A Wolf at War: Chapter 4

A Wolf at War

Chapter 4: Talvisota

After docking, we marched single file down the Revenge’s wooden gangplank and with a soft crunch of snow, I took my first step onto Finnish soil.  The docks were in a state of controlled chaos, workers moving frantically to unload dozens of ships of their cargos.  No sooner had the last soldier stepped off the Revenge, than a dozen dock workers rushed up the gangplank to unload the munitions from the ships hold.  The sense of urgency and desperation was something was all too familiar to me, I had seen it during the siege of my beloved Warsaw.  It was the unmistakable air of a people fighting for their very survival, a nation at war.  

We were directed into a large, plain, barn like building that was built right on the waterfront at the base of the docks.  The inside was as plain as the outside, wooden crates towered to the ceiling and several long wooden tables stood against one of the walls of crates.  We shuffled single-file past the row of tables, being handed different items at each.  A pair of boots, gloves, a grey army uniform, a German style helmet, a heavy winter camouflage poncho, and lastly a rifle with ten five round clips each were all shoved into my arms.  A man in what looked like an officers uniform stood on top of a box behind the tables shouting at the top of his lungs.  

“-Five minutes to change! Five minutes!-”  Men were began to drop their bags and change in the middle of the room ‘No privacy’ I thought as I placed the stack of newly issued clothes on the ground, setting the rifle and ammunition next to it and then dropping my knapsack next to it all.  Magnus dropped his stuff next to mine and began to unbutton his pea coat.  I was very reluctant to take my coat off, it was freezing! But the uniform jacket alone felt almost as thick as the pea coat I was wearing, so in a few short minutes I was finishing tightening the laces on the new boots I had been issued.  They were big but were well insulate so I couldn’t complain, after throwing the poncho on and placing the cool steel helmet on my head I stood up to meet the gaze of a smirking Magnus.

“Now you’re starting to look like a real soldier!” I punched him in the arm returning his grin, before I bent down to pick up my knapsack, my Russian Mosin-Nagant rifle, and its small bag of ammunition.  Straightening up, I replied.

“Well this is a real war isn’t it?  This reminds me of Warsaw during the blitz.” I noted gesturing to the frenzied dockworkers we could still clearly hear rushing about.  Magnus nodded his smirk dropping slightly before saying in a more serious tone.

“Stick close to me, despite our intensive classes in Finnish you still have a long way to go.  I’ll translate for you if you do one thing in return.”  I raised my eyebrow.

“And that is?”  

“Don’t get yourself killed.”  He said coolly as he slung his rifle and ammo pouch over his shoulders.  I nodded and did the same as the officer from before stood in front of us with a piece of paper and began shouting again, Magnus leaned in and translated.

"Comrades, the Soviet Red Army has launched an all-out attack on every front and now our beloved Finland is in danger of falling under the tyranny of Bolshevism.  The republic has asked for help and you, the brave few have answered her call.  Our forces on the Mannerheim line are stretched dangerously thin so you will be immediately deployed to the area around the city of Taipale.  All of Finland is grateful for your service, gods speed and good luck.”  He then waved his arm and two soldiers near the far wall slid open a large set of double doors to reveal half a dozen covered lorries idling across the street outside.  I glanced over to Magnus who nodded and simultaneously we made our way out onto the snowy cobblestone street.      

We clambered up onto into the back of the trucks one by one, I was about to step up when a hand reached down to me.  I took it and was hoisted into the truck by none other than Kaapo.

“Thank god your skinny as a twig or that may have been hard.”  I grinned at him and saw Juho sitting near the back tip his helmet in my direction.  He was right though, I was naturally tall and lanky but since the war rationing started and my father’s death I had been eating less, now I only weighed about sixty kilos. I turned to help Magnus up but he was nowhere to be seen, scanning the area I spotted him talking to an elderly man.

“Magnus we’re leaving hurry up!” I yelled and he waved my hand in recognition.  The trucks engines roared in unison and lurched forward, almost sending me tumbling out of the back.  I clutched the canvas top and began to panic ‘He is going to be left behind’.

“MAGNUS!” I yelled and suddenly he appeared, in a split second he had leapt onto the back of the truck and was climbing in as it rounded the corner.  I smacked him in the side of the helmet.

“What the hell were you doing back there! You almost got left behind!  And what’s in your mouth?”  He handed it to me without saying a word and I instantly recognized it as a rolled up newspaper. Kaapo clapped Magnus on the back and said laughing.

“I didn’t know albinos could run so fast.”  Magnus gave him a glare so venomous that
Kaapo recoiled, his grin vanishing instantly, but he recovered and was chatting away with some of the other soldiers in no time.  Magnus snatched the newspaper from my hands and unfurled it, I decided to give him some space so I took a seat across from him and peered out the back, watching the snowy city go by.  The city seemed relatively unscathed compared to Warsaw but every few blocks I could see a lightly damaged building or a freshly filled crater in the road but overall Helsinki seemed to be doing pretty well.  I gripped the side of the truck angrily, bitterly thinking of the almost constant bombings my city had endured during the siege, the food rationing, the humiliating surrender, and now the occupation.   ‘These people have no clue how good they got it!’ I thought as
Magnus folded up the newspaper and set it in the space between him and the wall.  It appeared as if he had calmed down so I decided to try and start up a conversation.

“So…what was in the paper? Any good news?” I asked cautiously, even though we were kind of friends he was incredibly creepy and detached from everyone.  Something about him was just…off, I fully expected him to ignore me but to my surprise Magnus shrugged his shoulders.

“On the war front the only good news is the Russians haven’t broken through yet… the Soviet Union has been kicked from the League of Nations so that’s good I guess.” I nodded slightly and said, more to myself than Magnus.

“Yea, I guess that is good.”  The city soon gave way to the country and paved roads turned into mud as we went deeper and deeper into the country.  I joined the twins in conversation to pass the time but Magnus remained in silence.  Time flew by and I was beginning to enjoy myself despite being awake for the better part of two days.  Darkness had fallen by the time the driver told us we were about an hour away, I double checked my equipment and got a feel for my new rifle.  It was heavy, at about four kilos but the bolt was smooth and the sights seemed straight, all in all it was a sturdy weapon.  I continued to look over my rifle and get my stuff battle ready when a familiar sound could be heard faintly over the engine.  A chill went up my spine as the unmistakable sound of exploding artillery shells became more and more distinct.  

Everyone in the truck grew silent as they too became aware of the distant thud of artillery, which grew steadily louder as the minutes passed.  I was getting more and more anxious as we drew closer to the explosions.  ‘They said we were being deployed immediately, but they didn’t say into an active war zone!’ I thought as we rumbled along in silence as the artillery became louder and crackling gunshots could be made out between impacts.  Suddenly the truck stopped and the driver yelled over his shoulder.

“-Go now!  Onnea toverit!” Since I was in the back I pulled the bolt near my side which dropped the back latch.  I was the first off the truck and got a full view of the battle raging less than 100 meters away.  Ear splitting explosions were sending dirt and snow high into the air as flashes of gunfire illuminated the night.  I along with most of the other volunteers were rooted to the spot, watching the awe-inspiring display of war when one of the officers shouted.

“Voit ojat! Hakkapeliitta!”  The others echoed the battle cry and charged towards the firestorm.  I hesitated for a moment before I followed, running as fast as I could in the high snow.  I was scared to death but thankfully most of the shells seemed to be landing just short of the trench but several stray shells landed very close by.  Looking over, I was shocked to see Magnus keeping stride with me and an expression of utter calm on his face, as if he were in the park having a stroll.  It baffled me but I would dwell on that later, now my only job was getting to the trench in one piece.  I drove myself faster, I was running at top speed , the trench was getting closer and closer as tracer rounds danced all around me.  The trench was a meter away and without thinking I dove into the trench and tumbled, face first to the bottom.  I should have been exhausted, I was sleep deprived, hungry, cold, and just ran faster than I think I have ever in my life, but adrenalin coursed through my veins.  I stood up and aimed over the top of the trench, only to behold a scene the devil himself would have been proud of.  Dozens of bodies were strewn across the snowy ground, two Soviet tanks stood engulfed in flames, and still more and more Russian soldiers advanced towards our position over the bodies their fallen comrades only to be cut down.  

“What are you doing? Shoot!” Magnus shouted and began to fire.  Looking down my sights I could see nothing but faint silhouettes moving in the darkness, nonetheless I picked one out and lead it as my father had taught me…father.  ‘this is probably what my father saw in his final moments, before these SOVIET BASTARDS KILLED HIM!!’  As anger flared in my heart my gloved finger squeezed the trigger, with a crack the silhouette dropped, never to rise again.  It then hit me ‘I just killed a man, I just took a life… Oh god what have I done?’ but the anger in my heart overwhelmed my guilty conscience ‘That was not a man, that was one of the monsters who killed your father and possibly your brother, they are not men, they are nothing but animals.’  Reloading, I picked another target and seconds later he too joined the ranks of the dead.  I fired and fired and fired, only stopping when I could no longer see any enemies.  The guns of the battlefield grew silent and the only noises came from the distant echoes of battles further down the line. A collective roar burst forth from the trenches and chant of    

“Äidille Suomi!” Echoed across the desolate, snow covered no-mans-land.  It was then I caught sight of one of the veteran soldiers.  He appeared to be wearing the same uniform I was but his snow parka hung in tattered clumps off of his regular uniform, and his helmet bore several deep gouges on the top and sides.  As he passed where Magnus and I had been firing he gestured for us to follow him and we did so without question.

“How many do you think you got Jakub?” Magnus asked playfully which annoyed me slightly at how happy he was, but I felt little regret for what I did.

“I don’t know, I lost count…how about you?”  Magnus slung his rifle over his shoulder as he walked.

“Twenty-two.”  I felt a lurch in my stomach, ‘He just killed twenty-two people and shrugs it off like it is nothing! There is something seriously mentally wrong with this guy.’ I thought as we reached a part of the trench that was much wider than the rest and was packed with soldiers, veteran and volunteer alike.  A man with a large burn scar on his cheek stood up on the edge of the trench and began to speak, Magnus translated for me.

“Comrades, my name is Captain Perälä, today we have dealt a great blow to the Soviets.  We have shown them that every step they take into the Fatherland will cost them dearly.  We have repulsed every attack, destroyed every tank with fire, and now Supreme General Mannerheim has deemed it time to launch a counterattack!  With our fresh reinforcements we will, along with our comrades on every front will attack and destroy the Red Army once and for all so they will never again threaten our home!  Get some rest, in two days’ time we will end this war.”  The men gave a cheer and then went back to their posts, the veterans showing the newer ones where to go.  I began to follow one of them when Magnus put a hand on my shoulder and said quietly.  

“Jakub, there’s something I need to tell you.”  I turned to him inquisitively and asked.

“Yea what’s the matter?” He paused for a moment, before saying slowly in his usual casual tone.  

“Your two friends, the tall one and the short one…”

“You mean Kaapo and Juho? Yea where are they?” I interrupted but he pressed on

“Jakub their dead, I saw them get hit by artillery fire as we ran to the trench… I’m sorry.” And without another word he turned and walked away, two of the three friends I had here, now lay dead in the snows of Finland.  

Early the twenty-third Captain Perälä’s whistle pierced the still morning air and as one, dozens of soldiers climbed out of the safety of the trench and into no man’s land.  I was tense, Captain Perälä had made it pretty clear that he had no clue where exactly the Russian lines were,  so we marched blindly through the barren field of no mans land and into the forest on the other side.  Snowfall the day before had covered any tracks we could have followed so we were marching blind but we pushed forward nonetheless.  After ten minutes of walking I began to think that maybe the Russians had pulled back, surely we would have run into the lines by now! I turned my head slightly to Magnus who looked as calm as ever as we began to scale a particularly steep hill and whispered.

“Do you think they retreated?”  Magnus shrugged his shoulders and then froze in mid stride.  

“What is it? What do you hea…” I asked but before I could finish my sentence a loud crack echoed through the silent forest, followed by the earsplitting, bone chilling screech of tearing metal.  My head jerked sharply to the side and I toppled sideways into the snow, as an explosion of gunfire rained down on us from the hilltop.  I thought I was dying as a pair of hands grabbed me and quickly dragged me behind the safety of a large pine tree.  Magnus grabbed me by the collar propped me up against the trees trunk looking for injuries, he winced as he removed my helmet.  I cringed as he turned the left side to me which revealed a deep, jagged gouge in the steel.  I began to hyperventilate, ‘One centimeter over and I would be dead!’.

“Skide snipers.” He mumbled as he put the helmet back on my head and quickly snatched up my rifle which had fallen in the snow beside me.  Thrusting it into my hands as he yelled over the gunfire.

“Jakub you’re ok, it was just a graze! But now is not the time to panic, now is the time to fight!”  I nodded and clambered to my feet, making sure to stay behind the tree to avoid the torrent of gunfire.  Looking from side to side I could see that the rest of the company were also taking cover behind the forest’s sturdy pines though several were not so lucky.  Several of our soldiers lay dead or dying out in the frigid snow, even more were wounded but thankfully had made it to cover.  Listening intently I began to pick out the different weapons that were being fired at us.  I could hear many rifles being fired but it sounded like there was only one automatic weapon on the ridge, and it was undoubtedly doing the most damage.  The machine gun let out a few more bursts of fire and after a few seconds I felt like I could generally tell where the bastard was.  I slowly peeked around the tree and near the hills crest I could just make out the faint outline of a head and shoulders, the muzzle flash confirmed it was the lone machine gunner.  So I quickly raised my rifle, placed the shadow dead in my sights and squeezed the trigger.  A resounding ‘tink’ could be heard over the volleys of gunfire, the man vanished and the machine gun fell silent.  I put my back to the tree once more and reloaded.

“Nice shot.” Magnus said nudging me with a grin, I nodded in thanks but suddenly Captain Perälä, realizing the short window of opportunity yelled.

“-Now we take this hill! Hakkapeliitta!!!-“

“Hakkapeliitta!” The men called back in unison and then charged towards the Soviet position under a deluge of rifle fire.  Magnus and I glanced at each other for a brief moment before joining the suicidal rush. I kept my head down and ran from tree to tree, hearing bullets whizzing by my head and men screaming in pain.  I was going to die if I kept blindly going, so I stayed behind a particularly large tree and began shooting.  I was never very religious but a prayer came to mind from the many Sundays I spent in church with my parents, a prayer of protection.  ‘Angel of God, my guardian dear, to whom God’s love commits me here…’  A bullet struck the tree just above my head which showered me in a cascade of splinters but I did not stop firing. ‘…Ever this day be at my side, to light and guard, to rule and guide…’ I lined up another one of the silhouettes and was about to shoot when the figure threw its hands up in the air.  I paused for a moment my finger squeezing the trigger lightly, and that is when I realized that the shooting had stopped.  Looking around I could see several of my comrades walking towards the top and cheering in victory.  

“Amen.” I finished out loud and made the sign of the cross as I stepped out from behind my tree and trudged to the top.  The first person I ran into was Magnus

“About time you decided to join us.  Here you go, it’s a souvenir” He said and then threw something towards me, which I caught in my free hand.  It was a helmet, Russian, with a single bloody bullet hole in the front.  After a few seconds the realization hit me, this belonged to the gunner I killed.  

“I got a souvenir too off of that dead Commissar.” He said holding up a pistol and pointing it at a dead body a few meters away.  

“That was one hell of a shot, where did you learn to shoot?”  He asked, a slight hint of curiosity in his cool voice.

“My dad, last summer he let me train on the rifle range with his company.”  I set the helmet down upright in the snow, I felt pretty sick at that moment.  Not because I had killed somebody, but because I didn’t care that I did, ‘what will my mother say when I told her I have killed?’  I thought sadly but before I could dwell on the subject any longer, two our soldiers came running towards us from the far side of the hill screaming.

“Perääntyä! Perääntyä!” They stopped in front of Captain Perälä who was overseeing half a dozen, prisoners that were now tied up and crowd together in a small section of trench and said something in rapid Finnish.  The Captains face dropped instantly and after a moment he yelled out the same phrase.

“Perääntyä!” I turned to Magnus and asked.  The company hesitated for a moment before rushing back down the hill, but I was lost as to what was going on.

“What does ‘per-ant-ya’ mean?”  Magnus cocked his head a fraction of a centimeter to the side seemingly as confused as I was and slowly said.

“It means retreat…”  What I witnessed next, I was sure, would haunt me for the rest of my life.  As all the other troops fled back down the hill towards our lines, Captain Perälä calmly pulled a stick grenade from his belt and tossed it into the huddled group of prisoners.  I was too horrified to avert my gaze as the Russians began shouting, desperately trying to get away but their efforts were in vain.  Seconds later the grenade went off and the cries of the bound Russians grew silent.  The Captain then turned giving me a long, menacing stare as he did so and ran off the rest of the soldiers.  I was rooted to the spot, I couldn’t believe what I had just witnessed!  Magnus grabbed me by the shoulder and stared dragging me back.  

“Jakub, we have to go, now!”  I complied and began to run but my mind was still reeling from the sheer random brutality of what Perälä had done.  I had to sprint to keep up with Magnus but I didn’t even know why we were retreating, we had lost over a dozen good men taking that damn hill and now it was all in vain.  By the time we reached the no-man’s-land I was utterly exhausted, but Magnus who hadn’t even broken a sweat, dragged me onward till we had reached our own trench.  I collapsed against one of the walls, gasping for breath. After I had recovered slightly, I realized that Magnus was holding his canteen out for me which I grabbed promptly and took several deep swigs, the cool water soothing my burning throat. I handed it back to saying my thanks and still panting for breath, but I had to ask him.

“You still… haven’t told me…. why we had to run.”  To answer, Magnus extended a hand out too me which I took, he hoisted me to my feet and pointed out over the field.  At first I saw nothing, but then a handful of green clad figures immerged from the forest, then a dozen, and then more and more.  Hundreds of Russian soldiers were charging towards our position, ‘If we would have stayed there we would have been massacred!’ I thought as I stumbled to my firing position, my legs burning from all the running and I could hardly walk but I was a soldier, I had to fight through the pain.  The field was only sixty meters, well within my firing range so I immediately started to pick out targets and fire, joining my comrades in a deadly orchestra of rifle and machine gun fire.  The Soviets had no place to hide and were cut down in waves, but still more and more charged.  They were getting dangerously close, most were no more than twenty meters from the trench and I was running low on ammo.  Just when it seemed like we were going to be overrun, a ghostly whistling could be heard overhead followed by a deafening series of bangs.  Artillery, but this time it was our own.  Shells were falling in droves upon the Soviets with devastating effect.  Only seconds after the bombardment began the Soviets broke ranks and ran, back to the safety of the forest and their own front lines.  Once the artillery had ceased fire I lay my head against my rifle in exhaustion, there was no cheer of victory this time just…silence.  Magnus nudged me with his rifle and asked calm as ever.

“So, how many did you get?” I replied without hesitation.

“Twenty-three.” I had killed twenty three men that day, but I was feeling no remorse, only pride in my work.  

By mid-February we were once again riding out a particularly bad blizzard in our tiny dugout built into the wall of the trench.  We were all huddled around the small fire where one of the men, I think his name was Viktor, was attempting to cook some makeshift stew using his helmet and our meager field rations.  Magnus, who was next to me, watched the man with distain and murmured “Idiot” in Polish to me under his breath.

“What?” I asked keeping my voice low even though I knew no one here knew Polish.  

“He is cooking in his helmet! It warps the steel and makes it weaker, you of all people should know the importance of a strong helmet.” He said elbowing me, grinning.

“Yea, yea I do.” I replied, absentmindedly running my thumb over the jagged steel that was the graze on my helmet, thinking of how close I came to death.  But my thoughts were cut short as the cloth that acted as the door was pulled aside and Captain Perälä stepped inside followed by a surge of flurries.  We all halfheartedly saluted as he brushed off the show that caked his jacket before setting down the M-26 machine gun he held and saying in a commanding voice.

“-We need man on watch-“ Everyone let out a collective groan and tried to look as unimportant as possible, after a moment of silence he said.

“-You, Polish boy, you watch-.” I sighed and placed my helmet back on my head, ever since

I had seen him murder those prisoners I had been on his shit-list.  He even made sure I was assigned night watch on my birthday, bastard.  

“-Yes captain-.” I said standing up and saluting then muttered under my breath ‘Chug’ as I trudged towards the entrance.  

“Have fun Jakub.” Magnus said sarcastically, I ignored him ‘He always knows how to get under my skin’ I thought as I snatched the heavy M-26 “Lahti-Saloranta” machine gun and stepped outside for another long night on watch.  The moment I left the dugout’s safety I was bombarded by a wall of ice and cold.  I quickly yanked my scarf up to cover my face but it did little to protect my eyes from the maelstrom. I kept my head low as I slogged through the deep snow which had filled up nearly half of the trench until I hoisted myself up into the shallow machine gun nest which was perched on the top of the trench and served as our lookout post.  Flicking open the bipod legs I set the M-26 on the foxhole’s rim and settled myself into a comfortable position.  

The front had been pretty quiet for the last month, after their failed attacks in December the Soviets were focusing their attention to the north leaving this area stagnant. But the Soviets are sneaky and would strike when we least expected it, so we have to keep constantly vigilant.  We made use of the time we were given, most of the last month was spent improving our defenses by deepening the trench, laying new barbed wire, and building several machine gun nests cut into the top of the trench and lined with sandbags like the one I was currently in.  But for me and the other foreign volunteers, the officers had thought it necessary for us to finally undergo proper military training.  

Weeks of marching, learning basic orders in Finnish, more marching, pointless rifle drills, and then more marching.   We did learn more practical things too, like how to prevent frostbite, basic hand to hand combat, the weak points on a Soviet tank, and my favorite… weapons training.  It was much more extensive than anything we did on ‘The Revenge’ because we actually got to fire live rounds.  Every soldier was trained with the standard issue Mosin Nagant Model 1891 rifle or if they were lucky a Swedish Mauser rifle, but we were also trained to use several different machine guns incase its proper owner was killed.  The target practice brought back fond memories of training with my father at The Citadel before the world goose-stepped its way into a second world war, those memories were the only thing keeping me sane.  I had not been alive for the First World War but I had seen many armless or legless veterans on the streets of Warsaw.  Each one of them had a distant, tortured look in their eyes and when I was younger I was always confused as to why they looked so miserable… I now know why.  I hardly slept anymore, the vivid memories of the terrible things I’ve seen and the faces of all the people I’ve killed always came to haunt me when I sleep.  I could hardly imagine the horrors that those veterans have seen over years of war, but something deep inside told me I would soon find out.  

I tiredly surveyed the no-man’s-land but could not see more than a dozen meters because of the blizzard.  Over the howling wind a very faint noise reached my ears, an unnatural noise that made my body tense and the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.  I quickly brushed off the half buried ammunitions box which had ten pre-loaded magazines and hurried back to the M-26, pressing its cold wooden butt against my shoulder.  My heart was thundering as I gazed down the iron sights, hardly breathing because I was listening so intently.  The noise grew louder and louder but was still inaudible over the storm, ‘Please don’t be a tank, please don’t be a tank, please….’ I thought as the seconds went by.  The sounds grew louder but I still could not see anything to confirm, so I took a gamble ‘If I shoot and nothing’s there, the captain will kill me.’  I squeezed the trigger letting a quick burst of fire out into the snowstorm.  All was quite ‘I’m in so much trouble’ I thought as I slackened my grip on the weapon, but at that instant an explosion of gunfire sent tracer rounds burning through the blizzard like lightning.

“OH CRAP” I yelled as bullets struck the ground all around me.  I pressed myself down and squeezed the trigger, firing blindly into the storm and unloading the entire clip within seconds.  I heard the other troops behind me running frantically to their positions, as I quickly reloaded, tossing the spent magazine haphazardly aside.  Dozens of Soviet troops came into view, firing carelessly in the direction of the trench.  I slid the bolt back and returned fire, soldier after soldier fell as I squeezed the trigger and did not let up.  My comrades in the trench opened fire and the Soviets began to fall in droves but just then, the tank I had been dreading came into view and opened fire.  With a deafening boom the shell landed just short of the trench, cascading dirt and snow over my foxhole but I was unperturbed.  I couldn’t stop firing, ‘If I do we will be overrun!’ I thought as I reloaded and unleashed a hail of bullets into a group of Soviets who were getting dangerously close.  Someone clambered up into the foxhole with me and a brief glance told me it was Magnus, who instantly began firing with lethal accuracy.  Then, without warning tank exploded in a ball of flames ‘Thank god for anti-tank rifles’ I thought as the carnage continued.  The hatch on the tank flipped open and one of its occupants leapt out, completely engulfed in flames and screaming in pure agony.  It made me wince, I couldn’t let the poor bastard suffer like that so I turned my sights on the man and sent two rounds though his chest but then something caught my eye.  A soldier was running from side to side with incredible speed, I opened fire and struck him in the leg but he didn’t even flinch.  He dove behind the tank and it was then I noticed Magnus was shooting at the man as well but something seemed wrong.  With the loss of their tank the few remaining Russians began to retreat, using the snow for cover.  

I continued firing at the retreating soldiers but next to me Magnus had stopped. I briefly glanced over to see him still as a statue, his rifle discarded in the snow beside him as he… sniffed the air? I stopped firing and yelled over the gunfire.

“What’s wrong with you, keep firing!” But he didn’t seem to hear me, I grabbed him by the shoulder but before I could say a word he had whipped around, grabbing my hand with incredible speed and bent it until it I was in excruciating pain.  My cry of pain was lost in the shriek of Russian artillery, but the shelling wasn’t nearly as terrifying as what I saw in my friends face.  His expression was completely calm but unless I was completely daft, his eyes were glowing red and his ears seemed to have become pointed! ‘What the hell?’ I thought as he snarled in a hissing, inhuman voice.

“Do not get involved.”  And before I knew it he threw me backwards several meters, launching me completely out of the foxhole and sending my M-26 flying through the air.  I landed hard, taking the air from my lungs, I craned my neck to look at Magnus but he was gone in a flash, vanishing into the hail of shell fire.  I let my head fall back into the snow coughing, when suddenly a hand grabbed me by the arm and hauled me back into the trench.  I toppled in falling to the bottom still trying to catch my breath when I was dragged to my feet and pushed up against the trench wall by none other than Captain Perälä.  

“-Pole, where is jääkäri Hakanson going?-“ He shouted at me over the explosions.

“-I don’t know-” I yelled back, glancing over my shoulder to the foxhole which was now empty.

“-He in danger, you must find him.-” He said pointing over my head towards no man’s land.

“You must be crazy!” I shouted in Polish. ‘Even if I don’t get hit by the artillery, I could easily run into another Russian attack! I’ve heard what the Russians do to prisoners, it is a death sentence.’  Captain Perälä grabbed a rifle from one of the soldiers and jammed it into my hands.

“-Go now, jumalan nopeus!-” He yelled before offering his hand to boost me up. ‘He is not sending me to my death, he is trusting me to get Magnus back... or he is sending me to my death. But either way I have to help Magnus.’ I gave him a nod of thanks before taking his hand and letting him toss me over the top.  Scrambling to my feet I gazed out over the field to the tree line which was only sixty meters away, sixty meters of mangled barbed wire, dead soldiers, and lethal artillery fire, which, coupled with the snowstorm completely masked the Soviet retreat.      

“-Jääkäri Jaroslaw-” I turned to Captain Perälä who reached down to his belt and unhooked his spike bayonet and handed it up to me.  I took it and shakily locked it into place at the end of my rifle, only taking a moment to ready myself before sprinting into the maelstrom, not once looking back.  

The shells fell all around me but I kept going, sprinting faster than I ever had in my life.  Bright flashes and deafening explosions surrounded me completely, showering me in snow and dirt.  But it did not slow me down, I focused on nothing else other than making it to the safety of the forest which was only a few short meters away now.
I finally reached the tree line, and collapsed back against the base of a large pine tree, my ears ringing and body shaking uncontrollably. ‘Never again, never EVER again!’ I sat there for a minute trying to recuperate and catch my breath when an ungodly roar echoed through the dark forest sending a jolt of fear up my spine.  I clutched my rifle close to my chest, my heart sinking ‘what the hell was that?’.  I slowly stood up, pointing my nervously into the darkness ‘Magnus is still out there, I need to find him before we run into whatever monster made that noise.’  I warily made my way into the forest, bayonet leading the way, hardly breathing because I was listening for any signs of Magnus or whatever made that noise.  The artillery barrage had slowed to a halt, leaving an eerie silence in its wake, the only sound now was the soft crunching of snow beneath my feet.  A shout sounded nearby and my blood ran cold, ‘that sounds like Magnus’. Without a second thought I sprinted towards the source but moments later stopped dead in my tracks when something caught my eye, snow stained in blood.  

“God help me.”  I muttered as I crept closer and discovered fresh tracks next to bloodied snow and followed them finding more and more blood every few meters.  I continued till I stepped on something that felt odd, definitely not a rock, stooping down I pulled from the snow a pistol, Magnus’ pistol.  Another cry of pain and the crunching of wood sounded extremely close by, that time I could tell for sure it was Magnus.  Tucking the pistol into my belt I dashed towards the unmistakable sounds of a struggle.  I rounded a large fir tree and snapped my rifle to my shoulder but what I saw at the end of my sights made my heart stand still, and made me question everything I though was real.  

A beaten and bloodied Magnus, whose eyes were still glowing crimson, was pinned against a large snow bank by a large white bear like creature.   Magnus was struggling against the large creature, kicking his legs in earnest and struggling to remove the claw from his chest to no avail.  Deep growls rippled through the creature’s throat as it bared its jagged, razor sharp teeth only centimeters away from Magnus’s face, its merciless ice blue eyes fixed on its prey. It raised one of its massive claws, keeping Magnus pinned with the other and spoke!

“Умереть кровопийца!” It growled in a deep gravelly voice as it flexed its raised claw and swung it down like a guillotine towards a terrified Magnus.

“NO” I shouted and fired, striking in the creature square in the shoulder.  It froze stock still, deadly claw only a few centimeters from Magnus’ jugular and slowly turned to face me.  It was massive, probably double what I weighed and was white as snow except for its underside, which was stained red with blood.  I was rooted to the spot, immobilized by its piercing glare ‘I think I messed up, that shot did nothing! ‘ I thought as I willed my body to action but nothing happened.  

“Run Jakub! He will kill you if you try to fight him!” Magnus shouted, desperation in his voice.  The creature snapped his attention back to him and in one swift motion swung upwards, sinking its claws deep into Magnus’ stomach.  It then stood up on its hind legs to well over two meters, lifting the impaled Magnus clear off his feet and bringing him to eye level.  With a ferocious snarl he threw Magnus backwards into a mass of pine trees and out of sight.  It licked the blood off of its claws before turning to face me once more, dropping back on four legs and stalking towards me slowly, it was then I noticed one of the back legs had a bullet wound. ‘The Russian soldier from earlier!’ I thought as the fur on its neck stood up menacingly, its eyes never leaving mine as it licked its chops in anticipation.  ‘I’m dead’ I thought as I started to tremble uncontrollably fumbling to retract the bolt on the rifle, to confirm my thought the creature let out an growling but unmistakable chuckle at seeing me, his prey so terrified.  Less than five meters away the creature stopped and without warning lunged forward, letting out a heart stopping roar as it did so.  As if of its own accord, my body threw itself sideway out of creature’s path, taking it by surprise.  Running off pure instinct I raised myself onto one knee and quickly engaged a new round into the chamber, but before I could fire the creature was upon me sending us both tumbling back into the snow.  I had the rifle horizontally above my neck in a defensive position but the monster just roared and punched downwards, splintering the rifle in half, leaving me completely exposed.  It roughly had me pinned by the shoulders, I closed my eyes and waited for the death blow, but it didn’t come.  After a few seconds I opened my eyes to see the creature’s fang filled maw only centimeters from my throat, it seemed to be savoring the moments before it ended my life.  Glancing over, just centimeters from my left arm lay the front half of the splintered rifle which still had a bayonet attached.  But its grip was to strong, I needed a distraction.  I do not know why but of all the things on my mind a single phrase bubbled to the forefront of my conscience, the only three words of Russian I had learned from my father.  I could feel its hot breath on my neck and just as it opened its mouth to finish me off I gasped.

“Я польский!”  Three simple words that meant ‘I am Polish’.  The creature paused for a moment, its grip slackened slightly as it snarled.

“поляк? Я никогда не испытывал прежде, чем поляк.” I seized my chance, breaking its grip my hand wrapped around the bayonets cold steel and I drove it with all the force I could muster deep into the creature’s side.  It roared in pain but before I could grab the pistol tucked away in my belt it had seized my by the forearm and twisted.  With a grotesque crack I watched the bones in my forearm snap, sending an excruciating amount of pain through my entire body.  My scream of pain was cut short as the creature forced my head to the right and sunk its teeth savagely into my flesh, where shoulder met neck.  I attempted to struggle but it was fruitless, the monsters grip was too strong as it violently shook it head snapping bone and tearing flesh.  ‘This is it’ I thought as my head started to fog, all fight leaving my body ‘This is dying… this isn’t so bad, at least I will get to see my father again…’ The creature gave a sudden yelp of pain and released my shoulder.  It turned quickly and I could see the hilt of a dagger buried deep into its back, when it was suddenly thrown off me by some unknown force.  I pressed my hand to my neck, trying to stem the flow of blood as I weakly raised my head to look at the rescuer, dark silhouette with burning red eyes, it couldn’t be?  

“Magnus?” I asked feebly, without saying a word he reached down snatching the pistol from my belt and stepped over me to where I could hear the creature was writhing in pain.  He quickly fired several shots and the creature’s struggles stopped.  Magnus strode calmly back into my field of vision and looked down at me, a slight frown on his bloodied face.

“You don’t look so good Jakub.”  He said as he tucked the pistol into his pocket then reached to his shoulder and tore off a piece of fabric from his already tattered uniform.  He knelt down and pressed it against my wounded shoulder, but I knew it was too late, I was finished.

“Magnus… Tell my mother...” I began but Magnus cut me off, now turning his attention to my broken arm.  

“Save your strength, I’m sorry to say that your fantasy of dying a hero’s death will not be fulfilled tonight.  Your blood should start to coagulate any minute now if the virus has set in properly.”   He explained as he walked over to the nearest tree and snapped off a low hanging branch, ripping off another strip of fabric to create a splint.  I winced as he tightened the splint before checking the wound on my neck giving a short nod.

“Oh, before I forget.”  He walked away from me towards where the creature lay and after a few seconds there was a sickening crunch and moments later he returned crouching back down at my side.  He then took my good arm and then wrapped it around his neck easing me to my feet and keeping me stable.  ‘What did he mean by virus? Actually, how is he still alive!’ He was covered in deep cuts and I could see the dried blood from where he was stabbed earlier but he seemed oblivious of his wounds.  I had so many questions but I was too weak to press the matter, I just focused on staying on my feet as we slowly made our way back through the dark forest.  Magnus abruptly stopped, and turned to me saying,in a tone of sincere regret.  

“Please forgive me Jakub.” Time seemed to slow down as I watched him reach his hand into his pocket and pull out his pistol once more.  My eyes grew wide but before I could react he spun me to face him, pressed the weapons barrel against my wounded shoulder and pulled the trigger.  I blacked out before I even hit the ground.