The sun was blocked out by a thick mix of smoke and clouds of rain, rain that was coming hard and fast like a speeding Locomotive. The path ahead was blocked by puddles, bodies and large pieces of shrapnel which were hidden not only by the thick smoke but mud as well. I turn to see my good chap Bertie; he looked worried and on the edge of a mental breakdown, so scared you could see tears trickling down his muddy face. He was a young boy, the youngest in the army I bet.
“Bertie”! I yelled. He jumped filled with fright and pointed his Lee-Enfield all around him.
“Hey, Bertie relax. We’ll get back to the trench in not time and you’ll rest. I promise”.
“Oh ok Jack”. He sighed and slowly lowered his rifle.
I knew that there was a slim chance that would happen, but it was a way to keep his sanity to a low and to slightly boost his morale.
We slowly marched deeper into the smoke; the smell of rotting bodies, burning flesh and burning metal bombarded our senses. There were no wooden planks on the ground, so the mud became quicksand under our blistered feet. Gunfire and shouting voices were the only other sounds from our heavy breathing. The determined moans of invisible men struggling with missing limbs, trying to find their way back to safety.
I hear a piercing whistle sound and then a big whaaaam! I get knocked over by a huge blast in front of me. For that second I thought, I was dead…….
“Jack! Jack! Dammit Jack! Get up! Bertie was yelling, at the top of his lungs.
Everything is blurry and all I can hear is a screeching sound. I slowly tern over to pick up my rifle and painfully get up and run, to what I thought was a friendly trench. When I reached the trench, I met up with Bertie and the rest of the men in my squad that managed to get out of the fire storm. We began to check out the rest of the trench just in case there were any other friendly troops that had gotten lost in the mist of confusion. But as I shinned my flash light on to a sign, I had become filled with fear. The sign was in German. How could we have been so stupid!
“Helfen sie mir! Ich kann nicht sehen!” A voice shouted
“What was that?” Bertie Panicked.
The rain thundered down from above harder then above then before, making the mud fall from the top of the trench. Then a flash of lightning the trench with light, expecting to see it with pisted off Germans, but instead it was empty. A long sigh came over all of us. Another flash of bright lighting.
Thud.
Screams and shouts came from the men as now we could see a German soldier lying on the ground completely covered the mud from the trench. He was moving
“Helen Sie mir! Ich kann nicht shene!” He kept repeating the same thing over and over. None of us spoke German so we didn’t understand him.
“Gibt es da jemand? Ich kann nicht shene! Ich bin blind!”
“Blind? Did you hear that? Turn him over to us”! I commanded.
Bertie and John turned him over and then jumped in shock. Bertie turned green and threw up. I stared at the helpless soldier, he was just lying there. His skin nearly melted off his bone, his eyes. His eyes bulged out like light bulbs. It looked really disgusting, even though I have seen my fair share of blood and guts, but this was different. It made me feel sick.
“Bitte mien herr! Seden Sie mir jemand helfen! Ich nicht sterben! Bitte Herrn! Es tut mir leid für miene Süden.” He was sobbing as he was whispering. It sounded like he was praying.
“We have to help him. We can’t just leave him