It is a cold and silent night in the damp and moldy trenches of the Pennsylvania front, me and lieutenant Garza are taking the early dawn guard shift, playing cards to pass the time.
"What a calm night" I said to lieutenant Garza as we played.
"everything is pitch black outside of the trench, remember before when even at night you could see everything because of so much light everywhere?" said Garza. That's true, the spotlights were not turned on to save fuel from the generators, and all the lights in the barracks were off, even the enemy trench was pitch black, the usual. The only visible light was the oil lamp we had in the guard post, but besides that, nota thing was visible. It was kind of creepy, to know that anything could be lurking outside the Forrest surrounding the trenches.
That's probably how mythical creatures came to be in medieval times, from the mystery that is darkness.
"Yeah, but it's much prettier now, i remember that before, very few stars were visible, now i see hundreds of thousands of them" I say after thinking about his comment.
"True, one of the few good things since it happened" said Garza.
"Did you hear what private Freeman did? I heard he got twelve tours as punishme-" I tried to say, but Garza interrupted me.
"silence sergeant, you hear that?" asked Garza.
I listened closely, there was a small sound of things rumbling and bumping together, as well as far away whispers. I looked Garza in the eye, and we both immediately knew what was going on.
We both abandoned our game of cards, rushed to our weapons, and looked over the no man's land into the enemy trench. Garza turned on the spotlight and looked the perisher to see what was going on, both of us hoping it was not what we thought it was. I was looking over the trench when i heard a faint whistle, and all my fears were confirmed.
"They are going over the top!" said Garza, as i saw hordes of communist cannon fodder climbing over their trench and running over the no man's land towards us.
Garza took the radio and immediately began trying to reach the battalion staff so we could form a defence.
"This is guard post two to battalion staff, we are under attack, the leather-chests have gone over the top, hundreds spotted, but many more still climbing, expect shelling soon, over" said Garza to the radio tree times until the battalion XO answered.
"This is battalion executive officer, received, over and out" answered the radio.
"All right, we need to get the platoon ready, it will still take long before they get here" said Garza.
That's true, it's probably a bit less than a mile to their trench, so it will take some time for them to get here, but we got none to stand around.
We run holding our assault rifles into the barracks as the alarm begins to sound. I can hear shelling already, we have to get everyone up quickly. We reached the barrack's hallway as I suddenly heard an explosion, dust and dirt rained down from the roof. Some of the wood boards from the ceiling were falling down as rockets and artillery hit the barracks.
I ran as fast as i could into the second platoon's room to see everyone getting ready. Lieutenant garza entered the room and yelled, "hurry up gentlemen! We need to get there before they pass no man's land". "Give us a second, it's probably 3am" said a private. "I'll give you a second, to fucking do a hundred push ups when this is over" I responded.
Me and Garza kept yelling at the platoon members to hurry up and get ready, until all the privates and squad leaders were ready. "PLATOON, PORT ARMS" Garza yelled. The platoon took their assault rifles into port arms position, and stood in formation. "FOWARD!" Yelled Garza. "FORWARD", i echoed. "MARCH!". We began marching towards the trenches. "Out of step, MARCH!" Yelled Garza again, as for a less formal march.
I hope none of my men die, but the last few years have taught me president Johnston is now desperate in his eastern flank, and is constantly shrinking the training time to get more men as fast as possible in the front, almost disregarding efficiency, which is the only advantage we have over the leather-chests.
As of now, I have been ten years in combat, meaning I enlisted in a time of less desperation and greater training, that makes me one of the valued soldiers in the USAP army.
Thats why I get one of the better quality pre-war assault rifle which is ten times as efficient as the new rifles my men get. most of my men get the mass produced "SR-26" which is a simple version of the pre-war M-4, and it is terrible, it constantly breaks down or gets stuck with mud, it is locally known as the "unreliable", because it will jam on you when you need it the most, so no even the "lucky" ones who get the M-16s from Cold War and red scare stock piles do any better.
We arrive to the entrance to the trench, and Garza gave a pep talk. We could hear explosions, machine gun fire, what you would expect in a World War 1 war zone from the last century. "Listen up gentlemen, you need to fight competently today, hold those damn Commies off, remember we are going home today, and before we go, we will make the Pensilvania front the toughest one for those commies." Said Garza. "Now, let's go in".
The trenches and the no man's land where now fully lit with spot lights. By now the bombing had stopped and our artillery is bombing back. Bradley light tanks are here, firing anti personnel shells into the incoming army as we double time through the trench.
When we get to the front of the trench, everybody took cover. Lieutenant garza took a peek to see what we were fighting.
"Are they leather-chests? Or cowboys?" Private Wu asked.
"Leather-chests, obviously, the guys behind the no man's land are always leather-chests. Anyways, I admit, there are a whole lot of them, much more than us, but remember, they are disorganized, untrained, and poorly armed. I am sure that if we play our cards right, and remember our training, we can beat them." Answered Garza. "Lets now send them back to hell" He said. All 20 of us got up, and began shooting the incoming army. There were thousands of them, all running with rifles and pistols, some even had melee weapons like swords and sticks. They were dying constantly as they stepped on mines or were hit by shells. The dominant sound being the rattle of my platoon's assault rifles. They were being met with heavy fire as more men fired from our trench, we might actually win this time.
This reminded me of a scene in a movie they once played when I was deployed in fort Francis, where the German military was mowing down American soldiers with machine guns during D-Day. But today, we happened to be the ones resembling the Germans and the Germans happened to have lost that battle, and we have no Rommel commanding our defenses either.
I was let down even more as a second wave began coming over the top shouting the patriotic phrases their propaganda brainwashed them with. There were twice as as many now and the first wave was near our trench. I kept shooting, suppressing their battle cries they insult us with. "Die you fascist pigs" and "You messed with the wrong people you nazis" were among their most common yells.
But is this war over ideology? The government doesn't even know what to say to us to justify our killing. Sometimes they say that if we don't stop their advance, the whole country will turn communist, so we have the obligation to kill their conscripted boys. Other times, they say that this war is to reunite America, and that if we don't win the war soon enough, we will never be able to do it. Sometimes they even say the war is to preserve civilization, but this war is fully useless, America is long dead in most of the country, civilization is dead as well, and out ideologies can't be so different if we both only focus in throwing men at the meat grinder that is the front line. But it doesn't matter what reason i have to fight, because if we don't win, I will surely die.
The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
I was getting more and more scared every second, no matter how many bullets hit them, it was evident they were going to win, and I might not come back home. I fired all the remaining rounds in my magazine into the leather-chests, and continued pulling the trigger until lieutenant garza pulled me down into cover. I began to look around regaining my senses, 3 men from the platoon were lying dead on the dirt, 3 men gone from this world, 3 of my men.
Everyone else was sitting down reloading their weapons, and some were praying.
Private Spaulding was still shooting his m2-49 when Garza pulled him down. He was looking into Garza's face until he saw his fallen comrades. He began shooting into the enemy again screaming some un-understandable ramble while me and Garza where trying to pull him down. We where suddenly splattered in blood, as Spaulding fell motionless into the dirt. Me, Garza, and the rest of the platoon stared in awe at his dead body. Another one of my men gone.
Garza stood up to take a peek at the no mans land, he immediately came back down, "specialist Bey, and corporal Ferris, go and get ready the trucks, i have a bad feeling about this fight" Garza said.
"Are they close?" I asked "pretty close, we will fight until they are about to enter the trench, then we retreat. I don't plan on losing my entire platoon to other americans." Garza answered. Some of the men argued, as they wanted to fight to the last man, but Garza and I knew that the country was better off with more battle hardened men, than a trench. Four of my men had already died and god knows how many more men form the battalion for this muddy hole in the forests of Pensilvania.
Was president Johnston proud of them? Was Vice President Abrahamsson proud of them?What about general Clarke, field marshal Ryan, governor Jefferson or even our own battalion commander? What a stupid way to die, defending a useless patch of land, in the middle of the wasteland. Why didn't they think before deploying us here? There is nothing to gain from keeping this lands, there are no people here, no villages, and the nearest city is far away. we don't loose anything if the communists take this land, but now I lost four of my men.
"Is everyone's gun loaded?" I ask the platoon and i am answered with a collective "yes sergeant". "Then lets go, we are going to keep shooting until i give the order." Said Garza. We then all stood up and began shooting at the communists. A lot of them were dying, but not enough. The firepower of the entire battalion was not enough to stop the thousands of communists. They were quickly approaching, and continuously shooting at us. when they noticed my platoon they began to shoot at us, but i stayed firm shooting my AR-15.
Garza had not given the order, and the enemy kept shooting. I began getting worried for my men so i yelled "SIR!!!" But received no answer. I looked to my left to se Garza, lying in the bloody damp ground, it seemed as if his eyes tried to look at the stars one last time before dying. He had been shot in the neck.
5 men.
I ordered the platoon to get down now. "Fuck" I said "we need to get out now, we already lost." Suddenly, another alarm began to sound, a long steady one. This one meant the trenches have been penetrated. Now you could hear more shots from the Kalashnikovs, and the buzz from the GT-28s the communists used. "We need to get out now" I said "follow me". I began running to the barracks, the rest of the platoon following me.
I suddenly heard a single loud rifle shot, a shell hitting the ground, and a loud bum bum as the bullet hit the dirt. I quickly turned around and raised my rifle. There was a man with long hair, a greenish jacket, some torn jeans, and a leather star stating his loyalty standing on top of the trench. He was reloading his wooden bolt action rifle with a home-made bullet before he fired again, this time hitting staff sergeant Hodge in the head. I quickly fired a small burst with my rifle. The man fell of into the trench with a loud stomp. That was a close one for most of us, if he had been holding a machine gun we would all have died, but i did loose one of my trusted squad leaders and a good friend, along with Garza. Me and Garza had been fighting in the trenches, defending the cities, patrolling the streets, and fighting cowboys and leather-chests for almost 9 years, and he is now gone, this war fucking sucks.
6 men.
we sprinted into the barracks, and ran through the wooden structure until reaching the back. There was a wooden staircase leading to the surface. Me, and what was left of my platoon went up. The vehicle depot was there. Men were still firing the mortars and cannons, people were carrying the wounded, and the battalion leadership was organizing the convoy. Our truck was already in the convoy ready to leave when i waved to specialist Erlick to wait for us. We ran and got into the back of the truck. The barracks where now on fire and the machine gun fire had died down. When the first of the communists came out from behind the barracks holding their scavenged weapons, or their mass-produced pieces of crap, the convoy left.
"Where is lieutenant Garza?" Asked Bey.
"He's gone, we lost many good soldiers today" i say, looking into the abandoned highway, angry at our strategists, who made four of my men die for a strip of mud.
It is different to die defending the Territorial Capital from the reds, or at least defending the farmers of a village, but dying for a strip of mud? It is simply unfair.
we where going west, to the nearest fort, we will build a defensive position there until the army's 1,000 new conscripts arrive at the front and one of the battle hardened divisions in the south along a marines battalion passes through here to relieve them. But Alpha company won't be there for that, as today we are going home.
We arrived half an hour later.
The fort was once a large department shop. It is now surrounded with sandbags, it has a small mine field, a couple of guard towers, spotlights, and the flag of the United States of American Patriots. Not the flag from before, but a new flag that instead of the stars has an eagle, and three large stars over it. President Johnston changed it 29 years ago for some reason, I like the eagle in it, but if he is so concerned with preserving America, why change it's symbol?
The commander of the base got out and received our battalion commander. Our battalion commander explained the situation, and how the orders were to establish a defensive position here, where we had enough space and supplies. After a small conversation between the mayor and their commander, we got off from the truck. We first had to sign in to see who had made it. We just had to write our name and company in a log, i hope casualties weren't high in the first platoon, we were lucky our platoon wasn't hit by artillery, or much more of us won't be here.
Then we had a company meeting. We met in a warehouse inside the outpost. Luckily, most of the other platoon had survived the battle, along their platoon leader and sergeant. As soon as all the members of Alpha company where here, commander Andrews began talking. "Gentlemen, we lost honorable members of our company today. They died to halt the enemy advance into our home. However, we are still losing ground, lets not allow their deaths to be in vain and as soon as we are back from defense duty, we will send the enemy back to the atlantic, and keep the United States UNITED." Like if they didn't die in vain, they died defending a useless strip of mud, and we did loose that useless strip of mud.
"46 men died today out of the battalion's 240 in battle, leaving our battalion with only 194 men left. Out of Alpha company the following men shall rest in peace, Lieutenant Carlos Garza, Ruben Hodge, Brian Lewis, Christopher Harris, John Spaulding. A moment of silence for our brothers in arms who may now rest in peace."
We stayed silent for a bit less than a minute until first sergeant Parr spoke up. "Gentlemen, as you already know, we are going home today. We are leaving at sixteen hundred hours. We are to have breakfast at eight hundred hours in the mess hall, and lunch at fourteen hundred hours at the same place. Here is how the sleeping will go, everyone who is under an NCO will sleep outside. The NCOs will sleep in the sleeping bags in the soccer field, and the officers inside the building. Any questions?"
Nobody answered. "You are dismissed gentlemen, go to sleep".
As everyone left the room, Andrews came and said:
"You are now acting platoon leader until a formal promotion takes place in Cleveland, congratulations sergeant"
I thanked the captain, and left the room and went straight to the field.
It sucks that to advance through the ranks your superiors have to die, specially when I could easily call Garza my best friend, but I think the platoon will be better with out him. He was a fanatic, and a huge patriot, his highest priority was to win, mine is my men.
All the benches were taken by other men sleeping, but at least i had a fence around me. I showed the officer in the entrance my rank and he handed me a sleeping bag. You could tell it was old, from before the war, maybe even from before round one.
It was a cold night, hard to sleep outside, it has been 10 years. I have been fighting for 10 years. I married, adopted my daughter, and enlisted 10 years ago. It seems like it happened yesterday. War might be terrible, but you could say my life is better than it was before. Me and my family can eat every day, i have an apartment, and i am a member of an almost working society.
I can still remember when I was just a kid, and the days of red where just starting with round one. I remember seeing my friends die, and i never seeing my family again. I remember when my army got defeated, And my home town was bombed. Since the first six months, there have been no communications outside of north america, and no help is coming. Estimated population is 15 million, nothing compared to the almost 500 million 30 years ago. I remember the first 20 years, people killed their children to eat.
Since I was living in Texas, no soldiers or help showed up since the fall of Dallas 25 years ago. I thought the whole world was gone. There was nothing, resources were very scarce. But when i found civilization, hope for a survivable future for me and my family. I am just going to sleep