Undying
An original tale within the Bluey universe By: StorMello "Chapter 8 - War To End All Wars: Part 2 - Survivor"I have seen and endured the sufferings of the troops and I can no longer be a party to prolonging those sufferings for ends which I believe to be evil and unjust.
Siegfried Sassoon, British officer
The battery grides and jingles, Mile succeeds to mile; Suddenly battering the silence, The guns burst out awhile…I lift my head and smile.
Robert Nichols, Shellshocked American soldier
Dad used to always say, "Peace lasts only so long in this world of hatred and cruelty, and I yonder on when a day of judgment will come. And if that day of justice and freedom ever comes to Earth, may my soul be free in the sweet release of glory and eternal bliss." He was right…He was very. much. right. Sorry Mutter, but I'm not coming back home for Christmas.
Heinrich Müller, 16-year old German private
Love…Does that actually exist? I look around me…and what I see isn't love to me. Gruesome trenches, filthy diseases, prejudice among comrades and enemies…Tell me God…What so-called "Love" did you create among men?
Alfred Lovelock, Australian Medic
My friends. My family. My purpose. They all abandoned me. Sometimes I wonder…Am I really alive at one point? Will my retribution one day end in this misery world? Will I ever see true life? My answers may never come out, but I hope that one day…maybe just one day…I will see my life be returned to me. May Death abide me and guide me to that day. Death…I'm Sorry.
Dustin Sable Spitz, a soldier who fights for his freedom
September 14, 1916
It was midnight. Nothing in sight except for bodies and rifles laying all over the battlefield. And far out in the distance, we see Dustin, writing away at his journal, crumbled and stacked with pieces of paper. As he writes, his face is in disdain and sadness, writing a bit sloppy. He begins to let out a tear, having the thought that he might never get his life back and be at peace. Once he finishes writing, he then saves his journal in his bag and gazes his sight towards the night sky. He begins diving more into his void of thoughts, wondering what his life would look like if, and only if, he ever returned to normality. He wondered if maybe he could take a vacation. Somewhere maybe warm and cool weather. A place with some exotic animals and green views. Maybe…That could be Australia. But yet, he doesn't know what that is. So after thinking, he closes his eyes and falls into slumber.
5:57 a.m.
"Dustin, wake up! C'mon get up!", yells Klaus, shaking Dustin back and forth fiercely.
Dustin gets up quickly and begins questioning, "Wha-what's going on?!"
"We're being attacked by the British! Come on, let's go!" As ordered, Dustin immediately gets up and forms in position with the other troops, all aiming in the direction of the enemy. On his right, Kreuz was holding his cross tightly and giving it a brief kiss for good luck, whilst on his left, Klaus was ready and had his finger on the trigger, ready to fire away at anything that moved. Although, for Dustin, all he could do was hear his loud heart thumping and his heavy breathing. He was nervous. But as all the boys aimed ready to fire…they felt the ground rattle. Their trenches were shaking, brushing dust they've had on them. As the ground shook violently, the men looked up to see the surprise that awaited them. Emerging from the dusk, a metal monster rattled back and forth, shaking the ground and all the bodies around it. It passed through making loud noises and its engine roared from the inside. And with such a surprise, the soldiers began wearing faces of fear and horror, all muttering what that "metal monster" was. The officer, as shocked as the others, pushes away the thoughts of retreat and yells, "Open fire, men, OPEN FIRE!" As commanded, all the soldiers begin firing at the mysterious metallic creature, hoping that their bullets were enough to damage the monster. But sadly, with no result, the figure pushed on and continued roaring, not taking a single scratch on its skin. Until…it stops. With this sudden halt of movement, the soldiers stop firing and notice the strange figure start moving the tube sticking out of the front. It continues to aim straight at one of the soldiers there, and suddenly…*BOOM*
A group of soldiers get their faces blown off, leaving nothing but bloody corpses within two seconds. The rest of the troop start panicking, everyone begins to take cover as more fires are taken by the metallic monster. Unexpectedly, a heap of shouting begins, except it comes from the other end of the battlefield. As the officer takes a glance, he immediately gets shot by a rifleman, resulting in them getting raided by the enemy. Seeing this, Kreuz shouts out to everyone, "RETREAT! FALL BACK!", and everyone starts running as fast as they could. As the chase began, many started getting cut off, while others were getting blown up from the monster. In the midst of this cruelty, Dustin, Kreuz, and Klaus were running the fastest they ever had done, attempting to dodge bullets along the way. But as the trio attempted their run, the figure began aiming at them. Going in sync, Dustin gets a glimpse of the figure pointing straight at them. But before he could warn them…*BOOM*
Laying on the ground, Dustin instantly wakes up. First seeing nothing but corpses and rubble around him, he rapidly stands up and checks his body for any missing limbs or broken bones. Luckily, he was fine, but he notices that it is night and not a single living soul in sight. Not one person he recognizes…"Kreuz," Dustin whispers, finding Kreuz's corpse laying on the dirt, missing a leg and an arm. Dustin, getting closer to the body, drops down next to it and begins sobbing, knowing he has lost another friend of his.
"Are you done?", interrupts a voice familiar to Dustin, and as he looks up…it's fucking Kreuz still ALIVE. In reaction, Dustin jumps back and starts getting the feeling to gag, but to interrupt again for a second time, Kreuz says, "Don't start now. I wouldn't want my last moments to see you gagging right next to me."
"Sorry," Dustin responds quietly, losing the urge to vomit. He then continues, "How…how are you even…alive?"
"God's luck, I'd say."
"Oh, maybe. Well," Dustin then gets interrupted by Kreuz handing him his cross.
"Dustin, I…I don't have much…time. Take this. It's in…memory…of me."
Lightly taking the cross and examining it, Dustin begins to tear up and grips the cross tightly. In response, Kreuz scolds him and continues saying, "Hey, Dustin. HEY, look at me. Look at me. You are a fighter…and don't let anyone else tell you different. We are the strongest dogs there can be, and no other dog is gr…great…greater than what we are. Take this, and keep it as a memory…of me."
Dustin, hearing this, tries his best not to cry and keeps his whole attention on Kreuz. He then says, "But…I am no fighter."
"Nonsense…haha. That's…just nonsense, Dustin. No matter in battle or…in life, we fight…for a cause. Everyday people just don't…see it. I wish I…had the chance to tell…them. But now, it is up to YOU, Dustin. Please, run away from here. Don't come…back…Just run…run t-to…anyw…to Aus…A…Australia."
And with that, Kreuz's head drops to the side and leaves Dustin with many questions. Dustin as well begins to shake Kreuz's body once until realizing it won't work. He stays there crying silently, wondering over and over again, When will it ever stop? But after moping for a good minute, he wipes his tears and remembers, the only way to honor a good soldier is carrying out his desires for another. So with this in mind, Dustin gets up quietly and begins running in whichever direction he could.
And with this…I ran. I went wherever I could, where there wouldn't be any soldier, nor war in sight. I ran in the direction to where I could feel freedom for once in my lifetime. But sadly, good moments only last for so long. Eventually, I was picked up by another regiment of German troops and sent off once again with them. The nightmare kept on going. The nightmare was to get worse.
September 25, 1917
"HERE THEY COME, BOYS!", yells out the prepared German officer towards his scared soldiers. The men embrace themselves in response to the attacking British soldiers, running through feets of mud and through the hailing storm. In between the petrified Germans, lies Dustin; all crawled into a ball and covering his ears with the palm of his hands. As he is crawled up, he hears the muffled noises of British soldiers yelling from across the grotesque battlefield and the fear of his comrades as they ready themselves for what is about to happen.
And as footsteps come closer to their position, Dustin's heart beats harder and his palms turn sweatier. The fear grows stronger and his mind becomes more blurry and broken. Every second passing by, left Dustin thinking random words.
Fight. No. Coward. No. Scared. No. Attack. No…Blood…YES.
As one British soldier jumps over where Dustin hides, Dustin grabs the unaware soldier by the leg and proceeds to Rambo the man's neck; leaving him to bleed out in the mud. And as this unfolds, every German soldier around him fights along with whatever they had or found. Shovels, rocks, sticks, knives, and their own fists. They proceeded to do so with much fear and cowardice, all afraid of losing their own lives. Dustin, on the other hand, has lost all sense of intelligence and fights with pure anger on his face. He begins by killing a charging soldier with his own rifle, piercing him right in the stomach. Next, he grabs a handful of mud and blinds one soldier, and then uses his claws to impale his heart area and rip it out. Suddenly, one soldier gets on top of him and lands a pickaxe to his shoulder, in the same area of the bullet wound. Although being in pain, Dustin takes the axe out of his shoulder and uses the other end to slit the enemy's throat, covering his face red. Then, proceeding with the attack, he takes the pickaxe and pierces a soldier's back, leaving the man screaming out of his lungs. Sadly, as he did this, he takes another wound from the back, being of a soldier impaling him with a bayonet. Painfully reacting to this, Dustin uses his axe to swing around and strike the weapon right into the side of the soldier's head, killing him in a blink of an eye. As the soldier collapses with his rifle, Dustin drops down in response to his wounds and looks up to view the sight. Dogs killing each other, heavy rain glooming the setting, Hell being unleashed everywhere. Dustin watches this with no reaction, his face crippled with what will scar him forever: Shellshock. In an instance, Dustin gets jumped over by an ANZAC soldier, causing the two to dance through the mud and dirtying themselves. Dustin lands the soldier on the ground and repeatedly, punches his face over and over and over again. He keeps at it until his knuckles are the color of dark red, mixing his and the soldier's.
And after the battle, I left to see the medic there at the camps. Sadly, he told me that I had my reaction towards the horrifying shellshock, an early version of what PTSD is. I didn't know what to say. I…was just astonished. The medic told me he would try his best to talk to the officer in charge, and luckily, it gave some result. I was relieved from the battlefield until I was patched up. I wish I hadn't been patched up as soon as possible, but this time, I had a plan. I promised I would run, didn't I?
April 4, 1918
The battle was gruesome. Bombardment was non-stop. Soldiers dying on both sides. Some with quick rapidness, others painful and slow deaths. At this time, the German Empire was losing manpower, supplies, and territory. They were losing it all. In the midst of this battle, Dustin ran far from the battlefield and into the forest that was near. Getting to this location, Dustin was breathless; his legs felt only a numb feeling and his breath was heavier than ever. Dustin, in response to this, sits down behind a tree to recover whilst hearing the pure agony that was happening near him. He heard the screams of dying dogs, the yelling of angered soldiers who had just lost their friends in this war. This noise makes Dustin become tense, remembering what had happened in Passchendaele and his cursed shellshock that now tempered with his mind. He felt broken. Each thought makes him feel more useless than what he already is. But as the silence grows louder and dark revolves around him, Dustin hears a footstep. Slowly looking to his right, he finds what appears to be a 17-year old Canadian rifleman aiming straight to his face and with hesitation. His hands appeared shaking ever so slightly, and his breath was in a discordant pattern. He seemed frail to open fire on Dustin. Meanwhile, Dustin only peered at the view and shook his head brokenly. He then proceeded to say a few words in English with heavy breathing, "Please…don't…I don't…want to die…Not again…Please."
But the moment Dustin spoke pure and clean English, the kid's face changed. From hesitation…to clear confusion. He wasn't sure of what Dustin was. Even though he wore their uniform, he didn't look completely German and had more features that didn't make him German, which was the voice. He felt dazed, and began to lower his rifle, asking Dustin only one thing.
"Are…you English?"
In response, Dustin…did nothing. All he did was turn his head straight and look forward. This left the kid with only one answer…that he was an english-born man. But instead of doing a typical fight-or-flight response…he instead spoke.
"When I joined this war, I imagined this as a simple battle of us kicking German asses and putting down the devilish kaiser. But with what I've seen…It's nothing like they said. In this bloody war, there is no sunshine. No easy taking of some sort. Here it's just pure death and agony. And here I am, far from home…far from my family…far from seeing peace in my life. Seeing some kind of happiness for once, some type of kindness. But no…here, I speak to a coward and traitor to my country. Here, I see nothing more than a dog who can't fight for his people or for anyone he cares about. Here…I see the definition of nothing."
After saying these words, the kid then goes back to the field, leaving Dustin to think of what he was doing. And as he looked up, he had his chance. Run free, far away from these lands that these dogs take control of…or…fucking fight back. He then takes out the promises he made to his friends, the necklace, the cross, a small fur of Emilien, Alastor's lucky quarter, and Lennox's dagger. He observed them with nostalgia, memorizing all the moments he passed with them; even if it was a small amount of time. His eyes had let out a tear in viewing all this. He saw the life he had before, and the life he has now. He saw one difference…
Adventure
With this, he wiped that one tear. He got up. He dusted himself off. And he ran back to the battlefield.
The Show Must Go On!
September 2, 1918 - Welcome To The Somme
At this point, German morale was out the window. Lives were being lost more than ever. Weapons and food supplies are dropping, having soldiers fight with their bare hands. Each day, more American soldiers march into the land of Germany. There was no other option, but to…
"RETREAT! EVERY MAN FOR HIMSELF!", ordered the German officer frighteningly, only to then get headshot by the enemy. Filled with cowardice, the dogs begin running back frightened in the opposite direction, only to get mowed down by the machine gun or blown by artillery fire. And amidst the frightened soldiers, fought the unleashed Dustin, filled with fury and valiancy. He didn't give not a single care into the order of the officer. But instead, fought for the purpose of avenging his friends. His motive was to fight till the death if he had to, no matter how he would die or who would kill him. As he began by striking a knife into the chest of an American soldier, he then picked up a nearby Luger pistol and started firing all the soldiers that hopped into their trenches. As he was on a killstreak, a British officer hopped behind him and shot his back, immediately alerting the unaware Dustin as well as harming him. Dustin then turns around and shoots the leg of the officer and then his face, killing him in an instant. After this commotion, Dustin picks up the officer's pistol and uses the two to fire at anything that moved, not caring if it was German or British or anything else. But at the moment he runs out of ammo and comes around a corner, he is confronted by a familiar figure. A familiar dog that was aiming his rifle at him, doing so with a certain fear in his eyes and uncertainty. Finally, it was clear. He saw Peter die, next Friedrick, then Kreuz…but there was one dog he didn't see die. One last friend he had hope in reuniting with and being able to stay alive with.
"Klaus?", questions the shocked Dustin to see his old friend in the flesh. The rather surprised Klaus takes a clearer glance and sees the friend he had been hoping to meet again in life. "Dustin, it's you!", exclaims the jubilated Klaus in reaction to seeing his long-lost friend. But the sudden reunion is interrupted by bombs hitting near their location, giving the two the clear to Get The Hell OUT! The two share a quick nod and begin their run along the trenchline. As they both attempt their escape together, their run attracts the attention of enemy soldiers nearby and they begin to give chase. In response, Klaus uses whatever bullets he has and shoots the soldiers who are chasing. And in no time, they were approaching the end of the trenches and saw the forest to take cover. They could've escaped this one…could've…"DUSTIN, LOOK OUT!"
But the moment Dustin turned his face, a whole bomb aiming right in front of him blew the trenches and sent debris flying everywhere. Many objects went landing right on top of Dustin, like wood, dirt, and rocks. And as they toppled right on him, he saw his last moments with Klaus. He saw Klaus stop right there…and then darkness. Nothing else could have been seen, nothing more than darkness and the touch of rubble and dirt. This moment would scar Dustin to the core, letting him know that making true friends was a difficult task to do in bloody conflicts. One lesson that The Spirit was trying to convince Dustin this whole time. And now…Dustin saw this clearly.
3 Months Later…
It was a cold, sunny day. Trees were losing color, and skies were gaining clouds to start the yearly snow. And in between this setting, is what is left from the war. The holes where the trenches are, the big amounts of debris and wood, and old pieces of uniform scattered across the field. But in the midst of all this aftermath, one soul prevails. In one part of debris, a hand emerges from the rubble, shoving away any rocks that may be covering the exit to land. The hand then turns into an arm, then into two arms, and finally appears Dustin; all covered in dust and soft dirt. As he begins to adjust his eyes, he sees one thing that began to worry him…cleanliness and peace. Dustin began to panic, wondering over and over where the German troops were or if there was any war. He began to crawl out of the hole and stood up immediately, all whilst looking around in his surroundings. He started walking in whatever direction he could, checking if some sort of life was present or some sort of ally was near. But sadly, wherever he looked, there was nothing more than pure beauty and colors. This caused him to panic even more, and he began to scream out in German, "HELLO! ANYONE THERE?!"
Nothing.
"IS THERE ANYONE HERE?! ANYONE?!"
Nothing. He began screaming in English.
"HELLOOOOOOO! PLEASE SOMEONE RESPOND! KLAUS! ANYONE!"
N-o-t-h-i-n-g. With this, Dustin collapsed on the floor, absolutely breaking into tears and screaming all his agony and pain out. He has never felt this broken in life, so much tension that is stored in him, now all being released. For the first time, Dustin was in complete disdain and misery. With no friends and no knowledge of where he was. But he would soon figure it out, and be shocked. Be In Literal Trauma.
October 16, 1919 - Munich, Germany
It was more than a year later, and Germany has fallen into a hopeless void. There were communist attacks against the government. The economy was crashing below its breaking point, and even inflation was causing problems in the banks of the people. Everything was going above its limits…and one man sought to fix all of that. One man…with one weird mustache.
Here in Germany, we find the Hofbräukeller, a restaurant that serves good food and is a reunion place to a political party. The German Workers Party, home to ideas of change and reconstruction. And inside this restaurant, lies a broken Dustin, drinking a beer and tears in his eyes. His face was in a blank and his thoughts were vacuous. Nothing could be written from him nor drawn, he was like a solid statue but cracked on one part. Meanwhile Dustin was there, an old dog interrupted the silence of the restaurant to present a new member of the party, who will be giving his first speech. As everybody raised their attention towards the newcomer, the new member began by saying some few words, but in a very shy manner. The man kept going with his speech, but three men sitting at one table began to grab their belongings and start walking out the door. But the moment one of them put their step out the door, the bashful dog turned into a grandiose canine, filled with anger. He then started barking out the rest of his speech, improvising along the way and said each word with a fit of fury. The three men stopped their movement and proceeded to sit back down at their table, intrigued by the words the frustrated canine roared out to the crowd. And as the dog spurred his words out, Dustin listened and paid much attention. He saw the way he expressed his talk, emphasizing each and every sentence with vigor and strength.
Dustin saw this…He. Liked. It. His face drawed a smile across, and his attention became full. He listened…and now will obey.
No Returns…To Be Continued…
P.S. - Thanks for reading chapter 8. Hope you enjoyed it, and also know that we are close to ending this story. It may seem short in some form, but I assure you…This isn't the only stuff I'm making. Be sure to see more content from me and hope that you enjoy chapter 9 when it comes out.
Until next time…in Nazi Germany, 1939