Tales from the RP

Catch Up 2 (Maxine Rowe)

April 10th 2558

Trenches, our only 'safe' haven. I was sitting down with Karim, Warren and Linn as we were drinking coffee we had made on the fire, it was currently nighttime, didn't have a clue what exact time it was but my god was it cold, the area around us is cold and destroyed, the grass that once laced this place was long gone, now replaced with gravel and mud. The stench of rotten corpses were the only thing anyone could smell, sometimes marines would just start throwing up, hell I've thrown up multiple times because of the horrid stench. This wasn't getting any easier and what didn't help was that we weren't getting reinforcements for another 3 weeks. The war was brutal to the point the reserves had been called in, nobody was getting home until the fighting died down, morale was at an all time low. Our problems were getting worse by the hour, we're fucked. "So, I told him 'The only soldier in here is me' before I showed off my augmentations." Linn says before everyone starts laughing but me. I just sip on my boiling hot coffee. "Hey Max, you alright?" Warren asks as he looks over to me, this was the first time I've acted like this. "Yeah, I'm okay." I say, stuttering from the thoughts of what was next and because my teeth were chattering from the cold. "Cold is just getting to me." I say before giving a weak smile to Warren. He just nods. "So Karim, how's the wife doing back home?" Linn asks. Karim looks over to her. "Well, she's got a new job as a teacher in Ashgate High on Eos now so pretty well I'd say." Karim says. "What about your daughter Linn?" Karim asks. Linn smiles a bit. "Well for the first time I have good news, they figured out what disease she has and are going to administer the cure in 3 days from what I heard from Tom." Linn says. "Oh shit, well my best wishes Linn." Warren says and Linn smiles at him. "Thanks. So what about you Warren? How's Lacey treating you?" Linn asks, Warren looks about a little. "Yeah, we broke up when I was on leave, said she couldn't handle being with someone who was away in the army so much." Warren says. "Oh, I'm sorry to hear that." Linn says. "Nah don't be, she was a bit of a bitch anyway. Anyway, Maxine, found anyone yet?" Warren asks me and I laugh a bit. "Nah, I'm not really looking for anyone. Just trying to get by each day." I say honestly, I see Warren nod a bit. "Yeah, well things can happen Max, when I met Scarlet I wasn't looking for anyone. Love blossoms like." Karim goes to say but Warren bursts out laughing. "Stop turning into a fucking Disney mother you cock." Warren says and everyone starts laughing. Then everything slows down as a rifle shot goes off, causing us to turn towards where a group of marines were as one of them fall to the ground dead. "GET DOWN!" I hear someone shout as I hit the floor, spilling my coffee everywhere before slipping my helmet on, I look to my left to see Watts crawling over to us. "You all okay?" She asks and I just nod. "Yes ma'am." Brains says, Quartz pulls out her BR as Specs grabs his sniper rifle. "I can try find where they are ma'am." Specs says. "Do it." Watts says and Specs crawls up to the edge of the Trench before he looks through his scope. "I got 1, 600 me." Specs says, his sentence getting cut off as a sniper round goes through his scope and out the back of his helmet. "WARREN!" Brains shouts as he pulls our dead friend back. "Warren, please tell me that didn't kill you." Brains says, Watts quickly checks for a pulse. "He's gone, and we will be too if we can't find that fucking sniper." Our officer says with authority. I gulp and pick up Specs' sniper rifle. "You can use that?" Quartz asks me. I nod, in shock at what happened to Warren. "I just need a distraction so I can find him." I say. Quartz takes her helmet off and puts it on her BRs barrel before grabbing some binoculars. "I got you." She says before she moves to the edge of the trench and holds the binoculars in front of her helmets visor before lifting it up, I peek out the smallest gal I can find to see where the sniper shot came from, as well as a dink of a helmet being hit. "He's good." Quartz says as she puts her helmet back on.
I quickly set the sniper rifle up and aim at his position while putting my hand over the scope so the light of the moon won't leave a glint. I then see their head poking out and I fire, miss. The sniper recoils and I move positions before aiming back at where they were, I was now more in the open. I see him run across to a fallen tree as he sets up. I wait until I see his body and I fire hitting his chest, shields. A fucking Spartan. I duck down and move again. "He's moved to a rock on the left side ma'am." I hear a marine say. "Thank you." I reply before aiming at it, I see the fuckers head and I line up my shot before firing, I watch his body collapse and I pull away from the sniper and let out a breath I didn't realise I was holding. "Nice work Private." I hear Watts say. "Thank you ma'am." I say, my voice shaky, this really is hell.