Chapter 16: The Day before the Siege 1

<p>William who is now awake in the early of the morning. He looked around and saw a clock that says 3:00 AM. He didn't expect himself to be awake on this day so early. He then goes towards the nearest drum of water, which was guarded by two soldiers. <br/><br/><br/>"Guten Tag." He greets them, which they also greet him back. <br/><br/><br/>"Can I borrow some drum of water, I just need it to wash my own face and clean myself a little bit." He asked.<br/><br/><br/>The two soldiers just nodded at him. "We can only offer a little, but this sure is enough to cleanse some of your dirt and probably you might have been affiliated with some diseases through the war." The German soldier handed him a bucket of water instead. <br/><br/><br/>"Danke Schön." He goes towards a nearby tree where he tilts his head towards the trunk where he rests upon his head.<br/><br/><br/>He grabs a clean towel, and he begins to undress himself to see multiple wounds, and even the stitches around him. He was anxious to begin with, but he calmed himself and his hands stopped shaking for a while. <br/><br/><br/>He slowly drags the towel around his body to remove the dirt around. He keeps swiping them, until he dips it to the bucket of water to clean the towel. <br/><br/><br/>He folded the towel, and squeezed it outside the bucket to remove the dirt inside it. Then the drip of those contaminated water, he saw blood instead. It kept dripping down like a flow of blood, and he saw the tree behind him twitch, his body began shaking, and he saw the tree was formed into an abomination of flesh where he was grabbed in the shoulders.<br/><br/><br/>Until he finally snapped back to reality, where he was sweating a lot. He looked back at his arms and he just sighs in relief. The scene where it was embedded in his head now, he can't unsee them anymore.<br/><br/><br/>It was a clear, and pure human reaction towards the whole war. He took a deep breath, and continued to clean his whole body using the towel. <br/><br/><br/>Until finally the dawn had risen from the horizon. He stood up leaving the bucket of water and towels behind. He tucked into his uniform and went back to his platoon. <br/><br/><br/>"If the reality is truly different from this war, then how many casualties will appear after the whole war is over?" He pondered.<br/><br/><br/>After returning to his main platoon, he saw Anna who was already awake. "It seems you're already awake, how's your eyes?" She asked.<br/><br/><br/>"It's burning a bit I guess?" <br/><br/><br/>"Why did you even wake up that early?" She yawned. He noticed her lack of sleep. <br/><br/><br/>"Aren't you the same?" He pointed out, while Anna is just looking at him with dead eyes, due to the lack of sleep she got.<br/><br/><br/>"Didn't you say, it's a free day for now?" He said.<br/><br/><br/>"Of course, but aren't you doing the same thing as well? Sleeping late and waking up early." She countered.<br/><br/><br/>"I can't deny that." <br/><br/><br/>This caught the two of them a chuckle, which is a very rare interaction, due to the war not giving them a chance to make or even crack a joke due to the tension.<br/><br/><br/>"To think the new recruits are still able to crack a joke like this is enviable." He let out his own thoughts.<br/><br/><br/>Anna approached him, and she stood beside him. "Yeah… A surprise, despite losing someone already in just a few days of the war." Both of them lament the fallen soldiers.<br/><br/><br/>"I wonder, do you hate communism or just genuinely the people affiliated with it?" Anna asked such weird questions, that it caught William off guard.<br/><br/><br/>"Well, I can say both. True I hate communism itself, but the aspect of it being equal to everyone is sure to be a bliss, but the current communism itself is just a broken ideology. The people who follow communism, and the people who abuse its ideology are different, but nonetheless, all of this was created by human nature." He answered.<br/><br/><br/>"I see… Well, I would say the same thing. Not every ideology is the same, even the current leaders are out of their minds already." She specifically hinted the current leader of the Nazi Reich, as she gritted her teeth in anger. <br/><br/><br/>"Don't worry, even if you have hated everything and all, you will always have me beside you to back you up." William gave her some support to console her.<br/><br/><br/>"Hey William?" <br/><br/><br/>"Hm?"<br/><br/><br/>"Thanks for being beside me, and expressing your own thoughts." She was grateful to have him by his side. <br/><br/><br/>"You're not the only one who is thankful." He whispered, which Anna failed to understand or heard him.<br/><br/><br/>Behind them, was Ingrid who woke up 5 minutes earlier than Anna. She was surprised to see both of them beside each other once again.<br/><br/><br/>"Is this the destiny the two of them are already destined for each other?!" She gasped in surprise, but she accidentally hit something which caused a clunk sound, they turned around and saw Ingrid who is paralyze out of fear.<br/><br/><br/>"Why are you hiding their Ingrid?" Anna asked.<br/><br/><br/>"I- Um? I just woke up?" Ingrid said, while William just snickered, and Anna who is suspicious of her, but decided to let it go for now.<br/><br/><br/>Then an hour had passed, and everyone was already awake from their beds. Manfred and Peter were together, and they were training with hand to hand combat. <br/><br/><br/>"It seems the boys are having fun." Anna who was watching from the crowds.<br/><br/><br/>While William is currently eating some bread while watching them from a seat in the front. <br/><br/><br/>"Oh boy… this is going to get messy I can feel it." <br/><br/><br/>"Hey Manfred! Whoever gives up must grant that person's wishes for one day!" Peter suggested.<br/><br/><br/>"You're on Peter!" Manfred answered.<br/><br/><br/>Manfred and Peter were in a stance of hand to hand combat.<br/><br/><br/>"I bet Peter would win." Ursula who stated it.<br/><br/><br/>"I bet Manfred would be the one who would beat up Peter!" Ingrid who shouted her claims. <br/><br/><br/>"I heard that you bitch!" Peter just cursed at her, while Ingrid just put up both of her arms and showed her middle fingers at him.<br/><br/><br/>"Screw you!" Ingrid answered back fiercely.<br/><br/><br/>After the two bickers, the hand to hand combat training begins.<br/><br/><br/>"Those two will never change do they?" William just muttered, while Anna who is already behind him.<br/><br/><br/>"That's true." Anna just lays her arm on his shoulders.<br/><br/><br/> "I do hope this will go smoothly."<br/><br/><br/>.<br/><br/>.<br/><br/>.<br/><br/><br/>You could see Vera tied up behind a chair, along with a cell in front of her. "YOU GODDAMN NAZI SON OF A BITCH! I'LL FUCKING KILL ALL OF YOU." Vera keeps shouting it in the Russian language which they all didn't understand.<br/><br/><br/>"Her tenacity is good, but sometimes you gotta break them harder into submission." <br/></p>