Woods of Madness

VI

It was only him who was caught; the others must've run away.The man is blonde and has blue eyes he appares to be in his early 20s like me and Charles.The enemy was suffering from a bullet wound in the stomach but he was still alive. Currently, he was in the doctor's office, tied up in bed. Our only doctor, Martin, stated that it would take a few hours before he woke up. This did not sit well with our Captain, who despised the Germans. He wanted him awake and he wanted to know what the soldiers' allies were planning.

"Doc, step aside. That bastard has gotten enough luxury from us," He stood right next to the door, ready to storm in. I looked at his hands; they were in a tight grip. I feared that the Captain would do something horrific again. "No, Captain. I told you, if we want answers, we're gonna need to wait for him to wake up. He was nearly fatally shot!"  Doctor Martins voice was stern, and he didn't back down. This was the first time that I had seen anybody stand up to the captain.

"You're going to defend that Kraut?!" He punched the doctor hard in the stomach. Martin fell down, clutching it. His glasses fell as well, nearly shattering. The Captain continued to savagely beat him like an animal. I was disgusted by his actions. I couldn't bear to watch this. My fellow soldiers just held their heads low, afraid to challenge this tyrant. I looked over to Charles, who was seething in anger. I had never seen him like this before.

The doctor began to scream, "Please, I beg of you, stop," but the beating continued. I couldn't take it anymore. I had to do something. To hell with it all, I charged at the Captain. "Stop this madness!" He turned his head around, like a vicious animal, and struck me hard. I fell down the way he struck me with his backhand. It just... reminded me of the slap those monsters at the orphanage gave me regularly. It just... no, no, not again, no! I remembered all those awful memories. I screamed at the top of my lungs, crying for help. "What kind of a pussy are you? You're a soldier!" he yelled and raised his fist.

But his face ended up being one of pure shock as a gun was held to his face. It was Charles. "What are you doing, soldier? Put it down," he said, almost whispering. His rough and brave facade had slipped. Charles kept pointing at him and slightly bent down to check on me. I simply nodded. I was a bit dizzy, but those awful memories had vanished. The Captain looked at his soldiers. My heart sank. I knew that he was going to punish us for this. I slowly turned my head. I couldn't bear to look at the sight. I closed my eyes, but I couldn't keep them open forever. I opened them slowly and was shocked.

All the soldiers looked up at the Captain with disgust, and they were all behind me and Charles. The Captain saw this. He sweated nervously. He gulped and shamefully walked into his office. We weren't injured badly. The doctor and I were fine, and we sat near the German soldier, waiting for him to wake up. We sat there in silence, trying to get over our shock from this event. Our main worry now is that Captain James won't do anything too crazy.

"I suppose I should thank you for saving me back there," Doctor Martin looked at us while adjusting his glasses. Thankfully, they only had some minor scratches. "I-it was nothing. I mean, I acted more out of anger, really," Charles forced a chuckle, desperately trying to lighten the mood. "Well, now we must talk quickly with the others and restrain James" the doctor said, trying to hide his disdain for the man. Charles nodded, agreeing that the Captain is probably a threat to us. "I don't think we should," Martin looked at me, puzzled, while Charles had a face of confliction. "The man has clearly lost it. He's a threat," the doctor said sternly.

"I know, but the way he acted before he went... he's probably thinking about what he had done. Let's just give him a chance," Martin scoffed at he and shook his head. He was prepared to say something, but he didn't. He didn't move at all and looked blankly at the German.

 I was puzzled at first, but then I looked over and saw that his eyes were slowly opening. The doctor quickly went to him. "Get the translator, John C. Hooker, in here. He's with the others, a tall man with a mustache." Charles and I quickly ran over to get him. The other soldiers had just sat down for dinner. We rushed inside and looked over. "John C. Hooker, we need a translator. The German's waking up," Charles muttered

But no one responded, and there was no one with a mustache. We then decided to split up to cover more ground. Charles went to the beds while I checked the bathrooms. I even looked outside and called for his name, but still nothing.

 As I went inside, I heard terrible loud screams coming from where the doctor was. I ran towards it. Once I finally got there, both Charles and the captain were there, and my fellow soldiers soon followed.

The German soldier was screaming frantically. He was covered in sweat, as if someone had just poured a bucket of water on him. The screams he made were high pitched, so much so that everyone had to cover their ears. The scream, it was almost inhuman. The man had broken his restraints and began to run, but Captain Connely was there to stop him. He punched him, but it had no effect, and the German easily threw the captain across the room.

Martin, Charles, I, and six more men grabbed him, trying to subdue him. How can a man be so strong? We were like children fighting a bodybuilder, barely able to keep ourselves from being thrown. He screamed even more and started foaming from the mouth. A lot of it landed on Charles and the doctor. The German gasped for air and became weaker. Finally, we got him back to the bed and started tying him up. He then screamed once more and finally spoke,

 "Der Wald ist voll von ihnen. Geh sofort weg, du wirst sterben." He vomited upon saying this, struggled to breathe, and finally collapsed. Martin checked his pulse.

 "He's dead."