"Well fuck…" I grunted to myself as I carried the new sweet ass gun on my shoulder. Did they seriously forget that we are human who can only carry so much? They probably thought that we would be so pleased with this new gun and be motivated to carry this thing everywhere. Well they're goddamn right! I carried this baby for 12 minutes and I will do more just to get a chance to shoot this thing. I kept on climbing the building to the top floor. This baby needs a stage and a prey… better yet, preys and there is a lot out there. As I walk up the stairs in this bare bone building, a voice comes from my radio.

"Lieutenant, this is the captain of the 1st Company. We have done our current objective and are waiting for further instruction. Over."

Good, just need to get this thing up there. "The 1st and 2nd Company, coordinate with the cavalry division for when to blow up the foundation. After the high rises fall down, throw red smoke signals at the enemy position and retreat to a safe position. Over."

"Yes Sir!"

"The anti-tank companies, have you found a preferable spot to engage the enemies? Over."

"Yes, sir! Currently waiting for order to engage! Over."

"Wait for the high rises to fall down and then help the cavalry division to keep the bottleneck secure. I don't want any enemy unit to break through our lines! Don't spare any bullets! Over."

"YES SIR! WE'LL RAISE HELL IN YOUR NAME SIR!"

I don't think that is necessary but you know what, good for them. I reach for the knob on my radio and tune the frequency to talk to mayor Hans. "Hans, this Lieutenant Colonel Igo. We have secured the buildings and the help from both air forces and artillery. We just need you guys, from the cavalry division, to keep the bottleneck secure and not go through the enemy line before the bombardment stops. Over."

"Got it. We are ready. blow up the foundation right now!"

*BOOOM *BOOOM *BOOOM *BOOOOOM *BOOOM * BOOM

Hearing the sound of explosions outside, I immediately poke my head out of the window. I see six buildings, each with more than 30 floors to them, fall down. Creating a massive quake when they hit the ground. Dust flies to the sky as high as the former high rises. Without wasting a single second, I could see red smoke being mixed with the brown dust. The sound of continuous explosions coming from the artillery, tanks and anti-tank rifles immediately erupt as if they are racers waiting for the judge to wave the flag.

Shit, I better start picking my pace before they eliminate every single thing there is. You know what? Fuck going to the roof top and fresh air, I am going to shoot this baby from inside this building. I lift the railgun and rest it on a window. I place the recoil pad on my right shoulder and put my right eye on the scope.

"Let's see…" On the other end of the scope, I finally see the enemies. They are sweet ass looking futuristic tanks. Black in color with some sort of Light Emitting Surface that radiates a bright red light, making the already awesome looking tank thingy even more awesomer! The tank got a turret with two barrels that can shoot freaking laser beams. The size is comparable with our light tank but somehow looks slicker, it's like comparing a truck and a supercar. The best part about those things is that they are floating above the ground. "Good god, they look as amazing as ever…." I said under my breath. Before someone judged me from drooling over the enemy tanks, everyone that I've ever met said the same thing about those things. Hell, the first thing people do after destroying one is trying to recreate them. Well, now we know it's way, way, way harder than that, but still, who could resist those beautiful creations.

I let out a small tired breath and focused on myself. I pull the trigger and hold it. The main chevron started going from black to crimson and finally turning bright red. It's ready to shoot. The edges of my mouth turn upward as I hear the sound of humming coming from the railgun. Feels like I am revving a car engine. I take a deep, deep breath and hold it in. I grit my teeth and clench my butt cheeks, preparing myself to fire the railgun. I aim and… release it.

Without the sound of an explosion, the bullet flies from the barrel and moves through the air. It moves so fast, that it literally creates a ripple. The air surrounding the bullet is compressed, burnt and just out right becomes an anomaly, it's as if the bullet had a claw and dragged the air with it. The bullet produces a very distinct, high pitched scream that'll rattle even the strongest being there is. I don't know whether the projectile they use had a red color or it actually burnt in the air, but it is bright red like the sun.

*BO-BO-BOOOOM

Three explosions happen at the same time. The bullet manages to go through three tanks and cause each of them to explode. It happens faster than my eyes could blink. Hell, I didn't even realize the bullet had hit the enemy. I see the enemy on the scope, release the trigger and the next thing I see is a big explosion, well three explosions in this case.

I stared at the explosion in pure awe, my mouth was open and my eyes couldn't blink. I feel like a child looking at the sky and seeing a state of the art plane, flying at 3 times the speed of sound. "Damn… that was-GUH!" Before I could finish my sentence, a sharp pain struck my right shoulder. I drop the railgun and step back. The pain starts to become unbearable as I stumble back. "….SSssssssss! Gah…." My legs give up and I fall back while my left hand squeezes my right shoulder. I figured out the cause of the pain immediately, it was the recoil. I seemed to recall that the four barrels surrounding the main barrel launched back after I took the shot. Guess they are supposed to muffle the recoil but guess the engineers underestimate just how powerful this thing is. "…Sssshhh~~ Sigh….. fuck…." I exhale a painful breath through my gritted teeth. Thank god it didn't dislocate my shoulder, but still, they could at least install six of those recoil-muffler-tube-thingy. My right arm starts to vibrate and the fingers on my right hand are twitching. Before I could calm myself down, a voice came through my radio.

"This is Bomber 7. I am here to inform you that the bomb will be dropped, ETA 1 minute. Over."

I immediately ruffle my radio, ignoring my shoulder that is still in pain. "This is Lieutenant Colonel Igo. To any infantry element that are currently in the frontline, search for a safe area and take cover! I REPEAT, TAKE COVER!"

I tried to get up from my position to at least see what I had brought to the frontline but a minute later, the ground shook harder than I could ever anticipate. The wall that I grab to pull myself apart, causing me to fall down again, this time harder than before. The building that I am on is rocked so hard that my body is sent left and right like a ragdoll.

"Damn…Aw!" I tried to claw the ground, trying to hold my ground, but something hit my hand. It is rubble and it comes from the ceiling. I immediately jerk my head up and see multiple crack forms on the ceiling. In confusion, my left hand rubbed against my thigh and I felt my handgun. It's probably not enough, but better die trying than crying.

I grab my handgun with my left hand and aim it up. The ceiling finally gives up and breaks apart, sending rubbles on my way.

*BAM *BAM *BAM *BAM *BAM *BAM *BAM *BAM *BAM

I furiously shot the gun at the rubbles, at least the one that is aiming for my head and upper body, at the very least I want to stay alive. I roll around trying to dodge concrete that is too big to destroy.

Eventually the whole building calms down and the rubbles stops falling. I put my handgun back in the holster, it ran out of ammo. My chest is thumping hard, my breath is fast and short but my right shoulder has been better since. I take a couple of deep breaths to calm my breathing and heart. Calming down after a dangerous event is one of my expertise.

After calming down, I picked up the railgun that I dropped earlier. It's covered by dust and small debris, but thankfully it's still work, hopefully. I reach for my radio and talk. "This is Lieutenant Colonel Igo, report your current condition. Over."

"The 1st and 2nd Company received minimal casualties. 12 deaths and 20 injured. Currently supporting the cavalry division. Over."

Deaths are unavoidable so there's no need to get my emotions riled up too much. I assume the anti-tank companies are still intact and firing if I heard the sounds outside. I quickly return back to my post, put my sniper railgun on the same window and see through the scope. The number of enemies have been greatly reduced and one little push will end their foothold on this city.

I tune my radio to match the cavalry division frequency. "This is Lieutenant Colonel Igo from the 160th infantry Brigade, does anyone copy? Over."

"This is mayor Hans. Go on. Over."

"Mayor, can I ask you to push the enemy a little bit? Their numbers are dwindling and a fast attack from the cavalry division will surely eliminate them. Don't worry, I'll tell the artillery division. Over."

"We'll run when the artillery stops firing. Over."

Good. I'll change the frequency and talk to the artillery guys. "This is Lieutenant Igo from the 160th Infantry Brigade, am I talking to any artillery regiments?"

"Yes, this is from the 132nd Artillery Regiment. Did the plan work? Over."

"Yes, it works and now we need you guys to stop so the cavalry divisions could storm in. Over."

"Got it. Stopping the bombardment in 10 seconds. Over."

Now that settles it, the cavalry divisions should be at the edge of the city in 10 minutes. I pull my eye away from the scope and try to get a better view of the frontline, the first thing that got my attention are the number of enemy planes. They aren't a lot but they are still eye-catching and the others definitely notice this too since they are flying so low. Our jet fighters are still trying to shoot them down but they are too many for them to shoot down quickly.

I push the nose of the railgun up and hold it steady with arms. I am probably going to regret this later, but I can't really help the cavalry divisions since there is a wall there, yeah that's my bad. I put my right eye back to the scope and try to aim for some planes, or at least a plane.

Could this end badly? Yes. Will I punch myself after this? Probably. Can I hit at least one plane? There is a low chance. Will I do it? God damn I will! I smile nervously. "Sigh…" I use the computer assisted aim to track a plane and I have no idea what the hell is going on. Numbers pop up here and there, markers with every color move wildly through the scope like a scared rat, it's chaotic. Guess they didn't give me a very detailed instruction.

Since the chevron would turn bright red when it's ready to shoot, the marker probably indicates where I should place the chevron to hit something, in this case the plane. I took a deep, deep breath and breached my right shoulder for the incoming pain. I hold the trigger and aim for a plane with predictable movement, the one that's coming to attack the tanks since I know they are going down.

"Fuh… Here goes nothing…" With a sturdy determination I let go of the trigger.

The next thing I know is that my vision is covered by a thick layer of brown. I could feel a strong gust of wind from beneath me and I strangely lost my footings. A second later it kicked me, I got sent to the floor below. I realize after the dust settles and the first thing I see is the broken ceiling or the floor I used to be on if you want to be precise. I could feel the pile of rubbles that I landed on my back and it's very, very painful to land on, like landing on a bunch of legos with nails.

I tried to claw the ground to find something to pull me up, but after trying for a minute, I gave up. I probably am not going to have enough stamina to do anything helpful. I reach for my radio with my left hand because the pain has caught up with my entire right arm and momentarily immobilize it. "All infantry elements in the frontline, help the cavalry divisions to push the enemy out of the city edge. Over."

"""YES SIR!""" A lot of affirmatives went through my radio almost in unison.

"…and could you help me get up after that? My back hurts."

"…"

XxX-XxX

3 hours have passed since the last enemy tank was seen inside the city. Right now the city is bustling with the sound of engines coming from the hundreds of trucks, bringing supplies for the infantry and spare parts for the cavalry. With them also come, the field support battalions and the engineer companies. I could see people after people jumping down from the back of the trucks almost like a clown car situation, each moving to their designated position immediately. In a matter of hours, the city turns from a burning battlefield to a slightly less burn forward base.

"Okay, you can focus on someone else. My injury isn't that bad." I said to a nurse. I am currently inside one of the many medical tents. The tent is pretty spacious and has a light brown color. My current tent has six foldable beds and they are full of people. I look at the other beds and just by the look of it, their wounds are worse than mine, like hella worse. There is someone that got the majority of their body covered by burnt marks, the last time I heard from the nurse it was 74% of their body. Compare that to my dislocated shoulder and some broken bones and you understand why I feel bad that the nurse focuses on my wound instead of them. "They need more attention than me right now."

"I have done everything I can to help them, the only thing I can do is to wait for better equipped personnel to come." The nurse said to me without looking at my face. Her voice is soothing, it feels like an angel just whispers near my ear, and yet there is a hint of desperation if you listen close enough. "I can heal you so that's why I have to- I have to-" Her desperation starts leaking more and more as she speaks. It honestly starts to become sad and unbearable to me to hear her voice.

"Yes I get it." I speak to her almost in a stern voice. I am afraid if she keeps talking, tears will start dripping from her eyes. She keeps tending my aching shoulder almost religiously, I could feel her hands trembling and her grip strengthening as the time passed on. If this goes on, she'll crush my bone to dust. "Sigh…" I guess this is my obligation as a reliever.

'Reliever' program is a program to help the medical company's morale. This program basically required at least one lightly injured person in a medical tent. This person would be used as a coping mechanism for the medical unit. This program was started earlier in the war after a lot of medical personnel were reported having a mental breakdown. After being investigated, it happens more frequently to the medical personnel that have to take care of heavily injured soldiers.

Everyone who joins the medical company has to take an oath that they'll do their best to save lives in the field and everyone who joins has an intention to do so, or at least that's what they thought. Their oaths, their ambitions and their hopes are immediately erased after their first time on the frontlines. The reality is grimmer than that. Most of their job in the field is not saving lives, but tending to a dying person. The feeling of being powerless and useless, to not be able to hold your own words, to not be able to save a single life and to hear the dying wish of hundreds of soldiers. This amount of pressure on their mind is said to cause mental breakdown.

This is where the reliever comes in. They are used as a coping mechanism for the medical personnel to not feel useless or as a crying post because that's literally what happens every time. Well as I thought that, I felt the nurse's forehead on my shoulder. Her body shivers and her voice trembles.

"I can-Uh- I can- I have to- Guuuuuhh….." I hear her sobs softly, trying her best to keep her emotion in check but humans can only hold so much emotion before eventually, her tears start dripping.

My left hand instinctively moves to the back of her head and starts rubbing her hair. This has happened so much that I have this mechanized response. Her tears drop heavier after I move my right hand behind her waist and pull her close. I can hear her breath choking in the middle of her neck as she tries to talk. I guess feeling a human warmth after years touching cold dead bodies is heavy for a human heart.

I bring her ear closer to my mouth and whisper. "No… No, it's okay." I tried to sound as calming and comfortable as possible. At this point the only thing I want is for her to calm down. She hops onto my bed when I pull her closer, she lets go of my shoulder and instead hugs me. "Yes, you did your best." I could only let her do her things and hope that she will be feeling better after this.

I let my head rest on her shoulder and close my eyes. The tiredness of running and carrying a sweet-ass-yet-heavy weapon have caught up to me. Combine that with the nurse's warmth, it feels like someone just tape a barbell on my eyelids. Is it wrong for me to sleep in this kind of condition? When there is someone who is having a mental breakdown? When there is someone who suffers more than I do?

.

.

Yes, of course. There is no doubt about that.

I open my eyes and the first thing that caught my attention is a figure-no, two figures standing in the door. One is a woman with long pink hair and the other one is another woman with bright brown shoulder length short hair. The one who caught my eyes in particular is the pink haired one with the concerned looking face directed at me.

Man, she gets around fast huh?

"Well, what are you going to do? Be mad at me?"

"Igo, that's my butt not my waist."

"She doesn't deny it anymore, huh?"

"How forceful?"

"Please don't leave… Don't leave me…"