Chapter 41: Baptism by Earth (Hannah)

The tunnels smell of mud and blood, mixed with the sweat from my brow. The lamps barely illuminate this place as they hang off wooden beams by a thread.

I stand between a fork, looking over three possible entrances for the Dogs to attack from. There were five other soldiers, but they didn't make it. I am the last of my men, the last defender of this tunnel.

Near my feet is one of the Dogs. It sits there, holding its guts as they spill out from its torso.

I cannot let them die like that. No one deserves that sort of fate. The Dog wheezes its last breath as I dig my sword into its neck. Its blood spills all over my boots and pants as I remove my blade.

This must've been the tenth Dog I have fought in this tunnel. They are larger than I imagined, and their armour is… unique.

I've never seen such bulky plates of black iron before, slapped together and hammered into shape to resemble some sort of plate. Maybe they were rushing to make some sort of protection for themselves for this war?

'Collapse it! Collapse the tunnel!' Three men run in my direction from the third tunnel, shouting for the tunnel to go. One pulls onto a piece of rope to collapse the tunnel behind them.

'How many were you?' I ask them.

One turns around to respond. 'Seven, but they didn't make it.'

'How many Dogs were there?'

'I swear on my grave there were twenty of them.'

Shit, that's not good. If there are twenty Dogs in that tunnel, the chances of twenty from each of the other tunnels would be immensely high.

'We have to retreat to the centre. Someone make sure to collapse this tunnel!'

'But Sergeant! The others?'

'There is no time! Grab your shit and move!'

The soldiers are hesitant at first, but they came to their senses once they realise I won't stay and wait for them.

They won't live with this choice, the choice to leave soldiers behind who might be alive. That they were following my orders to leave their friends behind might prevent some guilt from forming in their hearts.

Yet, I can't risk it. I can't risk the city to a possibility that they might be but alive.

As we exit the tunnel, I mumble a prayer to whatever God can hear my call to forgive me for what I am about to do.

I yank on the rope that dislodges the support beam, standing still as the dust of the collapsing tunnel washes over me. If the Dog's blood didn't baptise me, the dust surely did.

We make our way to the centre, stepping over corpses of both Dog and Cinari alike. The members of the Tunnel Rats race around while they set up their final preparations to collapse the centre.

'What is going on?' I ask one of them.

'This place is fucked! We are losing ground from left, right, and soon centre.'

'If we are leaving, we have to spread the word.'

'Already did.' He points me to the body with a jacket covering its face.

I pull the jacket off to reveal the corpse of Rex. He was at the other end of the tunnel systems. By the Gods. There were fifty men all up in the tunnels, but I only count twelve now.

'How close are you to finishing what you are doing?' I ask the man.

'I'm just about finished. Just waiting for your orders.'

'No point in staying. Get everyone out of here!'

We rush out of the tunnels, the last person out pulls on a piece of rope that causes the ground to collapse and sink into itself.

We are near the old market place, one of our resupply checkpoints, near the barracks and the webgate.

We repurposed some of the shopping carts and merchant stalls to store our spare arms and armour.

Next to them are drums of alcohol. Some soldiers drink out of them to enjoy what could be their last time in this world, but we put them there to destroy our supplies in case the Dogs break through our lines. We can't leave them our weapons. That would be a terrible idea.

I rush to the nearest split ballista unit as they load the weapon in unison to fire the bolts at any Dog that is caught in their sights. The bolts either pierce the Dog's armour like it was nothing or making their organs rupture and explode out of them from the inside. Like we are mocking their engineering.

'What's the situation?' I ask the squad leader in charge of the ballista crew.

She seems to have seen better days. She looks like she hasn't slept for a month as her dark eyes combine with her tired facial expression.

'We have news of other wings falling for the past three hours. If you want my opinion, we can barely hold this spot with the amount of shit they throw at us.'

With the bodies of Dogs at the other end of their ballista, I can see what they mean. They barely have any ammunition to continue operating the thing, not even the stalls have any bolts left. But I can see it served them well for a time. Hell, it kept them alive for this long.

But this wing of the city is clearly lost or about to fall. Five soldiers operating a ballista and twelve exhausted soldiers recently popped out of the tunnels cannot hold this spot.

'Pack your things, soldier! We are falling back to the centre. Burn this place to the ground and take the bolts with you.'

She gives me a salute. 'Yes Sergeant, be on it.'

I relay my orders to the rest of the men as I set the barrels aflame. The soldiers run to the last defensive position. Hauling their equipment, bolts, and whatever they deem valuable.

I rush towards Volas' office at the barracks. That stubborn bastard better be ready to leave this lost cause.

I can't lose you here. Not in the flaming city.