Eleven days later
Date: July 31st
Today was another bright and sunny day for the men in the Somme sector of the Western Front. It was nice and warm with a gentle cool breeze to cool you down if you got too warm. It was the perfect weather for summer. If only it was not in a war, this part of the Western Front would be a paradise and a great destination for many holidaymakers to come and spend a few days.
For the squad, it was another good day. They were off the trenches again, which seemed to happen to everyone recently, probably because there was barely any action taking place across the frontline. Maybe because the Germans wanted to try and enjoy the beautiful summer weather whilst it lasted and the British and French felt like doing the same. Today, they were in the same small village they were in about two weeks ago and because the weather was so good, they were near a lake where they could lay down and relax, and that was exactly what they, and a few other squads of soldiers were doing.
Wally was lying down on his coat in the Sun, enjoying the warmth that flooded him from above. His head was resting on his backpack and his eyes were closed as if he was asleep, but he was resting his eyes. A few other soldiers around him copied his idea, resting on their coats and backpacks, some enjoying the warmth flooding down from them, others either talking, reading or just staring across the beautiful, tranquil water of the lake next to them. Across it on the other side was a small wood and every now and then, a few fish would be visible swimming about underneath the surface.
This was the perfect place in the summer with fitting weather for the season.
"Stop him!"
Wally opened his eye a little and looked over at a small field next to the cobbled road to see a group of fourteen soldiers playing football, about seven on each team. On one of the teams were Moe and Hans. At the moment the score was two-one to Hans and Moe's team, though their team was getting a little cocky and had had several near misses of their rival teams scoring goals.
At the moment, one of the players on the rival team, a young nineteen year old with blonde hair and was very fast, had control of the ball and manoeuvred it around one of the players on Hans and Moe's team and began sprinting towards the goal, which was two backpacks spaced about ten feet from each other, which was the same for the other goal about thirty feet away. Moe ran forward and tried to tackle him but the player was too quick and kicked it through his legs and ran around him.
"OI! Someone stop 'im!" he shouted.
The player was ten feet from the goal of his rival team when he launched a kick at the ball. The goalkeeper dived sideways to try and stop the ball but he failed and it went through the goal. Hans and Moe, along with their team, shouted and cursed in annoyance that their rival team had gotten a goal, which now meant the score was two all.
However, the two teams failed to notice the ball zoom on towards the lake. The soldier had kicked it too hard and by the time they realised where it was…
SPLASH! ARGH!
Wally and the other marines laying down around the lake, as well as the fourteen soldiers playing football, looked over at the lake to see another soldier, who was tall, about 6ft 2, and quite heavily built, get up and rub his face dry. He looked down at the lake next to him where the ball was floating on the surface. Then, he looked at the two football teams and glared.
"He did it!" the goalkeeper of Hans and Moe's team piped up, pointing at the soldier on the rival team who had kicked the ball.
The soldier standing by the lake glared and picked up the ball and began walking over towards them. When he reached them, he said something and held the ball up to them to make sure his point got around before he threw it down on the ground and kicked it into some nearby bushes and walked back over to his spot, now needing to rely on the Sun to dry his face.
"Right, let's go and find the ball," Hans said and he, Moe and a few others walked off into the bushes to find the ball. The other soldiers lying down chuckled a little over what had just happened before going back to what they had been doing before.
Wally laughed a little and closed his eyes again. Oh, it was peaceful here. It was pe-
Wait a minute. He opened his eye and looked back over at the field, though this time beyond it at the cobbled road. He could see someone walking across it. It…it looked like it was a soldier. Yes, it was a soldier for the green coat and backpack gave him away, but who was it?
Wally watched the soldier walk across the road and into the remains of the village, where he walked through the back garden of what had been a hut and towards the stable buildings. Wally sat up and watched him. That soldier...he looked just like…Albert! What was Albert doing? Why was he going into a stable building? Well, he was going to find out.
Wally got up and walked across the field and the cobbled road into the village. When he reached it, he saw Albert stop at the stable entrance and look around to make sure no one was watching him before he peered inside. He looked about for a second before he decided to walk in.
What's he doing? Wally thought as he walked over towards the stable.
Actually, this was nothing new. For the past few days, Albert had been acting suspiciously. He was always looking at a photograph and would stuff it away whenever someone else would walk into the dugout and when anyone asked what it was, he just did not talk about; pretending not to have heard them or he tried to change the subject, and since yesterday when the squad was taken off the frontline to the village, he began acting suspiciously, looking around the village as if he were searching for something. This was the second time he had gone into the stables, the first time had been yesterday but he had only managed a quick glimpse before an officer had told him to clear off. Something was going on here with him and Wally had to find out what because it could threaten Albert by getting him into trouble.
When he reached the stable, he too quickly looked around to make sure no officer was coming, which there was not, and peered inside to see Albert looking into each of the pens. Most of them were empty, but there were no soldiers in the stables, obviously apart from Albert.
Wally stepped into the stables and cleared his throat. Albert froze where he was and turned to see Wally standing there.
"Oh, It's you, Wally," he said, relieved. "I thought you were an officer,"
"No," Wally replied and he stepped towards Albert. "Albert, what are doing in here?" he asked. "What are you looking for?"
"I'm not looking for anything," Albert replied quickly, which obviously meant that he was lying and Wally knew it.
"No, look!" he said. "I know you're hiding something, okay? Look, you've been acting suspicious ever since you've arrived and yesterday you spent most of the day going through the village as if you were trying to find something. I'm not being nosey, but I'm worried about you. I mean, you could get into trouble for doing this. So, what is it? What is it that's troubling you or giving you concern?"
Albert stared at Wally for a second before he sighed and looked up at him.
"Alright, Wally," he said. "If you really want to know," he paused. "I didn't really want to come out here and fight,"
Wally sighed. "Albert, there's loads of people here who didn't want to fight. I mean, I don't want to but I can't just leave so-"
"No, no, no!" Albert interrupted him before sighing again. "What I mean was: I did mean to come out here, but not to fight,"
Wally's eyes widened. What? He came out here, but…not to fight? What the Hell was going on here?
"W-what do you mean?" Wally asked him, beginning to get concerned.
"I mean: I've come out here for another purpose." Albert replied. "I've really come out here to look for someone,"
This was getting more suspicious with every word. He was out here looking for someone, but who?
"Who?"
Albert replied by reaching for his backpack, opening it and he began rifling through it. As he did, Wally thought over who it could be he was looking for. Maybe it was a brother or a close friend? Or maybe he had a sister or his girlfriend is out here serving in the hospital or something.
Finally, after about a minute of searching through his backpack, Albert took out a small photograph and handed it to Wally. He scrutinized it, taking in the image. It really surprised him. The one he was looking for was not a man, nor it was it a woman. In fact, it was a horse!
"A horse?" Wally asked, looking at Albert, confused. "You're looking for a horse?"
Albert nodded. "His name's Joey. He was my friend, but when the war began, my dad sold him to army. I had to lie about my age to get in and I've got through hard training. And I just want to get him back home."
Wally took in what Albert had told him. Wow! Albert's story of why he was here and the horse he was looking for…it was actually quite sad to know that your own father would sell an animal for money, but not thinking of whether it would live or not through this war.
It was then Wally noticed something about the horse. As he looked down at it, he saw it had a light coat in the black and white photograph, indicating it was most likely a light brown. Then, he noticed a wide white strip going down the front of the horse's face from the forehead to the snout. That horse looked very familiar. It looked exactly like the one…
Oh God. He had seen Albert's horse!
"Albert!" Wally whispered in shock as he looked up at him from the photograph. "This horse of yours, does he have light brown skin?" Albert nodded. "And whiteness around the hooves and a wide white strip going down his face from the forehead to the snout?" again, Albert nodded. "Oh, God," Wally said.
"What is it?" Albert asked him, beginning to get concerned about Wally getting shocked all of a sudden. Wally looked back up at him from the photograph.
"Albert, I've seen your horse,"
