War- The Class of '16 ||Open Novella Contest||

"Cover!" somebody cries. "Find Cover!"
The grasslands before us are too flat, the forest too big and dangerous; there is only the graveyard, low gravestones to duck behind as another grenade erupts behind us, spraying mud and dirt and stones and limbs high into the air. A hand grabs mine- Tat, of course it's Tat- and then we're running, sprinting, leaping over fallen stones and uneven ground. There- a headstone, wide enough to hide us both, at least for the moment. Bullets are slicing through the air, from the front, from the back, friendly fire, enemy fire- difficult to tell apart in the dark. Another flash from a grenade and I can see Tat's wide eyes, half wild, yet with a hard glint in them- fight- and he turns, peeks over our cover, promptly ducking again, when a bullet skims over the top of his helmet.

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It is the year 1916 and the war is tearing Europe apart. The story follows Albert Licht, 19, a young German soldier and his friends as they graduate school and find themselves enlisted to fight in a war not their own.

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written fo the Open Novella Contest 2019