Morning all. I hope you are ready to start the last prompt of the week. Let’s set those timers to fifteen minutes and see what comes out the other side. Timers set and off we go.
Odd, I don’t usually write about war. I suppose it just seemed the sentence for it.
Friday, March 20th: We weren’t ready.
We weren’t ready. We knew were weren’t ready. ‘Well, some of us do,’ Jake thought. All around him were excited faces. They were being allowed in. Allowed to prove their worth. To stand on the battlefield. Mixed into the excited faces were a few like his. Calm, resigned, some worried. In the face of the cheering and excitement of those eager for war, for battle, for facing the enemy, the worry was smoothed out. False smiles were plastered on faces even if real excitement was impossible to fake.
No one wanted to draw down the call of coward. To be mocked at this final stage.
Jake knew they weren’t ready and he saw it in their instructor’s eyes. They had their training cut short because more bodies were needed at the front. They were expendable. The others, the ones who either tested higher or came in with more valuable skills under their belts weren’t on the transport with them. They were culled out, remaining behind to finish their training.
Jake hadn’t been surprised he was in the group of cannon fodder. He may have tested high on his scores but he was viewed as problematic. He was certain there were quite a few who would be pleased to see him disappear.
He tried to shove the thought out of his head as he heard the change in the engines. The change came and then the vehicle dropped. They were beginning their approach. He felt the nerves swarm in his belly. To calm himself he ran over the information he knew about his equipment. The act that several of the pieces he carried they hadn’t even discussed yet was something he tried not to dwell on. They were told they would be completing training in the field. Somehow he doubted when he landed there would be someone to point out what gear he carried. He expected that he would simply be told to take out his weapon and pointed in the right direction.
The vehicle dropped suddenly. It was only a few feet but it was sudden, jarring. Not like their one practice run at all. While the one practice wasn’t much to compare things to, this felt wrong. He looked at the others. The ones smart enough to know they weren’t ready. He saw their concern as well. There was still the excitement of the others, but now they could hear the static of the coms as messages were sent too and from. He narrowed his eyes as though it would help him hear better.
Words began to filter through and even the most eager to slaughter their enemies seemed to catch on that something was not right.
“base…57…92…to trans…overrun…rep…” The words were staticky but the word overrun was clear enough. One of their trainers, looked back as though hearing the quiet. He reached behind him and slid the door between them and the pilot closed. Even the staticky communication was no longer over heard.
“What do you think is going on,” someone asked. Jake knew what was going on, or could piece it together, but he wasn’t going to be the one announcing it. Then he felt the vehicle turn. It was a long slow turn. They were going back. Outside an explosion rocked the sky. It wasn’t a hit, but it was close enough to set the transport shuttering. The speed of their turn seemed to increase.
Ten til Midnight 