Private Moore sat in a trench rubbing his watch. He was so tired but had to stay awake for another hour until he was relived. He and his men were low on rations and would soon need to go out foraging or face starvation. The closest town that he knew about was at least a two hour walk but there had to be villages that were nearby he was unaware of.
"Levi if you want to go now you can, I'm well rested and ready to start."
Moore looked up to see Private Ford. He had a serious yet comforting look to him. He gave the appearance that he was going to keep everything under control. "No, no I'll be fine."
He nodded and his look changed to one of concern. "Truth be told I wanted to talk to you about some things."
The way Ford talked had shown that cracks were beginning to form in discipline. Although conversations between those of the same rank were always less professional it was clear they were acting more like coworkers than soldiers, but Moore was too tired to consider such a trivial issue.
He put the watch back into his pocket and rubbed his eyes. "What is your concern Private Ford?"
"Were stuck in a dangerous predicament. The enemy is hot on our heels and were running low on water and rations. Those in the camp are acting restless and if they turn on us, they will overwhelm us."
"They are too weak to do such a thing."
"Hunger causes restlessness and desperation. They may very well try."
Levi yawned. He was too tired to continue entertaining the conversation. "Well, what do you suggest we do?"
"Wait until they cover of night and leave."
The idea caught him by surprise, but it did seem tempting. Nevertheless, such an act would be cowardly. "We can't abandon the civilians. They need us now more than ever."
"There's nothing we can offer them. We have no medical supplies and are almost out of food. Setting them free is the best thing we can do. Let them reunite with the enemy and the burden will shift back to them."
The act did seem like a mercy, but they had orders to guard the camp. Levi was trying hard to clear his mind but suddenly a humming caught everyone's attention. It started as a low rumble and slowly grew louder. Levi knew there was no time to waste and ordered fires to be lit. Soon three large piles of sticks and dried leaves were assembled and lit with gasoline and lighters.
By this time the sound of the planes was growing fainter, and all were tense. Then the sound grew louder, and the aircraft flew over. The soldiers cheered but the refugees began to panic and flee having never seen such things before. Levi ordered Ford to watch the planes while he and the other soldiers tried in vain to regain control of the situation.
After trying desperately to reassure the civilians Levi finally ordered the men to offer, their remaining rations, and this coupled with the withdrawal of the planes finally calmed the situation.
It was a pitiful sight. The civilians were dirty and malnourished. Some of the adults ate but most took what food they were given and in turn gave it to the children. A boy spat up and a man presumably his father forced biscuit into his mouth yelling at him to swallow. One of the rabbit women had to carry her twin daughters to the food as they were too weak to stand. His men had offered what little they had left and only around a quarter of the refugees had tasted food.
Levi felt despair he hadn't felt since being in the French trenches during the war. Any thoughts of abandoning the camp had evaporated but what could be done? He brought a hand to his face but just as he was about to have a moment of despair his thoughts were interrupted.
"Levi you have to see this!" It was Ford.
"Address me as Private Moore I won't…"
"Just come on you can chastise me in due time."
Levi was led over to what appeared to be a pile of wood, but closer inspection showed it to be a broken crate filled with ammunition.
"Where did this come from?" asked Levi.
"The two planes each came in low and dropped crates. The other contained reserve rations." Replied Ford.
The men wasted no time in cooking the meat and fish. Levi ordered them to stop taking what was left in a desperate attempt to save the valuable food. But only a small number of rations were left and the little food everyone did get only made them more ill-tempered. The ammunition was distributed amongst the militiamen and with the sun fading most settled down for the night.
Levi had laid down for the night but was unable to sleep. What little food had arrived brought only hours of relief and by late morning it would all be gone. Should they wait for more planes to arrive, or should they break position and try to head in the direction of the airbase? The more he thought about things the more problems he realized there were. Then he heard a slight thud outside his tent.
He was still in his uniform and quickly got up and grabbed his colt pistol. He opened the flap and peaked out but saw nothing in the pitch black. He clutched his flashlight and contemplated turning it on but before he could he felt something cold and sharp against his neck.
"Kneel." It was a woman's voice.
Once he did his hands and feet were bound and he was dragged out to the other soldiers who were bound in a similar manner. He laid on the ground but turned his head and saw several glowing eyes and feminine faces along with long ears. It was clear who and what they were. Then a voice spoke out.
"Now dastards you all owe your lives to the mercy of our beloved Queen, however such kindness has its limits, and I am prepared to revoke it at any given moment. Any form of dissidence will be met with a swift execution."
The militiamen were left bound until morning. Then each was grabbed by a warrior bunny and lifted up to see a bunny with tight leather armor and painted blue lines on her face. She had a grotesque smile and could only be described as savage.
"Which one of you is the leader?"
"We have no leader!" said Levi. "We have lost a large number of our forces and our leaders have retreated to regroup."
"Cowards! Cowards the lot of you! You have starved my people to death."
"We can't even feed ourselves." Said Ford.
"Please Madame!" Said Levi. "We did what we could, but we were cut off from our supplies."
"Bring this one to my tent." Said the Bunny.
She turned and left, and Levi was dragged behind her and once they entered the tent, she ordered him unbound and he stood before her. Her expression changed from a bloodlust to a more business look. It was clear she was just trying to strike fear into the soldiers.
"Your name and class?" She asked.
"Private First Class Levi Moore."
"Regent Beveren. Now listen closely Private time is running short. Soon this entire land will be nothing but rock and ash. We understand there are lands not of this country and we wish to escape to them."
Levi reeled. Was she referring to another state or a different country altogether? "What like Canada?" It would take us weeks to get there on foot and your people can barely even stand. You'd be attacked long before you got anywhere near the border."
"Well first things first lead us to the nearest town. We will raid it before going on."
"Go to H*** vermin!"
The bunny guarding Levi slapped him across the face. It was such a strong and unexpected hit that he quickly fell over before being dragged to his feet again.
"Let's try this again." Said Beveren. "My people need food and water. What were you going to do to alleviate the problem?"
"We were waiting to be resupplied. In the meantime, we were going to forage in the mountains for what food and water we could find."
"So incompetent. Fine." She turned to the other bunny. "Take him foraging, but if he tries to escape kill him."
Levi led the bunnies into the nearby hills. His original idea of foraging was shooting any small animals that they came across but that was currently not an option. Instead, he began to gather berries and fiddleheads all the while explaining which plants were edible and which were not. The bunnies scoffed down more food than they gathered. Such behavior was strange to him. He expected them to want to put their people ahead of themselves, but he dared not voice his feelings on the matter.
Levi then heard the cawing of a crow. He looked up to see two which just landed in an oak tree. He longed for his gun; such birds were easy targets. Three more crows landed, and he heard many more still flying about. It was strange to see so many together this time of year. Normally such large groups only developed in the Fall.
Then a figure appeared in the middle of the murder. It was a young girl in a Victorian like dress of black and red. She also had black hair, black stockings, and a black bow. The most peculiar thing about her was a large ax she carried which seemed as long and heavy as her, but she showed no difficulty in swinging it about. The bunnies instantly bowed leaving her and Levi the only two left standing, staring each other down. She pouted revealing moist, pink lips.
"Well, well what do we have here?" Said the Girl.