After The War
"Goodnight girl," Tully said scratching a cow on the head as he left the barn. He closed the doors securely behind him and then did a quick check to make everything was locked up tight and secure. There had been a series of robberies in the area and they'd been getting closer and closer to his own farmhouse. He didn't want to take any chances.
He limped into the house and sat down at the kitchen table breathing raspily while he tried to even out his breaths. He was tired after a day's work not to mention hungry also, he stood up and opened the refrigerator. Nothing much, some venison leftover from last night's meal and a few other things. He grinned thinking how much he would have given to even had a small taste of the venison in the army.
The army. His face grew somber as memories flashed through his mind, particularly the incident that had injured his leg and right lung. He exhaled and closed his eyes tiredly, it wouldn't help anyone for him to go feeling sorry for himself. He closed the refrigerator and went into the next room, the telephone hanging on the wall caught his eye and he briefly thought about calling one of the guys.
They'd kept in touch with some letters and phone calls but had never really had time to see each other together. And really, they'd actually drifted apart in the last month or so, none of them had meant too, but things had come up and before they knew it, hardly a hello was ever said. Troy was married to his old girlfriend from college and had a child on the way, Moffitt, as far as he knew, was still single and had a job as a language teacher, and Hitch, well Hitch had gotten married to a nurse he'd wooed one time while in a field hospital.
A strange longing pulled at Tully's heart and he wished that he'd found someone to share his joys and burdens with. But he knew he couldn't make a good husband when he was still plagued with horrible nightmares and moments where he thought he saw old enemies. No, it wouldn't be fair to do that to any woman.
He dismissed the idea of calling any of them, it was late and they were probably all asleep. He turned off all the lights and went upstairs to bed. As he was pulling off his boots he thought he heard a sound downstairs, he listened again and then dismissed it. But as he pulled off the other one he heard it again, someone or something was definitely in his house.
His old army training kicked in and he silently stole over to his dresser and pulled out his knife and gun. He flipped off the light and opened his door slowly. Moonlight streamed in through a large window illuminating the floor below and two figures crept about taking things and dropping them into a bag. Tully crept down the stairs keeping his eyes pinned on them until he reached the bottom.
Neither one had noticed him yet so he was hoping to keep the element of surprise. One man's elbow grazed a vase sitting on a small table and it fell to the floor with a loud crash. Tully's dropped his gun and he found himself back in the battleground, it was night and he could see two krauts in front of him. They had also spotted him, he looked around for his gun but couldn't find it.
He had to use what he had, which was his army knife. He gripped it tightly and then sprang at the man pulling him into a chokehold and swung him in front of his own body. The other German fired and then stood there realizing he'd hit his own comrade. Tully took his shock as an opportunity and threw his knife into the man's chest. He pitched forward but not before firing once more.
Tully was jerked back as the bullet hit his shoulder and lay there panting. Everything was so confusing.