Turning around towards the two, Don and Paul. I feel around myself checking my body, my back, my legs, everything. Checking for burn marks, scaring anything that showed what happened to me was real.
"What's wrong?"
Don says with a confused look on his face. Looking at me like I'm the grim reaper. Or a crazy man.
I do a double take. Looking around my surroundings again. The bodies there, covered in dirt and wounds. There are also weapons, short weapons around the length of my leg. Some with straps held tight onto the men or women holding them for battle now, of no use to them. Looking back up at them.
'What the f*ck.'
The area that the men will be coming from are building this time almost fully built. The side of the structure is the only thing falling apart. Crumbling slowly from the side.
"Grab a gun..."
I look between the both of them:
"…Don, Paul. Two people will be coming here now to kill us. If we don't hurry we will all died a death that.. that will f*cking suck."
They're faces looking at me like I'm a mad man. Or just plain insane. Like, instead of becoming part of the experiment I should have been put in a psych ward. In a different place. Somewhere but here.
I leap down trying to pry a weapon off of the body that's around us. A person unable to tell the gender the race. Hell, can't even figure out what side he's on because everything is burnt but the gun, though not in peak condition it can still work, I think.
The weapon is a small gun that John taught me about. It was called an MP-40. Told me it was a "reliable weapon", a gun that was used a lot throughout the times of world war one and two.
I check it. Wiping dust off the MP-40. Looking around it. No rust, some burn marks but that's enough for now.
"Keith, what the hell are you talking about? And what the hell are you doing?"
Don speaks up.
"Don grab a damn gun. I'll tell you everything later but for now I need you to grab a gun and help me. There will be two men coming soon. I'm going to run over to the side of that building, hide and ambush them."
"What?"
Once again he answers me with a surprised look. So I get up, putting a burnt strap over my head right before it snaps. I look down at the strap, holding it up with my hand. The strap is practically burnt damn near to a crisp. Like heavily cooked bacon. I drop the strap letting it fall to my legs while still attached to the gun, not for long.
I move up to him close enough to, and low enough so that Paul doesn't here him. My mouth close to his ear. One hand holding the gun from the grip, facing the weapon down in case of a misfire. The other hand on his shoulder to support him.
"You came here to kill Paul…
Taking a few steps back, I kneel down and grab another weapon, one that the other side has the large gun that, they had strapped to themselves:
…but for now that can wait because we will die if we don't get ourselves to safety."
Hearing me he standing there dazed, and with slight frustration or anger, can't really tell the difference, but for now it will do.
'I'll have to clear up the understanding soon.'
"Come on man, I'm not sure how long until people will come but I know if we don't do something we die."
Grabbing a rifle from the ground, he does the same thing I did, checking trigger, ammunition and if it still works. The rifle, Don picked was just like the ones that the enemy was using.
"Where will they be coming from?"
Don doesn't look up from checking out his rifle. The body he's taking it off of is heavily ridden with wounds, some gunshot wounds and different bruises.
Body is female and a beautiful one if she wasnt covered in dirt. Dark hair and freckles or dirt, not really sure, her eyes are closed.
One hand on a rifle, the rifle that is now in the hands of Don. Other hand clutching a photo, with her hand balled into a fist.
I reach down, putting down the gun, hunching over, with my hand outstretched. Grabbing for the picture in her hand. Opening her hand, cold hand, her heavy, cold hand that has dirt covering it, going along the side of her fingers and inside her finger nails.
Grabbing the photo, the photo is crumbled into a ball. Only able to barely see the white side, the outer part of the photo. Just like her hand, it's covered in dirt.
Opening it the photo shows dirt, dust and three people. A man, a small girl, and the woman. The man holding the small girl, a giant smile on the girls face and the man's face. The woman kissing him on the cheek. Even though she can't have a seen smile I can understand that she is... that she is happy.
This is life, nothing one's life during a war ever feels good or ever gets changed. People place it on a perdistal that after war the winner gets to live a happy life but no one does.
No one is a winner during or after war.
The back, which I didn't pay enough attention to, has writing on it, horrible penmanship, it says...
"Come back safe Mommy, We love you."
I can feel the tears welling up in my eyes.
"Keith what direction will the people be coming from? We need to get ready."
I shake my head getting out the thoughts of her life and the troubling thoughts she had before she had passed. Thinking about her family.
"From the to buildings over there..."
The building not to far from where we are at. We are mostly just in a street.
"...the men will come there the alley here. If they see us with the guns they will shoot on sight."
Looking down at the bodies once again. I see the clothes, they're the same cloths that the men were wearing. I glance quickly between Paul who looks Like them, and the cloth they are wearing.
"Paul grab a pair of that guys cloths and put it on. Hurry I don't know how much time we have."
Paul now grabbing cloths off of the bodies that match his height and weight. It difficult for him but he finds one. Putting it on.
"Stand at the entrance of this passage and when you see them tell them you saw men run through but couldn't catch them by yourself."
He nods his head. Now he just stands there but he looks to weird just standing there. His body look awkward, like a nervous scarecrow.
There are still a few guns. I take one that would match the guns that the men were using and give it over to Paul. Don looks at me giving me a disapproved look, while he start standing behind the building waiting for the men to come through. Now I'm getting in place.
I start hearing people talk. Once again in the language I couldn't understand. The men will be here soon. Don shows hand gestures to me from his side.
Best way to describe it. Putting up two fingers, he makes it walk, half way through the walk he puts his other finger up. Like a gun, and he nudges it up, indicating to shoot. Really what he's saying is:
"When they come through here, shoot and they'll drop dead."
That really is essentially what he said, using the finger puppets.
I think they finally see Paul because they start calling out, saying "Hey." That's the only English they speak ever. Paul runs off, like a f*cking idiot. That wasn't the plan, but it seems to work.
Rushing footsteps are heard between Don and I, that signals us to get ready. The gun is now up on eye level with my finger on the trigger. Don drops to a knee, i have no idea why but I hope he knows what he's doing.
Soon, two men break into our line of sight. It feels like time slows down as they slowly make eye contact with us. Unprepared, unknowingly about to die thinking they were going to just chase down another soldier in arms. The one leading the charge and that was on Don's side was Mole face I could tell because, well the mole on his face.
I pull the trigger, same as Don. We both shot them my gun was leveled just enough to the point were the gun shot him right through the head. Killing the soldier in an instant. Not the same for Don, his shot the other soldier's legs, both, it went right through both of it.
Both soldier's dropped down. One, died blood slowly gushing out of his head wound, the blood splurging out of his head like a Tarantino film, but not as exaggerated. Other soldier landed on his face with his gun dropping and unlike his comrade who had his strap around him, his gun went flying a few good yards away from him.
Securing the gun off the dead body of the guy that was previously shoving me non-stop before. Don grabs Mole up off of his face and sits him down on the wall where he was previously sitting.
"You speak English?"
Don starts questioning Mole. Touching his body to feel if he has any more weapons or a radio. Anything that, by my thought, could give us away to the enemy.
Mole spits in his face then starts speaking fast and aggressively, in his foreign language.
'Still regretting not paying more attention for the classes during that course Ms. Rose made me take.'
"Yes, he—."
I'm interrupted by Don as he starts speaking in the same language as Mole. Mole gives him a surprised look but smiles, a small curve of his lip type of smile.
"Your German is sh*t!"
He once again says as he spits, once again, on Don. Nearly pushing him over the edge. Honestly surprised he didn't at least punch him by now.
"How many men are with you?"
Don starts interrogating him, but I don't think it will be to easy. Mole seems pretty intelligent and a little durable.
"Enough to kill you and your little b*tch here."
Now I'm mad, not enough to hurt him but just mad.
He starts laughing:
"How many?"
He starts laughing, and that seems to push Don over the edge, sends a quick clean punch to his jaw. Blood flies out. Some land on the wall he's sitting on most on the ground. His face is away from us toward the direction his face went when he got punched.
He starts laughing, then I hear a crunch come from his mouth and apparently so does Don because he spins him in our direction. Moles face starts turning red and his mouth starts foaming. His upper body starts convulsing heavily.
Don reaching into his mouth but repeatedly get bitten making him quickly pull it back out. He starts bringing his face down pointing it to the ground but it's to late. He slowly stops moving his face now instead of red now a different hue of purple.
"He's dead, Keith."
'God this is gonna be hard.'