Alpha Threat Read Online Free Page B

least we are riding, not walking.   I’ll take a ride any day.   My name’s Mauer, Johann Mauer.”   He moved over and sat by Kruger.  
      “What about these two?” asked Kruger, pointing at the duo across from them just beginning to stir.  
    “Don’t know.   They have not been very talkative,” Mauer answered.
    “Aww, bite my ass,” growled one of the men.   “This is the first sleep we’ve had in the last four days.   I don’t have any idea where I am going, but I know it has to be better than where we were. “
    “Where’s that?” asked Mauer.
    “Hell, I tell you,” answered the voice from under the blanket beside the growler.   He pulled back his blanket and sat up holding the blanket around him.   “Hell.”
    “Yeah, I’ve been there too,” Kruger said as he looked down at his boots. “There is nothing but rain, cold, mud and death.   Not a holiday spot in anyone’s imagination.”
    “So, you got a name?” asked Mauer in an almost happy voice.  
    “Fritz Vogel,” he said, pulling his blanket closer and trying to return to his nest.  
    “Hey, what’s up with all this? Where are we going?” asked Kruger, looking wide-eyed at Mauer.  
      “Hell, I don’t know what’s going on,” answered Mauer.   “We got picked up just like you.”
    “I don’t know where we are going and I don’t care.   Would you just shut up and let a guy get some sleep,” cracked Vogel as he covered his head with his blanket and settled into the corner again.  
    Mauer grabbed Vogel’s blanket and slung it to the rear of the truck.   “Get your lazy ass up!”  
    Vogel sat up and acted like he was going to smack Mauer.   Then he stopped.   He really did not want any part of Mauer.   Mauer was about twice the size of Vogel.     All this time the fourth soldier just reburied his head in blankets and returned to his sleep.  
    The group rode in the back of the covered truck for about three more hours, stopping only to refuel.   As the truck trudged through the slightly frozen, muddy roads, Hans smiled as the huge wheels splashed the roadside soldiers with the gloppy, cold mix of water and mud.   Poor bastards… at least he was riding, and in a truck with a cover no less.  
    There was very little conversation between the men as they decided Vogel’s idea was probably the best…get some sleep.   They all were so happy to get out of the cold and get out of the war that they really did not care where they were going.   At least it was away from the front lines.  
    Hans’ mind drifted as he napped.   He remembered his best friend, Richard, who died the week before in his arms.   Best friend?   Hans had known Richard for a little more than six months.   It was funny how war brought certain guys together as friends.   Everyone told him not to get close to anyone.   The hurt at the loss of a friend in war was just not worth the camaraderie.   Hans’ vision of Richard lying there after the explosion blew him apart… he did not think he would ever forget Richard’s face as, still alive, he looked down to see everything from his waist down turned into ground red meat.   Thankfully Richard said that he did not feel anything as he died quickly.  
    They were only a few feet apart when the artillery shell landed just outside Richard’s foxhole.   Although the men reinforced their foxholes with sandbags and some tin from a farmhouse roof, it was no match for the artillery shell.   When it slammed into the ground beside Richard it exploded.   Searing chunks and shards of hot steel screamed through Richard’s lower body, shredding his legs and manhood, shearing his buttocks completely off.   His body flew into the air and landed behind Hans.   When Hans raised his head and cleared his brain, he saw a huge, smoking hole where his friend once was.   Looking around, he spotted Richard, or what was left of him, lying about six feet behind him.    Hans scrambled out of his foxhole