This short story takes place in the U.S., not Japan, during World War II. Melvin has been drafted by the U.S. Army to fight in combat; this is where the story begins, during a battle in the same town-like setting as the final battle in Saving Private Ryan. Fighting in Berlin, Germany with Darien. He is age 22, so references to high school are in the past, Molly is 22 and Darien is, I assume to be, 26. I don't own any of the characters or Sailor Moon, someone in Japan with more money than I do, does; I don't own the German army of 1942 (a.k.a. Nazis). And I don't own the U.S. Military (We never lose, baby! U.S. Marines, Army, Navy, Air Force in the house!)
This book goes out to my God in heaven, and Kimberly L. W., the angel he sent to earth
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Melvin was standing shin deep in the freezing and muddy waters of the German landscape. His hands numb and wet, and bloody at the knuckles, shaking like a leaf in a hurricane; he could barely keep a steady grip on his rifle. He was scared, more than he had ever been. Of course, he had been scared of bullies when he was in high school, always threatening to kill him. But these guys had guns and meant to fulfill those favors. He looked across to his left and saw one of his fellow soldiers, one of the many, in combat at the time, charge at a position to his left as well. But as he watched, the soldier was shot as blood began to pour along the asphalt, rain mixing with the red that ran along the road. He looked to see more German's advancing. He closed his eyes remembered what he learned from Darien. "Courage is fighting when you're scared".
He took out a small picture of Molly, looked at, took a deep breath, and placed it back in the front sling of his uniform. Darien saw this from at least fifty yards away. "What was he doing? He's bound to get killed?" he thought to himself. But Darien had his own problem, war and combat was nothing new to him. He fought in the battle against the Negaverse, but not with guns and grenades. He only had a sword and horse, and the ships and planes that went around were much larger compared to the ones used now.
But Melvin took his gun and saw an opening into a tall staircase, at least three stories above the ground, overlooking the entire area. The perfect sniping spot, but getting there was another problem. He closed his eyes again and took a deep breath as he opened them and looked at his target. At least forty yards away. Then, he charged forward.
He was running for his life, full speed and in a straight line. He didn't dare to look back as he began to run in a crooked pattern, to avoid fire from whatever came around. He ran faster, and faster with each step, the adrenaline in his body was pumped to a dangerous level. But forget medical science, this is war, he'll be in a glass jar if he worries about that. But still he kept running until he was at the door. Then he was shot in the left thigh and it burned like hell.
But somehow he managed to make his way inside. As he looked to see two German charged toward him. He took up his rifle and watched as they both came within his sights. He shot one, watching as he went down. But the other then stared into his eyes with an aggressive look like that of a dagger to a man's heart. But in that split second, he kicked him in the groin with his free leg. Watching as fell to the ground, Melvin grabbed a piece of steel shrapnel off the wooden floor and the German soldier charged at him again. He then threw the shrapnel at the soldier, watching as it stuck in the German enemy's neck. He fell to the floor, gasping for whatever air could be found. He couldn't talk at all, just squirm violently.
Melvin gathered his composure and began to crawl up the stairs with all the strength he could. Every movement was painful, as the burning in his thigh did not cease. He contemplated as he gritted his teeth and inched closer to the top, "I've just killed two people, God, what have I done. I know what I've done, I've survived!" He was going crazy, but somehow he pulled himself together as he saw the last step. He turned the corner to see a German armed with a rifle, sniping Melvin's American buddies on the ground. Melvin took up his rifle and whistled to get the German's attention.
The German looked at him as Melvin said, "When you go to hell, tell 'em Melvin sent ya' ". As he fired at least five rounds into the German, Melvin watched as he fell backward with his hand over his chest, blood flowing over it, over the open window. He heard the loud "thump" from even as high as his position and crawled toward the window. He at up and rested himself against a large mass of debris from the bombings and German and American air strikes. His back against it as he positioned his rifle on the windowsill.
He reloaded his gun to a full magazine and looked to see five German troops charge from the north through a gate. He gritted his teeth and his blood began to boil. He was angry; in fact, words couldn't describe how angry he was.
"You can die first!" He fired, the shot hit the German in the chest as he fell. "You son of a bitch, you're dying next!" He said to himself as he fired again, hitting and killing the German. "Trying to take me away from Molly, go to hell!" He yelled as he fired at a German and missed, but fired again killing him.
He then heard a "clank" sound as he turned and saw a hand grenade, but in desperation kicked it down the stairwell. The explosion rocket the shaky foundation of the building as it began to crumble and Melvin began to fall with it. He slid down the wet wood of the floor as he began to free fall for at least twenty feet until he heard a loud "snap".
He hit the ground hard and knew he broke his right leg, the uninjured one, and now he couldn't move. But he knew he had to. "There is a war going on, people are dying and you're going to lie there?" He thought to himself. He didn't dare call for a medic; the German's would hear him and take him prisoner. Using his injuries as ways to get information out of him. He looked to spot a broken tree branch, just up to his chest in length, lying upon the rocky ground.
He crawled, inch by inch, to the fallen branch. Clutching his broken leg as he crawled with his free arm. Grabbing onto whatever he could that was stuck in the ground, gritting his teeth to suppress the severe and unbearable amounts of pain he was experiencing. Somehow he made his way to the branch, as he held a hand on it. He grabbed it and used all the strength he could muster and lunged forward, hitting the wall of a nearby barn. He held himself up with this, as he used to branch as a cane to hold him up and broke off of the barn's wall.
He held his rifle in the other hand as he limped forward to see a plane from far away, even through the rain, as he held up his rifle. Out of desperation, insanity, whatever it was, he began to shoot at the plane. One shot at a time as he held himself up, the jagged ends of the branch digging into the arm supporting it. He kept firing as the plane came closer, but one shot hit. The fuel tank of the plane to be precise, as a line of thick, black smoke began to fume and pour out from the rear of the plane. It began to dive down toward Melvin's location as he dived to the ground. It flew just over him as he turned his head to look at where it was headed.
Sure enough, it hit between two large tanks in the area, knocking them both over and impaling some of the nearby Germans. He saw a group of planes fly over the area, he looked to see the American flag painted on their sides. "American planes, thank God!" he though to himself, as they poured out paratroopers, who landed within the area. They tangoed with the German soldiers, and the Germans were outnumbered. Soon surrendering the town, America now had the position advantage, high above the ground in the mountains.
Melvin looked up to see a plane land nearby, about sixty meters away on the medium lengthened street that remained. Two people came out of the landed plane with a green colored stretcher and some medical supplies. He saw their white head bands with red-cross symbols, "Thank God, medical staff, finally!" he thought to himself, as the two medics treated his wounds.
"This is gonna' hurt like hell so don't cry about it." Honesty, that was what these guys did. This wasn't a pediatric ward (a.k.a. Kiddy Hospitals), no "This won't hurt a bit" or "This will only hurt for a little while, but you'll be all better" lines. They told you the truth, and you damn well remembered it!
They had to clean up his wounds, they didn't have the nice stuff they had in Kiddy Hospitals, so they decided to use a bottle of Jack Daniel's…some pure alcohol for this task. Melvin clenched his teeth as the medics poured some over all of his wounds. They needed the whole bottle as the pain was heavy, but he still survived and felt good at the same time. Because this was pain from the good guys with good outcomes, not a bunch of Nazis trying to play "Let's get all the red liquid out of the Americans."
After they were all done, they put him on the stretcher as they carried his limp, wet, freezing, injured, blood stricken body out to the plane. As they loaded him, carefully, into the back of the plane. Melvin saw the green interior of the plane, as he smiled and closed his eyes, even through all the pain. He saw him and Molly in a wedding chapel, sharing a kiss as their friends, Serena, Darien, Amy, Ray, Lita, Mina, and all of the many, on their feet and clapping for them. He saw them both walking out of the wedding chapel, people celebrating as they kissed again as husband and wife. He was only twenty-two years of age, he had to drop out of Harvard to fight in combat, and had his whole life ahead of him. He suddenly felt much after this vision - and felt even better knowing that he was somehow still alive - and fell asleep.
Almost three months later, he got a cast for his leg, treatments for his injuries, and crutches. When he got out of the hospital, he was given a medal, The Congressional Medal of Honor - the highest decoration in the United States Military - from the President of the United States, for courage and bravery in the line of duty. He wore the medal with pride as he saw Molly. He then embraced her, dropping his crutches as he squeezed her tight and they both were crying. Molly was happy to see Melvin alive, Melvin has happy, in fact, really lucky, to be alive and see Molly.
He then looked into her watery, teary eyes as he looked at his buddy Darien and said "The ring" as Darien threw him a small black case, which he caught. And opened it to show a ring with a glimmering diamond, as Molly face glowed like the diamond on the ring. "Will you, Molly, spend the rest of your life with me?" Melvin asked. "Yes, oh I love you, Melvin!" She yelled as she embraced him and squeezed him as tight as she could, as she kissed him. The crowds of soldiers were cheering for him as we see Melvin and Molly kissing again, but this time, finally, as husband and wife.