The Winter War

Chapter Ten

Manchester, England

            Brother,

            I can’t imagine all what you’re doing or seeing, nor can I wait to see you again once the war is over, but I’m excited to see the new world and hear the tales of your exploits.

            Ezca smiled longingly as he re-read the message from his sister. Outside it rained, something it did quite a lot in this part of the world, and his unit was taking a few moments to eat something hot for the first time in days. The shattered hole in the brick wall was from a tank shell during the recent fighting for Manchester. Recently the Druidth Army had pushed out from the port city known as Liverpool and taken Manchester, now with Ezca’s unit in the rear clearing buildings while the main force battled the English further north. Manchester was known as the end of the civilized world as it was the limit of Druidth control.

            He sat in a rather comfortable padded booth in the rear of the public house, or Pub as the locals enjoyed calling it, that had been around for a hundred years with his datapad and his hand.

            The weather continues to get worse, last month it rained steel for over a week, and a new kind of toxin was found in the water. They don’t know if it’s a natural combination or a byproduct from the factories but many people have died already. And yes, you were right to install that filter on the water line. Thank you.

            Smiling again he remembered how it cost him over two months Army pay just to afford a filter that would clean the water he and his sister drank. And he remembered how Te-Chu fought him over it saying it could do more harm than good. Switching over to his reply, Ezca typed in a mocking reprimand and gloated.

            I suppose something good came of it: Gre-Do was one of the first to die in our building though I don’t know if it was from the water or from other causes. I fell horrible being so happy over the death of someone but I know that you understand. His sister inherited the building and so far she has been far more reasonable than Gre-Do ever was. As an added bonus she doesn’t leer at me when I walk by.

            Perhaps her good nature is from filling up her other buildings at twice the rent with refugees from the Orinano Province. A huge storm over there has destroyed a lot of buildings and displaced a lot of people and now the Quechita is being worked at double capacity. You can’t get me off this planet fast enough.

            Ezca worried that leaving Vasghyrr would be harder on her than it was for him. He was a soldier after all and knew that something like this would happen one day while Te-Chu feared change ever since their parents died. The storm worried him, though, as Sekert had gotten a message from her parents about a similar storm in an entirely different province. Massive clouds of toxic air mixed with wind strong enough to flay your skin throwing about debris of every shape and size that stretched for miles. One was bad, and two at the same time was unheard of until recently. Mix that with the new toxin in the water and Ezca couldn’t help but wonder if Vasghyrr really was dying.

            I’m nearing my data limit so I must stop here. Since I haven’t received a notice from the War Department so I know you’re being safe. Let’s keep it that way and I’ll see you on Victors Day. Expect a new message next month. I love you.