To say the line was not stabilized would be a terrible understatement. It seems our little attack stirred the hornet's nest. In the week we were given a break the line became a mess. Constant artillery barrages on the firing line, constant prodding attacks, hell we hadn't even fully linked up our line, with little holdouts capturing bunkers in the nighttime.
If our war was a boring slog before, it would become a hellish nightmare in the months to come. At the time we were never given the full scope of the attack, but we would learn that miles of attacks happened that day, all around us, the vanguard were the middle of the attack, and we had done our job well. Neither side was dug in well, meaning both of us were in a precarious position.
We entered our new reserve trench, built in the middle of the old dead man's land. We had spent the three days prior building up our old firing line, to be the new supply trench. Most of the hard work was completed, moving up the mortars and the deep cashes had already been built. It was our job to flesh out the line.
Dig it a little deeper, more cut outs to rest on, more parapets to look towards the enemy. This was the monotony of everyday life in the two back up trenches. In our reserve trench we were also digging, putting up wood to hold the edges. The trench had been built deeper than the previous one, with almost a step up to even see over the line, it was more safe for us. We had our little section, as always.
Our section was about ten meters in the line, which seven people could easily defend. Felix was in his little dug out that he slept. It was not on the ground, but around my waist, and a couple feet inside the earth. He slept curled up, back facing the opening. It was around midday. We had a little fire going in the middle, producing a little smoke that slowly seeped up to the sky. Next to the fire sat the rest of us. We were all dressed in our trench coats, and our helmets. We wore our wool gloves. We were dirty, but we didn't mind.
Marco was sitting across from me, and the little table we had in the center. Surrounding the table were the six of us on stools. Marco was paying little attention to the rest of us talking away. He was leaning back and cleaning each cylinder of his revolver, the revolver we learned was a gift from his father before the war.
That silver shining on the revolver reflected the bright sunlight and it looked out of the box brand new. Bruno and Carlo flanked the man, they were very focused on the card game we were playing. Bruno leaned forward, looking at the rest of us with an inquisitive eye. His square face looking at mine for a little too long, then looking back at his cards then the four cards on the table. He then leaned back and raised the pot by a couple of centis.
As he did his eyes nervously twitched. "Really bluffing your last couple of Centis" I say as his hands go back to protecting his hand. Adrian who was next to me chimed up. "Where do you even get the money to throw away?" he says uninterested. "Can't remember a time when you actually won,"
Brunos eyes shot up. "Hey bugger I won the first hand, don't be diminishing my accomplishments" "You won barely twenty centis" Carlo says exasperated. "And you have lost almost a ren since then" I remind him. Bruno looked back at his cards. "You'll all see after this round, just gotta have patience". "You seem to have a lack of patience in everything you should, and an excess in everything you should not" I say as I call the raise. Nando, to my left, who already folded chimed in. "That's a good one Luca" He grins at me. "Thank you, thank you" I say with a little fake bow. "Stop riding him ya buffon" Bruno snarls at Nando. "You're just mad you couldn't think of such a line" I say shaking my head.
"You're right," Adrian says. "Ever thought of being a philosopher?" He turned to me. "Heard there's a shortage of em these days" "So i've heard" Carlo said as he mulled over his cards in preparation for his move. "It's not that there is a shortage my brother, just that they all turned into warrior philosophers" I respond. "What's the difference?" Bruno said, getting impatient waiting for his brother to make a move. "Well for starters there is the word warrior in front" Adrian smiled.
Bruno frowned "You were wrong my boy, you are the one who should be a philosopher, such genius hiding behind those eyes" "I do try" Adrian said softly back. Bruno turned back to me. "Wouldn't a warrior philosopher be the same as a normal philosopher, he just wastes people as a side gig, right" I look back at my large friend "There's one major difference my overly large friend" "And what would that be my overly small friend" "The warrior philosopher has to actually live out his teachings… It's definitely not as fun that way" Adrian chuckled "Your correct my friend, definitely not as fun when you gotta actually test your own rules" Bruno frowned "Thought it would be something cooler" "You…"
Some bursts of machine gun rips off in the distance, with some artillery following, interrupting us . "You think they would give up" Nando says as he leans back, head turned to where the explosions are coming from. "Some would think" Carlo says as he tossed his hand in the center. "They just keep coming," Nando said with a frown.
"I guess they just really want that trench," Adrian shrugs. Bruno calls the hand "I've been there, can't see what the fuss is about" We all chuckle around the table "Very true brother, just a little slit in the ground." I chuckle back. He grins, hand patted his right leg "Lost some damn good blood in that trench" "Think we all did" Adrian says folding as well.
"Well all except sleeping beauty anyways" He says as he motions to the still sleeping felix curled up in his cut out. "How in all things holy is he sleeping, can barely hear myself think over this artillery" Nadno says as folds over, elbows resting on his knees. "He's got some talent" Adrian sighs "Wish I had half that, can barely get a wink on the line". "Comes from years of practice, who would have thought it would pay off this well" I say as I call the hand. "Well I guess we are the sorry ones now, have barely slept in the past four days" Adrian says with a sigh.