Dead Reckoning - A Gregorio del Pilar x Reader story

XLV - Énouement

n. the bittersweetness of having arrived here in the future, where you can finally get the answers to how things turn out in the real world—who your baby sister would become, what your friends would end up doing, where your choices would lead you, exactly when you'd lose the people you took for granted—which is priceless intel that you instinctively want to share with anybody who hadn't already made the journey, as if there was some part of you who had volunteered to stay behind, who was still stationed at a forgotten outpost somewhere in the past, still eagerly awaiting news from the front.

* * *

The moment I return to the game, I wake up being in the middle of some cave. I wonder where this is but as I rub the sleep from them, looking around, I notice the light seeping through the opening. I didn't hesitate to head out, and what I immediately see is the carnage of an aftermath battle. There's the smears of blood and empty bullet cases, but there are no more bodies. Looking onward up the trail, I notice the blood that seems to leave a trail on its wake, as if the cadavers had been pulled from behind than being carried.

I then follow the trail, remembering having to trek this familiar dirt road in our first climb to reach the town of Cervantes. Then, since that time that the trenches are to be made, I've trailed this very same road, too. I made it to the first trench, the aftermath isn't a good sight. Just imagining the soldiers who've died being here, now gone with only the remains of blood, still seems to haunt me. I continue onward until the second trench, and then to the third and final trench. And a few walks away from the third trench, I notice two moving presence.

Curious, I head to where they are, realizing that it had been Enteng and Lieutenant Carrasco. The two of them had already stripped off the jackets of their uniforms as they turn to the remaining corpse left to be buried. All the while all around had been an ensemble of stones and sand. Not realizing my presence yet as I draw my shawl closer to me and my steps almost dragged toward them, I call for them softly, "E-Enteng? T-Teniente Carrasco?"

The two doesn't freeze on the spot as if to take their revolvers from the holsters. To be honest, they are completely unarmed right now as they slowly turn to look back at me. Their eyes stare at me blankly, red with tears and dark circles underneath to speak everything up. I don't know how many days it had been since the battle ended, but surely, no one from the two of them managed to have a very good sleep since then. They doesn't seem surprised with my presence, still in the midst of their grieving.

I bite my lower lip, drawing closer to where they are now standing over to the last cadaver to be buried. From my position, it is a little hard to identify the figure. But the pale skin of death seems to ebb already on the corpse, though not as white as the shorts he was stripped down as of now. The head of the corpse had been turned away from where I am, but even without looking, I already know the familiar look of his dark hair after a long time of always following behind him. It is as if my heart had been caught right on my throat and the air in my lungs burn. If ever there are tears, I didn't notice them.

As I draw closer, both Enteng and Lieutenant Carrasco move away to give me space. And as I come next to his dead body, I finally understand the cruelty of fate. Kneeling down, no sound comes from the deep of my throat, but just tears that I've immediately gulped in back. I slowly reach out to him, touching his cheek in order for me to view his face. Something dry and soft almost makes me cringe as my fingers touch decomposing muscles.

His body was white as sheet. Much paler that Death had contributed in than the fear that quaked his body back when he almost drowned in Dagupan. Contrary to all the white and smears of dirt, his left jaw was awfully destroyed. An accurate bullet surely killed him from the back of the neck and exiting on his cheek. I wonder if his agony had prolonged, but with a shot as that, I've prayed that it will be quick.