Prologue

A Chapter by RFThat1Guy

Just an introduction to the story and the main character. Nearly no information given.

I hear the loud commanding voice from someone behind me yell “Move move! C'mon let’s go! Here they come!.” Not wanting to be the only one left behind I rush forward and follow his commands. I work my way through our lines of defence which include a couple of positions fortified by sandbags and mounted machine guns, some foxholes, and a network of trenches arranged like a grid. I run into the trench holding my rifle across my chest. Soon, we arrive near the front of our fortifications and I’m bombarded by the sounds of warfare.

A dead body falls to the ground in front of me. A small hole in the front of his helmet can be seen and blood begins to seep out and spread down his face. I look forward, out of the trench and see a glint in the trees. I raise my weapon and fire a couple of shots at it quickly. I then see a man run out from his cover towards the enemy base with his scoped rifle slung across his back.

I jump over the body and slam myself into the side of the trench as a large explosion creates a near deafening sound about 60 feet away, spraying dirt all over the place and making it fall from the sky. A helmet lands a few inches from my feet, and I gulp and clench my rifle tighter as I stare at it with a sense of dread wondering what I’ve gotten myself into and not for the first time.

I take a quick look around the trench to get my bearings. I see the 4 other soldiers next to me and 3 bodies on the ground, one of which was missing its lower half. A bit further back i see a Lieutenant shouting orders and pointing while holding his helmet on his head. I recognize him as our platoon commander but can never seem to remember his name as I never actually met him.

I risk a quick peek over the top of the trench and see 2 tanks, each accompanied by an infantry platoon who are using the tanks to cover themselves from the firing from our sniping position to the north-west. I bring my rifle over the edge and rest my elbows on the ground to line up a shot. But then, an enemy sees me and fires his automatic weapon from the hip spraying the dirt around me with bullets. I curse and dive to the ground inside of the trench to keep from getting shot in the face.

Just then, ground behind me explodes and i'm flung 9 feet towards our side of the battle field. Completely disoriented, I try to stand but end up falling back down on my face getting a mouth full of mud. Another soldier grabs my arm and helps me to me feet. I sluggishly turn me head to look at him and see his mouth moving but can’t hear anything he’s saying. I must have given him a dumbfounded look because he shakes his head and starts helping me back towards our side of the field.

We get about 4 steps before he gets shot in the back of the leg and we both stumble to the ground where I get another mouthful of mud. I sit up spitting and see the man clutching his leg on the ground. I crawl over to him to him and tear his pant leg open at the hole to get a better look at the wound. The bullet is too far in for me to see where it stopped so I get up and start dragging him away from the gunfire to get him medical attention.

After about 12 feet I can tell my hearing is back when I hear loud screaming coming from the direction of the front of the trench. I look up and see enemies jumping into the trench with bayonets. The man I was dragging tears his hands free from me and whips out his pistol. I’m thrown off balance by his action and fall to the ground once again. I scramble to my feet as fast as I can and look towards the enemies and see the man now on the ground with new holes in his chest with blood gushing out of them.

I get up and start running down the trench flinching every time a bullet lands too close for comfort. I jump over multiple bodies as I run from the gunfire and trip over their outstretched limbs which nearly causes me to fall over. I hear more shouting and gunfire as the enemies spread through our trenches. I hear a particularly close shout from one and then see multiple pillars of mud spring up as the bullets dig into the earth around me. I keep running and zig-zagging trying to lose them. Another explosion shakes the earth near me. Close enough to be dazed and feel the flying dirt dig into me but not enough to knock me off of my feet.

I reach the end of the trench and pull myself up out of it trying to get away. For forty seconds I’m running at full speed south of the battle field in a vain attempt to get away.

Then, a bullet goes right through my thigh and digs into my femur and I awkwardly stumble to the ground with a cry of pain and land with half of my body landing on a corpse of a fellow soldier. With a startled sort of whimper I throw myself off of my deceased comrade in arms and wipe his blood off my hands on my clothes. I crawl frantically trying to put as much distance as I possibly can between me and the bloodbath going on not 100 yards from me when I feel a heavy weight on my back that stops me from getting any further. I look up and see an enemy soldier standing above me holding an old pistol and pointing it right at my face. I see a sad and tensed look on his face as he slowly exhales and pulls the trigger.

I hear a loud bang and everything turns black.

I wake up with a gasp and the worst headache I ever had in my life. I look up and see the night totally lit up by a multitude of stars and some branches of trees. I slowly sit up and look around and try to remember where I am and see if there is anyone else there. After scanning all of my surroundings I give a disappointed sigh and look at my right hand while feeling my forehead with my left. I can feel a small hole still in my skull from where the bullet entered. I wince at the extreme pain that kicks in when my finger makes contact. I also feel pain from the back of my skull where the bullet exited, but I don’t dare to touch it.

I look around and find my helmet a few feet away. I awkwardly crawl over to it and pick it up, observing it. There’s a hole in the front where the bullet went through. I can’t bring it back to camp, it we be too suspicious. I sit cross legged and wince when my left leg begins to rest on my right.

I unfold my legs and pull my right one up trying to observe the wound. I notice that the surface wound closed up but the bullet is still inside my leg. I give a quick curse and pull out my knife. I take a few deep breathes to ready myself for the intense pain soon to come. I plunge my combat knife right into the spot. I must have hit it right on because when I stab myself, I feel the bullet dig deeper into my leg and hit push into my bone. With a cry of pain I quickly let go of the knife and grip my legs in a useless attempt to stop the incredible pain.

After a lot of deep breathes i re-observe my leg. The knife is still stuck in it with blood flowing down the blade to the handle. I grab the handle and yank it out as fast as I can I give a brief cry of pain as the blade cuts me some more on it’s way out. Without hesitation, I plunge my fingers into my leg to try to take out the slug. After about 3 minutes of incredible pain and digging around in my own leg, I manage to get a grip on the bullet and I pull it out. With a short groan I throw the slug into the grass. I quickly wipe the away the tears and streaks on my face that they left.

By now, I’m breathing heavily and laying back down on the ground, staring up at the stars. I bring up my right hand as if I’m going to grab one and close my hand. I re-open it and turn my palm towards my own face. I will a small fire to form on my hand and i play with it for a few minutes while my leg wound closes. Ever since I’ve been able to control flames, I’ve always enjoyed watching them. I hear a twig snap and sit up in flash getting ready to stand up and run.

When i look into the shadows, I see a small dog looking at me with his head cocked sideways. I relax again and sit with my legs stretched out. In my best puppy voice I say “come here boy, come on.” The dog approaches cautiously towards my outstretched hand. I never did learn many types of dogs so I’m not sure what it is, but it has a very roundish head and its face is very wrinkled and flat. It's black around its nose and ears and a light brown everywhere else.

I can tell from it’s body that it’s been eating well until recently. It looks like it hasn’t been eating regularly but it also doesn’t have the lean muscle a stray would normally have from normally having to hunt to get it’s own food. The dog reaches me and begins to sniff my hand. It seems to have sniffed to it’s content because then it puts its head under my hand as if prompting me to pet it. I comply and pet it and scratch its neck much like my dog back at home in Denver likes. It gives a satisfied sound and rolls over on it’s back. I rub its belly right under his ribcage and he starts kicking his hind leg.

After a minute I feel the back of my leg and find that the wound has finally closed. I get up and say “Alright boy, that’s all I can do for today.” He tilts his head sideways and gives a defiant bark. “ Hey, don’t you get sassy with me.” He gives a whining sound and scurries off into the bushes.

I stand myself up and look myself over. I observe myself for any indication on my clothes that I had sustained any wounds. I soon realize that I have a bullet hole in my pants leg. I quickly cut off my pants leg and discard my now bloodied helmet. I splash some mud on my dark blue uniform in an attempt to make some of the blood stains less obvious. After giving myself a quick one-over I turn around and head back to the Trovian camp.