Grant that I shall not seek so much to be consoled as to console….
Medic Roe fingered Luger that hung on his belt as he tried to sleep in the army tent. He couldn't believe that he'd taken it
from the boy who had held it out so proudly. He had astonished himself as he raised his rifle and took aim at the boy as
the young man aimed at him.
"Drop it!" He yelled harshly as his finger unconsciously crept towards the awaiting trigger, "Drop it Son!"
The boy shook his head violently, and held on tighter to the gun, his hands white and shaking "Ich liebe Deutschland!"
"Don't be an idiot kid." Compton yelled warningly, as he took a step towards the seemingly crazed boy.
"Ich liebe Deutschland!" He yelled again.
"Sure sure," Roe tried calmly. "I love my country too, but I wouldn't shoot you for it."
Suddenly the air cracked and exploded, and the shot from the boys Luger whizzed past Medic Private Eugene Roe.
The boy took aim again, and sadly, almost calmly Eugene flipped out his own pistol and shot the boy square in the head.
The blonde boy fell to the ground instantly, as royal red liquid poured from his forehead.
Gritting his teeth, Eugene felt a tear slide from his eye and land on the boy's Luger.
He gently lifted the boy's limp body into his arms, and carried him over to a pile of corpses. He looked for a moment for
the kindest place to set the young man, and finally decided to place him on the right of an old man whose hair was greyer than ash.
"Old men and boys." He muttered bitterly to himself, "That's all this town was down to."
He laid the boy to the right of the old man, and covered him with an army blanket, watching as the green felt concealed
the boys newly deformed face.
Eugene sat up in bed, and shuddered.
He was trying not to see the boy's dead, open blue eyes, or his ghastly expression, but the image of his covered body,
warm and protected by the blanket.
He gripped his Red Cross armband, and felt tremendously guilty.
He had killed.
He had gone against his family creed.
He had induced death, the thing which he fought so hard to elude.
He had gone against every instinct.
And yet, at the time, he had only felt instinct, and nothing more.