From Russia to Family

Chapter 5 Friends

Somewhere near Staraya Russa, Russia

1941, December

Leon had once again descended the large hill, back down to his fallen comrades. He trudged through the knee high snow as the new drops fell onto his uniform and face. He reached the veteran, his body almost completely frosted over, Leon managed to pull a note from the man's breast pocket, tucking it inside a spare pouch on his waist webbing. He then went about searching the man for extra ammo. Leon even took a few pouches, attaching them to his own belt. He would repeat the process to the others, eventually reaching the spot where Emil had fallen. There was no body. He looked around frantically, moving mounds of snow and searching every direction for metres before giving in and smiling.

"I'll find you." He whispered to himself...He turned to take a look at the large Russian tank that now lay in burnt and bent. He closed his eyes for a few seconds, being brought back to reality as a large gust of wind bit at his neck. With his rifle hung over his shoulder by its dark leather strap, his black helmet speckled in white spots and his light grey uniform splattered with mud and snow, he flicked up the collar of his overcoat and headed back to base.

............

He stood in disbelief. There was no one there. Leon began walking forwards, down the 'main road' of the base. He slipped his rifle off his back, pushing the butt against his shoulder but kept the barrel towards the ground. As Leon continued walking he loaded a clip into the gun and pushed the bolt forwards, listening to the sound of the metallic scraping echo all around. He took note of everything as he made his way forwards. Tents were still set up. Trucks and jeeps were littered all over. There were tanks that seemed to be in an alright state, though alongside ones with holes littering their hulls and turrets. There were bodies of both German and Russian soldiers. He assumed the Russians had advanced, so quickly his comrades had no time to prepare. He noticed something. Leon kept walking but paid extreme attention to the sound of his footsteps. Someone was following him.

"1."

"2."

"3."

In one movement he spun 180 degrees and lifted his rifle up ready to fire. He faced a girl that screamed and tripped backwards into the mud. She cowered under the glare of his rifles barrel.

"Who are you?"

She just looked at him. He sighed, realising she spoke no German, and he spoke no Russian. He lowered his rifle, removing his right hand from the trigger and reaching it out to her. With his left hand still on the handguard of the gun, he lifted it up and over his head slowly and back onto his shoulder. Once again Leon reached out with his right hand. Gingerly the girl reached out and took the gesture. Once she stood, she did so without looking at him, her hands intertwined in front of her. He looked up and around. She was maybe 10, no older than 12 for sure. What was he to do with her?

...............

Every time Leon tried to walk away, he would catch her following him. The two had now left the abandoned army base and were around 800 metres from where they had met. He now gave up, turning to her once again, almost smiling as she froze under his gaze. He waved her over, and she smiled as she caught up. They would walk side by side in absolute silence for almost 2 kilometres before she could no longer mover herself. She began yelling, causing Leon to sigh heavily. He turned his left wrist up to his face and flicked open his wrist watch.

"17:30" (5:30)

He turned to her and pointed at the ground, then did his best at signalling that they would stay there for the night. Thankfully it made the girl stop carrying on...In just under an hour, Leon had managed to clear reasonable area of snow, and laid his sleeping bag out, using his ration pack as a pillow. He has also managed to break apart a tree, using a large piece of its trunk as a seat and the rest for fire wood. As it grew dark, and the moon began to hide behind Behemoth clouds, the trees and snow around the two were cast a bright orange that wavered as the fire crackled and hissed as the falling snow attacked it. Leon noticed the girl shivering, so he wrapped his overcoat around her shoulders, and tucked it around her. He then got on one knee and gave himself a hug, rubbing his hands up and down his arms, trying to tell her to stay warm. He then mimicked eating a fork and raised an eyebrow, she nodded vigorously. She watched him contently as he began to heat up a tin of beans over the fire, she wondered why he had given her the coat, and especially now that he was visibly shaking almost constantly...The two sat and listened to the fire, completely quiet. Eventually he considered the food ready and handed her the tin, with the fork already in the container. She smiled at him as she took it and began eating. It took her around 5 mouthfuls to notice he was not eating.