Rain is falling all around us in the trenches. The longer it keeps raining the trench is turning into stagnant rivers of blood, mud, and water. In some places men had to stand on boxes to stay above the water itself. Bodies floated on the water that wasn't held down by the equipment they had worn.
The fighting had been intense for six days straight. We've been at this for a month and we are already tired of fighting. Some of the men who take joy in this have been outcasted by everyone else.
Most of us talk about how we got called to this shit in the first place. Others just talk about when we get to go home.
-A Few Months Ago-
"Have you read the newspaper yet Davey?" It's not what I expected to be asked when my sister asked me to meet for coffee.
I took the paper from her and read the headline. "I didn't know that anything had happened to the duke."
The smell of coffee filled the air as our drinks got brought to us. It was nice on the cold, cloudy day. The headline didn't help warm the day any more than being at our table did. I continued reading the paper to find that tensions are hot about what had happened.
"That makes sense." I folded the paper and handed it back to my sister.
She took a sip of here coffee before continuing to speak. "I heard that all the men might be drafted and trained for a possible war."
I gave a small laugh in response before speaking. "I hope that won't happen. I wouldn't like to go to war."
"So far the talk is that they can't avoid it so far." A look of concern seemed to etch itself onto her face.
I finished my coffee and got up from the table. "I need to get back to work. Here is the money for the coffee."
I placed the money on the table before leaving. The streets are empty about this time of day. Most people have went home for the holiday, but I didn't have anywhere to go so I worked more. My job wasn't a bad one. It was in a factory making weapons of all things.
-The Next Month-
We had been working on a massive order of weapons. I think we got halfway through it when a military officer walked into the building. He had ordered the factory to shut down and all military aged men to make their way to the nearest base. All of us left with looks of horror on our faces. I should have expected it after seeing the headlines saying that the world had split into two alliances.
Most of everything to our west is against us, and our government swears we are in the right. We had been kept in the dark for most of it as everything dragged out behind the scenes. Men making choices for everyone else under them. This is going to go south soon for us.
-A Few Days Before The Rain-
A general is walking back and forth in front of us as trucks back against the dock we had been standing on. He stopped and cleared his throat. It was time for us to leave for the front lines. Many people had already been fighting for months and it was time for us to join them now that the threat had been pushed back.
The generals voice came over the loud speakers. "You are being sent out to build our numbers on the front lines. The fighting has been intense in the area that you are going to. Fight hard and fight with the heart we know you have for this country."
With his last words fading into the air and leaving silence we loaded on to the trucks. No words got passed between us as we started to pull away with family and friends waving goodbye to us. It brought tears to my eyes knowing I might not and probably won't see my family again.
As we started to get closer to the frontline the ground was covered in holes where artillery had landed. It caused us to bounce up and down leaving some men sick to their stomach. Bullets started to fly passed the trucks filling the air with whistles of near misses. That was I thought it was near misses until our truck started to drive out of control swerving back and forth until a wheel caught a piece of metal. It tipped throwing us into several rolls leaving us to rest just shy of the trench itself.
The commander unbuckled dropping himself down before giving commands. "Unbuckled and get to the trenches right away. We are in the perfect sight of enemy snipers with where we are. Be fast!"