Minseok’s heart was pounding as he loaded his gun. This was it; today was the day, he’d been told, when his regiment would enter into the war.

“Company, form up!” Minseok straightened as if his company commander had jabbed him. Next to him, Jongdae, his cousin, did the same, as well as every other member of his company. Within moments they were forming their practiced lines. Pheromones and societal roles already made it hard for omegas to disobey the express order of an alpha… so much more so in the army.

They were at war with the Lu Kingdom. Minseok, nor any of the other omega soldiers, had never been told why they were at war or what they were fighting for. They were at war, the soldiers of the Lu army would be trying to kill them. Be the last one standing, that’s all they needed to know. How to kill members of the opposing army and defend themselves. It was the officer’s jobs to know what was really going on, the alphas and betas. The foot soldiers, they were plentiful, expendable.

Omegas.

They weren’t even given proper uniforms. That was the kicker, what really told them how useless they were to their commanders: they weren’t even given any kind of mark of the kingdom they were being told to fight and die for. Even the animals brought along to be killed for meat along the campaign trail had the brand of the king… Minseok had his own dirt stained tunic and rapidly wearing pants, and shoes that were almost useless. That was it. Some of the omegas were lucky enough to have hats, but all that protected Minseok’s head from the sun was his own hair.

It was already a curse to be born as an omega in their kingdom; they were so plentiful that even in the upper class they were distained, useful only for securing family ties with marriages. The peasant class… even the delicate ones were used for hard labor. The alphas and betas didn’t care if they died on the job, and walked past even pregnant omegas homeless in the streets. Minseok and Jongdae had been lucky: they were born on a farm, and while the work was hard, the country was better than the cities for omegas, by a long shot.

The morning was cool in the way that promised anything from mild rain to a thunderstorm later in the day. Cool but more than a little humid, the sky overcast but not overly dark. The humidity was unwelcome, at least for Minseok who thought he sweated enough without it, but the coolness was just fine. The slight breeze made it even better. All in all, good weather to die under.

They knew without a doubt that they were going to die. They, as in the collective company. The general thought was that the country omegas would last longer and maybe a few of them would make it out alive (Sanghyuk, tall, broad, and with muscles that made him look almost like an alpha, was proclaimed the most likely) but they knew that most of them would be killed within the first few minutes. Their company commander was not a patient alpha, and he’d done little more than teach them how to not shoot or stab each other in the back and move in formation well enough to not embarrass him. Other companies in their regiment were thought to be luckier (Captain Cha was patient enough to be a school teacher and his company were probably the best out of the whole regiment and everyone figured they’d all make it out alive) but by and large, they knew the score.

For a quick moment, as they lined up in formation, Jongdae and Minseok each took a hand off of their bayonets and held each other’s hands. They’d been born in the same house, had lived and worked on the same field, and would now die in the exact same battle. It was fitting for the two of them. They’d reached acceptance. Many of the omegas in the regiment were still angry, but Minseok and Jongdae had passed that stage during their minimal training.

“Let’s stay together, okay?” Jongdae whispered.

Minseok nodded.

“Move out!” the company commander shouted, in unison with the other commanders of the regiment, and, as one, they began to move.

They could look impressive parading, if nothing else.

Company by company, the entire regiment began to march. A regiment rather than a battalion; the king was hoping to be impressive and intimidating. Two thousand omegas; from far away, and downwind as they were, they’d just look like two thousand bodies, all marching at once. It didn’t matter that they had barely had enough training to know how to not kill each other on accident; when alphas were having to step over homeless peasant omegas in the street, the king could afford the loss of even the entire regiment.

“Byun! Stop looking around!” Their company commander barked orders at them as he rode alongside the parade on horseback.

“Han! Keep your hand on your bayonet!”

“Kim!” About two lines of people jolted. “Minseok! Feet up, dammit!”

Minseok tried to correct himself, but the soles of his shoes were coming off and it was difficult.

But their commander didn’t call him out again, and rode farther back down the parade.

“PARK! YOU’RE OUT OF STEP!”

There was a small commotion from several lines behind Minseok as several people all tried to correct themselves unnecessarily. Minseok didn’t dare turn around to look.

Two thousand pairs of marching feet. Several dozen horses walking alongside. Even walking through grass, they made a lot of noise. The dirt the grass grew on was dusty and flew up easily, kicked up by the thousands of feet and the breeze that rustled the grass and nearby trees. Next to Minseok, Jongdae coughed, and Minseok felt his eyes water, blinking rapidly as dust flew up into them. His braid felt heavy between his shoulder blades, and he was starting to sweat, his tunic sticking to his skin.

Marching… marching… a mile, maybe two. Minseok’s knees hurt from having to pick them up higher to accommodate his nearly broken shoes, and he was sweating enough that the sweat ran down from his face into his tunic, making the tunic stick to his skin even more than it already was. He could feel that the worn spot, one of many, between his thighs on his pants had finally turned into a hole, and now that spot on his right thigh was rapidly chaffing and tender where it rubbed against the material of his other pant leg.

And then the direction of the wind changed slightly, and Minseok could see several people in front of him almost double over, stumbling at the overpowering smell of alphas. Alphas, betas… the Lu’s army was nearby. Minseok almost stopped from the sheer weight of it, like a punch in the gut, as if the scent had a presence in itself.

“STAY IN FORMATION!” Their own alpha company commander was unrelenting, and his omegas obeyed, even if all half of them wanted to do was lay down in the dirt.

They came close enough that Minseok could see them. The Lu kingdom had sent a battalion, eight hundred alphas and betas to their own two thousand omegas. But the Lu battalion wouldn’t be able to tell, in this brief calm before the storm, that the entire regiment of foot soldiers were omegas. This would be the only time they might be at all intimidated.

“Company halt!” Minseok’s company commander yelled out, and they all stopped at once.

Company by company, the regiment took shape. The unease, coming off both armies, could be cut with a knife it was so potent and thick.

Two armies, standing on opposite ends of the clearing. For a moment, everything was quiet. The wind rustled the trees, picking up enough to make the smaller ones groan with movement. The grass sounded like a large group of people whispering, waiting to see what would happen and speculating on who would live and who would die. The braids of the soldiers moved in the wind, brushing against their shoulder blades or coming undone and sending hair flying into faces. The clouds were silent, but moving, witnesses.

Both armies watched each other, both intimidated by the other, but for entirely different reasons. If they had been close enough to see each other’s faces, they would have been at least mildly comforted that the fear was mutual.

Finally, the call to attack came from commanders of the regiment. Some companies flew forward obediently, spurred on by training and a probably misplaced sense of loyalty; others needed the encouragement of their commanding officer’s gun.

Minseok’s right shoe fell apart completely and came off his foot as he ran forward in his line. He kept running, he’d be trampled or shot if he stopped, but he realized the hard way that there were also plenty of rocks in the dirt beneath the grass. Within only a few strides, he felt the sharp, tell-tale pain that told him his foot was bleeding, whether from a particularly sharp rock or a fallen blade, Minseok couldn’t tell.

Jongdae grabbed Minseok’s hand when Minseok began to stumble. Dirt was getting into the cuts on his foot and there were small, sharp, pieces of rocks beginning to embed themselves and it hurt enough to bring tears to his eyes.

Minseok could see the clashing point between the two armies rapidly getting closer. The Lu army hadn’t had the chance to really take in the omega scent, and they still looked a little panicked, but omegas were dropping like grass under a scythe. He let out a terrified whimper when he saw Baekhyun, one of their tent mates, crumple to the ground. He didn’t see any blood, so he didn’t think the kid was dead, but he could never be sure.

“Stay close to me!” Jongdae yelled to make himself heard above the cacophony of yelling and terrified shrieks and gunshots.

And in a blink, they were in the thick of it. Minseok could barely process any of it. The din of battle was so loud here. Layers of shouts, both from the foot soldiers of both armies, and the officers. The officers in the Lu battalion were fighting with their betas and alphas, the officers of Minseok’s army were hanging back for the most part, though a few of them were in the thick of things, Captain Cha being one of them. Someone shot off a gun close to him and it made his ears ring painfully.

Minseok stumbled, it was hard to do anything but stumble when one of his shoes were gone and the rocks just under the thin layer of dirt and grass were so sharp. He wasn’t next to Jongdae anymore but he could still see him. He tripped over Baekhyun, cutting his chin on a rock and scraping his hands. Minseok crawled back over to him, and checked his pulse, checked his breath.

He was alive, he was alive just unconscious.

Minseok stood, and limped closer to Jongdae, trying to keep him in his field of vision. He held in a whimper of pain; the more he moved the more his foot felt like someone was stabbing it, but there was no point in making noise about it.

He saw someone barreling towards him only a few seconds before they actually hit. Pheromones told him “alpha” just before he hit the ground.

The alpha didn’t look to be much, if at all, older than him, with a knife in his hand and a look of shock on his face. Minseok was sure the alpha could feel his heart beating frantically like a rabbit cornered by a dog.

“You’re an omega,” the alpha sounded like he was confused.

Minseok nodded frantically. He stayed completely still, his hip smarting from where he’d landed on it. Maybe, maybe, if he didn’t move the alpha wouldn’t kill him.

“You’re all omegas!” The look of shock changed to a look of horror.

Minseok nodded again. “Please…”

The alpha pushed off the ground, off of Minseok, and ran in the opposite direction, towards his commanding officer.

Minseok scrambled to his feet, and looked around quickly for Jongdae. He couldn’t see him, he wasn’t in the same direction he had been.

Minseok still hurried as best he could, dodging battling duos the entire way, in the same direction he’d been going, hoping that maybe Jongdae had just been blocked from him by the swarm of bodies.

He still couldn’t see Jongdae, but finally, finally, he heard him shout, and spun around, making his way over to him. His foot hurt so bad the pain was shooting up his leg now, but Minseok kept his momentum going. He had to get to Jongdae!

Minseok saw him just as Jongdae was shoving a Lu soldier away from him. He was sweaty, dirty, and his hair out of its braid completely, but he was unharmed.

“Jongdae!” Minseok called out to him.

Jongdae whirled around to face him, but just as quickly his look of relief changed to one of horror.

“Minseok!” he screamed as he pointed just behind him.

Minseok didn’t have time to turn around and face whatever it was before something solid hit him hard in the side of the head, shooting pain through his entire body as the world went black. 

Author's note: So, this is a super short chapter compared to the rest I have planned! The rest will be fairly longish ^^