We should have all been able to go back to our guard duties since we found the perpetrators, but no such luck.
We continued pacing the streets through the night. Under the dark sky, the streetlamps illuminated the wet puddles left behind from a small passing rainstorm. The world around me looked much like a Van Gough oil painting. I was unsteady from a lack of sleep, and the roads were swirling beneath the flickering stars.
I didn’t feel much better as the sun crept over the horizon, reminding me that summer was on its way. My daze broke at the sound of marching boots in the distance. The sound was not steady like a parade of soldiers, but rather an unruly group of men running toward us.
My eyes were slow to blink as a herd of Czechoslovakian soldiers rushed toward the church we were standing before. They were after us for finding their assassins; it was the only thing that made sense. This was the battle our commanding officers saw coming. We were playing pieces in their game of chess.
Weapons were firing. A hand-to-hand combat fight was imminent, and I stood frozen in the square. My instinct led me toward the church. If I could find a gully near an underground door, I could sit with my rifle and protect myself. I had no desire to kill for the sake of winning this battle. I only wanted to stay alive. I knew I was a poor representation of the German soldiers, but I no longer cared.
I found a hole next to the basement entrance of the church. I could see most of what was happening, and the rest of my men were in the thick.
I was a coward.
"Charlie," a whisper sounded like a scream while under fire. I turned in every direction, seeking the source. Claude appeared from behind me, crunching down on the stone step above mine. "What are you doing over here, brother?"
"Hiding," I told him truthfully.
"We should be fighting, ja?" Claude was covered in dirt as if he had been in a trench. He reeked of gunpowder, and I was afraid to ask where he had been.
"What are we fighting for?" I asked him in return.
"Our lives," Claude said.
"Our lives don’t matter anymore. Can’t you see?"
A look of defeat swam through Claude’s crestfallen eyes. "You’re right, brother."
"Just stay here until things cool down," I told him. My advice was not sound. We could both end up in trouble, as this was the equivalent of turning our backs on the others.
"I cannot do that," Claude said. "We’re here to do a job, Charlie. If we are caught hiding, we will be treated much like the enemy."
I wanted to grab onto Claude’s arm and pull him deeper into the hole I was situated within. The thought of a time when we were young kids came to mind.
Our mothers were shouting for us. It was supper time, but Claude and I were hiding, hoping we could prolong our playtime. We were giggling behind a tree, our forefingers pressed against our lips while we peeked around the trunk. "They’re coming," Claude whispered as our mothers walked into sight.
"Shh, maybe they won’t see us here."
"You boys are about to be in a lot of trouble," Claude’s mother shouted at us.
Claude moved first, more fearful of his mother than I was of mine. "We’re here, mother," he called.
"Claude Louis Taylor, we talked about this, sohn," she continued shouting.
"I’ll see you tomorrow, brother," Claude said while waving goodbye.
Claude’s blonde hair flew above his ears as he ran through the tall grass toward his mother. It felt like it might be an eternity before I would see Claude again.
Just as I couldn’t hold Claude back while we were children, I couldn’t keep him back from defending our country at that moment. "I’ll see you in a bit, brother," he said, waving me off.
Claude’s blonde hair flapped against his cap as he ran toward the gunfight.
Don’t go, Claude.
A cold sweat covered every inch of my body, clothed or not. There were so many bullets flying in the near vicinity, but I couldn’t see where they were coming from. I sat still, watching smoke billow as the air filled with the smell of powdery smoke.
Claude didn’t make it more than thirty feet.
A bullet struck him, but I didn’t know where. All I knew was my best friend, my brother, was taken down. I had to help him. My heart felt like the heaviest part of my body as I moved toward Claude, watching in every direction. There was no possibility of keeping myself out of the firing range, but that didn’t matter at the moment. I needed to save Claude—if it wasn’t too late.
