Weekly Expressions week #5 ~TJ

"Hit the dirt!!!" I barely climbed under a metal wheelbarrow before the mortar shell hit not fifteen feet from where I was crouching. The shrapnel rattled the wheelbarrow with deafening rattle and made a few dents.
"Alexandr! Alex, are you alright?!" Vladimir called.
"Dah, I'm fine. Are you?" I wondered if he could hear me through all the gunfire and explosions going on.
"Grosky and I are fine, everyone got blown to tomato sauce by that last volley!" He yelled in panic before diving into a pre-dug trench.
I dove into a mortar hole, I figured the bombardiers operating the enemy artillery wouldn't bother to shoot the same place twice. I counted myself lucky for making these past three days, although I've barely fired a shot, I've been shot at nearly non-stop.
The German Nazis invaded our city barely a month ago. If the other front lines are like this one, then I simply can't believe how they haven't taken the city yet... or razed it. The latter was more likely to happen, I haven't seen a building with a roof in nearly a full day. Our rations were out, our ammo was nearly gone, (we're to the point of picking ammunition off of our fallen comrades before they have time to bleed.) and our air, armor, and artillery support was something of a joke.
"We have to take that hill!" Vladimir reminded me, "if we don't take that MG emplacement, we're all dead men!"
I was pretty sure the number of men still alive on this hill could be counted on my fingers, but I didn't dare turn my head to look. There were three rounds left in my Mosin Nagant, and if I was lucky, I could hit a German soldier running the length of the sandbag emplacement not a baseball's throw from where I was prone. I took up my rifle, aimed, and missed. The soldier and ducked under cover again. Then he jerked up with a hurl of blood coming from his chest. "Got 'im! You're clear to the sandbags!" Grosky yelled.
I ran with the nimble bit of might I had left up to the sandbag wall. Grosky tried to run for a tank trap about 20 feet from where I was standing. I turned to look to see what our next plan was when I saw Grosky shattered by a quick spray of machine gun fire. Without thinking, I used the diversion to take a shot off at the gunner. I took aim, the gunner followed example, then I shot first, and not a moment too soon. The gunner jerked backward into the bunker with a splash of blood from his head. The newfound adrenaline from my first kill of the war led me up the the bunker's window. I dove in, half-expecting to be shot, but no one noticed. There were three Germans in the bunker, two shooting out windows opposite of where I came in, and one gathering ammo from nearby crates. I quickly made sure my bayonet was on tight, then charged the man gathering ammo, as he would be the first one to notice me. I thrust my improvised pike into his back, then proceeded to do the same to the other two gunners. Suddenly the shooting stopped. Mortars could still be heard firing in the distance, but no nearby gunshot was heard. It was over.

I was congratulated by Vladimir for my first kill of the war, and assured me that I'd have a medal pinned to my jacket if there were any officers still alive. We started the invasion of this half of town with 1,200 men, after I captured the bunker and regrouped, heads totaled just over 100. We considered changing into German uniforms and infiltrating the rest of the occupied city, but it wouldn't matter at the rate both sides were getting killed. We rounded up as much ammo as we could for our issued rifles but we left the German machine guns in the bunker in case we had to retreat to a rally point.
At this point in the war, nothing was surprising. We knew we were losing, both sides knew the Germans didn't like what it was costing them to invade our motherland, and we knew we'd both have to retreat until more German forces from the french invasion arrived. Then it was only a matter of time.

Vladimir took command of the rest of our group. Not because of rank, but because he was the only one daring enough to take charge in this bloody meat grinder. We all agreed we needed rest, so after we found some canned food from German corpses (We practically lived off of our enemies' goods) Vladimir gave me the first watch, since I confessed I was still giddy from my first kills earlier. We hunkered down in a tractor factory, and I sat on the top floor, watching out of a window while perched on a three-legged table. I was there for about five minutes before I heard a voice behind me, "don't shoot."
I barely registered the request before I almost did shoot. There was someone in a Russian uniform, in the shadows behind me.
"Wish granted, now show yourself." I ordered, but I didn't expect a woman. A beautiful woman with black hair and crystal blue eyes. "Who are you?"
"Natasha Tradinkov, self-assigned sniper. And you?"
Most women I met in this war were merciless and filled with anger when talking to a soldier male. The conscription of women was not uncommon, that's not what caught me. What caught me was how she asked innocently, with a gentle voice, as if we really were fighting on the same side and not trying to prove men or women better fighters.
"Alaxandr Sokalov, self-assigned... soldier, I guess."
She smiled for a moment, then pointed to the window, "you know, if you wish to be shot you're going about it in a great way! Come over here and look through these blinds. A beginner sniper could hit you at that window."
I followed her instructions and gazed through a crack in the metal blinds in the window down from where I was sitting before. Her advice proved true. I could see just as much, just not at one time, and I felt much less watched.
"How long have you been sitting up here?" I asked while examining my new scout point.
"I got here about this time last night, I've killed 2 colonels, 6 lieutenants, 3 captains and I think I may have wounded a field marshal."
I gave her a long questioning glance, not believing what I was hearing. She smiled again, "I guess I'm a crack-shot!"
I forgot what happened in those next few minutes. It went from giving her an unbelieving glance, to noticing her crystal eyes, rounded ears, cloaked hair... she was truly gorgeous. "What?" She asked, snapping me back into reality.
"Nyet. It's nothing." I defended myself, then returned to my gaze out the window. It's entirely possible that we may both be dead in the next hour, there's no point in working on a crush. War was no time for love. But that didn't stop us from having a conversation, she asked question after question about my experiences in the war, what was going on beyond this block, how badly we're outnumbered, how I took over the German bunker. She stopped when the sun began to wink at us in the east.
"Well, I fear I must go."
I was enjoying the company of my friend too much to consider when we must part our ways, "wait, why?"
She slung her scoped Mosin over her shoulder, "our sniper teams have killed many officers, the remaining German troops are going to have orders to regroup in the mines to the east, and then redeployed in a counter-assault."
"How would you know that?" I asked.
She winked at me then smiled, "that's what I'd do! And besides, there's guaranteed business there. If I'm lucky, we can kill off a few more officers and have the German army in full retreat."
She then went to a hole in the wall where a fire escape was installed, "stay alive, soldier." And with that, she slid down the rustic ladder and disappeared from sight.

I went back down to the bottom floor to wake everyone up for dawn, but Vladimir was already up. "Getting cozy with the snipers?" he asked mischievously.
I stood with shock for a moment, "how did you know about that?"
He chuckled a little, "oh please, I knew she was up there from the first moment she spoke to you."
I pried a can of canned carrots open with a combat knife I took from a German lieutenant, "I doubt I'll ever see her again." I sighed.
Vladimir took a sip of his canteen, "well how would you like to?"
I glanced at him questionably, "what do you mean?"
"Dah, she's got a good plan, kid! If we knock out the remaining fascist officers, then all the privates and corporals will have no leadership, and will have to retreat or regroup outside of the city. They won't be restocked until winter, and after they taste a good snowfall like we get here, I wonder if the sun-huggers will know how to spit by then." An evil grin cracked it's way across Vlad's face.
"Then let's do it!" I said enthusiastically, "a finale to help end some of the carnage on our precious motherland!"
Vlad tossed his canteen to me, "Nyet, you just want to see your lady friend again." He started to laugh.
"Well every soldier needs to be reminded why he's fighting sometimes."
We laughed together till we cried, which woke most of the group up. Not all were happy about that, but they didn't mock us, it beats waking up to gunfire.
Vladimir explained the plan to everyone, how we were going to force the German command into a retreat. They were all up for it. Luckily, he didn't go into mentioning how we got this information, nor said anything about Natasha. We packed and were outside on the move before the sun had fully risen yet.

The Germans were stationed at a mining operation that was abandoned shortly after WWI started. They used the caves as defenses against air attacks, and the road that ran by there as a quick route through the gorge that ran the length of the city, then halfway to the coast. Easy place to bottleneck attackers. I mentioned this to Vladimir when we were planning our strike.
"That's why I want you on that ridge on the other end of the gorge, you'll provide us with sniper cover while we take the main highway."
I questioned his order, since I've only really shot one person. He assured me that I'd shoot better without pressure, and needed someone he trusted on the flanks to pick off machine gunners and mortar teams that will make taking the highway difficult.
I couldn't find Natasha anywhere and no other snipers that had arrived had ever noticed her before the tractor factory. But no point in wondering what I don't know, lives depended on me now.
The ridge where I shot from had an excellent perpendicular view to the entire battle. Vladimir was right about me being a much better shot when I wasn't being shot at. I killed 4 troops with five bullets.
Then I turned my focus to some retreating trucks, one of them carried prisoners. I would've thought nothing of it since our leader, Stalin, had ordered us to fight to the death. If we were captured, we were shown no mercy by our own forces. No one really liked this rule but it definitely did help some of us who had second thoughts about surrendering. I shot the driver, and the truck came to a screeching halt. German soldiers started forcing the prisoners to file out of the truck. One of them being Natasha! Maybe Vladimir could order the men not to kill her, but there was no time, our forces were nearly on top of the truck. I was about to scream to them not to hurt the prisoners, but Natasha suddenly fell. A bullet had gone through both her legs. She started to roll down the gorge wall directly across from me. I know not what adrenaline spiked through my body, but I leaped off my ridge and slid down the opposite gorge wall. There was a crack where both walls met that had at least a 500 foot drop to the bottom of the gorge.
Natasha beat me to the crack, I flipped from sliding on my butt to sliding on my stomach face first. I grabbed her wrist and nearly went down with her. I gained foothold by straddling both walls of the gorge and pulled her up.
"You?!" She said, half surprised, half excited.
"Dah. It's me. You're safe now."
"You didn't have to do that. I owe you." She said.
I started to stutter, "Nyet, you don't have... I mean... I don't think that..."
She wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed me. I couldn't help but smile, "that'll do."