Project: Socialize (Chapters 198-Continued) [Hiatus]

229. 73 Years Ago

[73 Years Ago]

The temporary military camp was populated by dirtied white tents that was organized in neat rows and columns. Nearby in the distance were the sound of explosions as artillery shells rained down on the battlefield many kilometers away, and in the sky, numerous airplanes flew about, engaging the enemy's airplanes while providing air support to the troops on the ground who were also aided by the reinforcement of sturdy tanks. However, scarcely were there any tanks and airplanes that bear the Vilheim symbol, with the last of the Vilheim planes being shot down and crashing towards the battlefield. All the remaining planes in the sky, and most likely all the tanks on the ground, all bear the Jorzan flag as the enemy forces closed in on the camp.

In the camp, there was dead silence whose wrath did not reach the surgical tents where the screams of pain from patients echoed followed by the frantic surgical procedures that the medics performed. However, it is all a futile effort of prolonging a life that will surely be lost sooner or later or be lived in eternal trauma. No anesthesia is used as those have all ran out at this base, and really, there is no expecting that any anesthesia would do any good for those who have a third of their body completely flattened and turned to mush by tanks and fallen buildings. Next to the surgical tents were a large tent with rows on rows of cloth on the floor for those who had just finished surgery and whose condition have stabilized to rest in. In this tent, the wounded soldiers, many of which are missing limbs and other body parts with dirtied bandages wrapped around their bodies, sat or laid on the ground on top of the thin cloth in a state of silent solemness. A sense of despair and smell of death permeated the tent as some of the wounded soldiers would die from their conditions only to have their body removed from the tent and to have two more wounded soldiers tossed into the tent by other soldiers called in to help the medics. The emotion on all their faces, both the healthy and wounded soldiers, have been wiped away by the brutalities of the war and the losing effort.

I stood at the top of the lookout tower and gazed at the old, stone city walls that surrounded Palisia, our nations capital. Slowly, I turned my head in the opposite direction, looking over at the battlefield and at the enemy planes that flew in the sky, opening fire with their machine guns on our troops and the artillery shells that rained down on our soldiers. Command had sent almost every available soldier up to the Front, desperately trying to fend off the Jorzan attacks. Even though they tried to censor the status on the Front, everybody knows that we wouldn't be able to hold the lines for much longer without any reinforcements. Yet...where are the reinforcements? Does there still exist any other Vilheim units in the country that have the leisure to send aid our way? The entire nation is being attacked, and...us, the last line of defense of the capital, the unit tasked with the most important task of all...are here fighting on our knees with no aid in sight. That's how bad the war has come to.

In the distant sky over the battlefield, I saw the wings of a Jorzan plane catch on fire as it crashed towards the ground. For a moment there, my spirits were high, thinking that maybe there is still hope for victory. But... when the numerous other Jorzan planes flew back into view, I knew immediately that hope is false, a mere illusion.

"Alevian!" I heard a familiar voice call my name. "Get down from there! The General has orders!"

I looked over the edge of the lookout tower and down at the ground. Standing there while waving his hand up at me and looking up was my childhood friend Loyd who was drafted the same day as me. Upon hearing his words, I walked over to the ladder in a solemn state of mind that caused each step of mine to become heavier and climbed down the ladder, reaching the scorched earth underneath me.

"We have orders to mobilize," Loyd said to me. On his face was a serious expression, an expression that seems to have been locked to his face recently. It really has been a while since I've last seen him smile the way he used to do so often prior to our enlistment.