Somewhere in Germany, 1941.
It was a cold November night, much like tonight. I had just gotten back to the camp from the fields where a small fight took place. That was a hard night for me and my company, we had just watched a bunch of our buddies get killed by the Germans. That and the cook had made meatloaf, and this wasn't like your mom's meatloaf that she'd make on holidays, no, this was like a brick that tasted like salt, except a brick would be easier to chew.
Later on the next morning, around 1:30 or so, I woke up to shots being fired in the distance. It was probably just people in the village mad about having their small town taken over by American's. But I had to check, just to be safe. So I put on my boots and picked up a pistol and went outside. I had no idea what was waiting for me outside.
I went outside, and heard the gunfire again, but it was getting closer and more frequent. Then, maybe 150 yards away or so, I see 3 companies of German troops headed straight for my camp. I turn and run back to camp, to try to wake everyone up, to either fight or retreat into the woods. But my group of guys were fighters, no way were they going to turn away from a fight, no matter the odds.
So there we are, grenades in hand and bazooka's resting on shoulders. All of a sudden, half the camp explodes. I sit there thinking "What just happened!?!?" as body parts and mangled limbs lay all around me. Half my company was gone from that single explosion. There was no need to try to fight any longer, our company was hopelessly diminished so we decided to head for the woods. Before we got even 3 feet there are 2 more explosions. Me and 2 of my company duck into a trench. After the smoke had cleared, me, Jones, and Cordero looked out of the trench, only to see all of our buddies gone, nothing left except for the random arm or leg, everyone was gone except us.
Me, Jones, and Cordero ran as fast as we could to the woods. While thinking "Is this is it? Is this how it's going to end? Is this my last run? Will I ever see my family again?". We were almost there, another 50 yards or so, when I hear 3 shots fired. I stop, only for a minute, to see what happened. I look to the right and see Jones, lying face first in the ground with a bullet burried in his head. I look to the left and see Cordero, 2 bullets in his back. He wasn't dead yet, but he was going to be soon, one way or another.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of running from the Germans, I make it to the edge of the woods. All of a sudden, 5 meters to the right a granade lands. The explosion blew me into a tree and knocked me out.
The next day (or what seemed like the next day) I wake up in a military hospitol in London. I ask the doctor who was in the room "What happened?!". "Your company was attacked and wiped out, you were the lone survivor." answered the doctor. I thought to myself "How could I be so lucky as to be the only survivor out of my whole company?!?". "What day is it?" I asked. "December 8th" the doctor replied. "I was knocked out for that long?!" I exclaimed. "Yes, the doctor replied. We found you 3 days after the attack in a small ditch on the edge of the woods." "How did the Germans not find me?!" I asked. "After the first grenade exploded a villager notified a airforce base and from there notified 2 small bombers that weren't far away, they destroyed the German army. "Wow", I said.
A few minutes later, a nurse came in with a card for me, it was from my best friend in the U.S. It read "Josh, I don't know how to tell you this, but your fiance is dead. She died in a car crash driving to your parents for dinner. Your brother was also in the car.". I thought "How could this be happening, how has all this happened? What did I do to deserve this?".
After a few minutes thinking, I took a near by syringe (spelling) and shoved in into my temple, I saw no purpose for living any longer.
A few minutes later, I woke up to find it was all a dream. But, then, in the distance, I heard gun fire, just like I had in the dream. So, I put on my boots, picked up a pistol, and put the barrel in my mouth. I fired the gun, and it was all over.
Later that day, word made it back to the U.S. that a small company stationed in central Germany was attacked. The company was wiped out, there were no survivors.
