Volunteers

I hate trenches, I hate mud, I hate dirt, I hate water, I hate rats, I hate officers. Those were my thoughts put on repeat. Living in trenches turned out to be quite an experience, mainly negative one. Lack of space and free time were not as bad as having to deal with cold temperature and water being everywhere. Also damn rats constantly stealing and spoiling our food. Officers giving dumb orders and constantly picking on soldiers. Amazing combo.

Another big problem was lack of exp source as well as opportunity to train my skills. I was only able to either learn how to clean and assemble/disassemble my rifle. But this was it, although I won't lie I got better understanding on how my rifle works which got me 1 skill point. There were no major assaults or raid so far, both sides were rotting in trenches.

Now I am sitting in my dugout cleaning old piece of shit that is according to serial number is my rifle.

* Rifle M1885 - 7.92mm. Single-shot bolt-action rifle. Outdated but still reliable weapon.

+ Cheap, reliable.

- Poor aim, single-shot, heavy.

Yeah weapon smiths were able to repair that rifle after it got almost cut in half by hatchet. But thanks to its reliability, in my opinion it was so crude and simple that it had nothing to break inside, its back in action.

I will definitely get rid of it in next battle, I am even ready to pick up enemy rifle despite all the problems such as anger of commanders and quartermasters.

While I was cleaning my rifle, some officers arrived in our trenches and started observing enemy positions using binoculars.

" Men. I need volunteers for probing attack. Who is up for such courageous thing?" started speaking one of the officers with moustache and monocle.

Waiting for few minutes but nobody turned up for such suicide mission. Probing attack, without artillery and at daylight its express ticket to afterlife.

" Seems I need to do it myself since I don't see anyone with enough bravery. " - he started pointing at people and ordering them to step up.

" You as well." - he pointed at me and I started cursing at my luck. Have previous host of this body met whole horde of black cats on a way here?

After 5 minutes our suicide squad was ready and we just waited for order to attack near ladders.

" Attack!" - yelled monocle asshole and we started climbing up the ladders.

Our attack was complete surprise to enemy since we were able to cover around 100 meters before enemy started firing at us. Thanks to Nerve of steel perk I was able to keep crawling forward instead of panicking and running around like headless chickens. However enemy started pinning us down using machine guns and rifles. If this continues I have zero chance to come back. So instead of trying to move forward I tried to get into good firing position. I have found carcass of dead horse. It smelled pretty bad but I am in no position to choose. At least now I know how Luke and Han Solo felt trying to survive on that frosty planet.

" Counter-attack" - I hear loud order coming from enemy positions.

Next moment enemies seeing how our attack failed decided to try and capture our positions hoping for panic stopping us from fighting back. Our side also got caught in surprise and it resulted in enemies having more time to reach our positions.

For me it was pretty good opportunity. Why? Now I can shoot at enemies from behind and not to worry for return fire since they will not realise where bullets are coming from.

I took aim at one of the riflemen on far left and pulled a trigger. Got him. Now time to reload and choose next target.

In the end I was able to shoot at least 20 times and kill 4 or 5 while wounding more. However such a magnificent shooting practice didn't last long since enemies also got pinned down and started retreating. I have decided to use possum tactics - pretend to be dead. Now I just need to wait for night and sneak back.

It was long waiting time, I wanted to leave as soon as possible but sides kept shooting at each other for a while. It was around 2 AM when I decided that it is perfect time to fall back when I noticed that enemy sentry was half asleep and payed zero attention to my position. This can be good chance for night raid and exp gain.

I slowly crawled and was able to reach sentry's position. Remembering how they showed it in movies and games I grabbed him by the mouth and hit few times from the back using knife. Few muffled noises and finally he is dead. Now its time to loot. Grenades, food and bullets. I took his rifle as trophy while putting mine inside a inventory.

Right the moment when I was done looting I have heard someone stepping towards sentry.

" Michael you useless piece of shit. You are sleeping again?" - asked man with a small flashlight in hands.

Shit, I am screwed. Need to kill him fast and then run. I started running towards him with knife in one hand and grenade in another. He managed to spot me and started screaming " Enemy!" but I have slit his throat. Door of the nearest bunker started opening and I have just thrown prepped grenade inside.

I heard loud explosion and screams while already climbing out of trenches and started running. Those 200 meters were the longest meters I have run in my life. I was running and falling but after a minute I was able to reach our position.

My heart was beating like crazy and it took me a while to calm down after such race with death.

" Look it is one of the volunteers from today. Lucky bastard" - said one of the officers that accompanied monocle asshole who sent us to death.

" Yes, very lucky one. To survive and come back. Out of all volunteers only he made it out. Seems we have ourselves a lucky charm. Now let him rest and provide report tomorrow morning."

I fucking hate those officers. I am definitely gonna shoot one of them during next attack.

But first let's see what I got after this raid.

" System. Status"