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Chapter 2

Of course it hadn't sat well with either Thomas or Makayla, but what else was there to do? Could I run? No. There was nowhere to run and while crimes were very low amongst us Lutrians, the few criminals always vanished and no one knew what happened to them. I didn't feel like chancing that and so, with nothing but the clothes on my back, I walked through the puddles of the street to the muster field with the draft papers in hand.

The muster field wasn't a field at all. It was actually a small military camp that sat at the edge of the district. A small garrison was there, but did nothing. It only existed as a place for interested Lutrians to come to enlist, except it was where we came to meet our fate and I was horrified to see that I wasn't the only one.

The camp was filled with what must have been a thousand people. All looked nervous and were keeping together in a tight pack.

Thoughts of old stories of Taal concentration camps came to mind. Lutrians were rounded up and then killed off enmasse. It was more logistical that way supposedly, but I tried not to think of the logistics.

I breathed out a word of encouragement for myself and walked to the front gate and presented my papers to the guard. Judging by how briefly the guard looked at them, I think they would have let any Lutrian in. If they were looking for soldiers, why turn anyone away.

There was no real order inside. A table had been set up on the far side and the mess of bodies was actually anlong whiling line of those who had yet to make it to the table to have their names taken and those who had.

It took me five minutes to find the end of the line and then not five more minutes, after someone found me.

"I never thought I'd see you again," a man tapped me on my shoulder and when I turned around, I was just as surprised as the voice.

"Donny?" I said and looked at the bearded mountain of a man who had once served as my heavy weapons support gunner during my last two years of service.

He grinned, lips barely showing past the great beard he had grown. A black and white comparison to the clean shaven, and despite his size, baby faced private I had known. Now he looked rugged with his thick chest and logs for arms barely being contained in his oil stained shirt.

"The one and only," Donny laughed and pulled me into a bear hug. "How have you been, sarge?"

I paused just a moment at that. Sure, I had been out for just a year and yet being called was alien. Another life on another planet and it filled me with dread.

Quick recovering, I replied, "living it day by day."

Not noticing the small hesitation, Donny slapped my back and laughed. "Don't we all know that. It's all about survival out here just like at Tereen Blitz."

The blitz. I had almost forgotten. An attempt by the Pelitans to expand into Cainus territory by aggressively and quickly pushing through the Tereen pass which laid in the middle of the Krass mountain range, a natural and very dependable border between the two nations. However it was that exact though that the mountains were easy to defend that left the pass so poorly defended.

I had been there. Donny had been there.

---

I gave a light knock on the door leading into the commander's state room. Just inside the small room that had nothing more than a rickety bed and a writing desk was Colonel Monroe, a thin black cainus in his unbuttoned and slightly unkempt uniform. He sat at the desk, which was littered with papers and was writing some sort of report. I didn't glance at it long enough to read anything, instead, I stood at attention and awaited a reply.

Monroe looked up a moment at me and gave a very slight growl. Perhaps annoyance that I had come at such a late hour or perhaps the simple sight of a human. It was well known that Monroe had no love for Lutrians, but being an officer of his rank, he never outwardly spoke of any reservations he had. Instead, one could just read his body language. His hackles always raised the most minute amounts and his lips would quiver as he tried to not bare his fangs. It was impressive how much self control the Cainus had, but being late, he was tired and the growl slipped out.

"What is it First Sergeant Caldwell," he said, a roughness to his voice still audible.

As much as I loathed him for hating me just for my species, I kept my military bearing.

I stepped into the room and extended an sheet of paper towards Monroe. "A communique from central," I said.

Monroe huffed and plucked the paper from my hands and read over the message.

I stood there at attention as I watched Monroe's hackles rise up fully before he crumpled the paper and let it drop to the floor.

Through gritted teeth, Monroe addressed me, "if that is all, then you are dismissed."

I saluted and stepped out of the room quickly and into the unheated hallway, closing the door behind me. He was pissed and with good reason. Being the rank I was, I was privy to some information such as the colonel's request for additional troops to be moved to garrison. It was his belief, which I tended to agree with, that a platoon of Lutrians and two companies of Cainus infantry was not enough to sufficiently defend the pass.

Sure the Pelitans hadn't attacked the pass for nearly a decade, but most of the time there were two battalions manning the various posts along the pass and all the artillery there as well. Now there was maybe a quarter of that since the winter months brought thick snow, making the pass virtually blocked off. Why man a place where no attack could happen? That was the thinking.

Monroe wanted at least a battalion of Cainus and a company of Lutrians, but it had obviously been denied and with that, I'm sure the good colonel was calling up his officers to begin making drill plans for everyone to ensure we were all on our toes and ready for anything.

Shortly after, I left the sheltered confines of the mountainside bunker complex. The cold breeze hit me just as hard as the first day I got here and I flipped up my collar and held my thick wool coat tightly against myself and walked down icy stairs to the battlements.

The compound was on the side of that last mountain before exiting the pass with layers of pillbox and artillery guns pointed downward at the pass below, creating a killing ground, that is, if there had been enough people to man all those guns. At any given point, I would guess an eighth of the guns were manned.

I made my way to one of those manned position where Donny was cleaning ice off of his machine-gun.

"How you holding up," I said, shivering and tucking my gloved hands under my armpits.

Donny took the back of his knife and knocked a chunk of ice off the barrel of his gun. "It's be better if the Cainus didn't issue such shitty gun oil. This shit is mostly water. Freezes right up." He grunted and hit another piece of ice.

"I put the requisition for high quality low temp oil." I sat on a large ammo can and held out my hands to a small fire that Donny had built inside another empty can. He was currently warming some caff in it that no doubt was more like sludge and could degrease an engine.

Donny gave up and sheathed his nice and joined me in warming up by the fire that was struggling to stay alive in the subzero. "We all know where requisitions made by a Lutrian go," he said and then made a point by tossing a wad of oily rags into the fire. They hissed and curled up like dead spiders before slowly turning to embers.

I chuckled and gazed out of the narrow port of the pillbox we sat in. Unlike the clutter inside with us with cans of bullets, spare gun parts and overall trash, it was clear and clean outside. Not a single cloud in the sky and the wind was soft with the half moon peacefully hovering just over the peaks of the mountains on the opposite side of the peaks.

Donny grabbed the can of caff and poured cup into his tin that he took off his belt before offering me some.

I waved it off. "That stuff would suffocate me. I don't know how you can drink that."

"Standard issue Lutrian caff ration," Donny said truthfully and took a drink, grimacing as he forced it down. He then changed the subject away from the caff we both knew was terrible. "You only got a few months left on your contract, right?"

"Mm," I nodded. "I think i might go for another three years."

"Really," Donny shook his head. "You're the only son-a-bitch Lutrian that I know who has been in for longer than five years. Now your saying you want to do another three. What would that bring you to?"

"Ten," I answered, not so proudly. As far I knew, I really was currently the longest serving Lutrian. Those who lived, got out and spoke nothing of what they saw. If I got out now, I know that I wouldn't talk about what I had seen and experienced. There was something starkly different between Lutrians... humans and the other races. War was different.

History spoke of old ways just between humans. They'd fight and when one side just couldn't fight, they stopped. A peace was made and life would move on. The other races, all of them, they were different. They fought to wipe out the other side. I guess that's what happened with old Lutria and the Taal. It was going to happen again and again and again until just one race was left.

I could recall battle on the borders between Cainus and the Alberdan. You never surrendered because that was death. If your side was losing, running was the only option. Run and survive to live another day. I had been lucky to live more than once. So many hadn't.

"You alright there?" Donny tapped me on the head.

I blinked a few times and focused on Donny's worried face. "Uh, yeah," I quickly said and gave a smile. "Just tired. I think there's going to be drills later. The colonel is in a pissy mood."

Donny frowned. "Great. Just what we need." He then pulled a pocket watch out from a pocket inside of his coat and looked at it. "You should get some sleep. I've only got an hour left of my watch left and I know I not even going to undress before I hit the cot."

I chuckled and stood up. "Sounds like i good idea. You take care."

Donny waved to me and I stepped out of the pillbox and gazed up at that clear sky one more time before I turned and headed back up the stairs towards the door that would lead to my personal quarters. Not mine because of my rank, but because the other senior enlisted didn't want to share a room with a Lutrian. Something about smell. I didn't care. I wasn't going to complain about having my own heated room.

I passed no one the entire way to my room and was greeted by warm air as I stepped inside.

Unlike Donny, I did strip down and climb under the covers of my cot and closed my eyes.

It felt like only and instance before I opened my eyes again to the wailing of an air raid siren coming through the intercom boxes in the hall outside of my room.

Already there were rapid footsteps outside my door as everyone else rushed to whatever the cause of the alarm was.

With sleep still clinging to my eyes, I threw on my clothes faster than I had ever done before and rushed outside to the sound of gunfire and a new cold hell.

They had come by the air. Hundreds of planes filled the sky, dropping thousands of soldiers that I could only barely see against the slight light of the moon.

It took it all in for a moment before training and experience kicked in.

I had to get to the Donny first. His pillbox was closest and then I would move to the next one and so on, making sure my platoon was doing their job. Though even as I began to move, the sight of seeing thousands of Pelitan soldiers slowly descending from the sky, I just knew that this fight was already lost.

"The fuck did these mangy bags come from?" Donny cursed as hid gun jammed and he had to recock his machine gun.

There were two others in the box now as well, ensuring Donny had all the ammo he needed.

I left him to his cursing and quickly made my way to the next box where it was much the same. The guns were jamming too much, even the rifles because the oil was freezing inside the guns.

Already, the Pelitans were charging up the hill with relatively little resistance as it seemed even the Cainus were having issues. I could see that the artillery couldn't be brought to bear because the gears were frozen solid. Everything must have been oiled with the cheap shit.

The last pill box wasn't even manned when I got there. The inside was scorched and there were burnt figures laid against the corners of the room. Hit by a incendiary rifle grenade.

I cursed. Normally I would have sent more men to man the box and keep the flank covered, but everyone was already somewhere, so I did all I could. Using some material nearby, I placed several tripwires leading away from the box and hooked them to the few grenades that hadn't cooked off on their own and went back to the nearest box with a radio.

By then, I could easily see the Pelitans in their thick winter coats, running from cover to cover and getting ever closer.

My men were doing their job as best as they could, but it wasn't enough and I really hoped that the colonel knew that as well.

Without saying anything, I went to the radio, plugging one ear to keep out the sound of gunfire and spoke.

"Top dog, beta four, over" I said, using Colonel Monroe's call sign and my call sign, ignoring the obvious meanings behind it.

"Beta four, this line is for emergency broadcast only, out," the other end spoke, obviously one of thr colonel's adjutants. Some stuck up, high and might Cainus who didn't want to speak to some Lutrian.

"Top dog, Beta four. Positions are about to be overrun. Request immediate orders, over," I yelled into the receiver, more to be heard over the gunfire, but partially because I didn't like being dismissed like that.

There was a pause and then the adjutant spoke in a growl. "Beta four, hold your positions until sighting of red flare. Upon sighting flare, fall back to command bunker. Do copy?"

I sighed, even at those shitty orders. "Beta four willcon. Out."

I slammed the radio down and called for a runner.

A lanky boy who couldn't who looked to young to have enlisted, rushed from his duties bringing ammo to barely functional machine gun and stood at attention before me, saluting. I passed the orders to him and sent him to relay them to the other pillboxes. Then, I did the only thing I could. I grabbed a rifle.

But, before I could even take a single shot, the world grew red as a flare was shot up from the command bunker.

I watched it for a moment, a glaring brightness in the light, then I yelled at my men to fall back. I hoped the runner could get to the others fast enough for them to get out as well, but it didn't matter.

A tremor shook the ground as thunder rung in my ears.

All shooting stopped as the top of the mountain vanished it a horrifying explosion and then the avalanche happened.

--

"I don't like thinking about it either," Donny said, having zoned out just like me.

"Only four of got out after digging ourselves out," I said back. Originally twelve survived the avalanche, the pillbox having sheltered us, but then there was the hike. We had to get off the mountain and it had taken nearly a week. By the time we had gotten out of the mountains and back to friendly territory, just four of us were alive. I left a lot of dead unburied behind us and it was still something I regretted. We had been too desperate, cold and hungry to take the time to dig graves in the hardened, frozen ground, but still. I still wondered if the bodies were ever recovered.

"All because Colonel Monroe blew the top of the mountain on us to cover his escape." Donny clenched his fists tight enough to draw small lines of blood on his palms. "I heard that the moment the attack got underway, all the Cainus had fallen back and that had been the plan all along."

I shook my head. "Maybe," I said.

We quickly changed the subject, both of us having a bad taste in our mouth. We recalled better times, which was any other time and that helped pass the time long enough that it was soon my turn.

The tired brown furred cainus looked up at me. He held a clipboard with a long list of names on it.

"Name?" He asked.

"James Caldwell," I said.

The cainus looked down at his clipboard and flipped through several pages, scanning down the lists before his eyes lit up.

"James Caldwell?" He said and I nodded. He then looked over to a very large black furred Cainus soldier behind him and nodded.

I stood there confused as the soldier rounded the tabled and stood next to me.

"First Sergeant Caldwell," the soldier said with a tone of warning in his voice. "Come with me."

I looked back at Donny, who was wide eyed and back at the soldier.

"Did I do something?" I asked.

"Come with me," the soldier said and rested a paw on my shoulder.