Alive || 86: Eighty-Six [ vers. ENG ]

red eyes

In all my years of service, there was one encounter that stood out for me.

On that day, snowflakes waltzed across the sky, carried by icy gusts of wind. The weather was not kind to a Juggernaut outing, but the order had been given to assist a neighboring squadron that had faced a difficult situation. As a result, there was no further word from them. Our mission was to check what had happened to them and if there were any survivors, to rescue them. Of course, this decision to rescue anyone who survived was more the responsibility of the Eighty-Six than our Handler.

At the pilot's seat of my Juggernaut, I carefully scanned my surroundings. As I concentrated on this task, I was trying to forget the cold which was slipping so easily into this iron coffin. The blanket I had put over my shoulders was not enough to warm me and the more time passed the more I felt like I was turning into a snowman. Honestly, I just wanted to hurry to get back to the base. Even though the building was not very well insulated, there was enough warm space inside to make up for it.

After two hours of searching in the area I had been indicated, I didn't find anyone still alive. What I found was nothing but bloody Juggernauts or Legion debris here and there. The sight of blood or slaughtered pilots with no limbs, or sometimes their heads, didn't scare me anymore. Death, no matter how violent it was, had become something « natural ». And if I had to be honest, it terrified me a little to see how quickly I got used to it...

"This is Fang, if you still haven't found anyone, you can come back to our meeting point. The weather keeps getting worse so we'll go back. There are no survivors anyway. Good work everyone."

With the order to retreat given, I set off.

The last place I had checked was what was left of a rather large old library. It wasn't uncommon for Eighty-Sixes to not know how to write or read, but as far as I was concerned I was doing pretty well. So of course I wasn't going to let this opportunity pass me by. I wasn't very picky in terms of reading, but if possible I hoped to find some books about military strategy or something like that... Being only eleven years old, I had to admit that I wasn't familiar with this kind of subject. I had only been in the army for a month and even though I understood how to use a Juggernaut, it was also important for me to have some theoretical knowledge about warfare for the upcoming battles.

Even though I was far from loved in this squadron, the older ones had enough heart not to let a kid take over the vanguard, and so I had a higher chance of survival than those who fought closer to the enemy. However, I had heard that the army used to change squadron members every six months whether there were enough survivors or not. I tried not to think about it too much, but it was clear that they did this so that some Eighty-Six would not form strong bonds and think about rebelling. However, even if they had the opportunity, I doubted he would do it because there was very little chance of a rebellion breaking out and succeeding. There were far too many factors going against them.