Dreams and Thoughts - 1917

8 - The Waters Below

Up the stairs there was a door leading to the outside. He didn't have any idea how long he was in there... it couldn't have been long.

Yet, it felt like an eternity. 

Out the door he heard the fire still loudly raging, its orange flare glowing through the cloth over the door window. He slowly opened the door to another narrow street, which was covered in rubble from the destroyed houses around the area. 

He remembered the direction she had pointed out and began walking toward it. Nonetheless, he soon became lost anyway and was met by a crossroads. He tried to remember the directions, yet couldn't for the life of him think of them.

Out of nowhere, a German soldier stumbles out a door down the street, a few glass bottles rattling as they followed him out. His distinct helmet revealed his identity immediately, so Will hid behind a doorway. However, he heard nothing but the soldier heaving and drunkenly vomiting - a good sign. 

He peered over and saw the soldier letting the contents of his stomach spill out onto the ground, a disgusting scene that made Will lean back over behind the doorway. He turned and saw that the building he was in was large, with a small wood fire burning on the other side, presumably where the German was drinking.

He made his way across silently, his rifle held in wait for any surprises. Yet when a surprise came in the form of another German soldier walking parallel to him, buttoning his trousers after using the bathroom, Will could do nothing.

He turned and looked the soldier in the eye. He was around his age, maybe a bit younger, with a sharp, handsome face and blond hair. His eyes were widened in fear just as Will's were.

Will made the first move, pushing him over to a pillar and covering his mouth. The soldier struggled, but eventually stopped when the Englishman made 'shhh' sounds. After a few moments of staring, Will made another long 'shhhhh' before nodding to see if he understood, to which the German nodded back.

He didn't want to kill the German soldier. He'd killed enough of them that day and that was only 2. He saw how similar the soldier was to him... in another life, he'd probably be friends with him. But that wasn't the case then.

As he let his hand off of his mouth, the young German turned his head to his fellow soldier and yelled, "Engländer!"

With haste, Will grabs the soldier to try and hush him once more, but his opponent fights back harder this time. He soon gains the advantage, pushing Will to the ground and him following. The two continue to struggle until the soldier manages to pull a knife from his scabbard, about to stab him until his arm is held back by the Englishman.

He drops the knife after a few moments, and Will regains the initiative and turns the two over until he is on top. He hears the other drunken soldier from minutes earlier begin to walk back in, however, and quickly attempts to finish off the fight. 

It was to the death... it had to be.

He took his hands and wrapped them around the German's neck in hopes of suffocating him, the struggle continuing as he clawed and grabbed at his arms. 

The stockier German began speaking in a drunken spiel at his fellow countryman, looking around the fire and rummaging through a few empty bottles for a new alcoholic drink but finding none.

The younger soldier continues to struggle with Will, but remains subdued by the Englishman as he begins to lose consciousness. In one final attempt at fighting back, the German kicks and punches weakly at his chest, but without any avail. He soon grows silent and his breaths stop.

"Baumer?" The soldier from the campfire asks, revealing the expired soldier's name. Will quickly got up and began running, pushing the stocky soldier along the way and sprinting out of the building down the street. He could hear the German call out, "Engländer! Engländer!" alerting every other soldier in the direct vicinity.