Chapter 1: Vive la France.

(One week later)

About six more miles, and this party can get started, Lt. Raine thought gazing at the map in his right hand. A thick red line indicated the border where normal France ended and where Nazi territory began.

Raine and his men had been dropped about an hour ago and where going to walk the rest of the way. There had been some complaining as to why their pilots couldn't fly over the border, but that would've been too dangerous; the Germans had a thing for shooting airplanes out of the sky. Having left their parachutes behind (unnecessary weight) in some empty barn, they had made sure their guns were loaded and that everything was into place, because things where about to get dangerous. Raine was planning to cross the border at night. They weren't really in a hurry. It was still early in the afternoon. They were keeping to the country roads, occasionally crossing fields and small forests, not wanting to attract any unwanted attention just yet.

Now, they were having another pause. It wasn't like anyone was complaining about walking, they just had a lot of time on their hands. That wasn't really much of a good thing; the men were getting a little impatient, eager to get busy busting some Nazi heads. Not all of them were too happy with the lieutenant's decision to wait till they were far behind enemy lines to start attacking German patrols. But Raine knew what he was doing. The border meant two things: one being that there were loads and loads of Germans stationed around everywhere, and the other, a direct consequence of the first, they were greatly outnumbered by those loads and loads of Germans. They had to be careful.

But on the bright side, the weather was cooperating. It was a beautiful sunny day, with just a few clouds on the horizon. The sun lay a yellowish hue over the wide landscape, that consisted of fields of green, gold yellow and light brown as far as the eye could see, with the occasional darker spot where one or more trees stood. It was quite warm for the time of the year, as if the summer wanted to break through the uprising grip of winter one last time. The men couldn't help but feel as if they were on some sort of holiday, even if they all realized it wouldn't last, and that by tomorrow, they could have killed, or maybe be dead themselves. It all depended on how things went tonight.

Despite getting a bit nervous, no one failed to relax during their long afternoon break. Sitting in the grass by a large tree, they either talked, smoked a cigarette or just were laying on their backs, gazing at the sky, trying to guess the names of the birds flying over.

"That's a hawk." Utivich pointed.

"Nah. It's an eagle." Donny said, chewing on a strand of grass.

"No, it's definitely a hawk."

"It's an eagle, dimwit."

"Are there even eagles in Europe?"

"Of course there are."

"Yeah, but I mean this part of Europe."

Donny frowned. Utivich kind of had a point there. He shrugged. "Dunno."

"I still think it…"

"Look, that's a hawk." Donny pointed this time. He turned his head to his companion, grinning, thinking he was absolutely right.

"Where?"

Donny smacked his forehead.

"Right above us, there." He answered, poking his finger at the sky.

"I really don't see it."

"Oh, c'mon, that fucker is right there! He's flying so low he's almost on top of you!"

"There? Man, that's definitely not a hawk. Not even a bird of prey."

"Oh, come on…"

"It's like a sparrow or something." Utivich said.

"You need your eyes checked."

"But it really isn't…"

"Look, Utivich, I'm your superior officer here. If I, sergeant Donny Donowitz says it's a hawk, then it's a hawk. Got that?"

Utivich scowled an crossed his arms over his chest. "Yeah, whatever…" he muttered.

Time crept by.

By the time Lt. Raine decided to get on their way again, the sun had made its way half down to the western horizon, slowly sinking towards some big, fluffy clouds that usually carried rainfall. Raine explained his plan to his men one more time. They stood in a circle, the lieutenant holding the map out to them, pointing at a specific point.

"Look, according to our intelligence, this place is where there are the least Germans stationed. Should be easy to sneak by unseen. Once that hard part is over, we keep walkin' till we find a relatively safe spot here in these woods to camp for the rest of the night." He moved his finger up the map. "Y'all got that?"

They nodded.

"What if we run into any Germans?" Omar asked.

"Then that's too bad for them." Raine answered. They all grinned at his words. With that, they hit the road again.

They saw the first signs of their enemy as planned, and hid in a nearby patch of trees. It wasn't much of a cover, but it would conceal them for the time being. Donny had climbed up a tree, scanning the area beyond the wide open field that separated them from a small German military camp. Gazing through his binoculars, he didn't think it was all that spectacular: a few tents, and some trucks and motorcycles. The Nazis probably didn't expect anyone to try to get out of their territory here, let alone get in. With any luck, they were at ease, not expecting any intruders and not looking for them. The soldiers in there hopefully had been stationed there for some time, growing more and more bored. And if things turned for the worse, Donny was fairly sure his little gang of nine could handle them. After all, they could have the element of surprise over the unfocused and tired Germans.

And they had grenades.

Night fell, accompanied by the full moon rising, and a cold mist that wrapped its icy fingers around trees and bushes, and the legs of Lt. Raine and his men, who were now standing at the edge of the trees, keeping perfectly still. Waiting. Somewhere an owl cried. Animals that only came out at night rustled invisibly in and around the bushes. One of them, a small type of mouse, got the scare of its life when a much larger creature suddenly shifted on his feet. Lt. Raine motioned for his men to gather and follow him. Trying to be as silent as humanly possible, the moved along the edge of the field, until they were left of the military camp. Then, things would get a little tricky: they would be far enough of the camp to not be heard unless they talked loudly, but it was still possible that German soldiers would be patrolling on the road that just happened to be the fastest way into Nazi-occupied France. Raine and his men would keep off the road, sneaking through the grass, until they had the camp far behind them.

Everything went perfectly fine until they had just left the German camp behind them. A light shone on the road, and two men appeared, speaking quietly to each other in heavy German. Raine stopped dead in his tracks, vaguely hearing his men do the same behind him. Slowly, he moved toward the ground, until he lay flat on the grass, staring through the strands, waiting for the soldiers to leave. No one could have predicted what happened next.

Omar Ulmer, who, like the others, lay down in the grass, felt something tickle on his hand. Looking down, he saw it was a gigantic spider. Omar was generally a fearless man, and he was only afraid of one thing. But that one thing happened to be crawling over his hand at the moment. He couldn't help it. He had to move. He snatched his arm up, shaking it violently to get rid of the spider.

Everyone, including the Germans, heard the noise. Lt. Raine silently swore to kill whatever son of a bitch had caused the soldiers on the road to alert. The Germans spoke quickly to each other, seeming to disagree on something. Raine didn't know enough German to understand what they were talking about. Sweat forming on his forehead, he slowly started moving his hand toward the gun on his belt. As soon as one of them Krauts set one foot on the grass, he would open fire.

After what seemed like an eternity, the Germans seemed to agree to not check out the sound they had heard, probably presuming it had to have been some sort of animal. They resumed walking. Raine waited until their voices were barely audible anymore, stood up, and motioned for the others to move on.

As soon as the German camp was out of sight, he stopped, turning to his men, a look of pure anger in his eyes.

"Which one of you fucking idiots decided it was a perfectly good idea to start making some goddamn noise out there?"

Omar swallowed, and took a step forward. A very hesitant step forward. He could almost feel the looks of the others burn on his back.

"What the fuck happened out there, Ulmer?"

"Um… I… something crawled over my hand, and I flinched…"

"Flinched? You made enough noise to alert every German in a 5 mile radius!"

Omar lowered his eyes. "I'm sorry…" he muttered.

"You're lucky they didn't come check!" Lt. Raine sighed. "We've been lucky once. Don't push our luck again, soldier. I was this close of shootin' one of those sons of bitches, and that would've alerted the whole camp, and they would've alerted nearby camps, and there would be a nationwide search party goin' on by now. And I don't want that yet. Got it?"

"Yes, sir."

"Alright, let's get movin'. I want some more miles between us and any Germans. Keep your eyes and ears open. Now let's go!"

They walked in silence for about an hour. Then it started raining. Just lightly at first, but it turned into a real downpour. Lt. Raine looked over his shoulder. His men walked in silence, all of them soaking wet, tired, hungry, but most of all very pissed off. About time we get us some Nazis to kill, Raine thought. To get 'em all distressed about tonight.

And then, as if it was meant to be, he saw lights appearing on the road ahead, and heard voices. They were speaking in German.

He quickly motioned the others to follow him into the bushes on the side of the road.

"Y'all ready?" he said quietly, gazing at them. They nodded, all with an exited look on their faces. If Donny grinned any wider, his face would run risk of cracking.

They readied their guns. The patrol was getting closer, their footsteps splashing on the slippery wet road. The men in the bushes could almost smell blood…

"NOW!"

Lt. Aldo Raine jumped out first, followed almost directly by all of his men. With a mighty roar worthy of that of an Apache tribe, they opened fire on the patrol. Bodies fell. Some of the soldiers had just about time enough to fire a bullet at their attackers, one of them missing Sgt Donowitz' head by a hairs width. They kept firing. They saw soldiers jump sideways, and mowed them down with bullets, their blood splattering everywhere, coloring the ground crimson.

For e few minutes, the small, dark road in the French countryside, turned into hell on earth.

And then… silence. The smell of gunpowder and blood filled the air.

"Check for survivors." Raine ordered. Wilhelm Wicki and Utivich moved forward, stepping in pools of bloody water, poking the bodies with their boots.

"Lieutenant, we got a live one here!" Utivich called, while Wicki pulled up a man by his hair. The soldier had a terrified look in his face, and clutched to his right shoulder, blood sipping through his fingers.

"Well, ain't that nice." Raine said, and walked up to the lone survivor of their little attack, taking out his handgun. Then, he hesitated, and turned around.

"Mind if I take this one out myself?" he asked his men.

"He's all yours, lieutenant." Donny said. Raine smiled and turned his attention to the German soldier again, who was now stuttering some kind of German gibberish. Raine pressed his gun to the man's forehead.

"Vive la resistance, motherfucker." He said, and pulled the trigger.

Authors note: first chapter done! Hope you liked it. I tried my best to get some tension in it, I hope I did a good job. Reviews are welcome.