It's nearly dark. Or is it just getting light? Emperor, I can't remember! I've been awake for so long now. It feels like forever. Forever and a day, make that. Must be getting light. I am starting to make things out in the gloom. Bodies. Lots of bodies. And lots of body parts. So many. So many comrades. All dead. Just me now. Just me and them. Them! How I hate them. They came here. Why? No one can tell me why. No one could tell me why, even when there were alive. There's no way they can tell me now. They're dead. All dead. Just me. Me and them. I have to stay awake. If I don't, I die. It's that simple.
I wish it was simple. If it was simple I would just give up. Give up. Roll over. Die. How simple that would be! But no. I mustn't. I can't. I CAN'T!
I take my canteen from my webbing. Nearly empty. But I can find water. Can't I? I have to. Oh, what's the point? I'm going to die. I'm going to die following a pointless order from a dead officer. Oh well, that's how us poor grunts normally die anyway. Sodding officers and their stupid, sodding orders. "Do this!", "Do that!", and "Do the sodding other!". Well, no more. They won't be giving any orders ever again. They can't. They're dead. All dead. I'm dead. I just don't know when. It won't be long. Of that I am certain. They will catch me. And they will kill me. I just hope it's quick. It should be. There's no pressure on them now. No lines. No guns. No men. Just me. Me and that last sodding order.
I take a drink. Warm. Dank. Lifeless. I look around at the carnage. I look back at my canteen and shake my head. Sod it. I replace the canteen into its holder. How far is it? Three klicks? About that. If I'm going to go I might as well go now. Three klicks. Only three sodding klicks. Nice walk. Or it would be if it wasn't for them. So where are they? Where did they go? I know where they were the night before last. How I know! They were in the distance. A long way away. And they came. They came and came. How many? I don't know. I don't think I can count that high. I remember how it started. It's funny, really, when you think about it. That dark shadow on the land. We all looked up into the sky to see what was making the shadow. There wasn't anything, of course. It was them. In their thousands. Hundreds of thousands? Millions? Who knows? All I do know is that that black shadow just kept on spilling over the horizon. It got closer and closer.
No! Stop it. I can't do this. I can't remember. Can't. Won't! Too much. Too much. My trousers are still wet from where I pissed myself. Me. Nearly shit too. I've got to move. I can't sit here amongst the dead any longer. They stink. They stink and I stink. And the flies love it. Now it's getting light they're moving again. Stirring. Walking. Buzzing. Sodding things. If I stay here any longer they're going to be all over me again.
I grab my scope and start scanning. Full spectrum. IR, visible, UV. Nothing. Well, nothing but flies. Flies and corpses. Corpses and flies. Like coming from death. Maggots from the dead. I'm dead. And I start the crawl of the dead. My hand in a skull. My knee in a stomach. Flies in my mouth. Flies in my nose. Flies in my eyes. Their buzzing getting louder. More persistent. Not satisfied with the gore all around. They want me. They will have me. They can have me. Soon.
Across the dead landscape I slowly crawl. To stand is to invite them. I won't do that. Not yet. I have an order. My last order. So I crawl. Through the blood. Through the broken bodies. Through my brothers. As I crawl the morning comes. It brings more horror. I see. I see clearly now. I see what I am crawling on. I see what I am crawling through. My stomach convulses, heaves. Watery vomit runs from my mouth. From my nose. Into a face. A dead face. Staring up at me.