As shells rained down as hard as the rain poured, and between the battling mechs, soldiers fought with tooth and nail over what little inches of land they could progress through the waste which was once a lively agricultural colony. The militant forces clashed from both sides and died soundlessly as a flame being snuffed in the wind, while they struggled alongside the behemoths often getting caught in the crossfire as bullets, chemicals and mortar was thrown at them from both sides. Although these soldiers had once called each other neighbours, family or friends they now came face to face as enemies divided by the ideals of politicians.

Vito, a young man dragged into the war along with his brothers and father, now charged towards the incoming wave of soldiers.

HAAAA!!!

The screams of those around him who masked their fear with rage filled his head causing him to join, else be consumed completely by the fear.

Many of the men from each side of Vito were blown away either by the gunfire of mechs or from the shells with covered them with shrapnel, Vito himself evading death only by a thread with every step. He knew that no matter where he ran, the direction or speed, it was all up to sheer luck whether he makes it through this battle. Every time he was struck by small pieces of shrapnel or when he felt a projectile ricochet from his helm, he just kept moving, not breaking his momentum, not checking those around him, he was solely focused on the enemy infront of him, his sole purpose was to pass through them and to do so he had adapted to drown out any other thought.

Coming into closer range each side began to fire their rifles, many shots missed as both sides had very little formal training leading to a brutal close quarters skirmish, family swords, clubs, shovels and many other improvised melee weapons were used, with some just using their rifles to beat down the man infront. Vito using a club given to him by a fellow soldier immediately began swinging however as he hit a soldier over the helmet he turned around swinging a shovel as if it was a blade, the soldier struck Vito across the face causing his shovel to get embedded in his face for a moment and while Vito went into shock another man took the opportunity to shoot the soldier while his shovel was stuck, and before Vito's eyes a part of the soldiers head exploded as the blood and chunks of his head covered his face. The soldier's body fell lifelessly and Vito while still in shock passed out amongst the mud and corpses that surrounded him.

Waking up from an unbearable pain coming from his head, he saw a man wearing a similar uniform to himself clenching the shovel that was embedded in him before running away. Vito unable to move and with very muffled hearing tried moving his head and upon doing so realised that he had nearly been completely buried beneath the bodies of fallen. In any other instance he would be freaking out however as his body felt completely heavy and cold he didn't even have to energy left to panic and while fearing for his life and after waiting a few seconds he labouringly shuffled his way from underneath the bodies.

(How long was I out?)

He thought to himself, the gunfire was still as clear as every however this amount of bodies would have taken at least a few hours to accumulate, non the less he still had a mission and while he was still alive he was determined to carry it out as instructed. Luckily it seemed that the others had broken through the enemy line and were approaching the entrenchment.

Vito before getting up from his knees grabbed an old revolver from one of the corpses and a knife that was lodged in another, still feeling the blood pouring from his head he ripped some of the clothes of a dead soldier and as tightly as he could wrapped it around his head, although it did barely anything it was at least buying him some time.

He struggled back to his feet and began stumbling towards the trenches as they were now under siege, upon reaching them he fell down inside and while grabbing the sides stumbled through once more. Unaware to the current firefight inside a bullet narrowly misses his neck striking the mud wall and right before the second bullet was fired Vito swung up his hand pulling the trigger and hitting the soldier in hand causing him to drop his rifle, Vito fired five more shots into the man as he walked closer before throwing the gun in frustration.

(Why the hell am I here!?)

Panting and almost in tears he fell down next to the man and grabbed his rifle.

"Hey! Buddy get over here!"

A voice called out to him from a nearby bunker.

Vito looked over and began to raise the rifle however stopped and began to crawl over to the bunker half buried underground. 

As he entered the hole he was greeted by three battered looking soldiers who helped drag him over the the back of the bunker and sat him down against the wall. 

"Are you crazy kid, did ya not get the order to withdraw?" one of the men looked at Vito in confusion while taking the torn cloth from around his head.

"No sir, I just arrived." Vito looked back just as confused.

The man who was now properly treating Vito's wound, Kale, explained that after the firefight began the conflict between the mechs became a losing battle and while they were now retreating, the higher ups decided burn the whole battlefield as a last ditch effort, seems the men who were fighting on the ground truly meant nothing to the war effort in their eyes. Kale along with those who were fighting deeper inside the trenches hadn't initially noticed the flares as they blended into the smoke that smothered them and decided to take cover rather than get completely scorched while trying to escape.

"Now, just rest for awhile, you lost a ton of blood and honestly I don't know how your still alive. If we make it out of here it's gonna be a hell of a story to tell I'm sure."