HaM Ch 46

This is pretty much the final months of the war all in one chapter, time flies by for Hansel and Marion and now it’s the end.

Enjoy!

Ch 46
Every night Marion cradled Hansel against her side as he slept or rested, his injury and near-death encounter shocked her more than it shocked him and from that moment on she regarded his safety as the most important thing in the world. Hansel didn’t mind the increase in attention, his experience showed him just how frail life was and how all of that poetic jargon was true: life is short so make it last. He stayed by her all of his recovery for her sake and in the meantime taught her how to write and expanded her reading ability, he also taught Cindy how to write in German–she wrote her good-bye letter in English and luckily Inbred can read English–and not just read like Zwei taught her. In turn Cindy taught both Marion and Hansel how to read and write what English she knew. Both coached the other how to be more fluent in their non-native language. Marion sort of stole Cindy away from Katelyn and Chuck again to Katelyn’s aggravation, Marion still was put to work at her old task but to a lesser quota and intensity. This all put together gave her time with Hansel and Cindy making her happy and kept her active and made her feel like she earns her keep.
In all reality Patton had it easier on fuel supply to keep the non-combating living tanks on the front instead of sending back where all the others were sent, so Chuck, Katelyn, Rosa, Marion, Tiger, Zwei, Cindy, Geoff, Griffin, Mini-Rommel and Kramia all kept up with the Third Army’s push for Berlin. And that they did, they’d get battle stories from Banker and Betty and the whole group of them-and a newly introduced Skip the M5 Stuart they heard of long, long ago and her secret lover Kyle. They kept their love quiet so they didn’t have to answer to the lab coats. Her and Betty hung out with the non-combatant breathers when they had time off but would occasionally slip away, no one thought any differently of their absence.
And that was life for them, days and days and days went on as the Allies pushed deeper and deeper into the Fatherland. Casualties were high and the war was bitter and cold with the dead and dying, that absolutely sickened Hansel and his German brothers-in-arms; seeing their homeland devastated, raped of resources and blown up for ‘defense’ by their own people nearly drove them mad. Every atrocity that someone accidentally mentioned nearby them angered them more. They longed to take back their homes but would also rather that the assault stopped there, that the guns were unloaded right there to leave the ammunition in the dirt and for all to leave and go home. But where was home? They didn’t know anymore. They didn’t know. One morning, recently after Hansel had fully recovered and the scar was the only mark of the wound, they weren’t ordered up. They weren’t ordered to move ammunition, they were told nothing. Concerned of super fanatical resistance Hansel went to the Major and asked what was going on.
“It seems our part is done.” He lit his pipe; it reminded Hansel of his Colonel’s pipe. “We reached the Elbe River and politics leaves the rest for the Russians.”
“No!” Hansel declared, he feared what Russia would do to Germany. “No we have to keep going! We can’t let the Russians have Germany, we have to take it!”
“You and Patton, both, my friend.” He took a long draw from his pipe and blew it to the wind. “To be frank I’m happy that we’re done. No more war for us. A lot of us get to go home, you, too. Maybe. You were from Munich, right? Don’t worry; it’ll all be over soon.” He grabbed Hansel’s shoulders and rocked it back and front. “Patton wanted to see you sometime tomorrow; he said to stop by his office-or jeep. Whichever one his ass is in.” Hansel broke away and went back to Marion. He told her about the Allied half at the river; Cindy wanted to see the river up close. Marion suggested they go see the river. Hansel, Whacker, Meats, Cindy, Marion, Mini-Rommel and Kramia all went to the river. They saw Russian and Americans in the river celebrating together, their meeting signaled their end in this war. There were German P.O.W.s nearby, too. They were beaten up very badly in bandages and wraps. All of their faces were a mix of pain, relief, dread and defeat. Whacker spotted some Russain tanks over on the other side moving unlike cold steel tanks, he did a little figuring and suppressed his fear for the Russians and went over with a curious Meats and excited group of Americans, Hansel and the breathers sat back; Cindy played in the river until Geoff came up, then they splashed each other.
Whacker was with Meats, who was talking and comparing muscles with a large Russian man equal in to his size, and Whacker would continuously glance over to the T-34 and the IS about twenty meters to his left. He was trying to think of something to say, he’s been able to flirt with women before no problem but he always had something to talk about, something like how Germany’s growing again or how family is doing or something inviting. Something they shared. He didn’t know a thing about the Russians. All he knew is what Kramia told him but that was how to win her over not spark up a conversation. Meats was stopped by this man because they were the strongest men around. What’s Whacker going to go up to the tanks and say? We’re all alive? Then that came to him, they were alive. Not like ‘hey you’re a breather’ but ‘you two made it to the end’ after all, they were rather obsolete models. He prayed not to offend them, he counted his blessings and asked for just one more, he tried to walk over but his mind was whispering ‘they can kill you with no effort’ and that made him shake in his boots. One of them had that 85 that had scarred him years ago. He gave himself a mental pep talk and forcefully walked over still shaking in his boots. He walked over as nonchalantly as he could, the IS caught him from the corner of her eye and shifted attention to him. As she turned towards him he shook even more, if it wasn’t for the spacious jacket and pants the two Russians would probably be laughing.
“Hello, how you?” The IS said in English. She saw the American outfit, her English had a very heavy accent, and while it is a mutual language that so far seemed that both knew decently, it wasn’t Whacker’s strong point. He figured it’d be his best bet.
“I am good, we all survived. I say that make us all good.” His English was better but obviously not perfect; luckily neither of the Russian tanks had talked to an actual American yet.
“I say so, yes.” The IS smiled at him, her voice confirmed that she was a female, the T-34 that she was previously talking to hasn’t spoken, they weren’t together so he guessed that it, too, was a female. “I am from forty-three, where do you from?”
“I go back to forty-four. Where do you come from?” He asked the T-34, it was scanning over him with its eyes. It was making him uncomfortable. He saw it adjust the handsaw on its chest and he caught a glimpse of a hole. An 88’s hole. He began to sweat nervously under his clothes and his pilot cap became itchy.
“Forty-two. I come from forty-two.” It was also a female. Whacker calmed down a little but the T-34 wouldn’t stop hard-staring at him.
“So what is you name?” The IS asked. “My name Shellproof.”
“My name’s Adam, I like your name.”
“Thank you.” They waited for the T-34 to say her name but nothing came, only a cold and hard stare. “Her name is Thirty-Four. Don’t think of her, usual she is not this way. She just is strange now.” Shellproof scowled at Thirty-Four and hit her hull disapprovingly.
“Why is she moody?”
“She can get worked up. She does not good with new persons. She has gone through tough time.” Shellproof looked to Thirty-Four and talked to her in Russian, all Whacker caught was ‘you go get’ and then he was lost.
“Da.” Thirty-Four backed up and left.
“You are not American, are you?” Shellproof asked bluntly, her stone gaze into his soul broke his composure.
“No, I’m not really American.” He began to break down and freak out. Was she going to kill him? Should he run? Should he get Meats? Shellproof moved to him fast and held his arms against his body.
“Calm! Calm. Be. Calm.” She stroked his leather cap with a tendril. “Let me tell you why she moody.”
“Okay, okay, why is she moody?”
“She was hit and raped by Tiger. She has boy named-”
“ADLER!” They heard Thirty-Four shout and both of them jumped, Shellproof instinctively pulled Whacker to her body to shield him from an angry Thirty-Four but instead it was an excited Adler, her son. He looked exactly like his mother only smaller and he was trying to look at Whacker. He was talking fast in Russian, Shellproof, with Whacker still against her treads, talked over him. Adler suddenly stopped bouncing around and bit his lip.
“He speak no any English. I can talk for both.” Shellproof said. Thirty-Four strolled over and hit Adler on the back of his turret while he was shooting off questions. He whined to his mom while she scolded him. She ‘hmph’d and he cuddled up to her. She wrapped her arm around his turret. He was nearly half her size. He finished his questions and from there Shellproof did her best to translate. They talked like this for a while then Adler looked at the P.O.W.s on the bridge nearby and pulled out a ball and left, Shellproof told Thirty-Four to just watch him and she did so.
Adler rushed over to two beaten and battered German soldiers. One was in bloody bandages from the hips up on his left side and bloody wraps covered the left side of his head including the eye, his left arm was in a sling. The man next to him was with crutches and was missing his leg beneath the right knee. Both also had various injuries but those described were major wounds that rendered them combat useless. They saw Adler approaching and they shimmied together and shivered. Adler looked at them with empathy and mercy; he took the ball in his hands and gave it to the German soldier. Adler’s outstretched arm held the little ball in his hand so gently and gracefully, he took the hand of the one legged soldier and put the ball in his hand. Adler looked at them and under his breath he said ‘danke’ and turned to leave when the German called out. “Sie möchten Ball spielen?” Adler happily nodded.
Thirty-Four crept up behind him and watched her son play, as strange as it was to see him play without her it was also rewarding in a way. She laid down on her belly and smiled at him, neither he nor the Germans saw her. She didn’t like Germans but given the three years to think she got past the blind and absolute hatred of all Germans. She simply smiled and watched her son play ball. Once dusk approached she went up to Adler and sent him away. Now the two soldiers were quivering with fear, they couldn’t run and there was no one to stop her; she was the angry tank that charged them two years ago. “Danke für den Ball.” She said calmly and respectively, handing them the ball. She turned and left them there with the other P.O.W.s being sent to the American camps. While she was watching Adler Shellproof and Whacker were talking a lot about themselves.

Fin Ch 46