Chapter 3: Bodies.

The small German military base was a run down, gray rectangular building that looked like it had seen more war than one. Cracks ran through the thick walls, and the giant iron gate had more rust then iron. Barbed wire spiraled on the walls, to keep intruders out and eventual deserters in. Soldiers patrolled around the building, their faces grim. Even the lights that shone from the dirty windows seemed dull and depressing. Sometimes, a supply truck or another vehicle was allowed passage through the iron gate. The gate would always close with a loud bang that could be heard several miles away. There were no houses or farms nearby, and the only village lay 5 miles from the base. The building was surrounded by large empty fields on all sides, except for the massive northern wall, were the woods ended. The Germans had chopped down any trees that stood too close to the wall, in case someone tried to get in or out that way. So far, no one had ever tried. The people that lived in the area were too terrified to try anything. The base was mostly known for its residing superior officer. Col. Maximilian Steinberg, who had been a Gestapo officer until about a year ago, was a cruel and cold hearted man, only caring about himself, his country and doing anything to prove the Third Reich was in perfect control of everything.

Recently, though, Steinberg didn't feel so very in control anymore. For the past month or so, he had been hearing disturbing rumors. Rumors about a small group of Jewish-American soldiers that called themselves the Basterds and were lead by a man they called Aldo the Apache, that brutally murdered each and every German soldier they ran into. At first, Steinberg hadn't been the slightest bit worried. It was probably all just strong soldier gossip, and how likely was it that a group like that could roam around unharmed? But the rumors didn't calm down, in fact, they got worse: now, the soldiers whispered to each other about a man among the Basterds, a man that was so big and strong it wasn't humanly possible. They whispered that this man bashed the heads of German soldiers in with a club he had carved from a tree he had pulled out of the ground himself. They called this man the Bear Jew.

Steinberg didn't believe for one second a man like that could exist, but there sure was some one that beat the brave soldiers of the magnificent Third Reich to death, and there sure was a group called the Basterds that roamed around free and killed every German soldier they lay eyes on. Steinberg didn't like it. No, he didn't like it at all. Worried that his base and the men under his command would be attacked by the Basterds, he had done everything to secure the place. Patrols were out 24 hours a day, in and around the base, and the soldiers and officers had all been notified to be extra alert. Steinberg believed his precautions were more than enough to keep a group of nine men with little weapons and artillery from attacking his base. After all, they would have to be very stupid to try such a thing.

Steinberg was partly right. The Basterds were indeed around, and had been planning to attack the base for some time now. Lt. Raine and his men just constantly had to change their plans because of Steinberg's precautions.

But now, Raine believed he finally had the perfect plan in mind.

The Basterds had been staying in the woods mostly, moving someplace else everyday to prevent the Germans from finding them. Now, they had found an empty house deep in the woods. The house was a good hiding place. They could see any enemies come from miles away and they had four walls around them and a roof above their heads, which was probably the best thing. It was well into November and winter was definitely in the land, which meant the days were wet and windy, and the nights were freezing cold. It was about time they could take over the base, even just for one night, so they could get their hands on some descent food (they had been living of anything that came in cans the whole time) and could get themselves a little clean. Being a feared and famous Jewish-American guerilla army wasn't everything it was rumored to be.

But tonight, they were going in.

It was growing darker outside. The sky was heavy with thick, dark clouds, which would be the perfect cover to move in the dark. Lt. Raine went over the plan with his men one more time. By the time they had done so, it was dark outside. They took their fully loaded guns, rifles and machine guns, made sure they had grenades with them, and had their knives on their belts. It was time.

"Time to get boomin'." Aldo Raine said.

They walked the mile or so that separated their base from the German base, stopping at the edge of the forest, on the north side of the building. First, they would take out the patrols that were out. They split up in two groups, each taking one side of the building. They would meet up at the gate. Donny, Omar, Wicki and Kagan took the left side, while Raine, Utivich, Hirschberg, Sakowitz and Zimmerman took the right side. Knives in hand, they moved silently, sneaking up from behind any German they found, slitting their throats and making sure none of them had enough breath or life left to raise alarm. They had to be quick; the guards on the walls checked the guards below every 15 minutes. By that time, they would have to have made it to the gate, to start the second phase of the plan: blowing the gate up.

The two groups reached the gate almost at the same time. Without saying a word to each other, they placed their small but strong hand made bomb by the doors and set the timer to one minute. Then, they hurried away, hiding behind the side walls of the building. While they waited for the bomb to go off, they got their guns ready, to make sure they got each and every soldier inside once they jumped through the gate that hopefully would've been blown open by their bomb. There were about a hundred and fifty men inside the base, which wasn't that much, but it would still be a miracle if the Basterds all made it out without a scratch on them.

Silence. Donny counted to one minute in his head…

BOOOOMM

Steinberg snapped his head up from his paperwork in alarm. What the hell just happened? He got up from his desk, moving towards the door of his office. The first thing that went through his mind were the Basterds, but he immediately dismissed the thought. They couldn't possibly be so foolish. He entered the hallway, gazing out of the window that looked out on the base's courtyard. At first he couldn't see much, but all over the building the lights went on, and soon he could soon distinguish a small group of men entering through the blasted iron gate. The group spread out, firing at the guards on the walls and the soldiers that emerged from the building. Steinberg was completely in shock. It couldn't be. The Basterds, those dirty Jewish dogs, were actually attacking his base.

Down on the courtyard, Lt. Raine tried to count how many Germans they already killed. He lost his count somewhere into forty. The guards on the walls had now all been taken out.

"Alright, men!" he shouted, "Into the building! Kill every motherfuckin' Kraut you find! But keep an eye out for that Steinberg. Let's go!"

Charging forward, the Basterds kept shooting every soldier that dared to show his face. Most of them had already been asleep. They were confused, scared, disorientated. Raine and his men blasted trough them as if it were nothing. Once they were inside the building, they reloaded their guns and checked all the rooms. That was the really dangerous part; they didn't know for sure how many soldiers were still inside and where they were hiding. Wicki and Donny had already checked several empty bedrooms, and were now moving towards the showers.

"There's gotta be some in there." Donny muttered. "Cover me, I'm going in."

He slowly crept towards the door, aiming his machine gun. He placed a hand on the door, gently pushing it open. Then, he leapt inside, ready for any attackers. At first sight, there was no sign of them. Wicki followed after him.

"Do you think…" he began, but he was interrupted by a loud cry as five German soldiers jumped out of a door at the far left end of the room, that connected to the next room. Everyone started firing at each other. Donny and Wicki got them all down but one, that managed to shoot Donny. Wicki immediately shot the soldier down.

"Shit, Donny, you okay?"

Donny leaned against the wall, panting, gripping onto his right leg, blood dripping through his fingers.

"I think so…" he looked at his wound. "Looks like the bullet only scratched me." He wiped the sweat from his forehead, and tried if his wounded leg could carry his weight. It hurt, but it was nothing he couldn't handle.

"Okay, let's go."

In the meantime, Raine, Omar and Utivich found themselves in a fight that involved them hiding around a corner, while their enemies fired at them from the other side. Raine was getting impatient, seeing as he hadn't really got a good shot at any of his attackers.

"Give me a grenade." He ordered. Omar eyed him incredulously. Was he seriously planning of setting of a grenade here?

"Uh, are you sure, lieutenant?" he asked.

"Just fuckin' give me one already."

Omar did it.

"As soon as I've thrown it, we run. Got that?" They nodded. Raine pulled the pin out, waited a few seconds, and then threw the explosive around the corner.

"Go!"

Raine, Omar and Utivich spurted away from the enemy, while the explosion rang in their ears. They went into some nearby room, and were soon joined by Donny, Wicki and the rest of the men.

"Everyone alright?" Raine asked. They didn't look like they were in any way seriously hurt, which was good. They weren't out of this mess yet.

"Did you check all of the rooms back there?"

"Yeah, we killed all the Germans we found."

"Okay, now, we do the rest of the building. If you find that Steinberg, make sure you get him alive. I'd like to ask the guy a few questions. Go!"

They charged forward again.

They didn't find much more soldiers. It seemed most of them got wiped out. They captured five remaining Germans, three of them were soldiers, one sergeant and one captain.

"Alright then," Raine said, after sending Donny, Utivich and Kagan to find Col. Steinberg, while Omar, Hirschberg and Zimmerman stayed outside the door. Wicki and Sakowitz stayed inside the room. Raine got himself a chair to sit on, while he eyed the surviving Germans. He took out his snuff box.

"Alright, folks, my name is Lt. Aldo Raine and I believe you might've heard about me."

In the meantime, Donny, Utivich an Kagan had found Col. Steinberg. The man was standing by a window in a hallway. Donny aimed his gun.

"Don't move." he said.

Steinberg looked up, his expression completely blank. He knew exactly what to do. Before anyone fully realized what he was up to, he jumped through the window.

"Son of a…." Donny charged forward. When he looked out the broken window, his eyes widened in complete surprise. They were on the second floor, but there was no trace of Steinberg. No motionless body on the ground beneath.

"What the fuck…" Utivich muttered when he joined Donny.

"C'mon, let's get down there, he can't be that far."

They didn't find Steinberg. The man seemed to have gone up into smoke.

"This isn't right." Utivitch said. "I don't see how you could jump from that high and survive, let alone run and hide immediately afterwards."

"Yeah… it's odd. I don't think we've seen the last of that Steinberg yet." Donny answered. "Let's go back to the others"

"Did you find Steinberg?" Lt. Raine asked as soon as they entered the room. Three of the remaining Germans had already been shot, their blood pooling up on the floor.

"Yeah, we did." Donny answered. "But he kinda got away…"

Raine frowned.

"What do ya mean, he kinda got away?"

"It was weird. We found him standing by a window, and he jumped out as soon as he saw us. When we went to check, he was gone."

"Did you look everywhere?"

"Yeah…"

"Well ain't that great." Raine huffed. "I really wanted to have a little talk with him."

"Is he important?" Utivich asked. Raine shrugged.

"He's a high ranking officer, so he knows a lot. He used to be in the Gestapo, and y'all know they're the real assholes in this war. And it wouldn't do the general German moral much good if they knew that not even their important officers are safe."

He turned his attention to the two Germans in front of him again.

"So, boys, if any of you want to live, you better open your mouths real soon. I'm not in the merriest of moods right now."

The two men, both on their knees and in handcuffs, remained silent, exchanging a glance of understanding between each other. Don't tell them anything. Raine raised an eyebrow. This could take a while, but they had all night…

He got up from his chair, and started walking around the room. The Basterds watched. It was always fun to watch Lt. Raine get information out of people.

"So, let me get things straight here first," he said, "You're Sgt. Fritz," he stopped in front of the man, and bend over so he could look him in the eye. "And I believe you understand some English. Am I correct?"

The man nodded.

"Splendid!" Raine grinned, and walked over to the other German.

"And you're… Let me think…" He pretended to be thinking really hard. "You're captain… captain something… Wow, wait, don't tell me! I know I know this…" he raised a hand as soon as the man opened his mouth. "Captain… Steinberg!" Raine snapped his fingers.

"See, I knew it alright." He said, grinning. "And you, you even speak English! Right?"

Cpt. Steinberg blinked.

"Yes."

Raine chuckled.

"What do ya know, seems you Krauts ain't so thick headed after all, huh? Now tell me, captain, you don't happen to be any relation of one colonel Steinberg?"

"He is my brother."

"Is he now?" Without warning, he grabbed the captain by his collar. "Seems asshole runs in the family, then." he hissed.

Raine let go of the man and took out is snuff box again.

"Okay, captain, I'll be askin' you a couple of questions now. Whether you walk outta here or not, depends on how and if you answer. Am I clear?"

"As crystal." Steinberg answered.

"Are you gonna cooperate?"

"I'm afraid not, lieutenant."

Raine frowned and tilted his head.

"I believe I didn't quite get that last thing you said, Steinberg. So I'll ask you again: are you gonna cooperate?"

"No."

The Basterds started grinning. Lt. Raine went back to his chair, turned it, and sat back down 'the wrong way'.

"Look, Steinie, you seem to me to be an intelligent man. So I suggest you don't start doin' stupid things now. Or this won't end very well for you."

A defiant smile appeared on Steinberg's face.

"Your threats mean nothing to me."

Raine scratched the back of his head. "We might have a problem here. I'd usually appreciate a little fearlessness in anyone, but right now, it don't do me any good. And it don't do you any good, either. You see, Steinie… Do you mind if I call you Steinie, Steine?"

Steinberg snorted, but replied: "Not at all."

"Alright, now, you see, Steinie, me, I'm the sensitive kind of guy, and to be perfectly honest, I've come to like you in the short time we've known each other. I don't want to hurt you if it ain't absolutely necessary. But my good friend Sgt. Donny Donowitz over here on the other hand…" Raine pointed with is thumb over his shoulder, "he don't give a shit about you."

Steinberg stared at Donny's broad shouldered figure. Donny grinned his trademark half grin and winked.

"You told me before you heard about me," Raine continued, "more specifically, you heard about Aldo the Apache. Now, Donny here also earned himself a nickname during our time in beautiful France. Do you know what they call him, Steinie?"

Steinberg shook his head. "I don't know it."

"Let me enlighten you. They call Donny the Bear Jew. Do you have any idea why?"

Steinberg shrugged. "Because he is tall, perhaps?"

"Yeah, that's maybe one reason. The other reason is, that Donny is fuckin' scary when he gets pissed off. Same like bears get fuckin' scary when they're pissed off. Now, when people don't cooperate, Donny tends to get very pissed off. And you don't want that, 'cause he has a thing for killin' Nazis like yourself in much less humane ways then simply puttin' a bullet in their head. Now, I'll ask you one more goddamn time: will you cooperate?"

Silence filled the air.

"No."

Raine sighed.

"Well, I'm sorry to hear you say that, Steinie." He looked over his shoulder to Donny, and nodded.

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After Donny had some more baseball bat beating practice ("I'm Teddy fucking Williams!"), it took Raine less than 5 minutes to get the information he wanted out of Sgt. Fritz. Then, the Basterds did one more check up of the building, collecting scalps from the dead bodies they found, and gathering extra artillery and cans of food. They locked Fritz up in a cell underground, and were now gathered in the kitchen. Omar and Kagan, who used to work in a restaurant before he joined the army, were cooking a late night diner for everyone. It would be their first decent hot meal in about month. To make things complete, Donny had found several bottles of scotch and other various strong drinks in Col. Steinberg's office. Lt. Raine opened the first bottle.

"To us." He simply said, drank and passed the bottle on.

"Yeah, to the Basterds." Wicki said.

"To the Nazis… the dead ones, of course." Utivich grinned as he put the bottle to his lips. The others laughed.

"To Teddy Williams!" Donny said, hiccupping. The others didn't know he already drank the remaining half of an already open bottle of whisky in the colonel's office.

"To victory." Hirschberg said, drank, and passed the bottle on.

"And to freedom." Sakowitz added.

"To my girlfriend that hopefully will be waiting for me." Zimmerman said.

"Yeah, good luck with that." Kagan said as he received the bottle. "To all Jewish people in general."

Omar took a long time deciding what he would drink to. The others all watched expectantly as he slowly raised the bottle.

"To this bottle of brandy." he finally spoke. The others all laughed. The bottle went around the circle a few more times, until Donny got hold of it again. He raised the bottle over his head, almost losing balance as he did so.

"I just wanna say… see, the bottle's almost empty… I just wanna say that this last drink is to and for our dear lieutenant, because he kicks ass."

The others started cheering and applauding as he said this.

"Yeah, alright, stop that corny shit already." Lt. Raine mumbled. But, deep down, he really appreciated that his men liked and trusted him.

And then, the Basterds held themselves a little party. It started innocent (as far as these guys are innocent) with card games, and it ended with Kagan, Utivich and Zimmerman riding bikes and motorbikes all around the building, Wicki and Omar getting Sgt. Fritz out of his cell to hang him out of the window by his ankles, threatening to drop him, to see how long it took before he burst into tears, and Sakowitz trying to light fire to everything he got his hands on (books, frying pans, shoelaces, spiders, telephones, various liquids, cans, a giant pudding that looked and smelled like it had been in the cupboard for several weeks, and the hairs on the back of his hand). Lt. Raine watched him, sitting at the other table in the kitchen, while a very drunk Donny leaned on his shoulder, a half empty bottle in his hand, and several other empty ones in front of him.

"You know, lieutenant," he said, getting up while holding on to the table for balance, "with a little luck, we'll be knocking on Hitler's door next week or something."

Raine rolled his eyes. Donny had been repeating that for the past hour or so.

"You know that ain't gonna happen, sergeant."

"No, I mean it. I'm gonna kill that motherfucker!" Donny banged his bottle in the table, causing Sakowitz to look up from the piece of bicycle tire he was attempting to burn.

The next thing Donny banged on the table, was his head, as he finally had to give in to gravity. He managed to lift his head back up nonetheless, to take another sip from his bottle. A red mark was starting to form on his forehead. Raine watched him, frowning.

"You know, Donny, there comes a moment in every man's life he has to ask himself one question." he said.

"Do I fuck the blond chick or the red haired chick?" Donny interrupted, and then started to giggle.

"Yeah, maybe that too, but what I really mean is: do I keep drinking, or do I put my bottle aside and get me some rest?"

Donny looked at the lieutenant with an unsteady gaze, his mouth hanging open, making him look incredibly stupid. Then, it struck him.

"But my bottle's not finished yet…"

"Put it away, Donny. You've been drinkin' a bit too much for your own good."

"… Suppose so…" Donny set his bottle aside, put his arms on the table, rested his head and closed his eyes. Within two minutes, he had started snoring.

It was then that Lt. Raine noticed the smell of burning rubber.

"Shit, Sakowitz, put that out!"

It was 3am now. Raine got up from his chair, deciding it was time he found the others. They still were in enemy territory, and that Steinberg was still out there. They couldn't let their guard down, and things were running a little out of hand at the moment. He would put his two most sober men on lookout, and make sure the others got some sleep. He was planning on getting up early, so they could leave before sunrise to go into hiding again. Staying in a German military base was too risky. He was sure that some of his men (especially Donny) weren't going to be too happy with getting up so early, but they wouldn't have much of a choice.

At least they had had their fun.

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Author's note: and another chapter done. Col. Steinberg will return in your nightmares. Or he'll be back in this story. I'm not entirely sure.

Tell me what you think of this fanfic so far! If no one likes it, it wouldn't be very necessary to continue, right? Peace out.