Man at War – Excerpt No. 203

1 April 2026

Two of his teams were assembled at what appeared to be the entrance. Given the sheer potency of the stench, his men wore gas masks.

It was preferable by far to lose some peripheral vision over being attacked while they evacuated the contents of their stomachs. That’s also why they were always in groups of three, to mitigate the risks.

The man of war felt they missed something. Ghouls were known for their network of tunnels, but a large underground complex of this size was unprecedented. Give them a hammer and they’ll try to cave your head in with it.

a surreal and vibrant cinematic photo of British soldiers lined up by a large tunnel entrance, heavily armed with rifles and pistols, and wearing gas masks, their clothing and style appropriate for 1915, set in No Man's Land at night, with a dark and ominous atmosphere, the soldiers' faces obscured by the masks, their eyes glowing in the dark, the tunnel behind them a deep and foreboding black, the scene captured in a photorealistic style with film grain, the colors muted and subdued, with hints of blue and green, the overall mood tense and foreboding, the soldiers' bodies silhouetted against the faint moonlight, their shadows cast long and sinister on the ground.

Disclaimer: This novel is an work in progress and readers may encounter grammatical errors and inconsistencies. Please view this a draft and not a published work.