The true scent of death

At first, the air smelled sweet and fruitful
The morning dew, laced with aromatic moss and forest humidity, disappeared under the sunrise like the ghosts in the fading mist
Diesel fuel and smoke from the burning fires slowly crept into the into the camp of soldiers, sleeping with one eye open
There was at one point, even if only for a few hours, where peace lay upon the battlefield

All was silent but the sound of flies buzzing, and crawling flesh from wet maggots under the dead men's skin
Early dawn was hot enough to lift their sweetly foul perfume of rot like the trailing remnants of the souls freshly gone from the decimated bodies
The mix of charred meat and summer decay was too strong to be masked by the moldy  mildew and sweat soaked bandannas which the gunmen wore

Cigarette smoke neutralized the smell of the neutralized; it signified the first signs of life that morning
After months of advance and retreat the only other thing that permeates their memories as much as gunfire, was the smell of snuffed out cigarette smoke
Bringing on nervousness and  anxiety; it was the only action of want that they were allowed to have within all these acts of need
Soon would be the sound of ammo being counted and steel sliding on steel from fresh magazines being loaded into their weapons
But only after the morning cigarette has been smoked

Somehow, after the countless mornings of waking up covered in their brothers blood, corpse rot and tobacco ashes was their incense of pre-fight meditation
No burning gunpowder to fill their noses and make them sting with the heat of it
No roar from the war machines and the bitter smell of crushed bone, which they indiscriminately pulverized with tons of heated steel
This was the calm before the storm
The deep inhale before the battlecry
It was pungent and sweet like the first bite of a poisonous peach
And like the poison quickly rushing through the bloodstream of a heart working twice as hard; the wind carried exhaust fumes along the warpath

The raspy stink of poisonous gasses is the last thing they smell before their minds ignored the the rubber of gas masks
Because that was the true scent or death