Side By Side

28

Warnings:
-The usual.

Clay's POV

I was laying down on the ground as we crawled away so no one could see us. We were both really hurt since the adrenaline rush was wearing off now. Sapnap had way more pain than I did, but he still kept going because we knew we needed to get out of here.

I lifted myself up with one hand and sat on my knees, turning around to the house in the distance. Sapnap saw me looking and he sighed softly.

'Those poor guys...' he whispered, wincing after that from a random pain shooting through his "arm".

'I want to help them,' I replied. 'But I don't know how, it's way too risky to just take them with us and we are both wounded. We can't just sprint away easily.'

Sapnap sighed softly. 'I'm in so much pain, I don't know how long I can take this anymore.'

'You're being really strong, I'm proud of you, Sap. Please keep fighting, because-.'

A really loud scream...

I lifted myself up as I heard a gunshot coming from the house. 'SAP, IT'S THE BOYS!' I screamed as I heard a young boy cry out from the pain. This was either George or Karl and I needed to save them.

Sapnap nodded and I jumped up, running to the house since I had so much adrenaline again that I didn't feel the pain in my leg anymore. I kept running until I arrived at the house, which was luckily not too far away, seeing two soldiers from the other army laugh while pointing their guns to the secret room under the house.

I didn't hesitate any longer and loaded my weapon, shooting multiple times in a row. Both the soldiers fell down on the floor and I ran inside of the bunker, seeing Karl on the floor screaming and crying because he got shot in his arm.

His dad was taking care of him and I shook my head. 'You aren't safe here anymore. I don't know where to take you.'

'We have a secret room behind the secret room,' Karl's father yelled as he bandaged Karl's arm really strongly after he took out the bullet. He screamed loudly and I knelt down next to him, holding my hand on his mouth.

'Shut up! Now!' I hissed. 'Everyone will hear you and come to you. If they see that I shot these German guys then I'm dead and you three are too!'

Karl nodded heavily as I let go of him again.

'I know it hurts like a bitch, but you'll get through it. You need to shut up and stay as quiet as you can be. Hide in the other secret room and stay there until it's safe again. I promise you that I'll get you once this war here is over.'

They nodded heavily and I looked at the gun I got, grabbing some munition to refill it. 'Here, take this, but use it really carefully. Once the munition is gone, you can't refill it anymore. Only shoot when you have to shoot and defend yourself.'

Karl's dad nodded heavily as he laid it down and I smiled shortly at the other boy, George, who was sobbing.

'It's going to be okay,' I smiled, wiping his tears away. 'I'm coming back, I promise. If I don't come back, I will let someone else take you somewhere safe. Look at the uniforms, okay? This uniform is from the allies, that uniform is from the other side. They want you dead so DON'T go with them!'

I looked at George who nodded heavily but still had tears streaming down his face. 'It's okay,' I whispered. 'Do you have a pen and a paper?'

He reached out to get it and I wrote down my address where I used to live before the war. 'Once I'm back home, I live here. You can send me a letter if you want to. Wipe those tears away, you're too beautiful for that.'

He smiled shortly and sniffed as he grabbed a napkin to blow his nose with. 'Thank you, Clay.'

'I'm doing anything I can, I promise you,' I smiled. 'If I may die before I can get help, try to look out for these uniforms. All my fellow soldiers want to help you, okay?'

'Yes,' George answered.

'And you know... my parents didn't pass away, but I miss them so much too. I understand your pain, okay? It's different, but I do understand it. I haven't seen them in months.'

'They are so proud of you,' Karl's dad whispered. 'You're being so much braver than I would have ever been.'

I smiled at him and then leaned in to give George a tight hug. 'Stay strong, please. I don't care about your race, you're just as worthy as an American person. There's nothing wrong with being Jewish. Remember that.'

I gave him a short kiss on the top of his hair and he smiled. 'My mother used to do that.'

I ruffled his hair up and then stood up. 'I will come back and otherwise I will ask for help. If I die, look out for the people with this uniform. If you aren't sure, don't move or talk.'

'Okay,' they replied as I turned around and stumbled away. I ran out of the house and saw Sapnap curled up on the floor. He was in a lot of pain and I ran closer to him as I suddenly saw a grenade flying through the air.

'CLAY! WATCH OUT!' Sapnap screamed as he jumped up to grab me. I managed to get away but the explosion sound was so incredibly loud that I heard a ringing sound in my ears. Everything sounded muffled and I had a really bad headache out of nowhere, being too confused to understand why.

Sapnap was suddenly crawling away, but I didn't hear what he was saying to me. I tried to lift myself up and turned around to see what he was pointing at.

My eyes got bigger when I saw another grenade next to me. I lifted myself up and crawled away as fast as I could, but it was already too late. I didn't hear the explosion anymore, my ears started ringing really loudly and I felt someone grab my shoulders as all the lights went out.

My muscles got weak and I closed my eyes as I fell into a deep sleep, hoping I'd ever wake up from it again...

1086 words