Over the Top

KABOOOOOOM

I leap upwards, reflexively trying to escape the noise, but am put down by an extreme pain in my chest. It felt like an Elephant was sitting on it. It knocks the wind out of me, and I gasp for air. It feels like I'm choking to death, save for the slight flow of dust-polluted oxygen. I lay back down, and take a look at my surroundings, hoping to find the source of the explosion.

On the far corner of the room, the entire med-bay is caved in. The wooden supports on my side, closer to the mouth of the cave, still hold. Unfortunately, the patients on the other side didn't seem to be so lucky. Muffled screams and coughing can be heard from behind the wall, which likely wouldn't last long.

It didn't take much brainpower to know what happened, a shell hit the top of the med-bay and sent it falling. You're lucky to be alive, as most stories of this happening don't have any survivors. Usually people are crushed to death, blown up, or suffocated by the dirt. Sometimes it takes days to die inside a collapsed tunnel.

A team of diggers run through the room, carefully stepping over all of us alive, and removing the small trench shovels from their utility belts. Instantly, they begin to find bodies and remove them from the dirt pile. Doesn't look like any of them made it nearby to the mouth. I was a good distance though, among the safest.

Not that that makes me feel any happier about it.

The medical NCO runs in, and starts to organize the diggers, he turns to us.

"Alright calm down calm down! I know it's dusty, but try to go back to sleep. We can't have the wounded getting worked up, it's not good for the blood. We have it handled out here, stay calm." He tries to sound sincere, but clearly is terrified, and sleep deprived. He doesn't seem to notice how bad he is at forming this facade.

Welcome to paradise, numb nuts.

This is the first time that I really look at the other patients. I quickly wish I hadn't.

Most were missing limbs, but a few had bandaged eyes. One of the Earth Ponies had an entire face-wrap, likely due to taking debris from a mortar shell.

One of them had a body wrap, right around the midsection, which didn't seem abnormal. Until I realized there was alot more blood than any gunshot wound would likely leave. That's when I noticed the wing on the OTHER side of this pony, as well as the absence of one on my side.

I hear a distant whistle, and the gunfire and explosions greatly increase in the distant. I hear a chorus of screaming, like a giant crowd shouted at the sky at the same time. Bright colors of all types flash, as the unicorns fire blasts at the enemy Germans. This gradually dies down, until all is back to normal. It only took about a minute. Now, reinforcements run through the trenches, signaled by the thundering of a hundred feet across the nearby area. The clip-clopping of hooves doesn't hardly stand out when running in the mud, so it's hard to tell how many of what type of soldier will be protecting me for the next 24 hours.

I lay my head back down on the pillow, listening to medical NCO numb nuts' recommendation.

Well, except for the falling asleep part. That won't be happening anytime again soon.