Today started well. All the boys slept in past the morning. This has been the best week in terms of sleep for the past several months. When we awoke, we all set off on our jobs. The hunters grabbed rifles and ammo and set off on their adventures. The scouters went God knows well. The supplies people sat beside the fire, making sure no one or nothing raided our supplies Yuri and Daniel went with the scouters, while Lawrence went with the hunters. I stayed, making sure the medicine was intact and no one needed it. It is a rather drab job to have. I do nothing.

  I went and sat in front of the fire, beside Lucas. Lucas was silent for a while, but then he began talking.

  "Do you miss it?" he asked me. I asked to explain and he told me that he meant to say if I miss my home or not. I responded thoughtfully, saying how I miss my family, but I don't miss my country too much. It was an honor fighting for it, but now I'm not exactly sure why we are fighting. I want nothing more than the war to be over and to go home. The only good part is seeing all the different countries I couldn't possibly see while the war wasn't raging.

  "I understand. I miss my family dearly. I even miss Brazil. Before I left for here, I had never been anywhere except South America. Not North America and not Europe," he remarked. I inquired about him going to North America.

  "Oh, I was there for a little bit. It was nice. I can't wait to tell my family about here and North America. They'd love it. Maybe when this is all over, I'll move somewhere over here. Maybe I'll even move close to you, Felix," he responded with a laugh. I asked about his folks. Everybody has folks, good or bad.

  "I love my mother and father to death. My siblings are wild. I've got three of 'em. I also got one aunt and uncle that stick around all the time. My siblings aren't old enough to fight yet. Ma won't let 'em even if they wanted to," he answered. I asked him if he was old enough to fight; he responded truthfully. Lucas then questioned me about my folks. I told him my parents are alright, but older. I don't have any aunts and uncles I know of, and my grandparents died when I was young. He inquired if I had any siblings after that.

  I sighed and thought for a moment, "My older brother. He's much older than me though. He's older than Roy. His name is Pierre. He's a good man. Back at home, I only saw him occasionally. He didn't come over," I told him.

  "Well, what's he do for a living?" Lucas asked.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  Silence came over us and I muttered that he doesn't do anything. Lucas said that he's got to do something, he's alive, Isn't he?

  "Pierre's dead. He's been dead for a while," I remarked. A silence passed over us once more. I finally accepted it as I said it. Over the past few months, I never dared say Pierre's name. Ever since I first heard the news, I couldn't take it. Even though Pierre is, or was, so much older than me, I missed him dearly. Moreover, I felt bad for my parents who had known him much longer than I. I'd never get to know him as well as I wanted to. All I knew is that he was a great man, and he's why I am here now. But, there's always casualties in a war. It's never going to change. It pains me to know that Pierre will just be a number someday.

  But in the end, it doesn't matter much. I suppose I'll be some number someday too.

  Soon after this particular conversation, Angelo sat beside me and began talking to me. I know not where he came from or where he was prior. He talked to me about the Italian Army, to which I wasn't paying much attention. He asked me a bit about the French Army also.

  "Were you in the trenches?" Angelo questioned me. I answered him, saying I was, but I was taken out after three days and put in the medical ward to work. He kept on ranting, his English getting worse and more butchered, so I inquired if he had been spending a lot of time around Antonio. He said he had. I then felt the sudden urge to ask him about his family.

  "I've got a mother, father, and brother. The regular mix of people. It's nothing much. My brother is younger than me and way more annoying," he responded. I told him that I understand.

  In the middle of one of our conversations, Yuri came running back with the scouters.He immediately asked where Lawrence and the rest of the hunters were. He made Mosao go and run and get them from the stretch of woods. The scouters and the supply people began dragging all of our things inside the tents. I looked to the sky and saw a dark cloud. Something was slowly trickling down, just then. Snow. A lot of it.

  Lawrence soon came running back. We all helped haul the supplies we had inside the tents. Even Angelo, despite everyone's protests. During this, the snow went from a light drizzle to pouring down like rain. Yuri barked some orders that were lost in the frenzy of the moment. I tried to listen to everyone's yells, but the sounds were swallowed by the pounding around us.

  I eventually pulled Angelo and myself into the tent when almost everything looked done. We can't have Angelo getting frostbite on my watch after all. Daniel was in there, away from all the problems of today. He was lighting a lantern for himself. Angelo said something in Italian that I roughly pieced together as calling him a coward. I didn't try to correct his foul words. There is no point in correcting a fact.

  In the next several minutes, Yuri and Lawrence came into the tent. They told us that they had checked and everyone is inside their tent with all of the supplies. Through the snow we survive another day.