Chapter 25 – Matthew

Sitting down casually on the steps that lead down to the open court yard, Matthew leans on his empty shotgun. Today being the seventh day, the aircraft that are meant to carry them back to central base should be arriving in two hours’ time.

The new soldiers at this base numbered at 300 and simply loitered at the bottom of the steps, waiting for new instructions.

“Mat!”

Looking behind and up, but still staying seated, “Took you guys a while,” he answers putting the shotgun down on the step.

“Blame Sam for that,” Lucy tilts her head to the right, pointing at Samuel, “he couldn’t decide what sandwich he wanted.”

Just chewing his sandwich, Samuel doesn’t object and hands one to Matthew as he and Lucy take a seat a step below.

“Fish?” Matthew says as he takes the first bite, “I asked you to get me chicken.”

“They were out,” Lucy responds handing a can of soft drink.

“They were out of chicken?” Matthew says, not believing it, “You’re telling me that the base’s cafeteria run out of chicken?”

Still holding his can in her hand, “Yes,” she responds, not joking, nor cynically.

“…Right,” Matthew takes the can with a raised eyebrow, “Thanks for the meal then.”

Eating in silence, the three of them look down at the 300 new soldiers. Each of them thinking something different but ultimately similar. These 300 are horrible.

The standard of a single soldier was dropping each new year. Had it been but a decade earlier, these 300 new soldiers would have been seen as recruits that had just finished their first week of training. They weren’t incompetent, but they weren’t competent enough.

A large portion of them still fumbled their weapon as they reloaded, others reloaded when their clip was still half full and a very small portion knew almost nothing about field procedures.

In this pile of dirt, as Samuel had once referred to them as, only a handful seemed decent. There was perhaps no more than 30 that passed by their standards, and maybe only 8 that the three of them thought had potential to be the best.

Squashing the wrapping paper that had once held his sandwich into a ball, “Are they on stand down?” Samuel asks.

Seeing a nod from Matthew, “I’m going to make them do drills.” He tells him, getting on his feet and heading down the steps without waiting for approval.

Finding no problems with what Samuel suggested, Matthew stays silent and turns to look at Lucy, “You’re not going to help?”

“Nope,” she responds, chewing slowly, “Pick up is in two hours, there’s nothing more we can do to help them.”

“…”

Still chewing, “Even if I were to go down and help him nothing would be achieved, most of them will die when they make the rotation to the north-eastern base.”

“…”

“They’ll complain and moan, they’ll just be nothing but fodder.”

“What about the thirty that seem to have a future?”

Finishing her sandwich, she leaves her drink on the steps and jumps down the stairs without replying.

Smiling to himself, Matthew remains on the steps and watches her and Samuel try and conduct the 300 new soldiers in drill.

The best thirty appear in the first rank, to make it easier for Lucy to help them, as each rank progresses the apparent skill level drops continuously until the last, where you cringe just watching them.

This batch of 300 really are horrible. Picking up his shotgun, Matthew leans against it again and just watches without too much thought. Two hours till pick up, two hours until pick up.

With the sudden shake of the ground, the 300 stumble, leaving only 10 people standing on the courtyard. That being the 8 the three of them thought had hope, and Lucy and Matthew.

“What do you think of them?”

“ma’am!” Matthew immediately stands and salutes behind him, “They are good ma’am!”

“Stand down Sergeant,” The woman sighs taking a seat next to where he was originally sitting, “And don’t belittle me.”

Taking his seat upon the steps back, he hands her his open can, smiling, “You know what I think of them.”

Grasping the can with a robotic left hand, “I still want to hear it.” She downs the rest in one shot.

“They’re horrible.”

Crushing the can in her left hand, “They are horrible,” she repeats.

Watching the 300 get back into formation, “We’re known for our military strength,” throwing the can down the steps, “This is disgraceful.”

Shrugging, “There’s nothing to be done. These guys are new and we have yet to be in any real life and death situations.” Taking another bite of his sandwich, “They’ve fought some beasts, but there is no real danger here.”

“Remember when we were in camp?” she sighs leaning on the steps, “We were soldiers.”

“We are soldiers.” Matthew corrects, “Don’t forget that most of those guys are in their second year of military service, they are young and majority of them don’t want to be here.”

“I don’t need you to tell me that,” irritated, “The best guys are south of here, this is a joke of a base.”

Just looking at those on the courtyard, both go silent. Samuel is busy shouting out orders and correcting them all equally whilst Lucy concentrates only on the first rank. It is a slow and painful to just watch. Each rank performs at different speeds and at different standards, nothing about them state that they are a one unified Company.

“Lucy and Samuel seem to still be the same.” She says as another movement is called and the Company again fails to perform it to standard.

“Lucy yes, Samuel…He tries not to care,” eyeing him, “But he still can’t not help those that aren’t yet competent.”

“You should hurry up and get promoted,” now looking up whilst leaning on the steps, “If you stay the rank you are, you’ll soon find yourself dead.”

“And if I leave, our front lines will be weaker.” He answers back the same as always.

Sighing, “You guys and Delia are the only ones still thinking like that.”

“I can’t be an officer unless I get a prosthetic limb” Matthew laughs jokingly, “And I don’t want to lose an arm.”

Clenching her left hand, “You don’t need a prosthetic limb to be promoted, there are a few without them.”

Feeling the earth shake again, the same ten remain standing on the courtyard.

“You know how they are treated,” Matthew replies, “I’ll prefer to be on the front than get scorned at.”

“You’ll prefer death than to be scorned at.”

Pumping his shotgun, he stays quiet to the retort.

“Sorry,” She apologizes, “I shouldn’t have said that,” getting to her feet, “You know I worry.”

“So it’s true then?” Matthew asks staying seated and still watching the courtyard “The beast are more active now?”

“…Yes,” she answers, “And Ulendar refuses to send any troops, they say they have their own problems.”

“Didn’t they recently attack us?” scrunching his brow, “They broke the treaty.”

“No,” shaking her head, “apparently it was a renegade faction, we got the bodies of those that attacked us.”

“A renegade faction…Didn’t we lose three seasons worth of seeds?”

“They said it was a renegade faction,” tilting her head to the 300 below, “We can’t really afford to dispute it.”

“We still have good soldiers.” Matthew speaks up, “There are plenty of alpha units.”

“Not enough.”

The ground shakes again, again leaving only ten upon the courtyard standing.

With her still standing despite the shaking, “aren’t there more earthquakes than normal?” Matthew asks her, “I don’t remember there being so many in a span of an hour.”

“We’re right on top of a fault line,” she dismisses it, “It’s to be expected.”

“I guess you’re right,” frowning, “You’re here more often than I am.”

After a minute, with the ground still shaking, “Isn’t this something we should worry about?”

Shaking her head again, “The longest earthquake we’ve had lasted for a solid eight minutes,” adjusting her stance to not fall, “If anything the earthquakes you’ve been here for have been shorter than normal.”

Looking at the courtyard, only 6 remain standing. A few of them have puked and some have crawled to hug their packs.

“No other base has to put up with this constant shaking.” She mumbles it intensifies.

“How,” stabilizing himself on the steps, “hasn’t this base collapsed yet?”

“A Zulu’s design.” She answers back, “We haven’t modified it since it’s been built.”

“Ha,” Matthew scoffs, “Did you know a Zulu appeared on base.”

“Isn’t that just a rumour?” she replies with a disdainful look at seeing the three hundred below.

“No,” chuckling, “I challenged him to a battle and we lost horribly.”

“Heh,” she laughs, “So you’re still the same then, shoot first talk later.”

Keeping balance with his shotgun, “Its more interesting that way.”

“I’m just surprised that the central base is still standing, didn’t the last one try to destroy it?”

“He doesn’t seem to have any intention to do so.” Thinking, “He doesn’t seem to have any intentions at all.”

Feeling the grounds shaking intensify, she drops to her knees and the six still standing down below do so as well.

“Should we be worried yet?” Matthew asks as she has a confused look on her face, “Its been a while since this started.”

“The base won’t fall,” she states confidently, “We’ll be fine.”

Not questioning her judgement, Matthew places the shotgun on his laps to attach a strap.

Grabbing a transmitter, “How long has it been since this quake started?” she speaks into it.

Getting only static as a response, “How long has it been since this quake started?” she repeats the question, not sounding worried.

“It’s a new record ma’am!” a husky voice comes back, “thirteen minutes and counting!” a moment of static, “Would you like to join the bet?”

“Put me down for 16 for 50” she shouts into the transmitter before putting it away.

Helping her sit next to him, “You guys bet on this?”

“You want in?” she offers the transmitter, “It’s one of the many things that keeps us entertained.”

Grabbing it, “Sergeant Matthew, Alpha Two!” he shouts into it, “Put me down for 20 at 100”

Not receiving a reply, he holds the button down but doesn’t speak into it. Letting go of the button. “Is that meant to happen?” he points to a small crack appearing on the steps.

Seeing the crack appear with him, she takes back the transmitter with force. “HQ, what’s on the radar?” she shouts into it.

Seeing the crack get bigger and feeling the grounds shaking intensify. “We have a problem,” Matthew smirks, “Don’t we?”

“Don’t be a smart ass right now,” she shouts at him, before yelling into the transmitter, “What’s on the radar?!”

As if the last yell was a trigger, the courtyard collapses upon itself and three gigantic worm like creatures fly up high into the air, revealing three enormous tunnels. Half of those on the courtyard are gone, whilst Samuel and Lucy try to control the remainder that scream in panic.

Sirens start to wail, bringing the base to alert level 1. Had this been any other base machine gun fire would have been firing into the courtyard, but this base hasn’t been in danger for a long period of time and no guns were positioned in the centre of the base.

“Courtyard!” she yells calmly into her transmitter, “Courtyard, men to the courtyard!” she continues to yell backing up the steps whilst pulling Matthew.

With his shotgun in one hand, “At least you won the bet” he jokes.

“Come on,” pulling him, “We need to get back.”

Shaking her grip off him, “I may lose a limb this time!” he laughs jumping down the now destroyed stairs.

“Your shotgun’s empty!” he hears her scream, making him laugh even harder.

------

A/N

Don't count on my updates always being this quick -.-

Thanks for reading, As Always. hope you enjoyed it ^.^