Summer Offense

Chapter Three

I take an Army jeep to my base, take all of my crap from my office, and stuff it in the jeep. Oscar decided to help out with all of my stuff and then grab his crap. He ran to his old office and took one thing out of it, an old train toy that had been burnt up badly. "Why the hell do you carry a train with you?" I say to him. "Memories....just memories" he says and stuffs it into the bag. We arrive at the headquarters in Moscow and ask to be reassigned. The officer nods, then asks a question. "Is there any unit specifically that you would like to join?" I look over at Oscar, who shrugs and motions for me. "Uh..." I think carefully, then remember Stalingrad.

"Ivanovich, sir. Captain Ivanovich." The officer adjusts himself in his chair and opens a file cabinet. He searches it, then takes out a folder. "Your friend doesn't seem to be a captain anymore." He says as he looks through the folder. I look at the officer with a befuddled look. "Why? Did he leave the service?" I say, wondering why he would leave. Maybe it was Stalingrad. What he saw there could've been his ticket to leave. "No." The officer says. "He was simply promoted to Major." I sigh a relief. "Where is he now?" I say while looking over at Oscar. The officer keeps searching through the folder, then takes out a paper. "Poland, he is located in a town that he turned into a forward operating base."
I turn back to the officer. "Thank you." I say, then turn back to Oscar. "Is it okay with you?" I say. He shrugs again, then speaks. "I don't see why I can't become a field medic." I smile at Oscar, then turn back to the officer. "When do we leave?" The officer places the papers back in the folder and tucks the folder back into the file cabinet. "Tonight, around 07:00 hours. Good luck." He says. Then he hears a phone bell ring. Oscar and I walk out of the building and back to my house for a while until the transport was ready to pick us up. When we got there, there were many people in the transport, Oscar had to squish himself between two of the soldiers. I just dangled off the side of the truck like Zakov did in Stalingrad.
The truck started moving, and I hoped we would make it to Ivanovich without getting shot by the Germans. I cheered for my comrades and swung from side to side off the truck. Oscar wasn't pleased, and he just fell asleep in the truck. The ride was long and bumpy, with the occasional gunfire in the distance. I heard an explosion from under the truck, and I thought it was a mine for a split second. Oscar had been woken up as well, and stood up in the truck. "It's fine, everyone. Just a flat!" He yelled and called for some help. Two soldiers walked up to him from the truck and helped him with the tire. I watched as they completely fixed it, then started rolling once more.

An explosion threw me off the truck and into the air. I was flying for a moment until I landed in a bunch of bushes head-first. I held my head where it had been hit, and I hoped I didn't have a concussion. I looked around for the truck through the thickness of the woods. Plain as daylight, the truck was turned on its side with a gaping hole in its front. The truck was on fire and was spreading quickly. The screams of men on fire filled the evening air as many burst out of the wreckage. "Oscar!" I yelled. No response. I quickly stood up and ran towards the truck. The truck was almost completely on fire at this point, so I felt like I was running towards hell instead of a truck.

"Oscar!" I yelled again. I made it to the truck and threw debris out of my way. After fumbling with the debris, I found him under another soldier, who unluckily was killed in the blast. "Oscar, we've been hit! Come on!" I held his coat and dragged him away from the wreckage and into the bush. He had scratches all over his body, and his helmet was crushed by the falling debris. "It's going to be okay!" I said, taking off his coat and staring at the wounds. He grabs his coat and fumbles with it, searching for something. He takes out a bottle full of some sort of liquid from his pocket and opens it. He then pours some out onto his wounds. "Anti-bacterial, comes in handy sometimes." He says as he puts the bottle back in his coat pocket.
"We have to keep moving." I say, helping him to his feet. "Can you walk?" He nods as he picks up his crushed helmet. "That could've been my head..." He says, staring at the helmet. He puts it on, then signals for me to get moving. We walk along the street that we were driving on until we saw a creek. Then we stopped for a quick rest by the creek. I scooped up some water from the creek and threw it all over my face. Oscar sat down on the dirt road and watched me as I washed my face. It was kind of creepy, but I didn't mind. While I was still rinsing my face, I heard the sound of footsteps on dirt. Oscar heard it too, and he instinctively reached for his pistol. I unholstered my gun as well, and held it by my side.
Russian soldiers were walking along the creek Oscar and I had decided to rest by. One of them saw us and started running towards us. I put my gun back in it's holster as the soldier kneeled down beside me. "What are you doing here?" The soldier said. I just sat there, not knowing what to say. "It's fine." I heard someone saying within the squad of soldiers. The voice was very familiar, and I knew who it was right away. Ivanovich walked up to me and helped me up. "Your friend okay?" He said, motioning to Oscar. "He'll be fine." I say and pat Ivanovich on the shoulder. He swipes my hand off his shoulder. "We better get moving, it will be dark soon." He says. Ivanovich, Oscar and I, along with a squad of soldiers, start making our way to the headquarters.