‘There’s nothing quite like being a combat engineer.’

Gunfire, the whickering of shrapnel from grenades and shells, ice gripping your body as you move so, so slowly-

‘Dig into fortified positions for days on end, put together lines of canopies and dugouts hoping they stand up to the test, all while awaiting the nuclear klaxon…’

A soldier, just a silhouette in this light, comes into view through a window. Moments later the window disintegrates under 35mm hi-ex.

‘Falling in step with death. A friend, a lover, your closest confidant.’

===

Protected by an antimissile capable site, the city of Kadegra is instead going to be hit with a Falntyri land offensive.

‘Can’t send in planes, missiles or ships? Send in the Army!’

The IFV rumbles over the rough terrain, as shells drop all around us. Shrapnel sprays across armored plating even as our gun barks in long bursts. “Mission zon’ impact, two minutes! Arm’r your ‘earts boys an girls, we’re off t’ proper-”

I had bent down to check my shoelace, as our SL shouted.

PRANG! The hull rang and suddenly I smelled blood, smoke, burning metal.

‘The door, you have to get the door!’ I grab the handle and yank, then shove the manual release and half fall out of the vehicle-

Someone grabs me by the arm, pulling me around just behind the vehicle. It’s the medic, Mari. He’s got a new ragged groove on his helmet’s shell. “…low, Alayfi, you alright?!”

“I’m okay! Help the others, we’ll dig in here if we have to!” I unclip a smoke grenade and toss it out front, then another to the side. Fumbling for the butt of my carbine which isn’t there-

‘Shitfuck.’

I go to help Mari pull someone else from the vehicle, the third man unconscious and bleeding from his side. “I’ll grab the next guy, I lost my gun in there anyway!”

The medic nods, starting to treat the downed man’s wounds. “Okay, I’ll tend to him!”

As a precaution, I pull on my mask and check the filters. Still good, somehow after all that… Inside, smoke clouds the compartment. Sunlight glints faintly through a hole in the hull, as I haul someone out-

“Fuck! Mari, Jazanar’s arm is gone below the fucking elbow!” The woman in my arms murmurs, eyes wide, as I lay her down on the grass.

“Salkyr! Got it, got it, hang on-” He fumbles some smelling salts from somewhere, revives the man, and then pulls a tourniquet from her belt.

I go to check for any other survivors…

…and have to stop myself from retching. Two of them are missing part of their heads. One of them is gone above the shoulders and even a little below them. Another is impaled through the chest eyes wide-

I push the names away, looking across the others. One of them begins to stand and falls into my arms-

“Aaaugh…” His arms are badly torn up, fabric and flesh smashed together into a mix of red and green-

“Easy, easy! I gotcha brother!” I help him out of the vehicle, setting him down on the grass before grabbing my rifle off the floor of our now useless IFV.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

I sling the rifle, turning to Mari as he hands me something- “Keep her fucking talking!”

I nod, going to Jazanar’s side, shaking her slightly-

“Hey! Stay with me!” She whimpers slightly, here face pale-

“ATTENTION, MOTHERFUCKER!” That wakes her up slightly. She tracks my face…

“You’re going to be okay! Just stay with me!”

Another IFV rumbles to a halt nearby, deploying smoke and dropping infantry.

No, wait, just medics. Jazanar is first loaded. She’s almost stable, the bleeding’s under control enough. Then, Altimi, who the medics work on as we load him into the vehicle.

Then, it speeds off…

Now, we have another problem; the city. We can’t run in on foot, since there’s about eight hundred meters of open ground between us and the edge of Kadegra. So, we wait… I salvage some supplies from the IFV, as well as tags. ‘Just don’t look too close, just don’t look too close-’

I rinse away the blood with a canteen, wiping down the tags and handing them to the medic. Then… Then we wait. Errant bullets ricochet off the IFV, shells a short distance away…

Reinforcements for the assault will be here soon. We just need to wait for pickup.

...

Soon enough, they’re here.

===

This time, our vehicle isn’t shot through the front. Instead, as we’re about to stop, and the squad leader begins to stand up-

SPAKPSPAKSPAKSPAK! Just like that my vision goes red, splattered with blood. Dim light shines through the hull side at the corners of my vision.

People are probably screaming.

I can’t hear them. I’m moving, moving, hand on the hatch lever, pulling it, moving out, dropping a smoke grenade, carbine shouldering-

I wipe blood from my mask’s lenses, bullets cracking by in the light gray smoke, and then break into a run. We’re in Kadegra’s outskirts, the suburbs, and there’s a dozen muzzle flashes from just as many houses.

Unclipping smoke grenades and spraying long bursts from my carbine, not even bothering to aim, dropping the empty clip into a pouch and slapping in another as I boot open a door-

“Haugh!” Someone’s knocked over onto their back, the door hitting them-

‘Emayan.’ I see the distinctive camouflage pattern, and put a short burst into his sternum, red blooming against the floor as shouting erupts from further inside.

I shove my way into a closet for cover, and bounce a grenade off a wall into the living room-

THUMP! There’s a lot less shouting all of a sudden.

Chik. I fumble another one the same way, waiting for the explosion-

THUMPKRAKOOM! A gout of fire and sudden pressure from the hallway, much more than a grenade-

“Hngh-” Fire washes into the closet, over my visor and mask, against my uniform, it’s suddenly a very warm summer day-

And then it’s just so much soot. I pivot out and push through the partially burning building, shooting a survivor before he can get up.

The living room is more or less ruined. Windows are blown out, bits of furniture are on fire, and apparently a recoiless rifle position cooked off from that grenade… Somehow.

Said rifle is buried halfway into the wall from the blast. I move on, checking the bedrooms-

“ELKED AFET!” Someone leaps at me with a knife-

BANGBANGBANG! Three bullets don’t stop him, I punch him in the face as his knife doesn’t find it’s mark in my shoulder armor, and we both go down in a heap-

“FUCK OFF!” I yank my bayonet from it’s holster, and shove away his attempt to stab me in the throat-

“ASHE TALDEVA-!” His eyes are wide, before I bury my bayonet into his armpit and I’m guessing opening his lungs. He chokes, dropping his knife, and I stab him in the neck, jerking it around until he suddenly goes limp.

“Hrgh-” I shove the Emayan soldier off and wipe the blood from my knife on the bed. Then for good measure I shoot him in the face.

“Fuck…” With hands that I swear are never this shaky, I reload my rifle and make a last check of the room-

I find a dead body stored in the closet. “What the actual FUCK?!”

Closing the door, I pause at the window…

Looking out, I can see the telltale gunbarrels of soldiers at an improvised parapet. Sandbags have been stacked in front of buildings, and I can spot a tank or two, poorly camouflaged by this angle.

With haste I get back to the door I kicked in-

'CONTACT!'

“IDENTIFY!”

“FRIENDLY FRIENDLY!” The rifle stays up but the first figure advances in-

“Circle below, we thought you’d died!” He walks past me, training himself on the hallway. I turn down the hall. “Interrog, who-”

Some distant artillery drowns me out for a moment. THOOM!

“-ho is this?!” One of them approach. She waves, nervously glancing around.

Her webbing is all regulation standard and her fatigues aren’t faded or patched, her rifle the standard setup. “Fireteam Echo 2, ma’am.”

“Alright, good! Listen, they’ve got-” An angry yellow-white washes into the room from every window, as every detector spikes.

“GET DOWN GET DOWN!”

“FUCK, FUCK, FUUUU-”

THOOM!

The building shakes. Windows explode as the shockwave plows through flesh and steel. I tackle down two soldiers as the walls collapse-

“Fffucking shit.” We’re buried. Dosimeters are clicking pretty fast.