Caught

6.

During our phone call, Chairwoman Hanarra assured me that I'd be back in a week or two.

"You will clear West Kashima of the remnants of our enemies and then return to Shira's case."

As it turned out, her assessment of the situation was more than optimistic. I was now spending my fifth week on the western outskirts of the capital, searching for Imperial renegades.

Commander Riisen and his unit helped me and together with my soldiers we repelled several of enemy attacks. The last battle was particularly vicious. I narrowly escaped death and four of my men were killed. It seemed as if the war was still going on in its full force.

Our enemies were well organised, they knew where and when to expect us, and they used underground tunnels to set up surprise ambushes.

Our soldiers didn't dare follow them underground. Often we would send a bomb down and seal off the entrance to the tunnel, only for them to reappear elsewhere within hours. Like rats.

We couldn't stop them. West Kashima was completely under their control.

I was tired.

All the endless skirmishes among the ruins, the searching for the land mines that our enemies loved to lay in our path and the battles near the contaminated factories were beginning to take their toll.

Only a few times did we come across civilians. The people who had lived here had fled this part of the city as soon as the troubles started. Now there were just groups of thieves and rogues hoping to find something of value.

I stood in front of the rundown building that had become our base and looked at the devastated city. Clouds of omnipresent dust, smoke and toxic fumes prevented the sun from reaching this place even at midday. Instead, it often rained. The acid rain had already left its mark on the walls and roofs of  buildings.

Hell couldn't have looked any worse. There was a foul chemical smell in the air that went everywhere. I could smell it on my skin, in my hair, in all my clothes. I hated this place.

Commander Riisen returned from his patrol. I watched his soldiers taking off their heavy protective suits and putting away their weapons and equipment. Fortunately, they hadn't encountered any enemies.

Riisen stopped next to me and took off his helmet. Exhaustion written all over his face.

"Any problems?" I asked him.

"Sectors 4D and 2A are quiet, but I wasn't expecting anything else. They'd be fools to break through there".

I just nodded. Sectors 4D and 2A were among the most devastated areas, nothing but rubble, ruins and poisonous gas rising from the collapsing factories. If it weren't for a few working ventilators cleaning the air, we couldn't even walk around without a gas mask.

Unfortunately, complications with the Imperial soldiers made it impossible to send technicians there to dispose of the chemicals and shut down the factories.

I stared at all the devastation around me and thought, not for the first time, that it might be better to level the place.

"It's a depressing sight, isn't it?" the commander observed.

"It's starting to drive me crazy," I said after a moment, "I don't get how you can be in this place so long and not go insane."

"We're all getting insane here," Riisen laughed, giving me a friendly pat on the shoulder. "We've just got used to not giving it away."

I turned my eyes to the man standing beside me. Riisen was perhaps thirty years older than me, and he had far more experience. I hadn't met him personally during the war, but I had heard more than one story about him. He was a brilliant strategist and was said to win battles that most would consider lost.