I continue to sprint through the trench, passing comrades both dead and alive. As I ran, another soldier ran up beside me.
"Sir, Sector 2 has just been overrun!"
"I'm not a Trench Sargeant!"
"We still hav-"
His sentence was cut short by a distinctive crack. A red mist exploded from his chest as he fell backward, still. "Sniper!" I yelled. In unison, fifty soldiers dropped. The trench was deathly silent except for the explosions of artillery in the distance.
Another crack. Another soldier.
I began to panic as I pulled a smoke grenade from my ammo belt and lobbed it into the trench in front of us. It exploded immediately, the smoke covering the whole trench.
I turned behind me. "Dugout! Get to the loving dugout!" I rasped as random shots cut through the smoke. We had mere seconds before the smoke dissipated, so the whole of our group began to run. Many turned as they ran, firing their guns blindly to redirect the fire.
As we entered a tunnel, the smoke dissipated. A shot cut through the air, meeting its mark in an M67 Grenade strapped to the ammo belt of a soldier behind me. The private didn't even have time to react as the bullet triggered the primer, igniting the Comp-B inside.
The explosion spread through the tunnel and out into the trench. I looked back as men collapsed and were engulfed by the explosion radius.
I continued running as dirt rained. I vomited, regurgitated MREs soiling my combat suit, as body parts hit the ground en masse.
Eventually, I made it back to the dugout to find several Chinese and Russian soldiers attempting to break in through the reinforced door. My M1014 jerked upward, and I took aim at a Russian soldier's leg. But I didn't pull the trigger.
He was only a boy. Probably younger than 21. I should have had a heart.
But I didn't.
I pulled the trigger, the slug making contact and shattering his tibia. He collapsed to the ground as blood poured from the wound. I reloaded and took aim at the Chinese soldier as he looked back at me. Blood sprayed from his chest as the round made contact and pierced his heart. The last soldier had already ran down the trench, and was going to exit the trench when he was stopped by a soldier. I watched as the soldier tackled him to the ground and stabbed him in the chest.
I had no words as I rushed into the dugout to get ammo.
