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POV of British corporal
1917-January-31
''So what's the latest news from the east?'' I said while opening my canteen.
''The Russians already signed peace. Turns out it wasn't a rumor after all, it's confird now. Those idiots abandoned the war. It's unbelievable, the bastards who started this whole ss are now leaving and dumping the huge problem on us because Germany is now sending more troops than ever against the European defenses'' said Tom, who was sitting there with his knife eating sothing he had opened from a food can.
''Hey, did you hear they executed the Russian tsar? Apparently they burned him inside his palace'' said Edward, but with a strange smile when he said the news.
''Those communists are insane if they thought killing the tsar was intelligent. Him and the king are cousins, so I assu sothing will co out of this later, but first we need to throw these Ottomans out of here and drive them out of Palestine'' I said, scratching my head, taking off my helt and looking at the clouds drifting above us.
''Hopefully our shift ends quickly. I hate being here with all this sand. I'd rather be assigned to guarding a fortress where we don't have to worry about running out of water before the watch ends'' said Tom, running his tongue several tis across his lips to clean off whatever he had been eating.
''Hopefully they managed to bring so decent beer because the locals barely have anything useful once the heat cos back'' said Edward, starting to drink from his canteen and pouring so water over his head after removing his helt.
''What we'll have to drink is water. They're finishing those pipelines now to move water for the next offensive they want to launch and see if we can push the Ottomans back further, although unless soone has plenty of money on hand, I doubt anyone will get decent beer since the officers are probably keeping it all for themselves while the rest of us will have to figure sothing out to drink'' I said while standing up since we had to start moving for patrol duty.
''Let's get moving already. I've got sand in places I never thought sand could reach and it's driving insane. I just want to take a bath'' said Tom, making a face while climbing onto the cal.
We started organizing my squad. We were part of the Imperial Cal Corps Brigade and we had been assigned watch duty against Ottoman scouts who could be taking positions to pass them to the huns so they could hit us with artillery.
So we had to stay alert for anything since that could an so unit getting an explosive dropped on top of them if they weren't careful.
''Move out'' I said, signaling the cal, which stood up and began moving.
With nine of my n we started moving through the desert after stopping to eat and drink sothing. Luckily winter made this place tolerable while the nights were cooler, but the sand still made everything miserable. Having to endure winds that filled your boots and trousers with sand was unbearable because you constantly had to shake it out and sotis that only got more sand into places where you definitely didn't want it.
''See anything?'' I said while scanning the distance with my binoculars without spotting anything interesting.
''Nothing over here. Everything looks quiet'' said one of my subordinates while squinting into the distance.
''Hey, why are there loose cals over there?'' Tom said, pointing into the distance.
''Let check'' I said, observing the cals we could see. ''They're ours... but I don't see their riders. Did they get loose or sothing?'' I said while staring into the distance without spotting anyone near the animals.
''We'll have to check. Looks like soone forgot to tie them down'' said Edward while steering his cal toward the others.
We all started moving toward the riderless cals and noticed they all belonged to one of the scout groups, aning soone was going to be in serious trouble once we identified which unit they belonged to.
''Wait, aren't these the ones that were patrolling with us?'' said Tom while looking at the markings on the cals.
''Yeah. Weird... but where are they? Did sothing happen? Stomach problems or sothing like that? Maybe they got new orders?'' said Edward.
''But all of them? And nobody warned us about anything. Nobody heard gunshots either, right?'' I asked my n, who all started shaking their heads.
''Uh... what the... OH, SHIT!'' Tom shouted after climbing down from his cal to check sothing.
''What happened?'' I said, turning toward the scream.
Tom crouched down and started brushing away the sand with his hands. It didn't take long before a body appeared with a bloody hole in its chest.
More n dismounted to check and soon all the dead bodies started appearing, the entire reconnaissance and scouting squad.
''We need to report what happened here...'' I said, bringing my hand to my mouth.
My n imdiately started scanning every direction in case of an ambush, but whatever had killed them seed to be long gone.
''They weren't that far away. We should've heard the shots, especially the others. Nobody kills ten n without anyone hearing sothing, right?'' Edward said nervously while they pulled the bodies from the sand.
''Yeah... we didn't hear anything'' I said uneasily while scanning the horizon with my binoculars.
The silence of the desert, more than even the sound of the wind itself, started becoming deafening as I searched every direction trying to understand what had happened.
''Check their weapons'' I said quietly while looking back toward the horizon.
''They're loaded'' Edward replied while pulling the rifle from its sling and resting it against the side of the cal.
''That's not what I an. Check if they fired'' I said while walking toward the first body.
Tom, still kneeling beside the corpse he had uncovered, swallowed nervously and picked up the rifle half buried beside the man. He opened it carefully, checking the chamber and then the internal magazine.
''Full'' he said in a dry voice.
Edward checked another one. Then another of my n did the sa with a third rifle. The result repeated itself several tis.
''None of them fired'' Edward said while staring at the rifle in his hands, visibly disturbed by the realization that nobody had managed to shoot back.
''Ten n died and nobody fired back... I think... maybe we should head back, right?'' said Tom, looking extrely nervous while licking his lips and breathing heavily.
''Yeah... I think it'd be better to report this'' said Edward with his eyes wide open.
''Load the bodies onto the other cals and let's head back... we need to report this'' I said while lifting one of the corpses and placing it onto one of the cals that had carried them.
We started loading the bodies onto the cals and began moving back toward our camp. There was no ti to finish the reconnaissance mission anymore since we needed to report what had happened as quickly as possible. At that mont the only thing we knew was that ten of our comrades had been killed and we had no idea what had happened to them.
I don't know how much ti passed, but using the compass I carried with we managed to guide ourselves back to our camp, an Ottoman fortification we had captured not long ago, where we were received.
''What happened...? Why did you return early...? Oh'' said the guard speaking from the top of the fortress walls.
''Sothing killed them... we don't know what'' I said while looking up.
Without another word the fortress gates opened and we entered. Several troops imdiately began taking the bodies from the squad while the process of identifying the dead started.
''The captain wants to speak with you'' said one of the guards who had approached with a serious expression.
''I figured as much'' I replied after letting out a heavy sigh.
I followed the guard to where the captain was standing. He looked furious, his brow tightly furrowed.
''What the hell happened, Arthur...? Why do I have ten dead n?'' the captain demanded while glaring at angrily.
''I don't know... captain... I'm just as shocked as you are'' I answered while lowering my head.
''HOW THE HELL DO YOU EXPECT TO BELIEVE THAT?! How did nobody hear anything? It's impossible for ten n to die not far from the other reconnaissance units and nobody hears a damn thing'' the captain shouted, baring his teeth.
''We didn't hear anything... we were eating and drinking during our assigned break and then we spotted those loose cals. We didn't know anything else about what happened... Ah... they never fired their weapons. Whatever killed them, they never managed to shoot back'' I answered while breathing heavily.
The captain stared at for several seconds. His face was still red with rage, but his eyes changed when he heard the last part. He no longer looked rely furious.
''None of them fired?'' he asked in a lower voice.
''None of them, sir. We checked several rifles before bringing back the bodies. Full magazines. The squad never returned fire.''
''Could've been hun sniper teams... They're a nightmare in France because of how skilled they are. Maybe they brought so over here... but we still should've heard the shot...'' the captain muttered thoughtfully.
''Captain... the water pipelines were sabotaged'' said one of the telegraph operators while bringing over a ssage.
''WHAT?!'' the captain shouted.
''Yes... they planted explosives on the pipelines. Several sections are destroyed, or that's what the colonel is reporting'' the telegraph operator replied.
''Then those are our culprits... Right, we need to organize a search imdiately. Try to seal the periter and cut off whoever did this'' the captain ordered while already moving out of the room.
We stepped outside and quickly started organizing ourselves to search for whoever had done it.
While we were doing that another telegraph ssage arrived, instantly draining the color from the captain's face. All our plans changed and we imdiately started moving toward the rear lines.
Around a hundred cal riders moved down the road back toward the rear camp without understanding what had happened until we began seeing black smoke further ahead.
We quickly accelerated to see what had happened and found several dead cals, horses and so vehicles riddled with bullet holes scattered everywhere.
That was when we learned so n had heard an explosion followed by a massive amount of gunfire, and they quickly identified the target as a logistics convoy carrying food and water to us.
When we searched the area we found no survivors. Every single one of them was dead.
So we simply started lining up the bodies and organizing them while the captain appeared once more. He no longer looked angry. His expression had beco almost funerary.
''Captain... we're missing n. Seven n are missing. Thirty left with the group and there are only twenty-three here'' said one of the sergeants while arriving with his notebook in hand.
''Search the area carefully. Sweep the place thoroughly...'' said the captain, clearly nervous now.
The sergeant nodded and imdiately started shouting orders. The n split into small groups, checking among the convoy wreckage, behind the damaged vehicles, under torn tarps and around the dead animals. So cals were still alive, but so badly wounded they could barely raise their heads. One of the soldiers put one of them down with a shot and the noise made several n instantly turn with rifles raised.
''Warn us before you shoot, idiot!'' Edward shouted with a pale face.
''The animal was suffering'' the soldier replied while lowering his weapon.
''Then next ti shout first before making us think we're under attack'' Edward barked while wiping sweat from his face.
The captain walked among the corpses with his brow tightly clenched.
We searched and searched but found nothing, so it looked like they had been taken prisoner.
Nobody said another word while we returned to our posts as the new dead began being transported away.
''Well, looks like we're going to have a lot of problems'' the captain said while riding his cal as we neared the fortress.
''Looks that way'' I answered while clenching my jaw.
''We'll start sending double patrols from now on and I'm afraid that...'' the captain said before suddenly falling off the cal after a sound echoed sowhere in the distance.
The captain began growling like an animal and it didn't take long to see why. Sothing had torn through his stomach.
I jumped off my cal imdiately just like everyone else. So simply started firing toward what they thought was the enemy in the distance.
But I couldn't see anything.
We kept watching in case more shots ca, but several long seconds passed while we listened to the captain's groans until we rushed toward him trying to save his life. Besides the enormous pool of blood, the shot had practically ripped him open.
''dic!'' Tom shouted while kneeling beside the captain and trying to press down on the wound with both hands.
The captain tried to speak, but only managed to let out a wet sound, his teeth clenched and his eyes wide in a way I had never seen before. All the anger he had shown during the day had turned into pure fear.
''Don't just stand there, idiots! Find whoever fired!'' I shouted while my hands filled with blood.
The n scattered however they could, using the cals as cover while others threw themselves behind small dunes of sand. The fortress was close, close enough that I could see the sentries on the walls moving nervously without fully understanding what had happened yet.
''Shot ca from the west!'' soone shouted.
''No, from the rocks!'' another answered.
Everything descended into chaos.
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