The chosen ten soldiers crept through the woods, weapons at the ready and loaded, as they scanned every tree and bush for signs of movement. The storm clouds over the forest provided relief from any sunlight to cause a glint from any of their rifles and giving their positions away to the Germans. Arthur and his comrades stepped lightly from tree to tree as a way to keep themselves from being out in the open and already being behind cover if the bullets started flying. They had journeyed deep into the forest and had not even heard a faint chirp of birds amongst the branches above their heads. This was clear that something had them spooked and may have caused them to flee their nests and had lingered to prevent them from returning to their eggs. The air was cold and damp that day, and each man struggled to keep their breath from trembling in fear. No man knew if they were in the crosshairs of a sniper or were walking into an ambush that would result in the infamous 'We regret to inform you' letter to their loved ones at home. The clouds above them boomed the familiar sound of thunder following the flash of lightning.

"Knowing my luck, I'm gonna get struck by lightning before even seeing a German," a voice said from a tree a few feet from the one Arthur had just taken cover behind. The voice was odd and carried an accent Arthur had yet to hear in the trenches before. He looked over to see who the owner of the voice was, finding a young Latino with his back against the trunk of the tree and watching for when to move from the other soldiers present. He looked to be only nineteen, the same age as Arthur, with short black hair combed back, dark brown eyes, and a wide build of 5'10". He was armed with the same Winchester Model 1897 as was gripped tightly in Arthur's hands.

"I had an uncle struck by lightning before," Arthur whispered over to the Hispanic in an attempt to lighten the young man's spirit.

"Did he die?" the Hispanic whispered back as the two noticed the others moving up, causing them to quickly move from their trees towards a much larger oak tree. They stood back to back against each other to allow them both to fit behind the cover.

"Nah...the gator he found in the river did," Arthur replied as he looked back over his shoulder at the shorter Latino, who looked up with a raised eyebrow and a slight grin of disbelief.

"Oh yeah, because the alligator population in Europe is my biggest danger right now," the Hispanic said shaking his head, causing both men to laugh slightly before composing themselves to keep their silence.

"Manuel Carrión," the Hispanic spoke after a few moments of silence to make sure they had not been spotted by any Germans.

"Arthur Mannix. Where you from, Manuel?" Arthur asked in an attempt to distract themselves from the fear of death looming on their shoulders.

"New Mexico, you?"

"Mississippi."

Their conversation was cut short when they noticed the others moving from their covers, the two quickly followed behind until they reached a clearing in the forest that seemed to show signs of struggle and bombardment from mortars. It did not take a scholar to know that the group of doughboys had located the German trenches tucked away in the forest. Now, within a stone's throw of the enemy position, they could easily figure as to the paranoia their officers and commanders were feeling. The silence from the trench was eerie and resembled that of one you would find in the late hours of night in a graveyard. The only sound that could be heard was one of Arthur's comrades gagging slightly when a horrid scent carried by a gust of wind wafted through the air and into their noses.

"Fucking hell, smells like a dead rat," Manuel grumbled as he covered his nose with his hand in an effort to relieve himself from the stench. However, his concern for the smell faded when he noticed Arthur looking at the trees above them with confusion.

"That wind...it only shook the trees around us," Arthur said as he glanced over to one of the soldiers with them that held a sniper. Arthur made a gesture with his hand for the man to peer down his scope towards the German trench to spot movement. Each man held their breath in anticipation as the sniper scanned the trench line for Germans or the source of the horrendous smell carried by the odd wind. After a few moments they saw the sniper slowly lower the scoped rifle from his shoulder with a look of complete disbelief.

"I don't know how to saw this...but there's an actual fort out here," the sniper said as he detached the scope from the sniper and tossed it to Arthur.

"Any signs of the Germans?" Manuel asked as Arthur raised the sniper scope to his eye to see the cause of the confusion. Sure enough, Arthur spotted what looked to be a large structure of stone and rock. However, the more puzzling part came from the marble columns around it that seemed to give it an Ancient Rome design to it.

"There's not supposed to be a fort out here, according to the map," a soldier said as he scanned over a torn and tattered map given to them before they had departed.

"Well there's no way in hell they just built one overnight," Arthur said to himself as he scanned the area around the unknown structure, quickly stopping when he finally noticed movement within the trench. He quickly fixed his attention on it as he followed it as it made its way through the trenches towards the strange structure. Whoever, or whatever, it was appeared to be a very large and moved quickly through the trench as if it were searching for something. It stopped for a moment and seemed to be glancing all around as if it knew someone was watching it before it knelt down to grab something. The sound of a struggle soon filled the air as the sound of wood cracking and grunting, both from a person and animal, came from the mysterious figure. And what Arthur saw next would haunt him for the remainder of his life:

The mysterious figure, a horrific monstrosity of boar and man, lifting a kicking and screaming German into the air with a single hand firmly grasped over the poor soul's face to muffle his cries. Arthur knew the others could see the same sight as he as the monster flexed its hand and caused the German's head to explode in a mist of brain tissue and gore.

"God save us," Arthur whispered to himself as the scope fell from his trembling hand.