The War Chapter 2

SPLASH! A huge torrent of water slammed into Ricky’s face as he woke up with sounds of screams and cries from people. Standing above him was a military officer, certainly not from the French Army, barking at him in some indistinct language Ricky couldn’t follow. Ricky struggled to get up, disgruntled and confused.

He got up to see a city completely obliterated by the advancing force. The entire area around him had been razed and fires ensued in part of the city’s suburbs. In the distance, gunshots were still being exchanged, but the effort was futile. Ricky got up to his feet and the pain in his ear ended allowing him to kind of pick up on what the soldier was saying.

‘Steigen sie in den wagen. Vertrauen sie mir, sie haben glück.’ The soldier barked in some European language. “Wenn sie versuchen zu rennen, erschießen wir sie ohne zu zögern.’

Ricky got the general gist of the conversation. Do what we say and you’ll not die. He turned around to see grieving families being rounded up as they wept for someone they lost or was missing.

Suddenly,he was struck with realization and remembered about his family. He wondered if they had survived or not or if they were.... no,he could not accept that.They had to have survived.

He started to head towards his,now probably a ruin, house and was stopped by the soldier who looked dumbfounded at his stupidity

“Bist du verrückt? Wenn sie dorthin gehen, bitten sie um tod!”The soldier exclaimed in an incredibly rude tone.

“I-I need to see my family!”Ricky’s voice broke at the thought of them being lost and out there or worse.

“Nein!” the soldier said as he pointed towards the truck. He wanted him to get in and started to drag him towards the truck with him still screaming for his family. The other soldiers looked on with bemused looks as this would set a fine example to the others who were resisting and show them how futile their efforts were.

Ricky could no longer tolerate this. The rage to find his loved ones and the devastation done to his city fueled his anger of these soldiers and now he had reached his breaking point. He punched the soldier on his gut and dropped him to his knees, his expression filled with panic and shock. The other soldiers pulled out their weapons and opened fire on him as he moved downhill.

The soldiers raced after him in pursuit whilst firing at him. A bullet scarred Ricky’s face and missed him by inches. Fear and revenge pumped his adrenaline into motion to get to the suburbs where he might be safe and just have a chance to find his family. If not, then ….then these soldiers would pay.