Chapter 3
We walked into the outpost, dragging our feet as we went. 10,000 soldiers rustled and shifted their way into the building. I hung my head, still half asleep as I worked my way through the sea of soldiers, and into the outpost. I suddenly snapped out of my trance and came to a quick realization. I had absolutely no clue where I was.
"Waffuru!"
Was that Corporal Chigiri?
"Wetnose! Over here, you dumbass!"
Yeah, that was Corporal Chigiri all right. I followed her voice through the crowd, pushing aside random bodies. It wasn't easy to find her in this mess. I could hear her voice growing nearer and clearer as I slowly worked my way through the crowd.
"There you are, Scrub!"
I was still making my way to her when I was shoved aside by a random soldier, and I collided right into Corporal Chigiri. I looked at her slowly with my mouth hanging open and I stared at her cheeks, growing redder. I could feel my own starting to burn.
"Sorry, Kira. I mumbled.
"That's Corporal Chigiri, Scrub." She hissed as he tossed a bag at me. "This is your equipment, now go get in the Charlie company barracks."
I looked around nervously at the complex or halls and rooms.
"Where would that be, ma'am?"
She glared at me, and I slowly shrunk in place. First she was a saint to me, now she's about ready to take off my head. What is up with this lady?
"Down
the hall, fifth door on the right."
"Moving out."
I made my way down the hall, trying not to get knocked over by the stream of soldiers moving about. My bag swung as I strolled down the hallway, looking for the fifth door on the right. As I approached the fifth door, I turned and walked into a large barracks. Bunk beds stretching down the entire room, it was heaven.
"Waffuru, you get that bunk in the corner." Kyoukan said. "The one right next to Private Bijon."
I walked over to my bunk and tossed my equipment onto the top. Bijon looked at me.
"You're from 1st platoon, right?" he asked.
"Yeah, 3rd squad. You're our sharpshooter, aren't you?"
Bijon gave a modest shrug and merely grinned. He was cradling his rifle which had a scope mounted on the top. I tossed my rifle on the floor and hopped up on the top bunk. We both sat facing each other.
"So, we're going to war after two days of training?" he said.
I could only nod.
"Sounds like a bunch of bullshit to me."
I stared at him.
"You really think we're just going to be shipped out to die, Bijon?" I asked.
"Why wouldn't we be? The Haisou troops have already occupied half of our territory on the mainland. We're just trying to slow the advance." He said grimly.
I only stared at him.
"We're cannon fodder, Waffuru. Made to delay the inevitable."
"We're soldiers, Bijon. That kind of talk is going to get you killed around here."
"What's the difference between us and them, Zetsumei?"
I shrugged.
"We're fighting and dying for a cause, right?" I answered.
"And they aren't?" he said. "Zetsumei, we're exactly like them. They tell their men to go die for their country and they listen. We're out here for the exact same reason, Zetsumei. Because someone told us to come here and die."
"We're here because we were told to fight, Bijon." I replied. "And that's just what we'll do."
"Our armored divisions are covering our North flanks. In case you haven't noticed, there are a lot of explosions going off in the distance. They have tanks, Zetsumei. We have bullets that bounce right off them."
"Shut the hell up, you two!" Chigiri shrieked.
She walked right in between us and stared us both down.
"Like it or not, we're here. What you believe in, what you think we're here for, that shit doesn't matter anymore." She stared at Bijon. "Because you're still here either way. Understood, Private?"
"Yes ma'am."
Nobody got much sleep that night.
--
The following morning, we were moving out. The 112th division was falling back and 33rd was tasked with the job of holding the line. Charlie Company was to be positioned right in the dead center of the line. We got in our trucks and continued down the road towards the fighting in the distance, which had calmed. As we moved up the road, we saw the remnants of 112th passing us by.
"Holy shit…"
The men that were walking by looked terrible. They were bandaged, bloody and they walked in a very somber manner. Some were missing arms, eyes, and legs. I had a sinking feeling some of them had not come back at all.
"You boys are in for a rough week." One of them called to us.
"Yeah? Why's that?" Kutabare yelled back.
"We're the lucky ones, man. Can't say you're going to be as lucky."
Our morale sank with each passing soldier missing a limb or was bandaged up. They all looked as if they had already died. We looked at each other, but no one in 3rd squad said anything. Finally, Kutabare broke the silence.
"We're in for it now, right Waffuru?"
"Why do you call me Waffuru anyways?"
"Because you're soft, kid. You're soft and sweet and all fluffy on the inside. You think you'll last a minute against the Haisou armored division?"
I bowed my head. Aragau and Dangan chattered away together in the corner. They rest of us were quiet. Our trucks moved towards the horizon, where smoke and flames would engulf everything that came near it. We were headed right into the bowels of hell.
--
"INCOMING!!"
BOOM! A loud explosion startled me from my sleep and caused me to jump in my seat. Everyone scrambled out of the truck and I was shoved out of the truck. I awkwardly crashed to the floor with my rifle trailing down after me. As I lay sprawled on the floor, my comrades around me all scrambled to take cover. I felt a hand grab my collar and jerk me up and pull me. In the confusion, the person threw me down into a dugout hole on the ground.
"Stay down and out of harm's way!" the voice said. He wasn't from 3rd squad.
"Where's 3rd squad?!" I yelled over the sound of explosions.
"What platoon are you from!?"
"1st!"
"You're way off, this is 2nd platoon, keep moving down the line!"
I didn't want to climb out of the foxhole, but he shoved me out and I grabbed my rifle and made my way towards 1st platoon, keeping my head down the entire way. I dashed down the line, keeping as low as I could with explosions going off, to the left and right and the front of me, showering me in debris and dirt. Confused screams were coming up from everywhere. As I started to get closer to 3rd squad, I felt a hand grab my ankle and pull me down.
"AHHH!"
I fell into a foxhole, and landed right on top of Corporal Chigiri. She stared at me for a brief second and shoved me aside. I was disoriented.
"Don't get any ideas, Private!"
I fumbled with my rifle and kept a hand over my helmet. Explosions were still going off 5 meters away, dirt rained down on us.
"Waffuru! Over here!" a voice rang out.
It was coming from the foxhole next to mine. I saw Dangan and Aragau peeking their heads up from their foxhole to look over at me. The ground shook with each shell pounding our position. I could hear Sgt. Kyoukan yelling over the explosions.
"Everyone stay in your positions! Keep your heads DOWN!"
He didn't need to tell us twice. The final explosions went off, but just as the last thud came off in the distance…
"MEDIIIC!"
The cry rang out throughout the entire line. The scream was pained, and frantic. I looked down the line to see who had been hit. Someone from 2nd squad was laying on the ground, writhing in agony. I quickly leaped out of my foxhole to see what had happened.
"MEDIC!"
A group of men gathered around him and tried to calm him down. Voices were everywhere.
"Come on, Furonto. You're going to be alright."
"Calm down, it ain't that bad."
"We'll get you fixed up, no worries about it."
"Someone get that Goddamn medic!"
Blood was squirting out of the man's right thigh. It looked like a piece of shrapnel had caught him in the leg. Everyone was applying pressure to the wound, but blood was escaping through every little crevice and began to leave a crimson stain on the dirt. A man with a red cross on his arm quickly ran to him and started bandaging him.
"Everybody get back, I got this!" he said.
Everyone stared on as the man on the floor groaned while the medic was applying bandages to his leg. After fixing up his leg, he motioned for them to carry him away. Two soldiers grabbed the wounded man by the collar and started dragging him away towards an aid station. I couldn't do anything but stare. Someone came up behind me and put a hand on my shoulder. I turned around to find that Dangan had left his foxhole to come find me. He looked at me right in the eyes.
"Maybe we should get back to our foxholes, huh?"
I nodded slowly. We walked back to our foxholes, and I sat down in mine, next to Corporal Chigiri. We sat there in the foxhole and stared out at the field ahead of us. It was blackened with artillery fire.
"So this is war, wetnose." Corporal Chigiri said. "Think you can handle it?"
I sat there and turned slowly towards her. The question that was on my mind was why she was being so nice to me back at training, but is so cold to me out here.
"Why do you do that, Corporal?"
"Do what?"
"You
were so friendly and warm at training. But now, you seem like you
hate me."
She averted her gaze. She seemed like she was hiding something.
"Well, I'm sorry Private." She answered.
That was all that she said for the rest of the day. We slept in the foxhole, that night. The dirt was uncomfortable. The line covered their foxholes and we all decided to get some sleep. We started setting up a camp a ways away from the front line. While it was being constructed, we slept in our foxholes, and I slept next to Corporal Chigiri.
Needless to say, it was a very uncomfortable night.