Ah yes, that is a title.

You can guess that something's gonna happen right haha.

Enjoy! :)

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Jack gets good news this morning.

He's been told that today their division is going to stop fighting. They will be replaced by new divisions, ones that will probably/definitely be better prepared and better trained.

While Jack is sorry for every single poor soul that is going to have to fight in this war, he also can't help but feel some relief. He just has to get through this one last day, and then he's off the battle field.

For now, at least. Until the 77th Division is needed again.

For his physical and mental wellbeing, as well as all the others he's fighting with, he hopes that they're not needed for a long, long time.

------------------------------------------

David trembles as he is delivered the news that they're going to be on the move and fighting soon. No more preparations. No more waiting for something big to happen. The last of the new pilots from America come today. For whatever reason, they had been delayed.

David looks out the window of his hotel room. Soon, he won't see this view anymore.

Luckily, the pilots coming in today will have some time to adjust, so they will be spending one more night here.

David looks out the window and can't help but thinking of Jack. He wishes that he was going home to Jack, instead of heading to the Western Front, fighting this war with seemingly no end.

He hopes that Jack is alive.

It scares him to think that Jack might not even be alive right now.

No. He shakes his head to clear it. Jack is going to make it out of there alive. You will seem him again. He hesitates. You will.

He has to.

Because he doesn't know what he'll do with himself if he doesn't.

He hopes that the new pilots coming in are better than some of the ones that he's had to put up with now. A lot of them come for adventure, or for better aircraft and a greater experience than the new US Air Services could offer.

Fools. All of them.

David wants nothing to do with them.

It's just that he feels so disconnected from all of them. They all talk about their "girls" and wives that they're leaving behind, and all the girls that they'll meet during the war. David doesn't understand it. He can't believe that once long ago he wished to be like these people, to just like girls, to be "normal". If this is normal, leave him out of it.

And every single one of them has the "tough guy" act too. So much masculinity. Sometimes it's too much for David to handle. He can't think of a single time where some guy here showed that he had emotions, or a guy made someone else know how much he cared for them. 

Back home, with his family, it was nothing like this. It was an open environment where they could all talk about their feelings. They could cry openly, and someone/everyone would hug them.

It was absolutely nothing like this.

A small part of David's mind, the one that convinces him he needs to conform, tells him that he should try to fit in, try talking to these guys, make some friends. He ignores it. He really wants nothing to do with these people.

And yet, he still has to know them, because everyone must know all the pilots they're fighting with.

Which is why he has to be there when the new pilots arrive, which can be any minute now. And so he leaves his room and heads downstairs to greet the new American pilots coming to fight for the British, for whatever reason brought them here.

There's five of them in total. Four of them are instantly absorbed into the big group, handshakes and slaps on the back to go around. One hangs back, uninterested, as if this kind of stuff bores him.

David would recognize him anywhere.

It's Sardinia Frank.

It takes all of David's might not to exclaim his name out loud. He just waits for Sardinia to see him first.

Their eyes lock, and Sardinia's eyes widen to full moons. He walks right past the group of masculine American pilots and right up to David.

"What are you doing here?" they ask each other incredulously at the same time.

"I got drafted," David tells him.

"I volunteered," Sardinina says, and then adds quickly when David raises an eyebrow, "my Dave got drafted. I was just trying to end up where he did." He clenches his fists. "But I'm here, and not there."

David thinks of Jack. "Yeah, I get what you're going through."

Sardinia looks at the other pilots, unimpressed. "We have to put up with these guys?"

"Not all of them are that bad," David says unconvincingly. "Some of them are fine. Well, until you put them in the group. Then they become someone else."

Sardinia rolls his eyes. "That's just as bad as it would be if they started out like that." He turns back to David. "So. We're heading to the Western Front tomorrow?"

David sighs. "Yes."

"Well, here's to hoping that we live another day to see our lovers?" Sardinia offers him a small smile.

David smiles back. "Indeed."

------------------------

Mush is not ready for this.

Today is the day that phase two begins. This is the day where his and Spot's division marches into battle, taking the place of the unexperienced and unprepared divisions who have lost so many lives over these past few days.

Spot grabs his hand. All the same emotions are running through his head as well.

Whatever is going to happen, they'll face it together.

And if they survive, they will be reunited with their family once again.

------------------------------

Find him.

Race can't take this anymore.

He can't stay here.

He has to leave. Now.

But where would he go? What would he do? Swim back to New York?

Unlikely.

And yet.

He could go find his brother.

Find him.

Even if he has to walk across all of Europe, that would be better than staying here.

And so he has made up his mind. He is going to find his brother.

He walks to the edge of camp, and looks around.

Everyone is eating dinner right now. The sun is low in the sky.

If he wanted to, he could just walk out of here now.

To where? The country that he is sure his brother is: Italia.

He feels bad for leaving Chick Tucker behind, but he can't stay here anymore.

And so, without looking back, he walks away, vanishing into the forest, soon to be protected under the cover of darkness of the night.

----------------------------

It is all going so well. They're going back to their camp now. Away from the battlefield. Jack is done. 

True, a lot of people have been injured. A lot of people have died. But there are still those who will carry the mental scars of this battle with them as long as they live.

I did it, David! Jack thinks excitedly. I made it through the toughest few days of my life!

He feels like maybe things are starting to get better.

Until something happens that makes his blood run cold.

He hears someone shout something in German, sounds like a command. He, and everyone else around him, freezes.

And suddenly, they are all surrounded.

There are German forces everywhere.

And there they are, trapped in the middle.

The same man who gave the German command barks in English, "You are all coming with us! You are now our prisoners!"

And suddenly, Jack is officially a prisoner of war.

-----------------------------

Oh, no.

I wanted Jack to be a prisoner of war, because he seems like he's the kind of person who would be captured.

I am doing my research, and I am writing these chapters at midnight. The struggle is real.

Race just. Is planning on walking to Italy. Does it make sense? No. Does it to me? Yes.

Does it make sense that they would be divided like this? I honestly don't know. I haven't been able to find answers to most the questions I've been asking Google.

At least I'm learning more about American pilots fighting for the British in fall of 1918, so that's good.

So. A lot has happened. And a lot will happen in the next chapter.

Please, no homophobia, profanities, hate etc in the comment section at all times.

Best,

~Your Beloved Author (whose mental health has been going up and down a lot lately and probably should take more time for selfcare)