I dragged all the bodies off the trail and hid them in some bushes. I did my best not to look at the faces; I didn’t want to remember them. After it was all said and done, the trail now had several blood trails leading into the woods and several scattered weapons lying on the dirt. I left the weapons where they lay in favor of walking over to the campfire and taking a seat next to Alexei. Alexei still had his face covered in his hands.

I just sat there quietly as I went over the last few minutes in my mind. Was there anything I could have done to stop what had happened? I’m a failure of a commander, I was supposed to stop shit like this from happening. I quickly distracted myself from those thoughts with excuses.

‘They were animals, they killed women and children like it was nothing.’

‘But that didn’t make it right.’

Another part of me argued.

‘Why not? If they killed women and children, then Kazamir was right. They shouldn’t be alive. Kill’em all and let god sort them out.’

The ruthless logical part of me retorted. That logic was good enough for me, at least for now. I put a hand on Alexei’s shoulder and said.

“You want a smoke?”

Alexei’s hands dropped away from his face. His eyes were red and puffy, and there were trails through the dirt and grime on his face. He had been crying. I reached into my gas mask pouch and pulled out a box of cigarettes which, along with other items, had replaced the gas mask long ago. I flicked the box open with my thumb and offered the openside to Alexei.

He gingerly took a cigarette and then jammed it into his mouth. I took one as well before putting the box away. I was never really a smoker, I usually just kept them for bartering. But this time, I’ll make an exception. Alexei had pulled out a Zibbo-type lighter and flicked it open but was having a hard time trying to get it to light. His hands were still shaky from the battle earlier if you could call what happened a battle.

This gave me a second to spare toward Kazamir. He had fallen asleep at some point. He looked at peace as he lay there surrounded by bullet casings and splatters of blood. Alexei poked me, he had gotten his cigarette lit, so he offered to light mine. I leaned toward Alexei and put the cigarette in my mouth.

Alexei used one of his hands to shield the light from the wind and, with the other, lit the cigarette. Once the cigarette was lit, Alexei withdrew his hands, and I took a long drag on the cigarette. The Nicotine filled smoke flowed over my tongue and down into my lungs. I looked into the fire as I take the cigarette from my mouth and exhale. A cloud of smoke is puffed out from my mouth into the cool night air. The smoke rose into the air, slowly dissipating.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

We stayed like that for hours. I eventually dragged Kazamir over to the fire and left Alexei to watch over him as I went back to get the backpacks. I flipped down my NVGs and got to walking. I only slipped and fell 2 times as I transported all of our backpacks to the campfire area. When I finally got back, it was around 3 AM.

Alexei’s eyes were drooping with exhaustion, so I told him to get some sleep and that I’ll keep watch. Alexei looked at me with dark circles under his dead eyes, and it looked as if he had aged 40 years in the past day. No 18-year-old should have that look. What am I saying, I’m only 20; I’m no old sage of ancient lore.

“It’s gonna be alright. I’ll keep watch over both of you. Now go to sleep Alexei.”

I said in my most fatherly tone possible. He nodded and lay down on the dirt. I grabbed his rifle, made sure it was loaded, then got to cleaning my own rifle.

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I didn’t get a wink of sleep. Kazamir woke up at dawn, and while he was still trying to get his bearings, I got up, walked over to him, crouched down, and started intensely whispering in his face.

“IF YOU EVER DO THAT AGAIN, I WILL THROW YOUR ASS INTO THE FIRES OF HELL MYSELF. DO, YOU, UNDERSTAND, ME?”

Kazamir nodded.

“I CAN’T HEAR YOU.”

“Yes, I understand you.”

Kazamir barely managed to squeak out.

“Good. You know how to cook, right?”

Kazamir shook his head.

During the night, I looked through the cart the goblins had been pushing. It was mostly full of food. Meat, flower, and a keg of beer were all there, along with anything valuable enough to be worth the space. I grabbed some of the dried meat and a stick I had been sharpening and got to cooken. The result didn’t taste too good, but whatever, it was filling.

____________________________________________________________________________

Kiger had been bothering Jones a lot after “The night ambush on the trail,” as it had started being called ‘Because bored gods gossip like drunk housewives’ Jones thought to himself. Jones had been asked every 30 seconds by Kiger if he could ‘copy his homework.’ eventually, Jone caved and told him.

“YEA YEA, alright, just change it up a bit.”

Kiger had run off, chuckling to himself. That had been 5 hours ago. Jones was getting a little bit concerned for him. Considering he had been pestering him for the whole day. ‘Ah well, not my problem.’ Jones thought, finishing off a glass of nectar. Jones sighed and relaxed into his seat. Just as Jones thought about packing it in for the night, the door to the bar was thrown open and Kiger burst into the bar.

“I have got to show you something.”

Kiger said with the excitement of a kid showing their parents something.

“Alright, let’s just stop by at my place first.”