35 Luke

I wasn't awakened in the kindest of fashions. I jolted awake to the feel of a boot kicking me in the knees, bringing me to my feet before I was even awake. And like that, I came out of a dream that's as real as life itself until the moment you open your eyes and it's all gone. I was standing, alert as ever, facing the wall as our squad leader moved past me, awakening those still asleep in a similar fashion. The sun was hardly up, but it was there. The wall, the sun reflecting off of its earth brown walls shining right into our trenches. It was a new day.

As I rubbed the sleep from my eyes, I tried to recount the events of my dream, unable to recover the smallest detail. They were so real, however that I felt it was myself experiencing it. I could've just been recounting memories from my past for all I knew. It was no strange thing for myself to wake up struggling to realize I wasn't in the Hive or some pile of garbage in a Citadel slum. That's the past, Luke. It's over.

I was awake now, standing in the middle of the trench, lost and unsure what to do. "What are our orders, sir?" I yelled to the commander who's name I had yet to memorize as he made his way through the trench awakening his men.

"Briefing! 5 minutes!"

5 minutes. I wanted to wash my face off. I wasn't awake as of yet. I had slept in full body armor, unwilling to take it off given the conditions I had slept in being mud, rain, and corpses, or remnants of corpses. We removed most of the bodies from the trenches, or at least the bodies visible to us when the infantry finally arrived an hour or so past midnight. They helped us remove the last of the bodies and relieved us as they dug mass graves for the bodies. The same mass graves I was walking past now on my way this minute.

I was afraid that the Lieutenant General didn't get the beautiful encampment he wanted. Instead of straight and reinforced trench lines, he got small segments of trenches scattered about that had yet to be connected. A defensive perimeter had barely even been set up. There were no spikes set up and I was still awake when the wind pushed over the watchtower while it was being made, sending the soldier atop it crashing down with the watchtower on top of 3 other men. They were all alive from hat I heard later that night. Beat up, but alive. Word spreads quickly in a camp like this.

The tents weren't as uniform as hoped for either. The crimson didn't stand out against the landscape as an artist might wish it to but had rather taken the brunt of the storm and was lined with mud and muck that had been carried by the wind from our construction efforts. It was rather hideous as a matter of fact.

I made my way to what was still being set up as the camp sanitary station. Latrines hadn't been dug yet and some went so far as to bury their excrement along with the bodies still lying in the open mass graves. If anything, it was the infantry's fault for not burying the bodies yet. Maybe they were still expecting more to be dug up today. No doubt the better part of today would be spent tidying up the camp and hoping to do some last-minute organization before the Earth Kingdom woke up and saw the nice little campsite we set up. I wondered if they would even understand if they were under siege. Looking at the sorry state of the camp I was in, I wouldn't have guessed it either.

I waited my turn in the line of soldiers who had the same idea as me, only spotting one other kid my age among them, probably in the armored division judging by the scrawny look of him. I didn't catch a good enough look at his face, but thought I saw Gozdan. He wasn't exactly one of the kids I talked to a lot. He was more so one of Zihe's type. I wondered how that little prick was doing, probably still talking shit about me after what happened to his face. I wondered if he took the bandage off yet and if he did, how badly he looked.

It was my turn and I turned the knob, releasing a steady stream of water coming from tanks of water that had been set up by the infantry after being hauled atop the backs of newly developed Fire Nation trucks. Bigger than tanks, but less well defended, they also rode on treads, but had room on a flat bed in the back to carry supplies atop it. Among these supplies had been water, weapons, and soldiers. Most of the trucks had been given to the armored to carry their limited assigned infantry who played a support role, among them the "non-armored" kids of Citadel and a few other soldiers. Of course, that organization was purely for the trip. Now, Danev and the rest of the infantry soldiers would be assigned to the 22nd, all under the authority of the 5th Corps, of course. Our trip to this city had been our last real assignment together. From now on, he would be moving on to his new unit. I wondered if I could find him before briefing was called.

Answering my question, I heard a whistle coming from further in the camp, grabbing the attention of myself, mid washing my face, and the other soldiers by me. "Briefing!" the voice that came after called. "15th armored."

I waited for him to also call for the 22nd, but it never came. I guess I wouldn't get the chance. Maybe after the day was done, I would have the chance to catch a few minutes with Danev. I was eager to hear his take on the wall in front of us that was still captivating my attention.