347.

347.

-Stop. Listen. –

Those were the last words of my brother, James. We were sent to investigate a fortress somewhere in Poland. The 4^th got word from the Krauts as they ran with their tails between their legs, claiming the men inside the fortress had turned into… “demons.” We all mocked them at first but we should’ve listened…

***

-Attention! –

Called our sergeant as the captain walked in. We all dropped whatever we were doing and stood at the ready.

-At ease. –

Said Daniel Crawford, captain of 347^th company. Mid 50’s maybe. Black hair, short beard. His face was full of scars and his left eye was missing. One of the best strategists of the 5^th.

-Gentlemen, I’ve just got word. We’ve got work to do.

The 4^th intercepted a message from the frontlines 2 hours ago. We caught the Krauts running away from something. From what I understand, they described their foes as “monsters.” –

-First time? –

Said James, my brother, as he poked me with his elbow, making me and the entire barrack burst a laugh. The captain even smiled a bit. Never saw him do that.

-Maybe so, sergeant, but luckily not for us, now, is it? –

Said the captain as he turned to see us. We both stood at the ready, hiding our smiles and answered:

-No, sir! –

The captain gave us a gentle nod and continued:

-We have been tasked to seek and destroy. I want everyone ready by 0500, is that understood? –

-Sir, yes, sir! –

Crawford sighed under his breath and as he left, a voice asked:

-Captain, where are we going? –

The man stopped and without turning back, said:

-To Osowiec. –

***

Our sergeant walked in and began to yell as we were asleep. The lights suddenly lit up and we all woke up in a second. I jumped out of the bed and pulled our uniforms from under our bed. I handed James his and he gave me a nod as he quickly began to drees up. As I finished putting on my uniform, he turned around and said:

-Help me with the rest. –

I dropped my stuff and began to tie the armor plates to his uniform. I grabbed one of his shoulder plates and as I placed it, I glimpsed at the coat of arms we all bore. A shield, a sword and the spear of Longinus tied by a red rope. I put on his chest plate and his forearm guards and tied them up. Once done, he helped me with mine. He gave me a gentle pat on the shoulder, signaling I was ready and I turned to my bed to grab my helmet. A British helmet with a metal facemask and on the side the coat of arms of the Vatican. It was heavy. Stinky and rough to touch. I put it on and I rushed to the armory. James and I were the last to get there so we stood next to the door and as we waited, I saw a man from the barrack next to ours. He was carrying a machine gun on his shoulder but the men behind him were the ones that made me uneasy. Black clothes and black armor too. They wore a weird kind of gas-mask and on their backs, a big container full of Diesel. “Flammen kriegsmänner.” I muttered as they walked by. Their muffled breaths and their heavy steps made anyone fear. James, suddenly pushed me and I entered the armory and grabbed everything I needed. Grenades, bullets, my bayonet and my bolt rifle.

-Hurry up, man! –

Said James as we both ran through the halls of our improvised base inside the house of what used to be someone’s house. After rushing through the main door, we quickly took our place in the formation.

-Took you long enough. –

Whispered Abel, one of my closest friends in the platoon.

-Shut up. –

I answered as I straighten up my helmet. He chuckled a bit when a voice broke through the silence of the summer morning.

-Attention! –

We stopped laughing and stood a the ready. I was at the back and I am not tall, so I couldn’t get a good look of what was going on but I could listen very well at our captain.

-Gentlemen. The time is nigh. We know of the risks we take. We know of the monsters we face. We have our hearts full of orison and our rifles loaded with silver. Let them fear us as we once feared them.

We are God’s sword and Humanity’s shield against evil incarnate. We fight the dark and in darkness we die yet, through our sacrifice…-

-The world prevails! –

We all answered through our helmets.

-The world prevails. –

Repeated our captain as he saluted us as we ran to the trucks already waiting for us.

We all knew how to fight monsters. We were all veterans of a secret war waged within the shadows of our world. We had all seen a small piece of hell through the years but none of us was ready to see what we saw in that God-forsaken place…

***

When we arrived to the frontlines, first thing we did was to look through the trenches the Krauts had just left behind. As we cleared the trench, I tried my best to not gag at the stench of the place. Rotting bodies, rats, mud and spent bullets littered the place. I remember James and I turned around a corner and we both found a bunch of bodies. There was a huge hole on the ground and little meat pieces all over the place.

-What the hell happened here? –

I asked. James knelt down and he rolled one of the bodies around.

-Artillery. The Russians sure know how to aim. Poor bastards. –

I shouldered my rifle and I tiptoed through the bodies to reach a little step by the walls of the trench. I raised my head and saw the arid landscape the war left behind. I couldn’t see much for there was a thick fog over the place. I honestly don’t know what I was actually expecting to see but it made me sick to see what I saw. The fog cleared a bit and afar from the trench, up on a small hill, I saw it. Osowiec. But what was truly horrifying…was the view. Black land covered in mud, barbed wire everywhere and thousands upon thousands of corpses lying dead on the field. The holes left by artillery and the burned remnants of nature were the only thing to see for miles and miles.

I couldn’t sleep that night, so I asked to be sentry. I was hoping that would help me but it only made matters worse. As night went by, the artillery fire echoed through the land. Sometimes, shells landed far away and other times, they landed close to us. To close. As I was on sentry, the Bolsheviks launched a barrage and the only thing I remember was someone yelling:

-Take cover! –

As my ears heard a whistling sound before a deafening explosion. The earth shook and I simply threw myself to the floor and began to pray.

I chose to join the corps because I didn’t want to join the war. James and I lost our older brother, Desmond in a trench just like this. Who would have thought we’d end up here as well?

-Albert? Albert! Are you ok, kid? –

Said Abel as he helped me get on my feet. His eyes were wide open and his hand shook.

-Why are they shooting us? –

I asked as I stood up.

-The Russians think the trench is still manned by the Krauts. –

-You think they’ll keep it up? –

-They better not. I didn’t sign for this shit.

Are you ok? –

I couldn’t speak so I simply nodded. He patted me on the back and left for his post. I took deep breaths and I tried to do the same. As time went by, I looked all over the night sky as bullets flew left and explosions lit the skies. It was beautiful but terrifying.

Right before my shift ended, a thought I had seen something lurking in the dark. I grabbed my rifle and as I tried to see what it was a distant explosion lit the field and I saw it. A pale man-like beast. Green glowing eyes and long limbs. I know it saw me for I felt a shiver down my spine.

I have seen and fought many monsters in my life but nothing like that thing.

***

-Hey, wake up. Albert, wake up. –

I opened my eyes to see James. He had already his helmet on.

-The commander called us. Hurry up. –

I had slept with my armor on so I simply grabbed my helmet, my rifle and followed my brother to the commander’s office. As we walked in, I overheard the commander say:

-Men do not simply "disappear", Frederic. Find them. –

James stopped in front of a small table in front of our officer and we both saluted.

-At ease. –

The commander then dismissed the man he was speaking with and continued:

-Congratulations, sergeant. Your platoon is the one going to find out what are we dealing with over there. Prepare your men to go over the wall by 1500 today. Dismissed. –

We both saluted and we left the room. As we walked through the trench, I grabbed James by the shoulder and stopped him.

-James. I have a bad feeling. –

He looked at me confused and asked:

-What do you mean? We’ve done this dozen… -

-I saw something last night.

I was on sentry and…and I saw something. I don’t know what It was but…I have a bad feeling. –

-It’s nothing, man. You’re nervous. It’s ok. Now go prepare your stuff. We go in 40. –

As he left, I muttered:

-I don’t want to go. –

Luckily, a few artillery shells whistled by, muffling my words.

***

As we walked through “no-man’s-land”, we walked over bodies of Krauts and Bolsheviks alike.

Abel gaged a bit as he tripped on what was left of the body of someone and some of the men laughed. After what seemed like an eternity walking through the dead-like landscape, we finally reached the fortress. We couldn’t find the way inside, so we climbed to the top and entered through a hole on the ceiling.

As I let go of the rope, I looked up to see James coming down. He lit up his lantern and began to walk.

-Sergeant. What about the others? –

-Don’t worry, corpsman, they’re keeping sentry up there. Let’s go. –

I stood there, holding the rope under the beam of sunlight coming down from the ceiling. Something told me not to let go but I did. I sighed deeply before I lit my lamp and grabbed my rifle for dear life.

Going through the halls of the fortress, we began to see blood splattered all over the walls and on the floors but, for our surprise, the corpses were…all gone. James told us to split into 4 groups and to look for anything. Our group was the one going downstairs. All the way down to the basement. I didn’t want to go but James…he managed to encourage me, so I followed.

As we went down the stairs, we began to notice more and more blood everywhere. When we finally reached the basement, it was pitch black. No one could see their hands in front of their face but we kept on going. I suddenly turned around a corner and my lamp lit up a body.

-Oh, fuck. –

I said aloud as it startled me. James walked to me and aimed at the body with his lamp. It was missing the head and had a huge hole on the chest that went all the way through.

-Holy hell. Now what happened to this bastard? –

Said one of the men.

-Serge, do we know of anything that can make a hole on someone like that? –

James knelt to inspect the body and said:

-No, Abel. We do not. –

-Maybe a wraith? –

Suggested someone else.

-Nah, man. Wraiths eat your insides but never the head. -

The men began to talk when I saw James stand up and walk deeper into the darkness. I followed him for a while as the water under our boots suddenly became blood.

-James. James. –

I whispered.

-Let’s go back to the guys. We are too far…-

-Shh. –

He said as we stopped.

-Listen. –

I couldn’t hear a thing for my heart beat was deafening. He then turned around and suddenly something pierced his chest and pulled him into the darkness. I heard as his screams broke the slumber silence of the pitch-black basement. Behind me I heard the guys running towards me when their lights shone upon something I will never forget. It was but a glimpse but that was enough to lose it. I dropped my rifle and began to run away.

I turned around a corner and then mayhem began. I heard shots, followed by screams and the screeches of creatures unknown.

As I ran through the stairs, I began to hear fighting through the fortress as well. Shots and screams broke the staleness of the silence. I remember I saw the flashes of the rifles lighting up the dark rooms as I ran without ever stopping.

I climbed up the rope-stairs we used before and the first thing I saw were the bodies of our sentries. Cedrick and Lucas. Lucas was…cut in half and Cedrick…I only found his head when I tripped over some barbed wire.

I began to run as the shots and the screams were being muffled by the silence of the night. My lamp was still on, so no one shot me as I ran back. When I finally reached the trench, I threw myself inside. I didn’t say a thing. I couldn’t. Some guys began to ask me questions. “What happened? Where are the others? Whose blood is that?” I tried my best to fix my thoughts when I heard someone yell:

-Enemies! –

Everyone left me to myself and from the bottom of the trench I saw as everyone grabbed their guns and…hell let lose.

-Fire! –

The guns all fired at the same time. I could listen the machine guns firing non-stop but I didn’t want to see. I couldn't see. Out of nowhere, one of the guys in black I saw earlier lifted me up with one arm. He was incredibly strong. I looked at him straight into his black mask and he smacked me in the face. He then handed me a rifle and left. The rifles and the machine guns firing echoed and made my ears ring yet I could finally think straight. My training kicked in and I stood over the trench and shot. I shot and shot at the darkness.

I suddenly saw one of the guys in black go over the trench and I will never forget the roar the flames did that day.

I kept on shooting as I saw the shadows closer and closer. Suddenly, I heard the screams of someone to my left. Then to my right. Then everywhere around. I turned to my left and saw one of the kriegsmänner being eaten alive by little critter-like monsters in flames. He simply reached for his back and made himself explode.

I then turned back to see the man who helped me up. He was engulfed in his flames as the monsters he shot jumped over him. I remember he stared at me through his mask and gave me a gentle nod before he exploded as well.

After fighting monsters for years…we all thought we had caught a glimpse of hell.

How foolish we were…