15th day in the frontline, 8th day in trenches;

Vicka's squad had to fall back to the supply line since their week was passed. To prevent extensive stress on soldiers, they were rotated between the frontline and supply line each week.

"Gosh. Fourteen days in and we haven't seen a single enemy. Now we have to wait in the supply line where there will be no actions."

Dickson disheartened his comrades.

Vicka chuckled. He was the only one enjoying this. He could write his work peacefully while his family got financial support from the government. It had been working out well for him.

When he first came here, he thought he would be murdering some Goli, especially some civilians, like that foreign news written. If so, he would hate himself forever.

"Isn't this better? In two weeks, our service will end and all of us will return home unscratched."

"And we will become laughingstocks. A war veteran who had never fired a single shot. We will be made fun of. I came here to be a hero, Vicka. I can't return as a joker."

"Don't be too bitter, Dickson. The moment we return home, you will find out how many of them wish to be like us. Most veterans pray for it and it did not come to them."

"Gosh. You know nothing, Vicka."

"Maybe. Maybe not."

Vick gave a confident smirk.

Soon Clooney joined them with Sgt.Hammond. Vicka noticed a paper in Seargent's hand while Clooney did not look too well. His shoulders shrugged, his back humped, his eyes staring ground as if he had sinned.

"All right boys," called Hammond to Vicka and 22 others, "listen up. Your private first class came to the meeting late so we were left with only two options_cooking duty and toilet duty. Then this genius said that every one of you sucks at cooking. So."

"Oh Hell no!"

"The heck, Clooney?"

"Wait, before your verdict,  please listen to me. In my defence, the other team has a former chef who can cook really well. Our meals will be great so it came out naturally."

"For god sake. We are in the army. We aren't here to eat some gourmet."

"You got to be shitting me. Literally."

The fight went on for a while. Toilet duty. That was the worst one. Clooney had no way out of this. He promised to make up but what was done was done. Meanwhile, there was one person who was silent all through it. It was Berry. He was contemplating whether to say it or not.

"Ermm...guys. Since we are on toilet duty anyway, can I build some covers around the pit so that we don't need to watch each other butt?"

Berry dropped the bomb. And it saved Clooney.

"Gosh Berry."

After the morning toilet rolls were refilled and digging a new hole, they had lunch and got some naps till evening. The whole day seemed to be uneventful like every other day. Until they heard some faint sounds of gunshots and explosions in the distance at dusk.

Then they saw some headlights coming straight at them.

"Hey, is that the enemy?" Dickson asked.

"I don't know. But those are clearly gunshots." Vicka replied.

"Oh hell no. Why does the enemy have to come when I am in supply?" Said Dickson in frustration. For a whole week, he had been waiting and they did not come.

Clooney tried to sound the alarm but Sergeant Hammond stopped him and said it was the order from officers. Clooney could not understand why but he followed the order.

When the trucks got closer, they found out it was their kakhi trucks from the column which advanced into Goli six days ago. They were rushing back to them hurriedly as they were under fire.

Vicka saw more trucks in the same situation at other sessions too. A whole Goli army was chasing after them in hot.

A tank fired a round and it landed near a truck. It nearly tripped over but did not. The khaki truck kept driving to the trenches desperately. The lives of the soldiers were depending on it.

Since a tank was coming, the Davian officers decided to put more men in front-line. Half in supply was ordered to move front. Dickson's wish came true. Immediately the whole of Vicka's squad ran to the front line through the communication trenches while carrying crates of grenades to destroy the tank.

Although the enemy was closing in, a strange order was put by the officers. It was _not to make a sound or a light. They must prepare to battle in complete silence_. 

Vicka saw Seargent Hammond and Clooney carried a makeshift bridge and placed it over the trench. On it was phosphorus painted in two dots at each tip.

Each moment a bullet hit the truck, a strand of hair stood up in shiver. Each moment a round of shells exploded near the trucks, their hearts skipped a beat.

Watching how closer each explosion got to the trucks, made Vicka at the tips of his toes.

He turned to Clooney who felt the same.

"Seargent Hammond, private first class Clooney requesting permission to go up and saved our friends. I believe we could push them back with our firing power."

"Permission denied, soldier. That is the order. Stay quiet in your hole and do not engage until further order."

"Fricking hell," Vicka swore in silence. It was dusk and the temperature dropped below 10°C yet he was drenched in sweat. It entered his boots and formed a puddle inside. The closer the trucks reached them, the faster his perspiration became.

"You can do it. You are gonna make it. Just a little more." He cheered for the kakhi truck that said 617(a) on its plate. It was coming straight to the bridge Clooney and Hammond made. "Oh god, please. Let it pass us safely."

He prayed desperately.

"Sir, private first class Clooney, requesting permission for support fire. It can definitely make it if we..."

"God damn it, Clooney. I am not blind. Stand down. That's an order."

It was only a few dozens of meters left. When Vicka saw some other trucks pass elsewhere, his cheer for 617(a) became louder in his mind. At that moment he saw a Goli tank readied its turret right behind it. In a split second, by instinct, a bad feeling came into his mind. He stopped breathing for a moment.

He hoped it would not happen. He prayed.

However, the velocity of the shell seemed to be faster than his prayer. It mercilessly hit the base of 617(a). The explosion violently threw the kakhi truck in the air and flipped it over.

Vicka angrily turned to Officer Lt.Lupin who gave out an order to sit duck in the stupid hole. To his surprise, he found a tear on the man.

He thought Officer Lupin was a selfish ruthless bastard yet he saw that tough man grinding his teeth and punching his leg desperately so that he would not break his own order. Vicka turned back to his front.

He could hear his soul screaming as he watched the poor kakhi truck burn on fire. The yellow light from the fire reflected on the bodies of his fellow soldiers lying lifeless on the ground which were only a few meters from him and he had to watch it helplessly. Some of them were familiar faces; Kline, Hillstone and Borough.

Then he saw a pair of eyes flinched and it stared straight at him. It was the driver. Since the shell hit the back of the truck, he was seriously injured but still alive.

Vicka turned to Clooney and Sgt.Hammond. They saw it too. But none of them moved up to save the man. The driver thought his fellow soldiers did not see him in the dark so he slowly crawled out to light. However, before he made it out, the fire reached the petrol tank and the truck exploded.

Till the last moment, the driver desperately clung to his life while putting his faith in his fellow soldiers that they would come up to help him. Yet he was betrayed. The country betrayed him.

Meanwhile a few hundred meters behind front-line; inside the camp Victoria;

Colonel Mckanthy received an urgent report of the enemy attack. "Got it. Proceed as planned." He dropped his radio phone back and threw himself to a rocking chair; there he smoked his pipe leisurely.

Since it was dusk when the environment was neither light nor dark, the Goli would only see their prey who were desperately running. Their visions were blinded by their overwhelming victory against hateful Davians in front of them. They failed to see that it was, in fact, a frightening lure to a deadly trap devious Mckanthy created at the expense of 300 of his men.

Nearly three thousand Goli soldiers advanced rapidly, believing that Davian did not prepare for defence yet when columns came inside carelessly. Their officers thought Davian was using the same tactics at the start of the war when a huge division of Davian seized many Goli towns and villages with their superior manoeuvre of tanks and trucks combination.

Their scout report said a huge Davian camp was seen near a village. Goli officers even talked among themselves about how stupid and old fashion Davian was, building a big camp on the ground ready to be destroyed by modern artilleries. They did not see the perfectly hidden dark trenches in front of the well-lit camp which was intentionally built to bait them.

They thought they got the upper hand with the surprise element. Except it was them who were to be surprised.

"Got you." Col.Mckanthy mumbled proudly while Officer Lupin yelled, "Surprise suckers!"

The moment the unsuspected overjoyed Goli troops came deep into their firing range, Lt. Col. Winslate gave out an order.

"Fire."

In an instant, the sky near a small Goli village lighted up brightly. The trenches that had been waiting silently for half a month now roared like a tiger which had met its prey.

Magazine after magazine, Vicka gritted his teeth and shot at the Goli soldiers who he now called 'bastards who killed his friends'.

Once a beautiful plain with fresh air was now smelled of smoke from gunpowder and stenches of blood. Sparks from barrels of rifles lit up in the manner of revenge. Each round of artillery sounded like a clap of thunder.

Suddenly, the area beside Vicka lighted up brightly as if a sun had come to shine near. It was a flamethrower. A kaki-green soldier was burning up the Davians like barbecues. Vicka could feel the scorching heat even from his place. He threw up at the smell of charring flesh.

At that moment, Vicka heard Dickson yell profoundly, "Die suckers! Die!!" as Dickson picked up a grenade from a fallen comrade and threw it toward the enemy flame thrower. When the grenade exploded, it also blew the gas tank and busted out in flames. Dickson watched it proudly as the flames consumed the Goli soldiers.

It was not just a battle. It was a massacre.

That night, at the plain of Bangoli, hundreds of Goli soldiers were killed brutally while another hundred were grievously wounded. Some would argue that Goli's causalities exceeded half a thousand.

It became a huge humiliation for Goli officers while a total victory for Colonel Mckanthy.