Every Last Drop

Chapter 1

By: Sean R. F.

(Kaptain- Russian for "Captain")

(Waffen S.S.- Hitler's personal unit of elite soldiers)

(Ushanka- Russian winter hat)

(PPSH-40- Soviet sub-machine gun)

(MP40- German sub-machine gun)

Blood smeared across the ground. The crystal snow became a sea of red. Bodies of once proud comrades lay where they were cut down by Hitler's blitzkrieg. The sky was clouded by mist showering the battlefield. Many of the bodies had already begun to decay and rot while others had decayed half way remains of the bodies were dirty and their clothes torn and twisted. We had returned a week later to scavenge weapons and ammo. The scouts sent before us had never reported back leaving my unit the only one available.

One Week Before

Before we left I had been promoted. Over the time that I had been in my first battle, I had been promoted to the rank of Kapitan in the 13th Guards Rifle Division.

Guards Rifle Divisions were an elite group of hand picked soldiers who's task was to defend the MotherLand.

Anyway, it was a huge responsibility being promoted especially since it had only been a week after my first combat experience. This was all because of the major losses that the Germans had inflicted upon our ranks. They would sneak past our lines and quietly plant explosives in high ranking officer compartments, leave without a trace and detonate the explosives as soon as the ranking officials met in the compartment. Our former Kapitan had met an unfortunate fate when he was suddenly sniped by a Waffen S.S. grenadier. The Kapitan had no idea what hit him. So after the major loss I was chosen to take his place. The security officers finally gave me the patch. When I received it I brought my head down to see a diamond shaped patch with a single bar down the middle. In the few moments of being promoted my heart pounded as I was filled with excitement, but like all wars there was almost never time to celebrate. I was also filled with fear and horror because of a recent report given to all officers which was now given to me. As I looked through the report I learned that the Germans had begun to target the higher ranking officers first disorganizing our ranks, then moving down the line. This information had also started to spread around like a rumor within the groups of other officers. Hours later I was assigned a unit of my very own, with this I was given orders to scavenge the battlefield where the Germans had broken through our lines and grab up anything worth of value including food, guns, clothes, water, sandbags, important documents, and most of all, bullets.

Present

"Damnit" I exclaimed in frustration as I pickpocketed a dead German officer hoping to find valuable documents.

"Well what now Kapitan?" asked one of the members in my new unit. "It's not like the Germans are gonna come and give us what we need."

"We keep looking and grab anything that could be useful, anything" I said with a frown on my face finding nothing in the officer's pockets.

Looking around I saw all the bodies scattered across the snowy battlefield that used to be a beautiful landscape, but now it only had bodies, blood, weapons, and the remains of what used to be friends.

"Sir over here, quick!" shouted one of my younger soldiers sounding in distress.

I immediately turned in response to the call. "What is it?!" I yelled out to the man. I couldn't seem to find him among the mist. Then a loud noise that only a German MP40 could have made went off. I heard it twice only to fear the worst. "Soldier report!" I announced with a loud voice. "Anyone!" I yelled beginning to become worried. Then and only then I saw a figure running towards me. I squinted my eyes to see who it was but was unable to identify the mysterious figure. Just as I realized who it was I was tackled by the man. I layed on the ground looking straight into the misty sky. My sight was fuzzy and the back of my head hurt like hell. I reached to the back of my head with my left hand. "Ah mother of god!" I yelped as I quickly felt a jolt of pain shock through my scalp. "Agh" I moaned in agony.

Moments after I moaned I heard another round of shots going off. They sounded muzzled and soft but loud enough to know that a gun made the noise. Looking forward while still on my back I saw someone firing a PPSH-41 in short bursts. The wooden stock of the gun dug into his shoulder jerking back everytime he pulled the trigger. I noticed the barrel had begun to turn hot steamy red. The drum magazine attached at the bottom in front of the barrel shook a bit but still managed to stay firmly attached to the gun. I looked at the man and the clothes he was wearing. The jacket was obviously made of thick fur. It even included a thick grey fur collar that rested on the top of the neckline which was rare to see amongst our soldiers during this time. The middle of his jacket had dirt and blood all over it. Up high on his far left shoulder was the 13th Guards Rifle Division pin. It showed the red star holding a red flag that had a golden pole. The top of the flag rose to the top of the pin showing the pride of being in a Guards Rifle Division. Then there was the clear white circle around the star and to finish it off, a golden wreathe on the edge forming its way to the top stopping just at the flag. His pants were rugged and messy. All over they were covered in bloody snow and a thin layer of slush. The buttons on the jacket looked as if they had been through the treads of a tank. At his feet were his boots. They were pure black and had a layer of wrapping around the bottom of the boots. They also had the snow covered with blood draping over the top of the boots. In the end the boots only had a few tears here and there but good in overall condition. Lastly on the top of his head was a black fur ushanka with the Soviet insignia, the hammer and sickle on the top front. The fur on the top of the hat blew backwards with the wind.

Finally pulling the trigger for the seventh time he began to back up towards my body. With a sudden twist he turned around looking straight into my eyes. He knelt down on his knee and with his right arm he reached out opening his hand for me. "Grab my hand sir, NOW!" he said in a low firm voice. As I realized that this was my chance to get up I outstrechted my right arm. I grabbed his glove and he pulled me up with pure arm muscle. "Quickly, this way sir" he stated and then began to trudge against the wind with his arm above his face. By now the weather had become a violent snow storm with the wind blowing a hard gust in the direction the soldier had begun to trudge off into. Just as I began to follow his footsteps I realized I didn't have my gun. I looked down to my left where I last saw my weapon. Covered by the thick snow and beginning to pile up was my PPSH-41. I bent down grabbing it and started off with the man who saved my life.

As I walked away from my mission I heard the pleades of my men and then the split second crack of a rifle, and then silence. I knew they were dead. My first mission as Kapitan was a failure and as far as I knew my entire squad killed, I knew for a fact that whoever saved me was not apart of my unit due to his actions and his tactics.

"Siiir" a faint voice said.

I turned only to see one of my men lying on his stomach looking up at me with desperation in his eyes. Behind him was a trail of blood that followed him to where he laid. "Pleeaasee..help mee" he mumbled coughing up blood as he finished his sentence.

"What are you doing!?" shouted the man who saved me. "We need to leave now or we'll all die!" he yelled in frustration. I looked back at the dying man on the cold bloody snow. Around him was a large puddle of blood seeping into the snow turning it red. I couldn't save him even if I tried. His fate was sealed. I knew that I would be the only survivor and that I would need to report the situation to my superiors or they would send another patrol unaware and more men would die. I had to do what was right. "I'm sorry" I said quietly to the dying soul. I closed my eyes and began to walk backwards from the dying man. Slowly I turned to my left and began to trudge against the wind and snow. As I left I could here the man praying. A second later I heard him take a breath, a raspy gasp, there was a crunch of snow, and then silence. He was dead.

Following my saviour for about five minutes, we finally reached a small building that was low to the ground much like a bunker. Obviously it used to be a defensive structure I thought in my mind. I saw then that the man bent down onto the ground and brushed some snow away revealing a hatch. He put both his hands under the bar that was attatched to the top of the hatch and lifted his arms. Suddenly I saw a ladder leading down into a dark area.

Turning his head around to me he said "Go down and quickly". I walked up to the opening and knelt down. I first lowered my legs into the opening looking for a bar to stand on. Suddenly without notice or warning an explosion went off not more than 100 feet sending snow and dirt our way. The shock of the blast pushed me back into the backside of the opening. The man holding the hatch propped up a metal rod holding the hatch open. He turned around and open fired spraying bullets in all directions. Again an explosion went off nearby once more jerking me to the side of the hatch wall causing me to begin to lose my grip on the metal bar above me and making me yell out loud. The man heard my cry of pain and turned to help. It was too late though, just as he reached towards me I lost hold of the bar and began to fall downwards into the abyss. I saw the face of my saviour as I fell. To my complete and utter surprise, instead of who I believed to be a man, was a girl with a few freckles on each of her pale white cheeks and a look of worrisome in her light red eyes. I heard her yell out to me as I fell to my certain death. I began to lose sight of her as she started to dim at the top of the hatch and then after about what seemed to be two seconds, it enveloped me…the warmth…the silence…the darkness.