"Hurry up and turn the cameras on. We need to show the world how much of a snake the UN really is," a man in a long black jacket said as he poked his head above the Russian tank.
The rain was still washing over the figures in the distance, making the soldiers and tanks look like shadows. You could hear the static of the rain almost overwhelm the voice of the Russian soldier as he climbed his way down to the mud. How did they know we were with the UN? You thought to yourself. There was something definitely off about the atmosphere. The tension between your volunteer group and the surrounding Russian tanks increased as the rain continued to brush past the terrified faces.
"UN? Where did you get that idea?" One of your squad mates asked the Russian. You weren't sure if the man was brave or completely delusional, but you could see the Russian shadow move closer to the crowd.
"You're right!" The Russian said with a slight grin. "We probably wouldn't even know this 'volunteer group' was part of the UN without the help of a good friend." The Russian walked up to your commander who was now on the edge of the crowd. He slung an arm over your commander's neck and laughed hysterically. Your heart rate started to rise as almost as if it followed the cacophony of the rain and the man's laughter. You tightened your grip on Ludwig's jacket around you and clenched your teeth in disgust.
"Isn't that right Levitsky?" The Russian asked. Your commander lifted his head revealing his menacing face. You were only able to make out the shadows through Ludwig's binoculars but you could tell your commander had turned into a completely different person.
You placed the binoculars down mortified by what you just witnessed. You didn't believe your commander worked for the EEF. He was far too kind and compassionate towards your group. He had helped your group travel great distances during times when morale was incredibly low. You could feel your breathing quicken to the rhythm of the drowning rain. Mortified, you looked over to Ludwig to gain a sense of reality, after all, you weren't sure if this was truly happening.
Ludwig was gritting his teeth and filled with complete anger as he looked through his binoculars. He placed the binoculars down and looked at you with fury and rage; however, his crystal eyes met with yours for brief second and he lightened his anger. He stared at your glimmering (e/c) eyes with a sense of embrace and sorrow. You let yourself drown in his eyes as if looking for a way to escape the moment.
Across the wasteland a few Russian soldiers held up cameras, microphones, and broadcasting equipment. Your commander, now Levitsky, walked up to the center camera and took out a handful of small cards. You couldn't tell what they were but the camera focused on them.
"These are the identities of the UN volunteers that were sent here secretly," Levitsky spat at the camera. He held up the identification cards of the volunteers to the camera waving them around like they were lottery tickets.
Everyone in the group stood there in complete shock. There was an entire Russian news crew pointing cameras at your fellow squad mates. Russian tanks surrounded your group with many soldiers on standby to shoot. No one in the group dared to speak out of fear and shock of the situation.
In the center of the group you could see a short Italian push her way to the edge of the group. When she reached the edge of the group, she faced Levitsky with a nasty expression. You focused your vision on her to realize that Elena was starting to yell at Levitsky.
"HOW COULD YOU?" She asked Levitsky, daggers flying from her mouth. "We've been through so much together. We trusted you. We believed in you. We let you risk our lives and the lives of others to help end this war." You could tell Elena was on the edge of tears. Her voice cracked with every syllable and her eyes were puffy; nevertheless, she maintained her focused stare on the eyes of your once trusted commander.
"You're right. I am helping to end this war... just on the right side of it," Levitsky said back to her with a grin. He reached down by her side and picked up her handgun from the belt. All of the cameras rushed over to the handgun trying to capture every angle of it.
"Do you see here?" Levitsky asked rhetorically. "Not only did the UN go behind the back of two major security council members, Russia and China, but they also supplied these peaceful volunteers with guns, explosives, and other military grade material!" Levitsky showed it off to the camera acting like he just found hidden treasure.
Elena started to sob loudly holding her hands up to her head. "YOU SUPPLIED US WITH THOSE, DAMN YOU! WE'RE NOT SOLDIERS WE'RE VOLUNTEERS HERE TO HELP REFUGEES!" Elena spat as tears rolled down her face. The Russians simply chuckled at Elena's attempt at proving your group's innocence.
"Sure ok... Why would I, a EEF soldier who loves his motherland deeply, give you, a slimy backstabbing rat, a gun that could kill off my fellow comrades?" Levitsky asked Elena while making sure he was in frame of the camera.
This is all just a massive publicity stunt to turn the world against the UN, you thought to yourself. You still couldn't believe what was happening in front of you but you knew the Russians were not going to let your group go so easily. That's why Levitsky put your group in Russian occupied land. That's why Ludwig never received a call or message from the UN. That's why Ludwig and Gilbert were farther west from the border.
You looked over to see Ludwig clenched on the binoculars. He was clearly extremely mad with his hand almost shaking a bit out of anger. You both knew there wasn't anything you could do against half a dozen tanks and a few dozen soldiers. You reached over to Ludwig and tapped him on the solider.
"Are you ok?" You asked concerned about Ludwig's rising anger. He looked down at you and placed a hand on your shoulder. His eyes were now a deep sea blue, concerned but gentle.
"Am I ok? I should be asking zhat to you," Ludwig said inching closer to you. You were already close to begin with but you could now feel his body heat rushing off of him. He was definitely furious with what was going on but he was hiding it well from you. He seemed more concerned about you than the Russians across the field.
"I-I'm fine I guess," you said as your voice cracked. You had been through so much in the past 24 hours and you knew you couldn't take much more of it. You held in the tears knowing that the battlefield wasn't a place to spill them. Ludwig patted you on the soldier and put his head down near yours.
"I'm sorry about all zhis. I should have believed you from zhe start. I'm sorry I can't save your friends right now but I promise I will get zhem out of there az zoon as possible," Ludwig said looking you straight in the eyes. "I'm not going to let anything happen to you either. Ve'll find a way to end zhis var and save your squad mates." Ludwig's face blushed a little but instead of turning away like normal, he continued to look into your eyes. You could tell Ludwig genuinely cared about you and wanted to help save the others. Even though you just met it's started to feel like you knew everything about Ludwig. You wish you could just sit there for a while not worrying about anything. You could let all the past violent and horrible memories drown in his sea-like eyes.
Across the field, the Russians continued to show the so called 'atrocities' that your volunteer group 'executed'. Levitsky and Elena continued to argue while everyone else in the group quivered. Every once in a while one of the EEF soldiers would give out a loud chuckle, mocking whatever Elena said.
Out of the corner of the binoculars you saw two men approaching Gilbert's truck. You looked over to see Gilbert had noticed them too and he started to back away from under the truck. You quickly bumped Ludwig with your elbow.
"Ludwig, there are a few soldiers heading towards Gilbert. We need to move or else we'll all be spotted," you told Ludwig.
"Ja I see zhat," he responded. "Ok lets back up slowly and head back towards the forest... I'm sorry ve can't save your friends right now." You looked down to see Ludwig was resting his hand on your hand. He must have not noticed he placed it there because he immediately took his hand back. He looked away out of embarrassment. You thought it was kind of cute as you smiled softly back at him.
Ludwig allowed you to crawl out first watching the front of the truck to make sure no body spotted you. Gilbert started to quietly run towards you. You pointed westward towards the forest motioning to Gilbert that you would regroup there. Gilbert understood and ran westward to the Firs.
Ludwig crawled under the truck and followed you away from the field. You both were moving at a face pace but made sure to stay quiet and hidden. You turned around one last time to see the tanks and guns pointed at your group. The EEF soldiers faces were tainted in cruelty. They had just shown the world how 'menacing' your volunteer group was, but now they were able to show their true colors. The cameras were off and there was no one there to stop them from slaughtering your friends like cattle. Panic set in and you froze unable to comprehend what the Russians were about to do.
The camera crew disappeared and the soldiers were ready to fire at your friends. This wasn't right. They were surrendering and giving up their weapons. They are prisoners of war, the Russians can't shoot, you thought to yourself. Your hand started to shake and tears began to run down your eyes. The past weeks with your squad mates couldn't end with you watching them die. You weren't going to let them die. Ludwig hadn't noticed you stopped, so you turned back toward the field and ran to save your friends. Even if it got you killed, you couldn't leave them to die like that.