Tʜᴇ Pᴀᴛʜ Tᴏ Hɪɢʜɢᴀᴛᴇs

Wʜʏ Tʜᴇ Yᴏᴜɴɢ Mᴇɴ

Cʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 4

"Es ist hier drüben!"

Your eyes snap open. Pupils dilating and sweat dripping from your skin.

Salem was on her feet already, her lips pulled back in a snarl and back arched in a long hiss. Her beautiful green eyes were trained on the door, where footsteps could be heard fast approaching. You sat up, eyes wide and blurry from just waking up, and grabbed your water bottle and container before slipping them into your leather bag. Your eyes find their way to Salem, still hissing beside you. You could hear the footsteps louder now and yelling in a language you didn't understand.

Muttering a silent prayer for your safety, you grabbed the black cat beside you, then stuffed her into your bag, only zipping it enough to leave a hole for her head. Salem loudly meowed at this but didn't try to attack you.

"Ist da jemand drin?"

Your legs automatically stood up, slinging your bag over your shoulder in the process, the grey dust beneath your feet sprung to life and fluttered around your ankles, catching the morning light as they did.

The voices sounded from the entrance of the house and you realised you had no time to spare. You turned on your heels and dashed towards the window to the kitchen, a trail of dust following after you.

It was then that a whirl sounded beside your head and something shallow hit the wall in front of you.

"Halt!"

You stopped dead. Eyes widened at the bullet hole in the wall mere centimetres from your head.

"Frau, umdrehen."

You didn't understand his words, but you knew better than to keep your back to him. Slowly, you turned your body to face the man and froze.

There were two men standing side by side together, one holding a gun to you, the other was unarmed. But both had a look of astonishment on their faces. The one with the gun lowered it and kept his pure white eyes on yours. Though both were clearly surprised, you could see that they were equally as afraid as you, if not more. Their eyes were fraught with trauma and distance, but they kept themselves together by concentrating on you.

"Was bist du?" The man with the gun asked, his voice shaking ever so delicately.

Your eyes darted from both men. Their uniform was a dusty green colour, a brown belt with various packages wrapped firmly around their buttoned-up blazers. Their pants were light and loose, tucked under brown shoes, and a hat of the same colour, which both seemed to find uncomfortable.

From your knowledge of old military uniforms, you could determine that they were German, but apart from that you were at a dead end. You spoke no German nor understood why their skin was quite like the German Empire flag.

Their skin was red, with black and white scattered in various patterns around their skin, quite like tattoos. Though they lacked pupils, you could tell that they were observing you.

"Bist du Brite?" The unarmed German cautiously inquired as he titled his head at you, and stepped forward.

You moved back, hitting the wall as you did, Salem hissed at the man from within your bag.

"I don't understand." You quietly answered him.

He stopped moving forwards and instead thought for a moment before he tried his best to speak to you again.

"Du.. machst smoke? Wir.. saw smoke. You French? British?" The unarmed soldier stammered. Keeping his eyes on you the whole time.

"I made a fire last night, is that why you're here?"