Letters to the front

Chapter 32 - Trapped like rats

Edward 

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"Luitenant!" called Captain Ford, I spun round to see him running towards me, breathless and red cheeked from exertion. "Sir!" I said, standing to attention. 

"At ease, look some girl is banged up twenty miles from here, got news from them she's requesting you, looking at imprisonment"

"Name?" I whispered, fearful of what I knew he was about to say.

"Alice Hardwick" he said, reading the name of a scrapy piece of paper, "mean anything to you?"

"Quite a bit sir, we're courting"

"Oh, right, well we'll see if we can arrange some leave, seeing as this is an emergency"

I turned to leave but he caught my arm before I could, "you're a bright lad, Luitenant, don't throw away your future for a gutter rat" he whispered.

"Thank you for your concerns, Captain, but I can assure you they are unnessecary" he said coldly. 

The captain walked away, his large frame wobbling slightly as he walked, suggesting already he'd had too much port. 

I knew I had too go the village for supplies, but was now anxious, should something happen to me, something awful may have happened to Alice. Walking back to my quarters, hastily I shoved the nessessary equipment into my rucsack. It had to be light as I needed to fit all the new supplies in it. We needed things we couldn't get from base unless there'd been a new shipment; guns, ammunition. 

The lads were all too happy when I arrived at 19.00. All of them were looking forward to going somewhere away from the front, we were second line, so our absense would not be as difficult nor as unbearable. Setting off, we could hear shells going off on no mans land again and pitied the poor buggers venturing over the top. "Sir, do you think the war will ever end?"

In my head, i'd begun to believe it wouldn't, but for the sake of boosting morale, simply said, "It has to, doesn't it? We can't fight forever, we'll run out of money eventually"

"I'll never surrender to a bloody crout!" shouted Johnny, his voice echoed around the now silent village. "Quiet! You idiot!" I hissed, "this place is occupied, they can't know we're here"

"Calm it, as if anyone would be stupid enough to-" he never finished his sentense. He fell to the floor in an instant, his body limp and lifeless. My knees buckled and I collapsed beside him, beseeching my friend to live, Johnny may have been an arse, but he'd been my friend. I was aware of Alaistair pulling me away, and I shouted and struggled, but another of them grabbed my other arm, pulling me to safety.

We hid in a burnt out shop as outside a hail of bullets rained down. I could hear shouts from all directions, and the creek of a floor board above us. Knowing I had to survive to save my remaining friends, to save Alice, I placed my finger to my lips and pointed at the ceiling, warning that we were not alone. 

Creeping along like mice we made it out the back of the building and silently walked through the grass. It was silent as the grave compared to the roar from machine guns and snipers we had listened to moments before. The enemy were all around us, and I could not let anyone else die. 

Spotting an untouched shop across the square, I beckoned towards it, but instead of crossing we walked around the back, slipping into the shop through the broken cellar window. The place stank of damp and everything was covered in a thick layer of dust, a sad reminder that it had probably been disgarded for two years, since the start of the war. Picking our way through the reminents of the place, we found useful items. Alchol, we all claimed for the use of cleaning wounds but secretly kept it for ourselves, knowing we'd need it just to sleep after losing Johnny. Finding paper, I shoved some in my bag, knowing some of the men wrote poetry and letters with it, we also found ink, preserves and pickled jars. 

Shoving them into our bags, we hurried out the back, breaking down the door as quietly as we could. Behind us, we could hear the barking of dogs, and knew they were hunting us. Adrenaline pumped through my veins as we ran. More shouting followed the barking, and instinctively, I drove us towards the road, knowing if we made it to base, we'd be safe. 

To our relief, the road was quiet and we walked along it in silence, mourning our loss but also listening for danger. Gratefully, all was quiet until we reached base. We walked into chaos. 

Buildings lay in rubble, men emerged covered in dust and blood, some running with guns. Dropping the bags by a fallen lampost, we grabbed a soldier running down the street. "What's going on?"

"Huge attack! They have bloody tanks, we've been under attilerary and shelling for days, their sending reinforcements but we can't hold the town"

"But this is the only thing between them and the back line"

"We know, but orders are too evacuate till the tanks get here"

With a heavy sigh, I beckoned the men with me and we headed into the chaos. "We can't lose the town!" 

"Sir, we're massively outnumbered!" protested Alistair, shouting over the noise of the tanks. 

"Well, we aren't losing this place without a fight" I said. With that the men heartily agreeded, we'd fought hard for the town, we weren't going to lose it. 

After coming up with a very quick plan, we hurried off. We had alchol in our packs, which we'd been saving but decided it would be best to turn them into the russian molotovs, with extra ammuntion and a few guns picked up along the road,we had a marginaley better chance. 

I hid behind a collapsing wall, as the other positioned themselves around the square. Once in the sqaure, the krauts would be trapped, as the other exits had been cut off by rubble and obsticles to buy the british some extra time. 

Fear struck me as with a shaking hand I loaded the gun. Sending out the signal, shots rang out and all hell broke loose.