'Another day,' I thought as I walked down a rugged dirt path, the rain soaking my uniform. 'Another day stuck in this ridiculous war.'
I marched through the muddy terrain, following my fellow soldiers, whom were suffering the same plague of war I was. We had been marching for three days. We hadn't had any breaks to eat, sleep, or even refill our water canteens. We were starving in the cold, rainy fields. Many dropped dead as they walked, falling to the ground and being left to rot. We had only one medic. Just one medic for our brigade of three-thousand men.
That medic was Private Tino Vainamoinen, a small Finnish man who was awfully stressed, and looked ready to drop dead at any moment. Men complained to him of ailments that infected most of us soldiers. Raw, bleeding feet, fevers, hallucinations, depression, and so much more. Tino had reached his limits like every other man, he had to stop every once in a while at the side of the muddy path and cough up the small amount of contents in his stomach. He collapsed to his knees a few times, only to be picked back up by our ruthless, horse-riding commander.
Commander Ivan Braginski. He was a Russian who wore a wicked grin as his soldiers suffered. He had food, he had water, and he had medicine. He practically waved it in front of us soldiers, like he was the king of the world. He practically was.
He oversaw everything we did, and if we weren't justified to do what we were doing, he shot us. He always had that silver revolver in hand, ready to aim and fire, ready to take the life of yet another soldier of the 1st Levyĭ Regiment.
The war had started due to tensions between Russia and China finally snapping, resulting in the declaration of war. The year of the declaration? 2051, twenty years after the nuclear war that left many countries non-existent. Everyone had to start from scratch, even the largest countries on the planet like America, Canada, and even Russia.
Many countries were lost in the Nuclear War of 2031, including Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, and parts of Germany, France, Spain, and many others.
Though I wasn't born until 2032, over time I learned of the heavy casualties that had been taken the year before I was born.
The year was 2055, May 7th being the day the Great March; led by Commander Ivan Braginski; began. He led us soldiers south into China after recruiting us, taking us from our home countries, our cities, and our families.
I continued walking as I heard a gunshot, not paying any attention until I tripped on a body. A dead body. I whimpered and scrambled to my feet, but it was too late. Commander Braginski had seen me fall.
"Private Lorinatus! Come to the front of the regiment! Now!" He demanded, tone being that of borderline insanity. I obliged and quickly made my way to the front of the pack despite my exhaustion.
"Y-You needed me, s-sir?" I stuttered, my voice raspy and hoarse.
"Da. Watch where you walk, Private. Or I must shoot you just like I did Private Dmitri Petrenko. We are organized soldiers, not a rag-tag group of renegades. We are the 1st Levyĭ Regiment. I expect greatness on the battlefield. If one man decides to slack, he does not belong here in this regiment. Do you understand?" He questioned, his deep violet eyes penetrating my weak mind. I was completely silent before he reached down from his horse and grabbed the front of my uniform, lifting me right up off the ground and holding me high.
"Do you understand, Private?" He repeated, pressing the scalding hot barrel of that silver revolver under my chin. I screamed through grit teeth of course. The pain was unbearable!
"D-Da, sir, I-I understand!" I stammered, he smirked and put his gun in its holster on his hip. He then placed me on the back of his horse, and I became utterly confused.
"Rest, Private." He told me, reaching back and grabbing both of my hands, making me place them around his waist.
"D-Da…" I muttered, I wasn't about to disobey such an order.
"Sir! Why does Private Lorinatus get a break? There are soldiers in far worse condition than he is!" I heard a soldier complain on one side of Commander's horse, within a split second the man I was currently holding onto pulled that silver revolver out of its holster and pointed it right at the soldier's face.
Bang.
Blood splattered the ground and soldiers standing close. The sight of the body hitting the ground with a thud was far too much for my stomach to handle. I hopped off the horse quickly and crouched at the edge of the road, spilling the contents from my stomach onto the cold ground. The trotting of Ivan's horse stopped and I could tell Commander Braginski was staring directly at me.
"Hm… Regiment, rest here!" He shouted, sliding off his horse and getting his polished black boots muddy. The entire march stopped and many soldiers collapsed on the ground, falling into sleep. I stood and wiped my mouth with the sleeve of my uniform, turning around only to bump right into my Commander.
"S-Sir." I stuttered, meeting his violet eyes for a quick moment.
"You are sick, da. Here. Drink this medicine and that's an order." A small bottle was placed in my weak hand as he said that, and he smiled. I had no choice; it was either I drink the bottle of medicine or get shot with the revolver Ivan still had in his hand. I chose the more logical option and popped the lid from the bottle, drinking the thick, foul tasting liquid quickly.
"You will feel better in a bit." And with that he retreated back over to his black horse, running his fingers through its mess of a mane. He tended to the creature with a form of gentleness none of us soldiers had ever seen before.
As I watched Ivan tend to that horse, I remembered something very important to me. My brothers. They were somewhere at the back of the regiment hauling carts of artillery and ammunition. Now was my chance to take a trip back through three thousand men to see if I could find them.
I turned and began to walk into the crowd of soldier, but a certain voice stopped me.
"Private Lorinatus, where are you going?" Ivan questioned, I turned to him and met his eyes yet again.
"T-To see my brothers a-at the back of the regiment." I answered; he looked at me in a sort of thought, almost like he was envisioning something.
"Take my horse." He said calmly. His words were lost on me. Had he really just allowed me permission to take his horse back to see my brothers?
"W-What?" I muttered in my own confusion, he cocked his head to one side a bit.
"You want to see your brothers, da?" He questioned.
"Y-Yes."
"Then take my horse back into the regiment and visit them."
"But sir-" He cut me off.
"That's an order, Toris."
I opened my mouth to reply, but shut it. An order was an order, so I lifted myself onto the tall, white; Orlov Trotter Ivan had called Ruslan. I could feel the other soldier's eyes on me.
I made the horse walk through the crowd of soldiers whom were all suffering. I saw more sickness and death at the back of the regiment than I had ever seen before. As I made my way back, my eyes scanned over the crowds, searching for my brothers.
When I finally got to spotting them, I almost wished I hadn't. Raivis was collapsed against a rock a few feet away from a cart loaded with artillery and mortars. Eduard was sitting on the edge of the cart, staring at the ground.
"Brālis. Vend." I called out to them in their native tongues, but only Eduard lifted his head.
"Toris…" He muttered, his voice weaker than mine would ever be.
I stepped off the horse and walked over slowly, wrapping my brother in a weak, but meaningful embrace. No words were passed between us as we separated, but I looked to Raivis who was motionless.
"Is he…?" I couldn't finish that question even if I wanted to.
"… I don't know." Eduard replied, walking over to Raivis and crouching down, shaking his shoulder lightly.
"Raivis?" He muttered, shaking our youngest brother's shoulder again.
"Raivis?" He asked this time a bit louder, almost like he was beginning to panic.
"…. V-Vend…" Eduard and I both let out sighs of relief as Raivis' breathy word was heard.
"Raivis, look." Eduard motioned to me and Raivis' head tilted upwards. Our eyes met, and I walked over. I crouched down and hugged him like I did Eduard; it pained me to see the condition these two were in. There was hardly anything to wrap your arms around. They were so thin. I knew they hadn't eaten in days, not a scrap of food or anything.
I let go of Raivis and his head dropped down, looking to the muddy ground. This is when I noticed that the rain had stopped, and the sun was peeking through some clouds. I looked up, the sun seeming foreign in this land. My face was warmed a bit by the glow of the bright star, and I smiled the smallest smile as I looked back down.
"If the sun still shines… Maybe there is hope." I said quietly, sitting on the ground next to Raivis and leaning back, resting on the rock.
"Varbūt." Raivis replied, making my smile grow. I knew when he said 'varbūt' it really meant 'jā'.
"You two stay strong, okay? I have to go back up to the front of the regiment…" I muttered, hugging them both one final time before standing.
"Ma veenduge see, vend." Eduard said, I nodded and retreated back to Ruslan.
I hopped on the horse and rode silently back through the crowded path of soldiers. Nothing was right about this war. Tensions had been broken, so what? This war was not logical, and it only caused casualties. No victory would ever be achieved this way.
At least, that's what I thought.
As we neared a barren field in the darkness of night, all was quiet. Too quiet. I glanced around as we marched, a sense of dread, anticipation, and fear in each and every soldier. Commander Braginski was simply perched upon his horse, his violet eyes scanning the area.
"Everyone… There will be blood tonight. We are in China." He stated, and just as he did that, from the center of the field a mortar round fired high into the sky. The loud boom shook the ground. The Chinese were using some heavy-duty mortars.
Soldiers scattered for protection, including me. I crouched by a rock, my rifle in my hands. I jumped as the mortar round hit towards the center of the ranks, and went completely speechless as a man's arm landed a few feet away from me. I scrambled away, distancing myself from the bloody, severed, and mangled limb.
I looked around and spotted my brothers towards the opposite side of the field I was on, they were setting up a mortar, rather clumsily at that. I had to get to them. If I was to spend my last moments on this battlefield, I was to spend it with them.
With an unusual bravery I stood from my place, braving machine guns and mortars, my objective was no longer to eliminate the enemy, but to be with my brothers. I crouched down and ran, rifle in hand towards my brothers who were finally firing the first mortar back at the Chinese.
I was stopped in my tracks though by Ruslan, that damned Orlov Trotter that held up Commander Braginski.
"Where do you think you are going, Lorinatus?" Ivan questioned casually, like bullets weren't whizzing by us.
"I-I…. uh…." Was all I could mutter being as frightened as I was. I knew that my place was at the front lines, not back with the mortar teams.
"Get up there and fight, or be a disappointment." He stated, pulling that silver revolver from its holster and pointing it forward towards the Chinese soldiers firing at us.
"Go."
I didn't have to be told twice when he had that gun in his hand, so with much regret I nodded and started to run towards cover.
Ping.
I turned to where the sound of metal against metal came from and stared directly at Ivan's hand. It was bleeding and Ivan was obviously missing a finger. The revolver lay on the ground next to his horse's back hoof, along with a detached index finger.
Ivan cried out in pain but hopped off his horse and grabbed the gun from the ground with his uninjured hand, getting back on and riding to the back of the ranks where Tino was, obviously not planning on getting another finger shot off.
A bullet hitting the ground by my foot snapped me out of my daze and brought me back to reality. I quickly dove behind the rock I previously had hid behind, flinching at almost every bullet hitting around my or deflecting off the rock's surface.
'This can't end well…' Was all that ran through my head.