Last Entry
#13 of The seven Days of Fire
Last Entry
"I slept through the whole day. Despite the significant amount of sleep, I am tired and drained. The loss of my last companions still weighs like a stone on my soul. My motivation has reached an all-time low. My stomach is also rebelling, I haven't eaten anything for two days and there are still about thirty miles to go to the garrison. I'll probably only find something to eat there again. I'll walk through the night and then hope to reach the first suburbs in the morning. Another strange occurrence is that the Shrikers appear to have completely withdrawn. Have I left their area of control? Well, basically it doesn't matter. The main thing is that I survived. On the other hand, I haven't survived yet. Until I leave Sepata, I will not be safe. And even then... The very fact that the last village was evacuated makes me suspicious. I hope I don't run straight into the hands of the Torekmetians, but even if I do, there's nothing I can do about it. But I don't want to waste any more thought on that. I'm setting off now, hoping to reach Seruma alive."
Hiredeki stands up from the bench in the bus shelter and shoulders his bag. Outside, the setting sun turns the clouds in the evening sky blood red. The rustling of leaves in the rising wind is the only sound that can be heard. The birds have already stopped singing and are sitting in tight clusters on the treetops. Hiredeki takes another deep breath and then slowly starts walking. He follows the sign at the stop that shows him the way to the garrison. The loud crunch of his boots on the loose asphalt sounds loud and hollow in the silence surrounding him. The last bit of sunset is just disappearing when a new companion appears. A fox follows Hiredeki at a distance, pricking up its ears in curiosity. Hiredeki discovered his pursuer while he was still lurking in the thicket next to the road.
'At least I'm not so alone.'
Hiredeki thinks as he continues walking, occasionally looking over his shoulder to see if the fox is still behind him. His companion maintains a distance of about twenty meters, even when Hiredeki stops to satisfy his hunger on a bush of blackberries.
...
It is already the dead of night when Hiredeki spots the first glimmer of light on the horizon.
"It must be the garrison."
Hiredeki says to his companion, who has now reduced the distance to almost ten meters. Hiredeki can't help but grin when his companion stops at this statement and tilts his head a little to the side in thought. Hiredeki turns around again and continues to march towards the garrison. With his goal in mind, running becomes much easier for him.
'Finally, I can do it. It's not far now.'
...
As the first birds begin their everyday songs, Hiredeki reaches a small suburb. The smell of burnt flesh and gunpowder hangs heavily in the air. Here and there small columns of smoke rise towards the sky. Hiredeki stops in horror, he knows the pungent smell all too well. His companion also stops, puts his ears back and lowers his head. Hiredeki uncertainly scans the front of the house in front of him. No one can be seen, but the houses are riddled with bullet holes. Hiredeki continues walking with gritted teeth. However, the fox that has accompanied him until now stops and doesn't dare go any further.
"Stay away is a good idea, only death is waiting here!"
Hiredeki looks again at his little companion, who paces back and forth restlessly and finally runs away. Hiredeki watches him go for a moment.
"Run, run away too... there is nothing here but suffering and death..."
His inner voice warns him not to go any further.
'Maybe I should run away too...'
The thought becomes an obsession, but he ignores his inner voice, represses his innate instinct to flee and ultimately continues on to the suburbs. The houses show signs of heavy fighting. Doors have been kicked in, windows shattered and some houses have been literally torn down by the blast waves from small explosive devices. However, no heavy weapons were used; only traces of "normal" handguns and possibly hand grenades can be seen. There are traces of blood all over the floor and walls and there are bullet casings all over the floor. With an uneasy feeling, Hiredeki continues through the town and heads towards one of the columns of smoke. The acrid smell of burnt flesh grows ever stronger.
"Don't go there! Stay out of there!"
His inner voice screams at him, but he continues walking in a daze. He walks around a house and his gaze falls on a mountain of corpses that is still smoking heavily. The sight of the charred bodies makes Hiredeki's stomach turn. He would vomit if there was anything in his stomach. Unable to look away from the mountain, Hiredeki staggers backwards. He trips over an edge in the cobbled street and falls to the ground. He remains lying there paralyzed. It takes a moment for his brain to process the images. Only then does he get up again. He remembers the village they invaded. He swallows hard, he still can't get the two children from back then out of his mind. With gritted teeth, he continues on, past the pile of corpses, towards the center of the town. He takes a path that apparently leads to the village church. Hiredeki walks slowly and carefully because he is not sure if there are still soldiers in town. As he passes a side street, something happens: a little further down, a patrol of Torekmetian soldiers is running towards him. When both parties see each other, there is a moment of absolute standstill. Hiredeki's brain seems to stop for a moment as he stops dead in his tracks in shock. Just in time, his instincts kick in again and he jumps to the side. At that moment, the projectiles from the Torekmetian rifles were already hitting the spot where he had been standing a moment before. Hiredeki gets up, orients himself briefly and then runs towards the town center. Behind him he hears the screams of the soldiers who are just pursuing him. In the hope of being able to leave the soldiers behind, he runs into a side street and turns straight back into the next junction. But he's out of luck, the soldiers must have seen him, because just a short time later he hears the armored soldiers' footsteps again. Hiredeki takes flight again and continues to run down the narrow side street, frantically looking for a junction to escape from the field of vision of his pursuers, who are already opening fire. The bullets hit all around him, puncturing rain barrels, boxes, garbage cans and other objects on the street. Other projectiles ricochet off stone walls and various pipelines and send dangerous ricochets through the street. Leaning heavily forward, Hiredeki runs as fast as he can down the street towards a small junction that will hopefully save him from the soldiers. Meanwhile, the soldiers pursue the unlucky raven and radio for reinforcements. The net tightens around Hiredeki, who just reaches the junction and takes it in a full-length slide. For a few seconds out of the soldiers' field of fire, Hiredeki stands up to his full height and runs as fast as his feet will carry him towards the end of the street, which leads back to the large street he had initially taken. He turns onto the big street and rushes towards the church.
'You'll expect me to run away from the place...'
Hiredeki thinks as he continues running, but his side stitch is already turning into a serious breathing problem, he can barely get enough air to keep running. He drags himself on, knowing that stopping now would be a certain death sentence. In front of him the road bends slightly, behind this bend is the church. Hiredeki looks nervously over his shoulder, his pursuers are not yet in sight. He drags himself around the bend and stops there. He doesn't care about the frightening sight that greets him because he's too busy trying to get his breathing under control. Perhaps it is better this way, because the Torekmetians were not content with killing the priests and their servants, but nailed their corpses to the outer wall of the church and further dishonored and disfigured them there. When Hiredeki hears the approaching footsteps of the soldiers, he starts running again. Still plagued by pain and shortness of breath, he stumbles more than he walks. In order not to come into the soldiers' field of fire again, he turns a corner. He's not quite around the corner when he runs into a Torekmetian patrol. Because he reacts too slowly, he crashes into one of the soldiers and is thrown backwards onto the street. He looks up in disbelief at the soldier, who is caught by his colleagues. Hiredeki frantically begins to crawl backwards, but doesn't get far.
*BKAM*
A piercing pain in his chest constricts his airways. Hiredeki immediately stops crawling because he is no longer able to do so. He runs his hand over his chest and feels warm blood, his blood, oozing from a large wound on the left side of his chest. He looks in disbelief at his hand, which is almost completely covered in blood. He closes his fist and lowers it again, then looks up at the shooter, who is grinning maliciously down at him. Hiredeki absentmindedly shakes his head.
'No! No, that shouldn't be the case. It can't end like this!'
Hiredeki's lips move, but he can't get a word out. His vision slowly blurs and the soldiers' laughter sounds hollow and empty in his head.
He hears the voice of his father, who admonished him more than seven years ago.
"Don't join the army, it's pure suicide!"
Hiredeki curses internally, he doesn't like it when his father is right. Slowly but surely, his senses fade. His body becomes heavy and the voices fall silent. He dimly notices how the Torekmetian soldier raises his rifle a second time, then everything is black.
...
...
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"Innocence is the first victim of war. Remember that soldier! Anyone who takes part in a conflict is guilty! You too, private! We will all burn in hell!" (Quote: Gunnery Sergeant Hartman)
...
- END -