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“What’s our job in Reims?” asked Taylor.

“Same as usual. We are to clear all roads and repair where necessary.”

“Engineers work,” he replied.

“Sure, but there are too few of them to work alone, and these Reitech suits surely make light work of the job. Plenty of civilians have already managed to get back, but many of the access roads are still a mess. We’ll be working to the west and the road to Paris. Even the name of the city conjured up a wealth of images they all wanted to forget.

It was noon when they finally arrived in the city. Few soldiers were to be seen amongst the ruins. Many of the allied armies had quickly returned to their native lands after the enemy’s retreat. Much of the city lay in ruins, and few had managed to get anywhere near the centre. A single policeman ushered their vehicles down a rubble-strewn road until they could go no further.

Taylor and Chandra leapt out from the trucks to survey the scene and gasped at the sight before them.

“Shit, this isn’t going to be a quick job,” shouted Taylor.

Two tower blocks had collapsed into the road in front them, and the rubble more than ten storeys high.

“We’re gonna need help, lots of it,” replied Chandra.

The policeman strode up beside them and patted them on the back.

“Good to have you here.”

Chandra turned to him.

“We’re happy to help, but we can’t do it alone. We’ve got engineers and a few vehicles on their way to assist, but more than anything, we need manpower.”

“What do you suggest I do?” he replied.

“The people returning from the east, they want their homes back, do they not?”

The man nodded.

“Then I suggest you send them our way to lend a hand. We need the roads cleared and access and communication links restored.”

“I’ll do what I can.”

“Not good enough. I want all physically able men and women between sixteen and sixty that arrive at this city to report immediately to work detail here,” growled Chandra.

The policeman looked uncomfortable and shied away, but she paced forward and grabbed the sleeve of his jacket.

“Look, this work has to get done. I don’t want to be here anymore than the rest of my troops. This isn’t my country. We’ve fought and bled over these lands so that these people could return. Show some God damn back bone and get them to lend a hand.”

The man looked past the Major to the rest of the troops who stood beside the trucks silently watching him. He could see the distain in their faces.

“You will get no pity from us. We have been here from the day this war started and are still working. Get to it!” she shouted.

The officer turned and stepped slowly away towards the crossroads where they had first met him. Chandra looked at Taylor with an expression of utter shock and astonishment.

“You’d think we were an occupying army by the welcome we’re getting here.”

“These people are broken. We know we have homes to go back to, what do they have? They’ve been blasted back to the stone age,” replied Taylor.

Chandra sighed. “Still no excuse for slacking and bloody rudeness after all we have done for them.”

Taylor stepped up close and whispered in her ear.

“Take it easy on these people. They may not have had to fight on the frontline, but they’ve lost everything.”

“Not their lives,” she snapped.

“Plenty have. We still have no idea how many millions died in these lands.”

She took a deep breath as she calmed herself and took in his words of wisdom.

“When did you become the cool headed prophet?”

“When the fighting stopped. These people aren’t soldiers. They aren’t under your command, and they have lost all but their lives. We need their help, but the last thing they need is abuse.”

She smiled. “How you have come on, Major, so where has the marine gone that would have kicked their arses into action?”

She stepped past Taylor and patted him on the shoulder as a thank you for putting things back into perspective. The Company still stood silently awaiting her command. They looked miserable and tired, despite the fact that work had not yet started.

“This is one of the main roads to Paris. We fought and bled over that city once and have given everything we had to get it back! This wreckage stands as much as a barrier to us as an enemy army. Would you stand here and let it tower over us in defiance? Leaving this country to ruin is to accept defeat. Every street we clear, and every town that is re-inhabited, is a victory over our enemy!”

She could hear footsteps grow nearer and turned to see a dozen men and women stroll up to her, throwing down their luggage at the side of the road. They looked up at the huge job before them and stood proud and ready. She nodded in gratitude and turned back to the troops.

“This barrier mocks us all and all the friends we have lost, let’s tear it down!”

A few cheers rang out, but they were far from enthusiastic as they stepped up to the rubble and began their work. The Reitech suits provided an immense boost in strength and stamina for such labour, but it was still gruelling and mind numbing work. The troops slogged for hours, long after the civilians had lain down to rest. Finally, as the sun began to lower in the sky and cast long shadows, and the temperatures began to plummet, Chandra called them all to a halt.

She and Taylor peered around to see the results of their work. They had cut a noticeable path to the west, but the mound of rubble appeared to have altered little.

“We need some heavy gear in here, diggers and trucks. All this crap has to go somewhere,” stated Taylor.

“I am promised that the engineers are on their way, and that we will have everything we need.”

They took up refuge in the nearby empty buildings for the night, alongside the growing number of civilians who were arriving to assist them. There was no alcohol that night. No parties and brawls. They were all growing tired of such activities and appreciated a quiet night of rest.

In the morning, Taylor and Chandra climbed to the top of one of the nearest intact buildings, along with several others of the Company who chose to join them. It was a vantage point no one had seen since the war had ended. There were few aerial craft available to them and just as few tall structures still standing and stable to get a viewpoint.

“My God, can this even be called a city any longer?” asked Eli.

“Makes you wonder if they’d be better off leaving this place be and build afresh.”

“No, we rebuild, like humanity always has done after such times,” replied Chandra.

She looked out past the vast debris they had been clearing and sighed as she squinted to see where it ended.

“We could be months clearing this,” spat Taylor.

“Not once we’ve got the gear we need,” she replied. “I want you to take a look ahead wherever this road continues. We’re getting more help all the time, and we’ll soon be stepping on each other’s toes. See if you can find a way through. If we can get teams to the other side and perhaps air lift a few vehicles over there, with the right help, we could halve the time this’ll take.”

Taylor turned back to Eli.

“Sergeant, I want you and three volunteers ready to move in ten.”

She acknowledged and quickly rushed off to assemble the others down at the ground. He turned back to Chandra as she placed a hand on his shoulder.