Once Gwen crossed the road, she had realized that there were two shooting ranges on either side of the main road. She didn’t need to cross the road. Gwen felt like an idiot as she maneuvered through the forest and practically kicked herself at her stupidity. But it was already done and she had survived, which meant that she was supposed to cross the road. And when she was able to see the shooting rage through the trees, she was able to see why.
The storage shed was being protected by Estrillian soldiers. There were some soldiers in the front keeping back the enemy and there were also soldiers in the forest that were shooting them. Gwen was sure that if she got a good enough chance, she would be able to grab enough ammunition and join back into the fight.
At the edge of the forest, Gwen was pleased to see the General and some other soldiers surrounding him. They were providing support for the soldiers in the open field.
After the initial shock of getting her face grabbed. Gwen thought,‘What was the point of doing that? It’s not like there’s a war twenty meters from me or anything.’It really was not the best thing to say when her life was possibly in danger. But if it were someone from Paria-Drae, then they would have killed her. So she knew it had to be someone on her side. Someone stupid at that. Puckett.“What the hell?” Gwen grabbed the hand and sun around, coming face to face with practically nothing since it was pitch dark outside.“Chester,” Ace said, releasing her. “Do you have ammunition?”“If I had ammunition do you think I would be wandering in a dark forest, hoping not to get eaten by creatures of the night.” Gwen rolled her eyes, which was pointless.Ace sighed and she heard the faint sound of grass crunchi
Once they got to the top of the field, they knew they had reached far enough. They walked along the length of the field and then went across the width, stopping when they got to the middle. "You know even if we do this, and the General does not get mad, I'm not going to let you blame it all on me." Ace spoke out of nowhere. "Has that seriously been on your mind this entire time?" Gwen asked incredulously. "Yes, I'd rather not get in trouble with him." "This is war, there should be exceptions. And if he does get angry, then you should obviously take the fall because you're the favorite child." Gwen said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Ace scoffed. "Just because
“... Chester,” A voice called.Gwen could feel her body shake as the voice called her. There was a ringing in her ears, it was painful, and her head hurt, and her back hurt. Everything hurt. Gwen felt hot, it was uncomfortable and her eyelids were orange.“Chester!” Gwen heard the voice more clearly.Gwen opened her mouth but nothing came out. She wanted to open her eyes but because of how bright her eyelids were, she didn’t want to. She also felt dizzy and felt like if she opened her eyes, then it could get worse.“Chester, are you ok?! I need you to speak to me!”There were gunshots, so close as if they were right above her. There was a moment where Gwen forgot about where she was and what she was doing. And she wondered,‘Why are there gunshots?’.“Shit…” the person swore.
Once back in the forest, she told the group that Ace and her were fine and that the area on the other side of the forest was bright enough for people to do what they needed without fumbling around the dark. The fire could be seen through and above the forest but the light was not bright enough to really do much for the people on the other side of the trees. There was a difference, and if anything, it was actually a disadvantage to the soldiers hiding in the forest, because the fire was behind them and so it could actually help the Paria-Drae soldiers spot their silhouettes. But the fire did also help them make out the movements of the enemy more, so it was slightly helpful to them. Gwen didn’t have to tell them all of this. They were older and more experienced than her, they would be fine on their own. She had already decided about where her position in the fight was. In the shadows with a clear shot of everything. Her body did still ache from the fall an
By the first ray of sunlight, there was the chirp of a bird, there was a gentle breeze of wind, the air smelling of gunpowder and like something was burning. The camp looked like a war ground, with bodies everywhere and blood everywhere else.Gwen stood next to one of the many bunkers in the camp, looking out. There was silence. Not a gunshot, not a scream, nothing. Just silence, with the occasional chirp of a bird. In those moments, she felt alone, all around her were the bodies of her comrades and enemies and she just stood by herself.It was foolish to think that she was the only person that survived but it felt like that. Gwen felt like the only person in the world. Standing there and looking out on everything, caused her to slowly sink down to the ground, resting her back against the bunker and taking a few breaths to bring herself back down.It had been hours since she had taken even a couple of seconds to stand stil
The group garnered some attention and Gwen saw the look on Captain Marcus’ face when he saw her. Relief. He was relieved and Gwen was relieved to see him as well. Gwen had also not seen Ace and she was glad that he didn’t come and annoy her. She was sure that the first thing out of his mouth would be some nonsense along the lines of:“I didn’t actually think you would be able to survive. It was probably due to luck and nothing else. Or what, did you hide in the forest the entire time. Because while you were doing that, I was busy fighting for my country and trying to save us all. If you can’t even do this, then you should just go back to Naudis and not worry about things that concern you.”Gwen clicked her tongue at the thought. Hoping that it would not come to that.“Gwen,” the Captain said, approaching her.The Captain had some bandages on his face and he w
Gwen had bandaged her entire hand and Doctor Reeves had not shown up yet. Her ear probably needed to be treated also but she was not doing that by herself. And definitely not with Ace in the room. She had packed up all the things she used and taken some extra gauge just in case. It was no surprise that everyone thought the war wasn’t over. They still had over a hundred men and the Paria-Drae soldiers were nowhere to be found. They were planning something and so no one was dropping their guard for a second. Gwen was not sure how many extra uniforms they had available but she hoped for more than just one. Gwen liked the comfort of the padded uniform and it also made her feel safe. And if this war got even messier and she had to go on without it, Gwen was not sure she would have the strength to. “Chester, go and find Doctor Reeves for me.” Ace said, stopping her from leaving. “And why should I?” Gwen turned around.
The rest of the day was spent cleaning up. All the blood and bodies. Everything. Gwen was not really happy about having to do that, but it was necessary. She had tried to use it as an excuse, not to treat Ace, but it wasn’t like she wanted to. After she helped Ace the best she could, she immediately left the room, looking for better things to do. The soldiers that weren’t being treated or resting, which accounted for most, were out cleaning. Gwen was not too tired, surprisingly, and so she was roped into the cleaning. But since she was not as strong as the other men, her job was cleaning up blood stains and severed limbs and things like that. Gwen wondered where all the bodies would go but she didn’t ask any questions about that. The bodies of their comrades would be buried but the twice as many bodies of the Paria-Drae soldiers, well, Gwen could not really take a good enough guess. It was estimated that two-thirds of P