Chapter One- A New Start

As if no time had passed at all, Friedrich's eyes shot open and he shot up in bed, reaching into the drawer and drawing his pistol at nobody as quickly as he could. He breathed heavily as he pointed it at the empty wall, eyes wide open as if he were fighting for his life, before lowering it slowly and pressing his hands against his knees.

He had conditioned himself to wake up like that, to make sure he wasn't killed while sleeping in the trenches, to immediately grab his weapon and always be ready to shoot and question anybody there. It was a good habit on the battlefield and in the trenches, but it was completely useless now.

"Scheissie . . ." he cursed at himself as his breathing slowed and calmed down, he put the C96 beside him and stood up, leaving the blankets wrinkled and messy.

He looked at his uniform still on the side of the bed, he grabbed both parts of it and inspected them, not knowing what to do or where to put them, perhaps in a closet of some sort? Or back in his suitcase? He looked at the door with worry, but didn't touch them.

It seemed to be morning now though, the sun shone through the thin glass panes of the hotel room windows and lit up the room with a much needed natural light, which shone on the white blankets and covers of his bed.

Friedrich walked up to the windows and opened them, closing his eyes as he breathed in deeply and took in the fresh morning air, that felt nice too. Being in a place that wasn't plagued with the rotten stench of decaying corpses and filth was so much better for his canine sense of smell.

As he looked out at the town, he chose to observe for a moment. It was much liviler than it was just yesterday, and many more mammals were out on the street, most of which were women.

He remembered something when he looked at the bar from last night, or the "saloon" as the Americans called it. That bartender told him something about miners, if he could get someone to understand him, he might be able to get a job already.

Friedrich stepped back and turned around, grabbing his pistol and putting it in his right pocket as he walked to the door.

Finding a job wasn't the main problem though, the main problem was that Friedrich didn't know how to speak English, he knew a couple of words but that was it. He did understand English fairly well though, but he wasn't quite sure on why that was. Despite that though, if he couldn't learn at least a bit of English then it would be very hard to do much of anything, let alone keep anyone from being suspicious.

He was just lost on how he'd do it, but he needed to figure it out eventually, right now he needed to look for miners, either that or try to pry some more info from that bartender.

Friedrich walked out of the hotel and onto the dirt road, letting go of his pistol in his pocket and letting out a short sigh.

From there he just walked aimlessly, he could consider it as just looking around, he had only been here less then a day after all, so it never hurt to do that.

As the minutes went by, he quietly hummed one of the many marching songs he knew from before the war, he didn't know why but it was stuck in his head for some reason, maybe it was there just to pass the time.

Many mammals passed him by, each one of which he watched closely from the corners of his eyes, scanning for any trouble or suspicious looks. The thought of someone suddenly finding out or reporting him terrified Friedrich, he could never be too careful, that was how he got here in the first place.

He stopped suddenly, the german shepherd looked at a small building that appeared to be some kind of general store.

"Hmm . . ." The canine cocked his head as he rummaged through his other pockets, pulling out many papiermarks from his trousers and looking at the paper money. He knew it most likely wasn't worth much considering he wasn't in Germany, but he just wanted to look around, maybe try his luck by asking whoever worked there about miners.

He nodded to himself and gripped his money in his hands as he pushed the door open, a small bell rang loudly as he did so, getting the attention of the mammal at the counter.

He paid no attention though, immediately beginning to look around for a minute, the stock of the store was as expected for an apparent mining town, there were pickaxes, digging equipment and lanterns on the walls of the building, that was among other things.

He turned to the red fox at the counter, who had noticed looking at him the entire time in silence, he gave the fox a slight grin as he walked up to the counter "morning sir" the fox said, returning with a smile.

The fox was dressed in a gray vest and striped undershirt with what looked to be a camera hanging from his neck; they looked quite welcoming if he had to be honest.

"Gutentag (good day)" he said with a nod, though the fox's eyes narrowed at this, somehow still keeping his smile "say, I don't think I've seen you around here . . . Certainly haven't seen a German, are you new?" the fox's sudden question made him sway a little as he stood.

"Ja . . . Ich komme aus Deutschland (yes, I came from Germany)" he explained as the fox seemed to understand some of it "Europe's mighty far from here, trying to get away from the war I'd suppose?" He nodded "ja . . ."

It was then when Friedrich tried his luck, the fox seemed to understand him well enough "uh . . . Sprechen sie Deutsch? (do you speak German?)"

The fox understood "only a little, I'm afraid" they said with a nod and a notion of their paw, teetering it back and forth "gut, Ich . . . suche bergleute (good . . . I'm looking for miners)" he said as they seemed to process it for a moment.

"The miners? They always come along a lot later in the day, I reckon you're looking for a job with them, right?" They asked as he nodded and sighed.

"Scheissie . . ." he cursed in frustration as he realized he'd have to wait "you could go to the mines yourself and ask there, though from what I hear, they don't like being interrupted much during their work" the fox added as he thought.

Friedrich looked at him for a second and nodded at the thought, he didn't care much if they wanted to be bothered or not, he needed a job, he needed American money.

"Danke, wo ist die mine? (Where is the mine?)" The fox pointed left "unfortunately, I'm not really sure . . . I think it's at the end of the dirt road going out of town" "But you said you fled from the war, right?" The fox asked just as he was about to leave, the shepherd turned around and nodded.

"What's happening over there?" Friedrich couldn't help but laugh a little, with it turning into a chuckle as he spoke "eine pattsituation an der Westfront (a stalemate on the western front)" he explained as the fox shook his head.

"A stalemate?" He asked, shocked "ja . . . das ist alles was ich weiß (that's all I know)" he lied. The fox nodded "it must be pretty bad over there for you to go across the Atlantic and then all the way here" he added as the shepherd grinned nervously at the mention of that.

"Nun, ich bin froh, dass andere Säugetiere hier Deutsch sprechen (well, I'm happy other mammals speak German here)" he said, speaking the truth as the fox nodded in front of him with a kind smile.

"I'm glad you managed to get away if it was that bad in Europe, plus we could always use some more folks 'round here" he said cheerily before continuing.

"Well when you find 'em, the miners are a bunch 'a good guys, wish I could tell you where the mine is but I really don't know" he said, still smiling.

Friedrich nodded and waved his hand dismissively "nein, nein, es ist in ordnung . . . (no, no, it's alright)"

He rummaged in his pocket and handed the fox 5 papiermarks "danke, kamerad . . . Das bedeutet viel (thank you, comrade . . . It means a lot)" he said walking out before the fox could respond, giving a weak wave as he left.

Friedrich walked onto the wide dirt road and looked left and right, sighing to himself as he just stood there unsure what to do.

He scratched his neck and thought to himself, tapping his foot impatiently, he kept what the fox told him in mind, a dirt road going out of town. It must be a side road to the one he was standing on, but which direction?

He shook his head and simply chose at random, he would go left, in front of him.

He marveled at the many many cabins, shacks, houses and stores in the town; their architecture didn't compare at all to ones of Germany and France but seemed oddly fitting.

There was much more wood, in fact most of everything was made of it, not nearly as much concrete and streets as he had hoped there to be, but that was fine.

The only times he would see a town or village were when it was virtually nonexistent, either burning, completely and utterly obliterated by artillery and nothing but rubble, with only a few things even hinting at what it was before.

He was happy to see that this was the complete opposite, he was happy to see something so familiar yet so foreign.

He could tell easily that he was in a much better mental state than he was when the war started, and despite all of the problems currently at hand, he was hopeful.

Friedrich walked down the very flat dirt road, passing many mammals as he did, though this time he only looked at them all for a few seconds, he didn't know why he was letting his guard down like that, yet he continued.

Eventually though, after walking for a small while, he found what he thought he was looking for. A long, wide dirt road similar in color to the main one, lay in front of the German Shepherd, revealing a single path in front of him.

There were olive colored bushes and shrubs that covered the wide sand colored landscape as he began to walk, it contrasted immensely to the muddy, wet and cold hellscape of the trenches in northern France. He didn't even realize how hot it was until he noticed sweat dripping from his fur, then a thought crossed his mind.

Maybe he should go back, he had no idea where he was going, and he'd get lost very easily, that was what his gut was telling him and it was almost always right. So he turned around and looked at the town a couple of feet away behind him and headed back.

He would wait for a few hours and then try to find some of those miners, just like the bartender and the fox told him.

He needed some rest after walking as well, so he went back towards the hotel.