*~*Gerard's POV*~*
The rest of the Confederate soldiers went running for the hills surrounding our new camp, about half of our remaining soldiers running after them, still firing their guns.
I found Pierre in the middle of the unfinished camp, his arm in a crudely made sling. He was sitting on the ground, and didn't seem to notice me approaching him until I was in front of him. "You made it," he said simply and I nodded, pursing my lips. "I was afraid you wouldn't, and it'd be like Chuck all over again."
"Can't get rid of me that easily," I said, and he tried smiling but it looked more forced than anything. "How's your arm?"
"In pain, but I'll survive. Where's Jared?"
I shrugged, I hadn't seen him since I shot the man, and I'm sure he would've been one of the first to volunteer to chase the remaining Confederates. "He probably went on the group that went running, or..." I didn't finish the rest of my sentence, I didn't need to, Pierre knew where I was heading with it. An eerie silence fell between us, and I didn't know what else to say. I held out an arm and he gripped it with his good arm and I pulled him up. He almost fell forward but I caught him in time.
"Thanks."
"So, what happened last time after a fight like this?" I asked as we started walking away. More people who were injured were making their way closer to where the few medics were and I thought it best to get out of the way.
"Give it a few good hours and the officers will be setting up teams to clean up the dead bodies and dig mass graves. In this case, they might start assigning that soon, or having people go back to work on the tents. I don't understand the minds of officers, they're too complicated." Pierre and I stopped on the outskirts of where the camp would end if all the tents were up, and watched as soldiers were literally dragging themselves or fellow soldiers to the camp. There was one man, I didn't know his name, but he was crawling over and I wanted to help him up, but before I could even move he dropped down and didn't get back up.
"Must've thought he was invincible," Pierre said, and I turned to face him. "How are you holding up? Is it everything you expected?"
"Much worse," I said quietly. "I killed a man, Pierre. An innocent man and I shot him."
"Was he coming towards you?"
"Well yeah-"
"Then you had every right, you had to defend yourself. It's not like you'll be getting charged with murder here, unless you turn against all of us and shoot us instead of those damn Confederates," Pierre reasoned, and I started to ignore him as he went on about how to not have a conscious and that not thinking about it was the best solution to everything.
"Way. Bouvier." I turned around and saw General Christopher walking towards us. "I need you to-Bouvier, your arm okay?"
"Just fine, sir. What do you need?" Pierre asked, and I could tell he was a true soldier. He was probably one of the people who signed up for this and didn't get sucked into it like I did.
"We need some tents set up for the injured for the night, and I'm trying to find my few left in good conditions to help. Can you manage?"
"I'll try," Pierre said.
General Christopher turned his gaze to me and I nodded. "Happy to be of assistance."
"Great, now if you can find anyone else who isn't badly injured to help, it'd be appreciated. We're going to set up the two next to the medics, and more if necessary." He turned to leave, and started going up to more of the soldiers just sitting around, looking over the camp without a word, and they all started walking towards the big group of soldiers, another group of men pushing crates and tarps over to the area.
"You sure you're good?" I asked Pierre as we started walking over, leaving the mess of dead bodies behind us. I was glad for the work, because if I had to look at any more dead bodies now, I was going to lose it. I didn't like the war, and I didn't think anyone needed to die. I wasn't pro-war, if you couldn't tell.
"Just fine, for now. Stop worrying about me and worry about yourself."
"I'm fine, nothing hurt me."
"I'm not talking about physical damage," Pierre said simply, and headed over to where a group of people were setting up posts, and did his best to help.
I stopped walking and watched for a moment. What did he mean? I only moved forward when someone yelled at me to help lift a post up for it to be tied down, and I jogged over, weaving my way through the crowds of people until I was helping stabilize a giant pole.
Finally, the first tent was set up, and some of the soldiers were moving inside with the help of others. I stood on my tiptoes, looking over the top of the heads for Ray. He would normally stand out in a group full of people, being that he was so tall, but there was so much chaos. I was being pushed and shoved as people tried to move past me, and I finally saw a glimpse of Ray, he had someone's arm around his shoulders as he helped them into the tent. I felt a wave of relief as I realized he was alive.
Someone called my name again, it was David, he was still alive, and he was calling me over to help set up the second tent. I made my way over to him and the group and started helping as best I could, stabilizing poles was about it for me.
I watched the soldiers come together, to work together, and former hatreds and quarrels were gone for the time being, as everyone worried about getting the camp back to its former strength. It was an interesting sight, and to see everyone getting along was something I never thought I'd see. I wondered how long it would last.
Pierre was right about a crew to collect dead bodies would be formed. After we got the tents pitched up, General Christopher set the cooks to go set up a kitchen to serve some form of food, and he said until then, people would be either collecting or digging. I didn't say anything, both jobs sounding torturous to me. I didn't want to dig a hole, afraid I'd get stuck in and never get out, and I didn't want to collect bodies because I was afraid I would find a body of someone who was a friend, or someone from my past when I lived down in the south. I didn't want to do either, I wondered if he'd just forget that I existed for the time and wouldn't assign me to anything.
"David here has a list of what your jobs will be. The list is too long to call out, form a single filed line. The sooner we get started the sooner we can get done and restore a routine."
I tracked Pierre down as the group of soldiers started to form a line, a pathetic attempt at something organized. Pierre and I just went where we could fit in, and I was sure he was going to be put on body patrol, since he would be no help with digging. I voiced my thoughts out to him and he didn't seem to care. "As far as I can tell, everyone I care about is alive. Well, I don't know where Jared is, has he turned up yet?"
I shook my head. "I hope he's not dead, I liked him."
"We're one of the few that did. I'm sure just about anyone here wouldn't give a damn if he was dead. It would just mean fewer times having to sit on guard duty over him, the bastard. He was good company to have, though."
I nodded and the lined moved forward. We stepped up and were closer to David than I liked. I didn't want to get my assignment, I didn't want to be here. "I'm sure he'll turn up, I don't think anyone could kill him if they tried."
"I'm sure you're right," Pierre said and we were both silent while the rest of the makeshift camp was chaos. I could already feel some tension in the air of people wanting to start fights, and I wished desperately none of it would happen while I was around or while the camp was in such a vulnerable place. There were still people missing, some of the ones who chased off the enemy, and there hasn't been any word whether we were in the clear or not.
"Hello David," Pierre said, and David smiled slightly at his friend. He flipped through a few papers, his finger trailing down the paper.
"You're both on body duty," David said. "You have that side of the field," David said, pointing to his left, and I wasn't smart enough to figure out what direction it was. "There should be some wheel barrows around, if not, just pile them and someone will get them later," David said, and Pierre cut him off before he wasted anymore breath. "Pierre, if you see anyone-"
"I know David. I don't think anyone's gone. You're here, I thought I saw Seb and Jeff moving into one of the tents earlier, they'll be fine. No one's gone this time." Pierre patted David's shoulder, who seemed to relax a little.
"Don't tire yourself, your arm needs to heal. If it starts hurting, you go to the medics," David said, and Pierre rolled his eyes and we started walking off, to the side of the field he pointed to earlier.
"He's such a mother," Pierre said, trying to sound annoyed but I could tell he liked the attention. Not many people out here were as caring as the ones I became friends with, and I was grateful that I had them.
"He's right though, if it hurts, don't you dare work through it. It'll end up worse, and a sick or dead Pierre is no fun." I saw a mess of dead bodies all over the small area, and I didn't like it. There were mixes of both uniforms, and I frowned. "Do you pick up the Confederates too?"
"Yeah, we can't just let dead bodies out here to rot. It'll start smelling, and try waking up to the smell of rotting corpses and having a good day, it just doesn't work." Pierre and I started walking over to one of the bodies, one of our own soldiers, and rolled him over to his back to get a better look at his face. I didn't know who he was, but the face was familiar. "It's little Georgie," Pierre said with a sad tone.
"I don't know him."
"You wouldn't know his name, but he's the one who gave you your assignment when you first arrived. He was really young, forced into the war by his parents."
"Oh..." I said, I remembered him a little. I knew he was really young.
"Yeah, you learn a lot about people when you're with them for a while. I took him under my wing before David and Seb came along. We weren't the best of friends, but I looked out for him, you know? He was an easy target." Pierre reached down and closed his eyelids and we moved on to the next body.
"Should be recording all this or something?" I asked as we moved farther down a little, Pierre saying what some of their names were, and if I'd seen them before or not.
"Someone'll do that before they go into the grave. We just have to collect all the bodies into one place for easier transport," Pierre said, and he bent down to grab the collar of someone. "Grab his feet, or something. Let's drag him over to Georgie's body."
I picked up the man's feet, he was a Confederate, and we slowly moved him over to Georgie's body, which was the closest to the camp. I didn't like it, not one bit.
After we got all the bodies over, with the help of some of the other fit soldiers who were assigned to our section, we left them for the wheel barrow people to take care of. I followed Pierre, who was looking worn out, although he wouldn't admit to it. The crowd around the medics wasn't as big anymore, most of the people going to sleep since the sun was way past setting, and the moon was already climbing to the high point in the sky. "Where are we sleeping tonight?" I asked, not seeing anywhere for us to go.
Pierre tried to shrug, but it was useless with his bad arm, "Probably all getting in a circle and using what blankets we have and body heat for the night, or scattered around and we see who dies from the cold. Or, I like this idea, none of us go to sleep and we all walk around in circles for the night." Pierre said the last with sarcasm and I couldn't stop from grinning.
"You should go get Ray to fix your shoulder better," I said when I noticed him moving his arm, looking like it was uncomfortable. His arm had started bleeding again at some point, and he was trying to hide it but I knew better. "Or at least see if someone can give more bandages to stop the bleeding."
"You're starting to sound as bad as David," Pierre said, and I ended up leading him over to the medic tent. Not many people were in there, just a few people cleaning up while I assume the others were checking on the injured. Pierre walked in, and once I followed, they kicked me out, saying that if I wasn't injured or there to help I was taking up time. I didn't see Ray in there. I stood outside the tent uneasily, having nowhere to go without someone by my side. I was social, I could talk to people and I could be with them, but now I didn't really trust anyone except Ray, Pierre, and Jared, who I was still waiting for. I thought I saw him earlier, but it could have just been my imagination.
"You're okay?" a voice asked behind me, sounding a little skeptical, and I turned around. It was Ray, he was covered in blood, and looked as exhausted as I think he's ever been.
"Not a scratch," I said reassuringly. "How are you doing? You look tired as hell."
Ray gave a tired laugh, "I am. I could do with a nap, but duty calls. Why aren't you sleeping?"
"No idea where to sleep," I said simply. "I'm waiting for Pierre, you're crew kicked me out for being a waste of space." Neither of us said anything for a while, and I don't think he wanted to go back into the tent just yet, so I started walking and motioned for him to follow. It would do him some good to get away from all the blood for just a few minutes. "How's the death toll so far?" I asked quietly, not sure I wanted to know.
"About a hundred died while we were tending to them, and about another hundred with major injuries, and then maybe like two hundred that I've seen with minor injuries. That's just an estimate, it's not like I've been counting..."
"Have you seen Jared?" I asked a little uneasily. Ray stopped walking for a moment and I stopped too. "I saw him. He was pretty scratched up, I think he's in the watch rotation tonight to see if he'll make it." I frowned, feeling a tug at my heart strings. I liked Jared, he was a good man, and sure, I had grown attached to him, he was a likable guy when he tried. "I think General Christopher was one of the last to be in with him."
"Has he gone to visit any of the other soldiers?" Ray shook his head. "I wonder what makes Jared so special, aside from all the whippings he's given him."
Ray shrugged and we started walking back towards the medic tent. "I'm glad you're okay, Gerard. The whole time I was afraid you were going to come stumbling in, trying to hold your guts in and coughing up blood. I thought that was going to happen because the last time I saw you, you were on the front lines, and shit that scared me."
I could hear Ray's voice crack, and I turned to him, and saw his eyes glistening in the moonlight. I hugged him tight, not caring if anyone thought it was a sign of weakness. He needed it and I needed it. "I'm right here Ray, alive and well, except maybe a little mentally disturbed. I'm fine for now, don't worry about me. Worry about those who are dying, and not about those who are just fine." I let my arms drop around Ray and I stepped back. He wiped his eyes on the back of his hand and smiled. "You always were the sensitive one of us two."
"Shut up, Way, if you were in my place you'd be worried too."
I nodded and he walked into the tent, and I didn't dare follow him in again in risk of being yelled at. I stood outside for a moment, wondering if Pierre was still inside or not, and I poked my head in to see Ray untying the sling and taking off Pierre's shirt, dabbing at the wound with something. I stood back outside, not wanting to watch anymore. I sat down on the ground, running my hands over the rough patches of grass and frowning. I wondered when I'd next be able to write a letter to Lindsey, and what I should say in the letter. Should I say I was in my first battle? That might scare her, but Ray might write about it to Christa, and knowing those two they'd share their letters, and she might get mad I didn't share the information with her. I started thinking about the letter a lot, and how I could word things not to scare or worry her, to tell her that I was just fine and I could make it.
I was lost in my thoughts when a boot kicked me, and I looked up to see Pierre. I stood up, and we started walking around again, seeing where his friends were sleeping. We found them next to the remains of a fire, one that only had embers left. David was still awake, poking at it when he saw us. He smiled when he saw Pierre, pulled out two blankets for us, and patted the ground next to him.