Steampunk Harlots Ch. 14

"Our trenches are mostly 'not' burning now. Since the enemy finally figured out we were in here with them, they have been giving us a hard time," Grey informed Hannah.

"Agreed. Let's move back to the firestep and get ready to run."

Pulling back and setting fuses, they left the assembly pit behind and got to the fire step. The occasional burst of machine gun fire indicated their own guns were still in place, keeping the enemy from coming over the top to flank them. Not wanting any of her men to kill their own, Hannah took off her cap to let her hair blow in the wind as she crested the trench. Unsurprisingly, she was noticed immediately, as it was doubtful the enemy had their own red-haired firebrand. Soon after the rest of their surviving numbers came over, they began the dash back to their lines.

Not a moment after they had left did the eruption of the assembly pit shake the ground and kick up enough smoke and dirt to cover their retreat. Unable to fire, her own machine guns began to fall back, and went to set up their original positions in the trenches.

Hannah saw the wreckage of the metal spider, twisted and broken, lying in the mud. The arty gunners remained where they had been, from what she could see through the smoke. Turning to taunt the prisoner, she smiled at him in time for it to be the last thing he saw as bullets struck him from behind. Tumbling over dead, his soldier escort quickly decided to leave him before being shot themselves.

More fire erupted behind them as they finally reached their burnt out trenches. Landing hard, Hannah rolled over to aim at the enemy she expected to be following her. Her own troops landed first but she remained, waiting. The rapid firing of her own guns resumed, and she knew whoever was going to make it had made it. Keeping her aim up, Hannah slowly got to her knees when she pulled the trigger on reflex and made sure the white figure landed dead when he jumped into the trench.

More and more came over, and she relished the automatic chambering of the next shell as she fired. Not having to manually work the action saved her life, as she fired both directions down the trench at the attacking troops as well as above her when she had to. Knowing she couldn't last long alone, she ran and fired to get farther back where some of her own troops would hopefully be. Getting to a corner, the gun clicked empty and she knew she wouldn't have time to reload. Though as the soldier aimed his rifle she knew she wouldn't have time to draw her pistol either. Too far to get to grips with him, she didn't have an option that would save her life. Suddenly his head cocked to the side as blood erupted from it.

A moment after he hit the ground, Hannah saw a man holding a pistol wearing the clean crisp blue of a leftenant's uniform. The shock and fear gone from his eyes. Now replaced with grief and determination to atone for his failures.

"With respects, my dear. I would like my command back if you would be so kind. It's about time I actually did something with it," he said, with the voice of a man finally finding his courage.

"I formally surrender command to you at this time," Hannah replied, trying to learn how to reload her weapon with a new drum of ammo.

"Thank you." Leaving pleasantries for later, he fired at enemies behind Hannah as she finally got her weapon ready.

They moved back through the trench that Hannah had been fleeing down, and with the stream of enemy reinforcements ending, those stuck in with them didn't last long at all. It became clear, soon enough, that the reason they had stopped was the presence of fresh allied troops moving in and sending them on their way. Hannah found Grey saluting one of the soldiers as he passed, and looked quite surprised to see who she was with.

"Sir," Grey acknowledged. "Feeling better?"

"Yes. Thank you. I owe you both for keeping things together." he replied.

"What happened?" Grey asked. "I mean, what changed or..." He couldn't quite find the right question to ask.

"Well, having someone tell me I wasn't in command anymore helped. And having to listen to a woman getting pleasured constantly did a lot to distract me." He glanced at Hannah, who looked away in false modesty. "Then there was that song... and I just started putting the pieces back together. I'm not fixed. Won't ever be. But at least now I can try and make the most of what I have left and hope it's enough."

Hannah spoke up. "Nobody is ever the same after anything like this. It's the worst I have ever been through."

"How will you deal with it?"

"Well, I did notice the large number of reinforcements we just got. I'm going to fuck them." One of the passing soldiers stopped in his tracks to stare at her, and Hannah grabbed him by the jacket to bring him someplace private. "You two might need to find your own solutions."