Forward again, and again, and again.

by Zaravan

The sixteenth entry, or: This 'aint Starship Troopers

This was his third, his third, night on watch in a row. The Infantryman sighed, he couldn't complain though, after all someone had to suffer through the dull monotony of nightwatch duty, and if noone did it, then who would? He turned his head slightly to the left, then he lazily drifted his sight towards the right. He rolled his shoulders, then adjusted his grip on the Venice rifle, it wasn't common, but he'd managed to snag it, as well as the rifle's 7.62 Caliber ammo bag, off the body of another IAF marksman during a failed charge on an enemy position during a previous deployment elsewhere in the multiverse. It was a bloody battle, the man could recall; They'd had to fight inch by bloody inch in that hellhole of a city.

'But,' the Veteran mused, 'At least it hadn't been as bad as Hamburg.' He shuddered. Noone talked about Hamburg, They hadn't lost persay, they'd held out. But far, far too many civilians had been stuck in the middle of that raging hellstorm. He still remembered standing over that one woman, she'd been clutching a bundle in her arms before she'd been thrown like a ragged doll by a stray artillery shell. He'd turned her over, and he saw..

NO.

He bit down on his hand, hard, he drew a little blood. But he refused to remember. He rubbed his eyes, he hated the quiet. He suddenly herd light scuffling, and then the silence was broken by a shout, and the sharp report of a pistol rapidly going off. His eyes snapped towards the source, but he could also hear more shouting, more shooting. 'Ambush!', an Infantryman yelled, The Veteran saw a dark shape rapidly closing in on him, it was an equine, but he knew Changelings had horns, he couldn't tell whether it could be one of Zebra Volunteers or not.

They needed light, he had a Flaregun on him, but by the time he fired it into the air, the shape could be upon him. He had to act, so he made his choice.

The desert was surprisingly well lit under the moon, but just only enough to be able to clearly pick out shapes against the sand, compared to the flare that rocketed into the sky however, it was dull as weathered steel.

The Desert was illuminated with a crimson red bloom of light.

Author's Note:

Change of pace. Different writing style i guess. P.S. i'm back

Here, have some music to set the tone