Chapter 10: Bravery Takes A Holiday
Hogan and his men moved quickly and quietly through the woods along the road. Hogan motioned for everyone to stop and get down and remain quiet. He crept ahead to get a better view of what he heard.
Hogan parted the bushes enough for him to see through. There was Hochstetter's car stopped on the side of the road and Hochstetter was sitting in the car yelling at the driver.
"You stupid fool! How could you have not seen the hole in the road. I have a good mind to send you to the Russian front!"
"But Herr Major, I don't know how I missed it. I am sorry, I will have the tire fixed in a minute."
"You better or else." Hochstetter growled through gritted teeth.
Hogan let the bushes come back together and went back to the gang with a smile. He motioned for everyone to spread out and take their positions. When everyone was ready, he gave Kinch the go ahead signal.
I can't believe I am doing this. "Waaaarrrrrah!" He roared. Then he shook a sapling tree and stomped loudly.
The driver dropped the spare tire and wanted to crawl under the car. Hochstetter stepped out of the car, drew his gun and fired in the direction of the sounds. "Listen up who ever you. I will not be intimidated. If you come out now, I wont hurt you."
The woods went silent. Not even the animals made a sound. The wind stopped rustling the leaves. The stillness was eerie. Glad the Colonel had Newkirk make this bullet proof. Kinch rubbed his chest where the bullet had struck. "Waaaarrrrrah!" echoed through the woods. Kinch kept his eye on Hochstetter's gun to know when it would be safe to come out. Kinch looked up for a quick prayer while waiting. Lord, protect me. When Kinch looked back at Hochstetter, he saw his hand tremble slightly.
Kinch let out the biggest, longest and loudest roar he had done and charged toward the car. The driver got so scared that he threw his gun at Kinch and started running down the road screaming. While Hochstetter was distracted watching the driver, Kinch ran up to him, knocked the gun out of his hand and knocked him to the ground. Kinch made a step toward Hochstetter,who was now frightened and put his hands over his face and started screaming. "Keep away! Keep away!"
It took every bit of self-control that everyone could muster not to laugh. Never a camera around when you need one. Why don't you have the propaganda ministry film this? Hogan thought with a smile.
Eva let out a scream and got out of the car and ran in the opposite direction of the driver. Kinch turned to see where she was running and noticed a figure running in the woods after her. Hochstetter thought he would take the opportunity to try and get away. The movement got Kinch's attention. Kinch started to pound on the roof of the car and roar again. Hochstetter rolled under the car and let out a small whimper. "Go away and leave me alone!"
HH HH HH
After the bend in the road and Hogan was sure that Hochstetter would not be able to see, Hogan ran out from the woods and grabbed Eva. She let out a small scream before Hogan could put his hand over her mouth.
"Relax. It's me. Colonel Hogan from Stalag 13." Hogan said trying to calm her.
Eva was shaken up by the creature and stammered. "We must leave. There is a monster back there. He…"
Hogan cut her off. "It's ok, he works for me."
"I don't understand. How can that monster work for you?" Eva asked still scared.
"I will explain later. Right now I have to get you out of here." Hogan gave the signal letting everyone know to head back to camp.
"Thank you Papa Bear for everything." Eva smiled and followed Hogan. He stopped briefly to look at her and then continued making his way to camp.
HH HH HH
Kinch heard the signal and let out a big roar and pounded on the roof one last time and ran into the woods. There he met up with Newkirk, LeBeau and Carter. They all headed back to camp together.
Hochstetter remained under the car for a moment, too scared to come out. It is one thing to be brave in front of people or when you have a weapon, but when you have a creature attacking you and you have no weapon, bravery takes a holiday.
After a few moments of not hearing a sound, he poked his head out from under the car and looked around. He spotted his pistol lying on the road about ten feet from him. When he was sure the coast was clear, he rolled from under the car and grabbed his gun.
He spun in all directions looking for any movement and listening for any sound. "Ha! I see you realized that I am the better person and you ran off like the coward you are. If you come back I will give you more of the same." Hochstetter yelled. After still not hearing anything, he felt that the creature was gone and decided it was safe to finish changing the tire.
As he was working on the tire, he was running through his mind how he would explain things. Bah! It had to be someone dressed up. A member of the underground perhaps. Or maybe it was Papa Bear? Nah, it was too big to be Colonel Hogan. When I get back, I am going to put that guard on report for deserting his post. There is no room for cowards like that in the Third Reich. And what did you do Wolfgang? You lay on the ground and screamed like a child. Well at least there was no one here to witness it…Sleeping Beauty.
Hochstetter stood up and looked around. For the first time since the attack started he noticed that his prisoner was gone. Out of frustration he kicked the tire "Oooooowwwww!" He yelled as he started jumping on one foot while he held the other.
Now how do I explain loosing Sleeping Beauty? Maybe I should of let the creature kill me. This is not going to look good for me when I get back.
