Artyom Dereschuk - Hate the Sin

“And you’ve seen it?” The General pressed the old man for an answer.

“Might as well say that I didn’t, my eyesight and my memory are not what they used to be.” The old man shook his shoulders again.

“Don’t bullshit me, old man,” the General warned him. “You better start remembering and I hope you remember where that mine is, because you’re going to take a quick ride with my buddies here. If the mine you’ve described is not there or there’s nothing inside of it… you and everyone in this dump are going to feel my wrath.”

“Oh, it is still there,” the man assured the General. “I don’t need to lie about it. If you think that it holds the key to your salvation you are gravely mistaken. But, don’t let me convince you otherwise,” the man ended with an ominous smirk.

The General didn’t reply, only grunted in response. Puppy Slayer could see that the man was annoyed by the fact that some old man was not intimidated by him. “Pack him up,” he told one of his officers. “Check out that place he’s talking about, take a look inside that mine of his, and stay on guard. It may be another trap. Don’t stay there for too long, we’ll wait for you at the base.” With that, he turned to face the villagers and, taking a deep breath, shouted as loud as he could: “If my men don’t return by the sunset, none of them villagers survive the night.” It was clear that he was not talking to the civilians; in his eyes they were no more than a brainless herd. No, he was talking to their shepherds.

He turned to his officers and, keeping his voice low, told them something. Even though Homewrecker was standing very close to them, he could hear only the end of the phrase: “…find me those who have seen it.”

As the soldiers were leading the old man to their truck, he turned his head and shouted: “I warn you: many men have tried claiming the Keep’s secrets in the past, and none have succeeded. Different beasts hunt on those dark plains, and things that sleep there should not be disturbed from their slumber.”

The sunset was beautiful as always. It seemed almost like a cruel joke that their land was filled to the brim with violence and death. Maybe in this way, god wanted to show that he was still looking out for his children and that there’s always hope for something wonderful on the horizon. Or maybe, when the sun’s disk was touching the ground it was soaking in all of the blood from it, so that it could take in more on the next day.

The soldiers, along with the old man, returned not long before the sun hid beyond the horizon. None of them were missing, and they had no wounds on them, but their faces were all sunken. No doubt whatever they had seen at the place where the old man had taken them had made an impression on them.

They didn’t share their findings with the rest of the crowd, instead taking the old man straight to the General’s tent. Five minutes later, they all emerged out of it—the old man as well. Judging by the fact that he was still alive and in relatively good health, he had indeed led the General’s men to the place he had described.

Corpse Eater didn’t know what had transpired in the tent, but it seemed that the soldiers had emerged with new orders. Rushing to where the majority of the adults were, they told them something, and more soldiers joined them. Wasting no time, they jumped into two trucks and rode into the sunset. Corpse Eater had no clue where they were going, but he suspected that their haste was due to the setting sun. With an enemy still lurking around, they would be smart to put as much distance as possible between them and the area where the enemy likely lurked while the sun was still out. Getting ambushed in the darkness by those demons meant certain death.

Corpse Eater couldn’t guess where the men were heading during the night. Surely the General understood that they needed every man, yet he took the risk of splitting their forces. What for? Corpse Eater was sure that the men hadn’t gone to the village—if the General needed something from it, he’d either send a smaller squad or order the entire brigade to move there. Was it the mysterious entrance to the Underworld that required the attention of his men? That was more likely, but the boy had his doubts. Based on his experience in the brigade, the General would move out in the morning, with the entirety of his forces surrounding him. Sending a squad of only two trucks at night would accomplish nothing at best, and was a waste of firepower at worst.

The vagueness and rashness of the General’s plans was scaring the boy. He could never guess what was on the man’s mind, but he had rarely split their already dwindling forces like that.

Corpse Eater had always thought that, with the rumors that the war was nearing its close, the day when the man’s regime collapsed and their small brigade got disbanded would be the happiest day of his life. But now that the General was actively putting their small brigade in jeopardy, seemingly drawing them closer to that day, he was getting concerned.

As the sky got dark, Corpse Eater kept close to the rest of the boys. Looking around, he could see that they were all as distressed as he was. Night was not the time when they could rest anymore. The stars above signaled open season, and they were the game.

When Tsetse walked in, nobody paid him any attention. “We have a new assignment from the General,” the boy said. Someone groaned. “We’ll have to protect the base during the festivities.”

There was silence among the boys’ ranks. Finally, realizing that he wasn’t the only who didn’t understand what was going on, Corpse Eater asked the question that was on everyone’s mind: “What festivities, Tsetse?”

“The ones that the General holds for the adult soldiers,” Tsetse said. “He wants to raise their fighting spirit.”

Nobody said anything, but Corpse Eater could feel that everyone was thinking the same thing. Despite feeding them all the same mantra over and over again, that they were all adults and rightful soldiers of the brigade, the man ultimately didn’t care about what would happen to them. They were the first line of defense against their enemy. Their morale was nobody’s concern. They were expected to die in case of an attack so that they main force of their brigade had their time to put out their blunts and grab their weapons.

Corpse Eater had always known that his position in the brigade was disposable. But to have it shown to him in such an indifferent manner was, for some reason, heartbreaking. The last place where he belonged had rejected him as second-class goods. He could feel the lump form in his throat.

“Say, Tsetse!” The boy suddenly heard Homewrecker’s voice. “Do you think that’s right? Do they really expect us to protect them from those creatures while they’re shooting up crack?”

His voice sounded angry, wounded. Without even looking at his friend, he could tell that the boy was experiencing the same feelings that he was. Corpse Eater didn’t say anything, but he nodded his head in silent agreement, in order to show his support for Homewrecker’s sentiments.

In response, Tsetse did something that made everyone’s eyes bulge: he smirked. “After all this time, that’s where you draw the line?” he asked.

Homewrecker, however, was neither impressed nor amused by his captain’s newfound display of emotions: “Hell yes, I do! Why do we have to risk our lives while they are partying? Is it even a time to do something like that?”

“You can go to the General and tell him that you want to join,” the captain said, his face reverting to its usual mask of indifference. “But I don’t think he’ll be particularly interested in hearing what you want. He seemed to be planning something special for the soldiers, and he won’t listen to your objections.”