The bone-chilling wind blew more of the falling snow across the battlefield. The blizzard continued to dump layer after layer of snow, with no end in sight.

   The war had finally come, the unthinkable…global war between the Westfor government and the dreaded Bloc Alliance. After decades of cold war and indirect confrontations, the Bloc Alliance finally made its move. Total war.

   Now, several weeks old, the war had already claimed millions of lives and even more maimed or displaced. It was an ugly thing. Initially Westfor was losing, crippled after the powerful enemy’s surprise invasion. Outnumbered and caught completely off guard, the repressive Westfor government almost fell. Only the desperate sacrifice of its military had bought enough time for its people to rally and recover from the surprise attack. Personal sacrifice became the norm, as the people fought to save their nation. Soon, the pace of the war slowed. Enemy gains were no longer measured in hundreds of miles per day it became far less. The lethality of the war increased, as both sides used every weapon available to them from their inventories. It became a war of attrition more than maneuver a twisted monster that fed on man and machine alike, without any end in sight.

Bitter

   A wave of screaming Bloc soldiers charged the last ten feet to the top of the hill. The defenders did their best to stop them, shooting several before they were able to close. It then became close combat. 66 shot a Bloc soldier who had stumbled over some debris with his submachine-gun, killing the man before he could recover. He then turned to shoot another attacker, but his weapon clocked empty. Instantly, he dropped the submachine-gun and switched to his pistol sidearm. He managed to shoot two more attackers, as they closed with him. 66 reloaded both of his weapons, as he watched his comrades fight for their lives. Men near him fought with rifle butts, shovels, and bare fists. Once reloaded, 66 expertly shot several enemy soldiers, as they tried to overrun the defenses. Major Haskins then led a small reserve squad in a counterattack to save the faltering line. 66 dropped back down and opened fire with Lopez’s belt-feed machinegun. He fired down the right-most limit, across the front of the besieged company. By sending a wall of lead across the company’s front, he was able to keep most of the next wave of enemy troops from reaching the embattled company line. The knee-high grazing fire struck several enemy troops of the next wave of attackers. The First Company repulsed the survivors of the enemy first wave and drove them back down the hill, into 66’s gunfire. The attack faltered and failed. The enemy withdrew back down to the bottom of the hill. Only the moans and cries of the enemy and friendly wounded could be heard.