The siren blared repeatedly, each time we thought it was done. The noise resounded had hell come for us now? Had Mayor Hernado not been able to seal a contract to keep us safe?

They had selected Martin as one of the few to guard the bunker. He was supposed to be an elite class soldier. Sworn loyalty to defend Pelgaria from its enemies, he had seen combat first hand had been under mortar shells and even been shot while on active duty. People had respected him for a long time for his great service in the war that was one of the major reasons he had even ended up here. Hernado loved to hear his war tales and held a deep respect for him, considering Martin to be one of the few national treasures of the country. When this mess had started Martin was ready to do his part to fight whatever enemy the world had sent, but this was something he was not expecting? Nothing here was right at all. It was a mistake to bring his wife here. It was a mistake to think that it would be safer here than anywhere else. His foolish ideas of nationalism did this, it created this monster.

He clutched his gun in his hand to stop his hand from shaking, but was the only one not firing. Gunfire rained out in all directions from this entrenched position behind them was the only way into the Mayor's place.

The enemy had learned how to use guns. Bullets whizzed pass Martin's head, but he didn't even blink as he was lost within his own thoughts.

The commander had shouted towards him a few times, but the sight before him now made his leg shake and his face pale. He wanted to throw up. His breakfast was hanging in the upper part of his throat. The battle had raged for so long that women and children were taking up duty, but Martin knew better. He had watched them pull straws, leaving time and time again and never returning. It was in hopes to slow down the enemy.

His wife was one of the unlucky ones. He had cried that night in his bunker. Her face and his were completely different. She saw it as an honour to die here for him, Mayor Hernado. Her words were crazy, she was never one to believe foolish things such as war or politics to her it was a waste of time.Had she died now was she still alive? He would like to believe, but the reality facing him now told him otherwise. They had given her a grenade and marked it with an H. That letter meant only one thing either she died killing the enemy or she blew up the enemy and herself. He had seen that sacrifice a few times near this base. Women and children doing things that a soldier might think twice about discarding their life like nothing more than fodder and shouting, 'For Mayor Hernado!'

Everything was done for Mayor Hernado with such fanatical zeal, that feeling that he had for him was high in the beginning, but it had slowly drifted away like a whiff of intoxicating air. He woke up to a really bad dream, instead of a leader, instead of a man for the people. He found himself stuck in a cultist layer where Mayor Hernado had turned into the equivalent of God.

Monsters lurked amongst people as if it was an ordinary affair. Then was this retribution from God, from taking no action? Is that what he was looking at before him, this vast horde of creatures he had once read as a child now facing him? It was real, these creatures.

He felt a hand slap his causing his gun to drop. "What the fuck is wrong with you Martin? Man, the machine gun, Private Ryan is dead."

Martin turned to see the remains of Private Ryan scattered on the ground. He tried to calm himself as he walked to the position, but instead, his legs seized up and he stumbled into the position falling over.

He took the gun and fired with no particular sense of purpose or direction in mind. Each time the ammo would run low, another junior would run with a fresh batch for him to load in. One wave would die and they would allow us to breathe for a short time before another took its place, sometimes even larger than the last.

How long would they be able to fight like this? He hadn't slept well in days. His eyes could barely shut without him jumping up with the thought that he was under attack. He turned to look at the others that were there with him. They mirrored a bleak response.

Rugged, tired, but their eyes gleamed fanatically, and all they kept saying over and over again was for Mayor Hernado. If he survived this all he was getting out of here. Then looking for his wife and hiding somewhere anywhere else but here.

The siren went off again, looking up from the cover of the fortifications. Martin knew they could not survive this. He was about to resign himself to death when the Commander looked at him and said, "Go and protect Hernado with your life rigged the bottom with as many explosives as you can. We will hold them off here as long as we can."

Maybe, he thought as he headed down holding his dog tags and not looking back.

 "Maybe I can live."