Frontlines

It was a cold, snowy day and German artillery was targeting the trench. I turned to the soldier sitting next to me; he had a look of fear: the fear you only see in times of war. His look was the same as the rest of the soldiers, all the same look of fear. I stared at him for a moment but the silence was broken by the artillery firing almost directly next to us.
I then heard that the general called us to charge the German trench. Most of us thought it was suicide. The general also ordered the tank divisions to back us up in the charge. I knew it was going to be the death of me. I went and grabbed my rifle and some grenades, then I rejoined the group. The charge was fast and swift; most of our soldiers died and the Germans only lost about 745 troops. At this point, the general already ordered us to charge the German trench 2 or 3 times.   
I bolted to the general’s quarters to tell him that we had lost too many troops for another charge, but once I got there, I saw a soldier standing over his lifeless body. I was going to yell for backup but the soldier covered my mouth before I could. He began to speak German. 
He said, “Move and I shoot. You run, I shoot, even if I blow my cover.”
I stared into his bright blue eyes. He had the eyes of a man plagued by terror and the horrors of war. He stared at me, then looked back to see if any other soldiers had arrived, but there was no one. He stared longingly at the entrance of the general’s quarter. He sighed in relief then turned his gaze to me. 
In an uninterested voice he said, “I’m taking you to the German military base for questioning and if you don’t give us what we want, then you’re dead.”
I was frozen by what he said. I always thought that I would die to an unknown person’s bullet, something I couldn’t even see, not someone in clear view. He pointed his Mauser C96 towards a wall. I didn’t get it at first, but then he moved a few sandbags and it revealed a secret tunnel. I walked forward with the same fear of the soldiers on the surface, fighting. 
As I walked, he asked me my name.
I looked at him and I responded, “Why do you care?”
The man retorted, “Because I want to know the name of the man I captured.”
“Friedrich Peter,” I responded.
“So you are a German,” the man said. “Why don’t you fight for Germany?”
“I don’t know,” I groaned.
Heinrich whispered, “You don’t know. How interesting.” 
“What’s your name?” I asked.
“Heinrich von Müller,” Heinrich said, feeling proud.
I responded, “I can’t say it’s nice to meet you, Heinrich von Müller.”
Heinrich looked at me then back to the muddy, rat-infested ground. As he was staring at the ground, another soldier walked toward us. 
With a look of bliss in his eyes, he asked, “Is this the enemy commander?”
“No,” replied Heinrich, “but it is a soldier.” 
“Heinrich, I ordered you to capture the enemy’s commander, not just some random 
soldier!” the commander yelled.
Heinrich responded, “Sir, with all due respect, you never ordered me to capture an enemy commander. All you said was he was a German in the British Army.”
The high-ranking German officer looked at me, then back to Heinrich. The happiness in his eyes faded to disappointment; he was clearly upset by Heinrich not listening to the orders given to him. 
The commander continued, “Whatever. It's too late to go back now.” 
“Yes, sir,” said Heinrich.
“By the way, what are you planning to do with this man, Heinrich?” asked the commander.
Heinrich responded, “I don’t know.”
“You know you are a pain to deal with,” said the commander, angered.
Heinrich looked at the officer then back to me. He asked the officer,“Where is the Büssing A5P?” asked Heinrich.
The commander responded, “Take a left. It should be somewhere around there.”
After that, Heinrich gave a forced salute to the officer and began to walk towards where an armored car should be. Suddenly he stopped and was staring at something. In confusion, I asked what he was staring at, but he remained silent. 
Heinrich stood, paralyzed with fear, his eyes filled with more fear than the soldiers on the surface. As Heinrich was frozen with fear, I then heard the sound of footsteps followed by a clicking sound. I looked past Heinrich and spotted a pale, white, humanoid creature, squatting, ripping, and tearing at a German soldier’s rotting body. As it lifted its head, I could see where its eyes should have been, covered over with flesh. Its mouth was covered in blood, flesh dangling from its fangs. I stepped back in horror of what I saw. 
Heinrich began to pull out his Mauser C96 and walked slowly toward the creature. When Heinrich was halfway to the creature, it looked up at him, stared at him even without eyes. He felt as if it could see him. Heinrich, in fear, decided to run, but as soon as he started running, the creature caught up to him, and in a flash, picked him up with little effort.
As I watched Heinrich be ripped and torn, I thought to myself, is this how I die? Why did I even join this war!?
I fell to my knees and stared at the creature standing over Heinrich’s lifeless body. I watched it grab onto his head then bite into his throat. Standing frozen in fear, I watched everything, and as I watched, I thought to myself, what is this thing? Is it a demon, a human, or just some kind of undiscovered creature?
I began to walk slowly and quietly away from the scene, but it heard my footsteps and walked over. As it got closer, I accepted that I would most likely die. 
As it crept closer, I felt it walk past me. I opened my eyes a little and I saw its ears twitch, listening to every little thing. As I felt its hand run over my forearm, it began to twitch and scream uncontrollably. It’s calm demeanor was lost to screams and cries of anger. I watched it turn as fast as possible towards me; now I was face-to-face with the beast. I could tell it was staring at me, but its missing eyes made it impossible to see.
As it stood still, I heard it snarl under its long exhales. I smelled dried blood coming from its mouth. I went to grab a pistol I took off of a corpse and pointed it at the beast’s head, but it simply grabbed it. Feeling to see what the new object was. I watched its long fingers wrap around the gun. As I pulled the trigger, its screams echoed through the underground tunnels. As it screamed with pain and anger, it slashed at my side, ripping through my uniform. I cried out in pain, and as I felt my blood swell up and leave my body, I fired my gun one more time, finishing off the creature. As it fell to the ground, I fell to the ground.
I heard footsteps running through the tunnels and people yelling. I saw German soldiers run into view. I watched as they stopped after seeing the dead creature, the terror on their face amusing after all that had happened. The last thing I saw before closing my eyes was the troops circling around me, all of them unsure of how to react to the situation.
Category:Monsters
Category:History
Category:Military