The Wars

Mines explode and shake the earth. Robert wakes up in pain in the darkness of the devastated dugout. The “pounding of the guns” (104) begins and the roof starts to collapse. Levitt helps excavate Robert, Rodwell, and the caged animals. Poole is missing; Levitt is “suffering from shock” (105) and asks Robert not to swear. Robert and Rodwell are finally pulled free. The animals have all survived. As Rodwell lights candles, Levitt asks him not to with “an edge of craziness in his voice that sounded dangerous” (106). Robert digs through the collapsed hut for Poole. When Levitt complains that Robert is making a mess, Rodwell strikes him, causing Levitt to flee the dugout. Twelve minutes after the mines explode, they continue to dig. Robert is about to give up when a voice appears beside him and asks who they are trying to find. It is Poole.

Robert looks for the trench below, but it is “gone” (108), replaced by a hole. Shells thunder around and above. Robert searches desperately but the trench no longer exists and the men who had lived there are gone. He passes a dead man and frees a trapped rat.