Birdsong :: zalfie

6

The next morning, I was sent to lieutenant colonels office, for 'urgent' news.

I lightly knocked on the door and stepped inside.

"Someone said you wished to see me, sir." I told the man, who lazily slouched in his chair, sorting out pieces of paperwork on his desk.

He stood up as he noted my presence.

"Ah yes, Mr Deyes. I am afraid we are running low on soldiers who are willing to go underground in the tunnels."

He takes off his hat and scratches his head.

"Therefore, I am sending you down there with them."

I can almost feel my whole body tremble as I find myself violently shaking my head.

"Si-Sir I cannot go down there."

He looks up at me over the top of his glasses, raising his eyebrows at my sudden nervous state.

I continue to somehow convince him.

"I go through basic training with them. I tell them what to avoid, how to evacuate fast and safely, I even hold them and attempt to comfort as they die in my arms but for gods sake sir, is that not enough?!"

Despite my emotional ranting, he just stares right through me, and clears his throat.

"You will go down with them. They are expecting you to join them in precisely ten minutes. You are dismissed."

And with that, I am forced to face one of my worst nightmares.

And I drag my trembling body to the top of the tunnels, where a group of twenty nervous looking soldiers, were waiting for me.

And amongst them was Joe.

I stand behind him, he has his head bowed down, his floppy fringe hanging down over his closed eyes.

He's praying.

I then watch as the men start to climb down the rusty ladder that lead to the underground, one by one.

I find myself climbing down last, clinging onto the ladder with my clammy hands, down into the darkness.

Once I reach the ground, I hear the deep, rugged voice of a man who I assumed was taking charge.

"Now stay quiet. We stick together, don't go wandering off. Just follow the person in front of you. And just in case, when I say attack, you attack. Understood?" He whispers, a majority of the boys nod, and we begin moving.

And we crawl, and crawl, and crawl for what feels like ages.

Until, we start to hear a muffled noise on the other side of the walls.

We stop.

Holding our breaths.

We watch as the captain leans his ear against the wall, motioning for us to keep silent.

And it happens so quickly.

The noises get louder and louder, until it was more that obvious that the voices we were hearing were foreign, and they were getting closer.

And the noise of footsteps in front of us gets louder and louder and...

"Get back. Get back!"

We rise to our feet, and grasp our weapons as we are confronted with a group of fierce German soldiers that come bounding round the corner, towards us.

"Attack!"

And I can hardly concentrate as all I can hear is the sound of my pounding heartbeat and my gun keeps slipping out of my sweaty hands and there are clouds of dust surrounding us as several guns go off from both sides and I can't see and Im being pushed around and I can hardly breathe and-