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Lieutenant Dike looked at his watch. His leg was twitching like his ears. I could tell we were getting close to time because he had begun to progressively get shakier and shakier.

"Are you scared sir?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

"Don't talk to your superiors like that Sergeant! Or I will have you court marshalled! Now shut up and do your job!" he said. He looked back down at his watch and continued shaking.

I bit my tongue. This coward had no right to talk to me or anyone like that. I took a silent deep breath through my nose and said, "Yes sir."

We waited in silence. Some of the guys passed around cigarettes and matches. Others checked their weapons. Dilis and I leaned against one another with the flag between us. Then the moment came. We stood up straight as the Lieutenant slowly brought the whistle to his mouth. His hand was trembling and the tip of the whistle chattered against his teeth. He managed a shaky breath and blew. Other whistles all over the line followed suit. Like before, the roar was tremendous and now that we had felines, horses, bulls, reptiles and more involved, it was truly frightening.

C Section was up and out first, leaving Lieutenant Dike behind. I called out to him on my way by him and he snapped out of his trance. We all fanned out into one giant wall of Anthros, charging hopefully into the enemy. The Nr. 92nd had spirit and they kept up with our pace. That was, until the bullets started flying.

About 50 yards from our line, the field in front of us lit up like a swarm of lightening bugs in the night. The poor Dalmatian standing on the other side of Dilis was the first in our section to get hit. At first, the fire wasn't too bad, then as we forged ahead and slowly became the only ones still standing on the field, the intensity increased. We had to find some cover but everywhere we looked, there was only flat field. The section was being picked apart one by one. The poor Black Labrador that was behind me, caught a bullet in the stomach and then in the leg.

"Stop! Get down!" called the Lieutenant. But we all knew that was a death sentence. So those of us that remained pressed on through the tall grass that was being picked apart by the bullets.

We had probably been running for a good 100 to 150 yards by now and I was getting a bit winded, but I knew that if I stopped, it would be over. Bullets were whizzing by and ricocheting off the ground at my paws. The barking had stopped from us and it was just pure sprinting. The sound of the machine gun began to drown out the sound of the flag waving and our boots hitting the ground. We got deeper into the field and the guns got louder and louder and then nothing.

I was floating and the sound had become a distant noise as we broke through the grass and tumbled into the enemy position. I somehow managed to stab the feline that was directly in my way as I tumbled into their ditch. I fell down hard, but I didn't have time to deal with the pain, the enemy was everywhere and I had lost my rifle. I sprung up and looked around. The remainder of my section was with me and fighting the enemy in paw to paw fighting. Some of us still had our weapons, others were using the enemies, and other still were using whatever they had nearby, even their claws and fangs.

My mind was racing; I had to find a weapon and fast. I quickly glanced around me finding nothing. A weight suddenly appeared on my back. I freaked out and reached back to find the hilt of a sword and nothing more. I forgot about you! I said in my head. I drew the sword and it shone brilliantly with its glow changing from yellow, to orange, to blue, and back again.

A feline lunged at me but I sidestepped and slashed, bringing him down quickly. I Looked up and could see that Dilis was struggling with having to hold the flag and fight the enemy. I started to move towards him but another enemy intercepted me. I swung at him, but he ducked and rolled. I shifted to make sure he didn't get the upper hand on me. I could see out of the corner of my eye that Dilis was fighting an enemy too, but the details were fuzzy. When my combatant had stopped rolling, he lunged from his crouched position. He looked just like a feral leopard lunging at its prey, except he had a bayonet. As majestic as it was, I sidestepped to the left and brought the sword down on his back as he passed by. It was the most horrible thing I can ever recall doing to someone. The sword didn't go all the way through, but rather brought him straight down. I knew that I had severed the spinal cord at least. I turned around to go and assist Dilis, but it was too late. I turned in time to see another enemy enter the fight and shove a bayonet straight through Dilis.

"No!" I called out. All the pain, exhaustion, and sorrow in the world couldn't stop me now. I sprinted forwards, faster than I ever thought I was capable of. I slashed and hacked through enemies. Nothing would stop me from getting to my friend, not the enemy, not my country, and not the Gods. When I got to the two who had stabbed him, I showed no mercy. I unleashed everything I had on them. The first one fell with a mighty swing, and the second one didn't last much longer.

I ran up to Dilis and scooped most of him up in my lap as I knelt on the ground. "Staff-Sergeant! Talk to me! Dilis! Say something!" I shouted and shook him a little.

He coughed and looked up at me with those beautiful brown eyes. There was fear in them, but it began to subside when he realized it was me. "Silverback, they... they got me. Didn't they?" he asked weakly.

"No, no they didn't. You are going to be"

"Don't lie to me, not now. I know this is probably it," he coughed violently. "Just keep your promise to me Silverback. All you need to send them is right here," he patted his jacket pocket.

"No you are going to be okay, you have to be. You promised to come back," I cried.

"I'm sorry," he coughed again and this time, blood started to flow from his mouth. "You need to go. The troops are counting on you. I'm... counting... on... you," his final word leaked out of his mouth as he died in my arms.

I hugged him to me tightly. I didn't want to leave him. My only friend out here, and he died. I let him down. I wanted to cry, but I knew that wasn't what he wanted. I knew that he would want me to do my duty and bring his body back to his family. I loosed my grip on him, took his helmet off, closed his eyes and took the papers from his jacket pocket. I bent down one last time and planted a kiss on top of his head. "Goodbye Dilis, my friend." I picked the sword up in my right paw, the flag in my left and stood up.

I pressed the attack with the rest of my section and we silenced the machine gun. Those that were left of the enemy retreated as the Nr. 92nd got up and renewed the charge. But the work was done.

I sheathed my sword and planted the flag in the ground in triumph. C Section had done it again, but at a grave cost. Lieutenant Dike arrived with the Nr.92ndin tow.

"Sergeant! What were you thinking? I gave you a direct order to halt and you continued forward. You could have jeopardized this whole operation!" he shouted at me. His shouting drew the attention of the remainder of my section to my side. "And why did you then let the enemy get away? Explain yourself Sergeant!" he demanded.

"Sir, we were in the middle of a field. The troops and I knew that if we stopped in that field with the colors flying above, we would have been slaughtered. As for letting the enemy escape sir, we lost a lot of good soldiers including the Staff-Sergeant," I replied, holding back my anger.

"Good. He would have been tried for treason anyhow," he spat.

That was it. I had had it with him. I lunged at him snapping and snarling some pretty horrible words in feral. I would have had him too if my section had not caught me and held me back.

"Lunging at an officer are we Sergeant? Good, because now you will be tried too. Take him away!" said Lieutenant Dike while huffing off.

The next day, C Section was taken off of the front line back to the town with the rest of our company. We were promised a few days to unwind and rest up. While the rest of the section began to relax, I went to see the Major. I had gotten a summons this morning from his office. I knew what it was about so I wasn't too worried about it.

I entered the HQ and his orderly took me back immediately. I entered his office and the Major told me, "Stand to Sergeant!" I stood at attention in front of his desk. He had a look of disgust on his face as he slid a piece of paper onto his desk. "Do you know why you are here Sergeant?" he asked me, staring right at me with a very stern look.

"I think so, sir," I replied obediently.

"Then tell me why you are here then Sergeant!" he said angrily.

"I assume I am here sir, because of yesterday's attack and Lieutenant Dike's disappointment in my performance sir," I replied respectfully.

"Yes Sergeant, you are here because you disobeyed direct orders from and officer and got many good soldiers killed because of it," said the Major who now wore a look of distaste.

"Sir, if I may?" I asked, trying to remain calm despite the hurtful lies.

The Major leaned against his desk and hung his head low in thinking. He took a breath and looked up, "Go on Sergeant."

"Thank you sir. I must respectfully disagree with what has been described about what happened yesterday. Yesterday Lieutenant Dike told us to halt sir, in the middle of the field with no cover. Using my knowledge from the previous fight sir, I knew that we couldn't stop like that. So when the Staff-Sergeant kept charging forward, I didn't oppose him. The rest of the section followed us and left Lieutenant Dike behind sir," I finished and awaited the onslaught.

"You are telling me exactly what I just said Sergeant!" shouted the Major.

"With all due respect sir, I did not get any more soldiers killed in the continuation of the charge, than Lieutenant Dike would have gotten killed had we followed orders sir, and the soldiers had their own choice to stay behind with Lieutenant Dike sir," I finished.

"As Sergeant, you are to be the role model for the men under your command Sergeant. What do you think that means?"

"Sir, I believe that means not asking them to do anything you are not willing to do yourself. I believe that means leading them courageously into battle and inspiring them to follow you."

The Major sat down with a sigh and rubbed his brow. "Sergeant, what am I supposed to do with you? You are a good soldier and I know it. You made me proud by taking that ditch first and by yourself. But you disobeyed a direct order, you even said it yourself. Lieutenant Dike wants you to be court marshalled. I won't grant him that, but I have to take disciplinary action," he said looking up at me. "Where is the Staff-Sergeant?"

I almost vomited right there at the thought of it, but I held myself together and replied, "He died in melee sir, carrying the flag."

The Major let out a big sigh and leaned back, "That is unfortunate. I would assume that his body was recovered and it is customary to send it home no matter what." He thought for a short while, then his ears perked up a bit. "I got it," he said opening a drawer and pulling out medals and ribbons. "Unfortunately, the Staff-Sergeant will be getting dishonorably discharged, but not after all of his belongings are sent home to his family, including his medals. I am supposed to remove the medals and ribbons from him in a dishonorable discharge, but I can... fudge that for his family."

"Sir?" I asked, completely confused about what he was talking about.

"Sergeant, you are a good soldier and so was he. This is the only time I will do this for you. Now hand these out to your section," he handed me a pile of Fang ribbons. The ribbon was the official sign of a Royal Fang Garde. Only the guards at the royal palace had them. "Take one for yourself too before you leave," he motioned to the door.

"Thank you sir," I saluted and left the room. I was still confused about what happened, but I did not complain. I was not getting tried, but rather rewarded and Dilis was getting his reward too. But I still had one more thing to do for him.