Jack ran the labyrinth of barbed wire, keeping his body hunched down, a smaller target for the enemy that kept firing shots at him.
Jenkins fell in front of him, half his head blow away by a sniper bullet, and Jack ran over his body and to the safety of the trenches, he tumbled down into the mud and filth and stopped for a moment to catch his breath looking up at the grey sky filled with cloud of exploding shrapnel.
Then he righted himself and continued his hunched run along the trench to the sergeant, the message he'd been entrusted with still secured tightly in his hand, he spared only a thought for the poor bastard who'd run with him and was now just another condolence letter out of hundreds.
He reached the sergeant out of breath but handed him the letter and saluted before collapsing into one of the small chair set up for the sergeants to sit in.
Sergeant Halton cast him a once over glance before opening the message and reading it quickly then folding it up.
"Where's Jenkins? Resting?"
"Jenkins is dead Sir" Jack said slowly, the full understanding of that finally hitting him while the sergeants cheerful briskness faded into regret for his words and another lost life.
"I'm sorry, I'll send word back"
"Yes sir" Jack mumbled, he felt numb.
Jenkins's was dead, his friend was dead, the man with whom he'd shared his rations and his private thoughts was dead and Jack had walked over his body without a care for it, so interested in saving his own sorry life.
The sergeant was still talking and Jack tuned back fully lost to what he was talking about
"I'll get a replacement sent up right away"
"A replacement for what?" Jack asked stupidly.
"For Jenkins, we need another message runner and I think I know the one"
Jack nodded "Very good sir" he said after a pause.
He left the sergeant with his mind made up that whoever the sergeant chose as his partner Jack would have nothing to do with the man, he wasn't going to lose himself another friend on the battle field.
Better a nameless innocent than someone you knew.
/*/
He was back with the sergeant less than an hour later and already the trench had gained the solemn quietness that greeted the death of one of its number, people had seen to Jack and told him how sorry they where and he'd thanked them and been oddly quiet.
And now he stood before Halton again, this time wrapped in one of the itchy grey blankets handed around from time to time and drinking a cup of lukewarm tea while the sergeant addressed him.
"I think I've found the perfect man for the job, agile and not afraid of being in the middle of it" Halton said but all Jack heard was 'I've paired you with some suicidal twat'
"I'm sure you chose the best sir, after all you did chose me" to Jack's surprise charm did not seem to be one of the characteristics affected by the death of a good man.
Halton laughed "Yes I did, let me introduce him to you" he turned around and went out into the main part of the trench for a moment and Jack drank his tea reasoning it might be all he got for a while.
Halton reappeared some moments later with a young man around Jack's age who was warring a long black coat over his uniform and a cap pulled low down over his face; Jack remembered that coat.
"Ralph!" he exclaimed rising quickly from the chair and shedding his blanket in the hurry; the young man pulled of his cap and stared at Jack in something between shock and horror.
"Jack…oh god…Jack"
Halton looked between them and smiled "I see you too know each other then"
Ralph glanced at him and nodded slowly.
"We met when we where at school" he said coldly, his eyes narrowing slightly and Jack realised all at once that it was going to be ever so hard to keep from wanting to stop that coldness, that distance.
And that would mean getting close to someone once again.
