttered to his face every time he landed his elbow to move forward.


    Since that day Dickson fell, the rain had been heavily poured on them like the sky was weeping for him.


    It flooded the trenches as if those were made as a very efficient drainage system for Bangoli Plain. Some dugouts which were placed in lower places became impossible to sleep in. Food and ammunition had to be replaced somewhere high. Commander bunkers had to be remade in places with less water. It had been busy days for everyone; especially for soldiers at the supply line.


    The worst part was the latrines. Unforeseen the circumstances, they were built in the lowest places and now they became the first places to be flooded. The dirty bio-waste floated around the trenches. The stench made the life inside trenches unbearable. It was as if they were sleeping, walking and eating inside the sewer, literally. They had to urgently build a high step at the entrance of latrines to prevent more waste from coming out.


    "Gosh, it was hell in the supply line," talked Sgt.Hammond to his squad dreadfully. "Those sh...things floated around and one of them hit my boot. I...I swear it was the most disgusting thing I have ever experienced."


    "You didn''t experience the same in earlier deployment?" A soldier asked him curiously.


    "Hell no. There wasn''t much rain this year until now. This is bad. We didn''t prepare for this. And the worst part is, we are switching to the supply line tomorrow. I have never wished to be in the front line more so than now." Hammond said dejectedly as he threw the supplies in a relatively dry place.


    Vicka looked at Clooney who seemed to be stepping in pain. He asked if he was alright. Clooney gave him an ''okay'', and said that the medic believed inflammation was due to wearing unfit boots. Vicka offered to change with his but Clooney declined.


    "Yours is smaller. I changed with Dickson''s."


    After that, their conversation paused for a moment. It had been three days since their best friend had gone from this forsaken world. The body had been sent back to Camp Victoria. From there, it would be sent back to the village.


    They could not believe their friend who had been with them throughout their lives was no longer with them. They still felt surreal.


    Vicka took a sip of rum right out of the bottle. It was their ration. Vicka had been drinking and smoking for days. Not because he was sad. He needed them to warm his body from the cold rain.


    "How''s Berry?" Vicka asked Clooney about Berry who had been sent to camp to treat. The mental state of Berry had turned worse when he experienced another tragedy.


    "He is getting better now that there are fewer artillery fires because of rain. But he would scream by a thunder."


    "He mistook it as artillery?"


    "Yes."


    Vicka shook his head after hearing about his friend''s condition. He took another sip and handed it over to Clooney. Clooney gulped to ease his pain in the foot, then took another gulp to forget how miserable their lives had become.


    Just in the morning when he went to the supply line to get their daily rations, he found out that they were losing their rations fast. The cigars were soaked, rum dry from big consumption, bandages were wet, and medicines were running out due to diarrhoea spreading across the trenches.


    The worst part was no new shipments of supplies would be coming sooner. The officers said their route was blocked by a landslide.


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    It was a lie. In reality, it was the mismanagement by the generals and prime minister Balling. They thought they could easily beat the Goli and ended the war soon with their superior planes and tanks. But Goli took the battle to trenches and it became a headache for the Davian government.


    As the war dragged on, there were fewer youths tending the fields in villages. The nitrates used in fertilizers were instead used on explosives. Industries were run to replenish war materials while the production of commercial products was neglected. Soon Davia found itself moving toward a financial crisis.


    A war is a battle of endurance. The fights in the war were not exclusive only to the frontline, it expanded to the very heart of the nation; the industries and farmlands. One must beat its opponent in both warfare and logistics. Failure in one area would result in defeat.


    Eight months after the war, Davia could no longer afford to supply all frontlines. So at the start of June, Prime Minister Balling designated a priority_ the oil field and all surrounding areas must be defended at all costs. The black gold was the only way to cover the cost of war.


    Back at the front line, Vicka''s squad had successfully served 28 days and was called back to the camp.


    "Seargent Hammond and his squad reporting duty to command. We have served a month in the frontline for the country, sir," reported Hammond and Clooney to Officer Lupin who was in the bunker at the supply line.


    Lupin stared them back. Vicka could sense animosity from his gaze. Lupin threw the pistol he was cleaning onto the table and stood up angrily.


    As if asking for a mandatory break from service was a big crime they had committed, Lupin yelled at them, "Must be good to be a soldier. You can ask for leave after a month while we officers had to sleep in this shithole for how many fricking months. ...You dipshits want to go home and sleep on your warm bed while your fellow soldiers sleep in a shithole and protect the country? The enemy is hot on our asses! Get the hell out of my bunker and go back to your posts. None of you are going back."


    Meanwhile, outside, Vicka made the list he had to do while he would be back at Greenly. Although it was only a month, he had a lot to do. He was relieved that he got to send the last farewell to his best friend Dickson himself. Then he must send Clooney to the hospital. Then he must visit Berry''s village or drink with Sgt Hammond at a pub in Palm Town. Hammond told them that there was a good gentleman club in Palm Town. He was excited_ until he heard Lupin.


    As if he was possessed by a devil, Vicka went into the room and punched Officer Lupin right in the face. It broke the nose and Lupin''s petty moustache was stained red in blood. Thankfully, Clooney and Hammond were there to stop the two from killing each other.


    Vicka was arrested immediately after the incident. He was indicted with assaulting an officer and deserting order which amounted to immediate execution by a pistol. Yet Mckanthy; he was not a hot-headed bull; came to meet Vicka himself. Because he knew Vicka might be the first but would not be the last. It was too early to execute a soldier in this month-old frontline.


    Mckanthy asked why so Vicka explained that he wanted to send his best friend''s body back home by himself. Also, it was their right to take a leave after a month. It was not him breaking the law but Officer Lupin was.


    After hearing Vicka out, Mckanthy closed his eyes and took a puff out of his pipe as he was in deep thought. Then he put the pipe aside and carried the chair close to the cell.


    In the close distance, Vicka noticed how clean and neat Mckanthy''s uniform was compared to everyone inside the trenches. He also smelled like expensive tobacco too.


    "Listen, boy. Vicka, right? Listen. I understand how you feel. Back in my days, I sent off many friends and comrades without me at their funerals. It pains my heart but what can I do? I am a soldier and I must serve when the nation calls me to the frontline. It is our duty. Our destiny. We may be sleeping in the mud and eating shit. But because we are here, our brothers, sisters, our parents can be sleeping in a warm bed. Be proud of yourself because I am proud of you son. I won''t be executing a brave soldier who had served his nation because he punched an officer. Okay?"


    Mckanthy raised his eyebrows to confirm if Vicka understood him. Vicka nodded back to show his affirmation. Mckanthy gave a meaningful smile as he left the room.


    "One more week. Then you will be in your bed with pride. I promise."


    Mckanthy gave another promise that he might not keep. Vicka was sceptical about it.

 Ch11 30days mark

    After the talk with Mckanthy, Vicka was put into a toilet job as punishment. It was worse than jail but he was still alive. Otherwise, he would be executed.


    The rain had stopped so the toilets were no longer destroyed by flood. However the trenches were infested with rodents and insects, and the unsanitary environment called for many diseases. The most prominent was diarrhoea. And it was Vicka''s job to deliver the smelly buckets from the infirmary to the toilets and threw the soiled contents into the latrines.


    Once he entered the infirmary, he found out how hectic it had become in one month of their duty. He entered a bunker covered with a big white cloth at the entrance. It was rather big than the rest. He remembered how he and his friends dug out of the ground and built it.


    Inside the dim room, he found soldiers in white aprons running around treating patients. There were around 40 to 50 patients, some were lying on the floor, some sitting in the corners and the rest in bed. Those on the bed were mostly patients with diarrhoea; their beds were attached with buckets below. Those sitting in corners were pneumonia patients or rodent bites.


    The scene was like a painting full of agony.


    Moaning, groaning, coughing and occasional screaming filled the room. Never once it turned quiet. It was hell let loose on earth.


    "Hey private! Come help me. Squeeze his arm hard. I need those veins raised to administer an I.V. drip," asked a medic for help.


    After he helped him, Vicka exchanged his empty buckets with full ones and left the room quickly. He believed he would turn crazy if he stayed in there a minute longer. He was relieved that Clooney did not need to be admissioned for the leg.


    32nd day at the frontline, 25th day in hellish trenches;


    Reinforcement arrived from Davia. Balling wanted those oil fields at all costs so all the routes were reinforced with new troops. Bangoli plain controlled the northern route to black gold so three thousand soldiers were added to there along with new supplies and new socks. They were no longer neglected by the war council as it became one of the main lines.


    On the 33rd, a new brigadier general overtook the command in Bangoli plain. General Brundy was infamous as a hot-headed cocky general opposite to Mckanthy. It was his ruthless advances that brought down many Goli towns into Davia during the early time of the war. He was also a cousin to Balling.


    Brandy decided the stalemate in Bangoli plain must be ended to secure the northern route so by the evening of the 33rd, a shocking order came to section 3 of the front line.


    "All right boys," addressed Officer Lupin to his soldiers, "you must have heard the change in command. Yes, it is the truth. With the new command, a new order has been issued. And it is the order we have been waiting for. That''s right. It is TIME to get out of this ''Shithole''."


    As soon as they heard that they were getting out of there, the boys cheered loudly. It was true that they all had been waiting to hear that. So did Vicka and Clooney.


    Lupin continued, "I knew you are sick of this hellhole with shits and rats because I do too! God! I swear! I hate this. I want to run. I want to see the enemy. And I want to see blood!"


    "Yeah!!"


    "And our wish is answered! Tonight, when the light out, we will climb that ladder, cross the no man''s land and strike the enemy!"


    "Yeahhhhh!!"


    "So boys! Ready your guns. Pack your ammo and grenades."


    "Sir, yes sir!"


    With a heavy heart, Vicka approached Sgt Hammond who was preparing for advance. Seeing his long face, Hammond chuckled. He lightly patted Vicka''s arm and reassured him.


    "Come on, Vicka. Don''t do that face. I am getting out of this shithole so be happy for me."


    Hammond said it in all smiling but Vicka knew how much Hammond was trembling inside. One did not need to be smart to understand that crossing that godforsaken land meant death. This was the fourth deployment for Hammond. He had seen more men fall in that middle land than anywhere else.


    Vicka hugged the man tight.


    Clooney also said farewell to his other friends. As an extrovert and private first class, he had a lot more friends than Vicka.


    "I am sorry guys. I should have been with you."


    "Heck, man. How will you cross that land with your foot? Don''t feel bad. Just rest here until your foot gets better. We will be waiting for you on the other side and together we will overrun their entire lines."


    "Alright. I will see you there, Mandy, Jacob, Sharon, Dandy..." Clooney hugged each man.


    Soon the sun set over the horizon and the warmth over the Bangoli plain turned cold.


    Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.Officer Lupin walked into the front line as he neatly styled his petty moustache and put a cap on. This was the first time they saw him in full uniform. He took out his pistol and checked the bullets. Then he addressed his men, "Alright boys! It is time. Tie your shoes and ready your guns. As soon as the lights are out, we climb. We will cross quietly until further command. Understood?"


    The soldiers nodded in unison.


    After the speech, it turned quiet. Silence filled the whole Davian trenches as they awaited the signal from Camp Victoria. Under the moonlight, silent conversations were made across the eerie trenches. They shared their feelings through contact with their eyes. Their hearts beat on the same rhythm.


    At that moment they saw the lights in Camp Victoria flickered and went dead. The whole side of Davia turned pitch-black.


    "All right boys. The moment your foots stepped on that land, I shall call you ''men''. May God be with you all. May God be merciful upon us."


    At 8 p.m. on the 33rd day, Vicka watched the brave men of Davia climb the ladder of valour and crossed the land of death.


    It was the most nerve-breaking moment. Vicka prayed to all the Gods he knew so that Goli would not notice his friends until they reached the distance to shoot back at the machine guns mounted over the trenches. Those guns were the most devastating weapons of the period.


    Under the cloak of darkness, soldiers of Davia slowly approached the Goli front line in hundreds. Sgt. Hammond was near the middle. He told the men near him to duck down the moment the fighting starts. Their breaths sharp and their hands tightly clenched onto the guns, they crossed the grey land which had been tattered in blood, shells and holes from earlier battles.


    Just before they reached the firing range to shoot back the enemy''s machine guns, silence in Bangoli sky was broken by the sound of rotating blades. It was the biplanes from Davia. They were supposed to come when the ground force reached range but the upwind made the planes 2-3 minutes earlier. And that mere three-minute error cost Davia hundreds of its soldiers'' lives.


    "Shit. Charge!!" Lupin ordered his men. Upon his order, the men of Davia yelled out a loud cheer and charged toward the Goli line.


    At the same time, sparks appeared over the Goli trenches together with a non-stopping roar from machine guns. Bright yellow missiles flew over the Bangoli plain and dropped tens of Davian to the ground in five seconds.


    Thunderous sounds also broke out in full strength as the artilleries were fired from both sides.


    Sgt.Hammond immediately crouched down inside an artillery hole to cover himself. He yelled at Jacob and Dandy who were beside him to do the same. But the heat of battle carried the two young men forward without fear and soon some strayed bullets hit Dandy in the chest while Jacob to the head.


    However, a biplane flew over and quickly took down the machine gun post which killed Jacob. If it was a few seconds faster,  Jacob would still be alive.


    Boiled by the adrenaline, Dandy tried to get up again but Sgt.Hammond got out of the cover and crawled toward Dandy to save him.


    "You have done enough, son. So get in there."


    Hammond dragged Dandy toward the hole by the collar.


    Unfortunately, God did not favour the good man. The kindness of Sgt. Hammond was rewarded by another strayed shell which fell right toward them. The explosion mercilessly tore them into pieces on their way to cover.


    The whole section three turned into madness.


    "Tank!" warned a soldier to Vicka. Thanks to him, Vicka crouched down in time. Otherwise, his head would be flattened by a tank from the same side.


    Soon three steel behemoths rolled down from Camp Victoria toward the battle. Alongside were hundreds more Davian soldiers. Drummers also dropped their incredible war beats to steel their soldiers'' hearts.


    Three nights and two days the battle went on. On the third night, exactly on the 30th day in the trenches, Vicka got to get out of it.


    Along with injured Clooney and ill soldiers from the infirmary, Vicka and hundreds of others charged toward the already ravaged Goli front line.


    "I have lived an honest life; so God, help me," Vicka muttered as he stepped on the ladder.


    Vicka shouted a warcry to overcome his fear. It did not work. But when he thought about his family who will be shamed if he were to desert now, it forced him forward.


    He apologized to his former comrades as he climbed over their bodies to pass the barbwires.


    Round after round, he shot as he kept charging forward like a mad bull.


    Then Vicka saw a soldier in a khaki-green uniform a few meters right in front of him inside the trench. The Goli soldier must be younger than him, around 16, his eyes were wavering in fear. The lad pointed his gun at Vicka and so did Vicka the same.


    However, Vicka found a bullet jammed inside the chamber. He could not shoot.


    The Goli boy clenched his finger first but a bullet did not come out. He was run out of ammo and needed to reload. Both of them panicked.


    It was a race against time between the two. Then the boy decided that it was better to use the bayonet and so he charged forward and stabbed Vicka.


    A sharp pain felt in his knee and ran over his entire nervous system. Vicka fell to the ground and dropped inside the trench.


    Vicka quickly turned over to defend himself but he was too late. The boy was already standing over him and readied to stab his heart. Once the wavered eyes of the boy were now darkened with murderous intent.


    The boy aimed his bayonet toward Vicka''s heart and stabbed.


    Vicka closed his eyes.


    At that moment he heard a gunshot and smelled a fresh stench of blood over his face. He also heard a body drop. It was the boy.


    Clooney reached the edge of the trench and saw Vicka stepped on by a Goli. He shot at the boy and the bullet went into the temple and exited from the other side. Clooney closely saved Vicka.


    Around that time, other parts of section three at Goli''s side had been run over by the Davian forces. And it ended the three-day battle.


    Davia won over the Bangoli plain.

 Final: Ch12 Candies

    Vicka deeply breathed in the scent of home as he was appreciating the green and tranquil scenery of Greenly. Only now he had learned how much he loved the hills and farms, green grasses and fresh air. He was sure he would never miss Bangoli Plain where the soil turned red and the air smelled like a slaughterhouse.


    "Ouch," moaned Vicka in pain as the small truck jumped on the bumpy road. At each jump, he felt a sharp excruciating pain in his knee. When that Goli soldier stabbed him, it burst his kneecap and tore the tendon along with it. The doctor said it would take years to be able to walk again.


    However, that excruciating pain was nothing compared to the wound inside his heart. Whenever he thought about the story of Berry which Clooney told him, he choked.


    That night, Berry also was part of the charge. Even though his mental state was not in full recovery, the officers added him to the list. When Clooney and Vicka advanced across the grey land, Berry also ran along with everyone. But in the middle of the charge, Berry collapsed.


    Under overwhelming stress from continuous artilleries and gunfires, Berry broke down completely. For kind-hearted Berry, all the pains and suffering, screaming and moaning, bodies and blood took a toll on his unstable mind. At some point, he decided that it was best to end quickly than suffered for a long time. Berry pointed his own gun toward his chin and ended his life.


    "You okay?" asked Clooney worriedly to Vicka as he understood the rough road would mercilessly kill Vicka''s knee. Then again, he also had to walk on a crutch just like Vicka. His feet had to be cut off due to ''trench foot'' disease.


    "No. I am not. Any rum left?"


    "Nah."


    "Hell."


    The two kept complaining on the road as their little truck approached Greenly slowly. They hitchhiked a truck used by the government to collect farming products from villages as tax. Their families rode in cargo seats.


    "Can''t you go slower?" told Vicka to the driver. Annoyed, the driver shut him down by asking if he wanted to drive himself.


    Soon their little khaki truck stopped at the village centre. When they approached the village, small children playing in the field saw them and ran toward the village to tell everyone that their war heroes had returned. So when the truck opened the door, the whole village welcomed them with huge applause.


    As soon as Clooney got down from the truck, he proudly showed off his medal dangling on the chest of his khaki uniform. While Clooney was busy showing off, Vicka did not. He did not enjoy any of it. He felt no honour in destroying the land of others. When he closed his eyes, he still vividly saw how the serene green plain of Bangoli had turned into a horrible dusty grey land where no life grow big.


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    Vicka was not the only one who felt like that. The man from the alley of plum town felt the same. So he and some same minds started an anti-war club where they would print posters and journals about the truths they believed. They even planned to call for a march. However, it was crushed before bud.


    The man was arrested and sent to five years in prison along with his peers.


    "See this small rifle over the tower? It was the rifle I used to bring down the enemy. Dir ''09. While Goli shoots 7 rounds, we can shoot up to 9," continued Clooney. The children were amazed to finally meet someone who actually shot the infamous rifle they had all heard about. They had been pretending with sticks.


    Seeing Clooney all boast with the medal, Vicka chuckled at him. He remembered how much Clooney was angry that day when the medal was presented.


    Four days ago, in the capital city of Davia, prime minister Balling himself presented the awards to all the soldiers who bravely fought in the battle of Bangoli at the National Dome of Opera.


    Vicka and Clooney were angry because the government would not give Berry a medal. It claimed that there was no honour in death by own bullet. They argued back that just like everyone else, Berry guarded the nation dutifully day and night. Just like everyone else, Berry endured the sun and rain inside the trenches. In fact, the death of Berry was the fault of an officer who forced a mentally unstable soldier to take part in advance. The government should have treated Berry first before sending him back out.


    Of course, their argument was a futile attempt. Although the clerk said that he would send the complaint to upper management, nobody would actually listen to a mere private and private first class. When they turned their backs, the clerk crunched the complaint paper and threw it into the trash bin like a basketball.


    And the anger of Clooney did not last long either. When he walked up the stage to accept the medal, he was smiling ears to ears. Even though Balling said not to salute back because it would be difficult to with a crutch yet he proudly returned a handsome salute. He completely forgot his frustration with Balling and the government within an hour.


    Vicka did not feel bad about Clooney about it though. Because he understood that just as Berry deserved one, Clooney also rightfully deserved it and rightfully was proud of it.


    At the near end of the ceremony, Vicka saw the three men sitting comfortably on their velvet-cushioned mahogany chairs on the stage. They were lt. colonel Winslate with an incredible moustache, colonel Mckanthy with a handsome jawline and General Brundy with a big fat belly.


    He noticed that Winslate was now a colonel, Mckanthy a general and Brundy a three-star general. But that was not all. He saw the medals on their kakhi shirts shining brighter than his. They were not bronze but gold and not just one but two.


    There was only one battle so Vicka did not understand what the other medal was for. They were also rewarded a land and a car each for their great performances in Bangoli plain.


    Little did they know, in the next five months, another Goli attack would retake the hard-fought plain and the two nations had to sign a peace treaty for the war they no longer afford by sharing the oil fields.


    But nobody knew that future at that time, so_.


    As he checked his dull medal and their shiny ones in turn, he broke out into a chuckle.


    "So that''s why doctors give sugar to kids after visits."