grave digger

chapter 2

«Everyone is packed? yes? ok come on! »

The column slowly starts making its way towards the trucks in the 'launch bay' the starting point of your military career, now almost full of ex-recruits who are almost jumping from excitement. Every one of them was checking their ammunition pouches and cleaning their rifles over and over again, with a childlike sparkle in their eyes. They proudly ditched the boring field training uniform for the gleaming armor of the Golden Empire. The groups of different professions already start to form, almost like blood clots, blocking the column to talk with each other.

Ezekiel makes his way towards one of the trucks where his team is waiting for him. A green-ish curtain blocks the view to the inside, so he lifts it and is immediately greeted with the jokes of his comrades.

«Hey where'd you get that, in the king's personal wardrobe? says Auzzie in between two laughs.

-You get in front, maybe you'll be able to blind them with all that gold! Adds Pill.

- I can already feel my retinas burning! says Artyom, joining in to laugh at the clown.

Ezekiel's armor was in fact very bright, although not to the extent his comrades suggested.

-I'll put some dirt over it so that I'm not immediately seen. Plus look who's talking! says Ezekiel, pointing at his team members' factory-new military uniform.

-I feel like this is a bit too 'glamour' for war, isn't it? says Artyom, showing his rook uniform.

The rook uniform consisted of heavy plates on the torso, arms and legs, made of iron and with some details, like the Golden empire's seal and a cross on the chest in gold. It came with a helm that seemed to come out straight of a medieval museum. Everything except the emblems screamed 'soldier' with a heavy utilitarian look and function. It was all made to carry more equipment, with leather belts and pouches running all over it, and the massive backpack storing all the materials for making defensive structure in an eye's blink, and the massive pickaxe to dig rapidly through the stone.

On the other end of the spectrum was Auzzie's uniform, a simple rock colored leather armor with 2 ammunition pouches and a knife on the hip. It also came with a hood to put over the head and face, to truly make you invisible. Auzzie decided to bring it his own additions, namely a belt that went from shoulder to torso with smoke and smallpox grenades.

Ezekiel and Pill's armors, however, was the perfect balance between the block of metal that was the rook armor and the 'absolutely nothing' that Auzzie's sniper uniform offered in terms of protection. Their uniforms had most of the plates Artyom carried, but with more open spaces between them at the joints and less belts shenanigans. Ammo, personal med kit and a knife: that's all Ezekiel needed. Pill had a bit more stuff than him however, with flasks of liquids of all shapes and colors, some with a medic cross painted on them, some with skulls. Ezekiel didn't even want to know what deadly diseases he could give to all of them by simply dropping one by mistake.

The last of the recruits were finishing up, and the screaming of the officers was calming down outside the truck. A somewhat heroic music starts playing from the bad sound system in the 'launch bay'. Their truck turned on its motor, and the interior started rumbling. You could see dust from the corners being thrown up in the air. Ezekiel could see other vehicles moving through the cracks in the rideau that serves as a door in the back. They created clouds of dirt in their tracks, creating what would've been an irrespirable atmosphere had it not been for the vents in every corner of the cave. Soon, their transport started rolling and joined the line exiting the launch bay. Sporadic honking could be heard from time to time, but the drivers were disciplined and quickly put things back in order.