Heil sat in the cot provided for him at the camp. It was a small one and he stared at the ceiling of the tent.
Experimenting with his power, he found that he had loaded an ‘autosave’ and gone back in time. Autosave seemed to mean it happened automatically, but he did not know the specific circumstances of his power. Was it that when he died he reloaded a save or could he activate it?
He wished he had instructions, a list or something.
As soon as Heil thought of the word list, a screen appeared in front of him. It was like a slate, and at the top there was a save listed. It had his location as well as time and date, set to four and a half minutes ago.
Going down the list he saw that there were multiple autosaves, each one five minutes from the other.
He wondered how to activate the save, did he ‘load’ it?
With the word load he found his surroundings changing as he relaxed back into a lying down position, the exact position he was in four and a half minutes ago.
Ha! He could load saves by saying the word load and it would go back to his most recent save! After waiting he found that he had to wait for five minutes to pass before a new save appeared after he loaded an old save.
With further experimentation he found that he could go back to an even older save by chanting back after load, with each muttering of back accounting for one save older he would go back to. However, it seemed as if he could only go as far back as 5 hours ago as his list of saves only went that far back.
He also realized that while he went back in time, he could not go forward to where he was before, and while his physical state of being was restored, his mental state was not. He realized that too much time had passed since the bomb detonated and he could not save his men that had been killed by it. His mouth went bitter as he regretted not experimenting earlier and saving his men, all he could think about back then was surviving, even at dinner he was silent with shock and feverish with his life being preserved. Heil bit his lip, he wanted to be a good leader who cared for his subordinates, not like his father’s former boss was.
Closing his eyes, he felt relief that at least when he was on the brink of death, an autosave would be loaded up.
The next day, Heil felt a lot better about his situation. With his new found power, he could, within reason, not be killed in the battlefield. He had stopped being afraid for his life and rather he was concerned over his mental state of exhaustion from fighting for so long.
He walked out of his tent to find Fian and the two other men he had saved yesterday. Although he cared about his subordinates, he had not gotten all their names just yet. It didn’t help that most of the soldiers were people of similar ages to him that had also been torn away from their lives to fight for the national army even though they might not personally support the party’s actions. You couldn’t freely travel anymore, and all those in the capital had to follow the national party’s rules.
The soldier’s disagreeable attitudes toward the war and his own displeasure led to not much socialization taking place. The men listened to what he said, but they were made to, not out of their own free will. Only Fian had warmed up to him. So although he wanted to preserve his men’s lives, he found it difficult when they didn’t give him any respect.
It was all different now though, his squad was reduced to four men, including himself. Fian and the man he shoved with him, along with the man he went back to save.
The man he went back to save was several years younger than him. He looked fresh out of high school. Sheepishly he rubbed the back of his head and glanced at Heil. Last night, he had not gotten a chance to thank Heil due to Heil being blanked out with what had happened.
“Sarge, I’d like to say,” He started, then started tearing up, “T-thank you! If you hadn’t grabbed me I would have died.”
Heil was surprised, then he smiled and knocked the shoulder of the man. “Hey, don’t mention it, I’d do what any officer would have.”
The man wiped his tears and swallowed, “Y-yes sir! I don’t think I really introduced myself before, my name is Cren, Cren Teal!”
“Nice to meet you Teal,” Heil said, “I’m looking forward to working with you.”
Fian smiled, “Sarge! I didn’t know you had super sense! You saw that bomb coming from a mile away!”
Fian’s enthusiasm didn't seem to have faded at all, Heil gave him a weak smile in response.
The other man, who was older than Fian, shuffled his feet nervously.
“Me too Sarge, thank you for saving my life.” He said, his large stature shifting alongside his feet. “The name is Private Raole,”
Heil grinned, it was good to have respectful subordinates. Suddenly he fell into deep thought, although he had no plans to make the military his career, with his new invincibility he could use his military career as a stepping stone for his civil service career. In fact, anything was achievable! He could even become a head minister! But the country was now in a state of decay and internal fighting. He could not just become a head minister that easily. He did not know how he got his power, but he would first have to use it to reunite the country together. Being a military hero might help him rise to a position inside the national party to help with that.
He grinned even wider, he knew one of the key resources to becoming successful in the military was to have capable and loyal subordinates. The men in front of him were prime candidates. He decided to groom them to help him rise, they wouldn’t betray him after he saved their lives.
“It was no problem guys, I just hope you’ll stick around long enough to see each other through thick and thin.” Heil said.
Teal smiled, “You betcha Sarge! We’ll make sure to always stick around! It’d be a shame for us to die on you now after what you did for us!”
Heil nodded and the men gathered around him. He led them away and to the food rationing tents.
It was on the supply side of the camp, made up mostly of tents that had crates of supplies under them. Anything from grenades, to guns, to ammunition.
Feeling happy leading a group of men, Heil asked the food tent worker to hand him four rations.
The private looked sad. He weakly said, “Sorry Sarge, but we’re almost out. The general said we wouldn’t get shipments until the fresh recruits arrive. He said we’re on half rations until then.”
Half! Heil’s stomach growled, but he nonetheless accepted a ration for breakfast and for lunch on the battlefield instead of one for each meal.
His men did the same. Suddenly a large shout went out. A grenade rolled toward Heil. “Watch out! I think I pulled the pin!” A voice said.
“Ahhhh!” People all around screamed and ducked, suddenly the grenade boomed and exploded.
“Autosave loaded, time returned to one minute and fifteen seconds ago.”
Heil found himself back in line, the private was telling him about half rations. He listened for a bit before turning back and seeing the private drop the grenade and it rolling toward him.
He immediately reacted, running to the grenade and kicking it away. Luckily the camp was set up in a way so that the center that the supply tents surrounded was open land and nobody was currently there.
His kick was strong and the grenade flew to the middle of the field, thirty feet from anybody, with nothing but weapon racks in the field, everyone noticed the grenade sailing through the air. Within a few seconds it exploded like before, with everyone ducking. Luckily the shrapnel from the grenade missed the soldiers. And for a few seconds everything was still.
Then everyone started clapping. Other sergeants and privates clapped Heil in the back for kicking away the grenade and saving everyone’s lives. The private who dropped it came and apologized quickly, his officer then grabbed him by the ear and pulled him away.
Fian looked at Heil with wide eyes. “Sarge! Your reflexes are godly!”
Heil laughed weakly and waved him off. In truth, he was feeling pretty great, kicking away the grenade scored him some major popularity points. If this continued, he'd have the respect of every enlisted man in the camp!
Then, Heil noticed someone who had not been paying attention. It was the backside of Lieutenant Grendian facing him! He could hear an argument going on between him and a private.
“What do you mean half rations! You already serve a meal of this quality and you say we can’t have as much as we like to make up for it!” Lieutenant Grendian was screaming.
The private raised his hands helplessly, he was freaking out due to Lieutenant Grendian’s status and his orders conflicting with the Lieutenant’s request.
“Sorry sir, here, have your rations! Take double!” The private stammered.
Grendian growled and snatched a handful of rations and stormed off.
Heil’s blood boiled! Taking more rations while your subordinates are starving! What kind of officer are you Lieutenant!
Heil’s mind was clear, this was his first target he wanted to bring down with is power!185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiYgTzH32rS
