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27 Cambrai Pt2: Grease Fire

November 30, 1917
1800 pm

[POV of Mad Jack]

By the end of the day we killed 20 tanks and lost 7, shrapnel had hit Jason pretty good. Jason was patching himself up as Nako and Brax got to him. We were drinking when we saw that there was a plane coming down, the plane came down and landed hard in the mud. Jason buttoned his tunic back and grabbed his Smith & Wesson Model 10.

Jason: I'll go and check it out, Nako and Brax can stay here, Jack... find some place to lay our heads. Nako... could you find a way to contact the other Joy-riders.
Nako: On it!
Me (Mad Jack): where do I go?
Jason: See that windmill in the distance...
Me (Mad Jack): yeah...
Jason: if its safe... light a big fire, if not... Shoot this.

He handed me a flare gun and walked away in a quick fashion. I walked for an hour, it got dark quickly. I had my Martini Henry at bay and was walking cautiously, the sound of crickets came about and small gusts of cold air swooshed around me. The trees started whistling and the stars went bright. I walked in the dark and saw the windmill about 500 yards away. I heard the muffled sounds off a 45 caliber gun and seen a man in a leather jacket run out of the Mill, behind him was a German.

German: "Hör auf, du Feigling, komm mit dem Kind zurück! [stop you coward, come back with that kid!]"

The German then stoped and raised his gun, I took aim and shot. I saw him flinch hard and a bright mist come out of the side of his chest cavity. I then tried to see where the man in the leather jacket had went, but he must have went into the woods. I walked towards the soldier I had shot with the Martini Henry readied on him. He then proped up and shot me in the thigh, I pulled up the rifle and instinctively pulled the trigger and sent a round into his shoulder. He shot again and hit my calf, I pulled my Webley and shot him twice more in the chest. He then fell back to the ground and started swallowing air as he started spitting blood. He then dropped the gun and grabbed his chest wound.

German: "Gott vergib mir [God, forgive me]"

He then let out a slow choked breath and died. A crawled up to him with Webley in hand and stared into his face in shock. I sat in the mud and stared at myself for a while.... Literally. I killed... myself. Blood ran down his cheek and his eyes were stuck in a teary glaze. I then closed his eyes, I took out his dog tag and broke off a half. My... His name was Noa Jäger Hamelstadt of Bamberg Germany. I carried him beside the Mill and buried him and Jammed his rifle into the ground. I entered the house to see a couple of dead Germans and a dead Man and woman. The woman was beautiful and looked a little like Amélie, and the Man had a full beard and a deep brown comb over... and wire frame glasses. I then buried the couple next to... him. The Germans on the other had I tossed into the woods. I then lit a fire and waited. I sat in the house and stared at the dogtag, then I put them in my dogtag chain. I started brewing coffee and prepared a Vegetable stew, the smell fumigated the house... but I was busy cleaning the blood off the floor. I then stirred the stew, it shot a puff of steam into my face and made me turn my head. I then saw the front room and decided that I should actually check the house. The house had a thin family room with 2 chairs, a carpet, a coffee table, and a fire place. Above the fireplace a a portrait of the family, this room felt soo... familiar, and yet so faded. I grabbed a smaller picture of the couple and shoved it in my pocket, I then walked up the narrow stairway that was behind the chairs. There were three rooms, one was a bedroom, one was a nursery, and the last was a office. The office contained neat old war relics from the Napoleon era, some old wines and bourbons, a massive map of the world that had a few missing islands, and a Massive desk that had papers which piled onto the shelf next to it. There was a lighter on the table, it had "campagne de Madagascar 1903" this meant the man who died here had fought in Madagascar. I took the lighter, it seemed that it was calling to me. I went back down stairs and went back to keeping the food warm.

[POV of Jason]

Our asses we beat when we finally got within a 200 yard distance of the house. I seen three graves beside the old mill, the house seemed quaint enough though. We had found a dog in the barbed wire, I freed it and it has been following us since, the dog was an Australian Shepard. Mad Jack fell in love with the dog and cleaned him up, do took a liking to Jack too. He named the dog Noa and put a broken dogtag around the dog's neck, dog seem to like the name as well.

Mad Jack: Jason, I need to take a trip to Paris.
Me (Jason): Under what cause?
Mad Jack: I got fucked up...
Me (Jason): shit, why didn't you tell me.

I jumped up from the chair and started patching up his leg, his wounds were clean enough. I did add alcahol incase, but after the gauze and some bandage he was ok to travel.

Me (Jason): You can go to Paris... but you'll have to take someone, other than me, with you.
Mad Jack: How about Mike.
Me (Jason): fine, he needs to cool off anyways.

I told Mike that evening and he seemed angry about missing out, but then seemed ok with it after I mentioned he could bang some prostitutes. The next morning I got up a 5AM and started cooking eggs and potatoes, I went into the garden around the house and got some tomatoes and grapes. I then chopped up the tomatoes and roasted them, the grapes were a pre-breakfast snack. The now sober men came down stairs, I slopped the food on their plates. I then told the others to stay in the house while I take Mad Jack and Mike to that crashed plane. When we got there the plane seemed in better condition than I remember. The plane was a Sopwith 1.5 Strutter, and the dead pilot was still in the front seat. I drug him out and layed his stiff body on the ground, and checked the cockpit for damage. Seeing none, I had Mike jump in the seat, because he used to fly a crop duster, and Mad Jack and his dog get in the back.

Mike: so how long do we stay in Paris?

I looked at my watch and then back at the pilots.

Me (Jason): stay there for 2 days, and be in Leipzig Germany at 0900 AM. Get some R&R and some goodies, then be ready to take Gungsta.
Mad Jack: won't you need us in Passchendale?
Me (Jason): That is almost an Insult... we can handle hell.
Mad Jack: Alright, see you in Leipzig.

I then walked to the front of the plane and signaled for Mike to get ready. I then grapped the wooden propeller and swung my whole body to move it, but it didn't start. I then did it two more times before it started, I then ran to the back of the Sopwith and pushed it out of its mud pit. Mike then Accelerated the plane down the Hill and flew into the sky when he launched off the next hill. I then looked at the pilots body and reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a Kolibri pistol, I then pointed it at the ground and shot. The mud barely moved out of the way for the bullet to enter. I shoved the barely hand sized pistol into my trouser pocket and walked back towards the mill house.