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Horst smiled as he peered through the sights of the Mauser Kar98k, waiting patiently for the enemy to show themselves. She was a good weapon, heavy but reliable. It felt good to have a rifle in his hands again… to be useful again.
Horst knew they were out there, they were everywhere these days. Berlin was swarming with Russian soldiers but there were still a few defenders left, still a few willing to make them pay dearly for every metre of ground.
He was under no illusions that this was a battle he could win. It wasn’t about winning, not anymore. Horst was fighting a different battle now, one for his soul as much as for his country.
This was about doing what he should have done a long time ago. About doing his duty, fulfilling the oath he swore, an oath that still meant something to him, even if so many others seemed to have abandoned the cause.
A sound drew Horst out of his thoughts and back to the broken world around him. It had been slight, just the soft scuffle of boots on rubble, but Horst’s ears were sharp. Unlike his stomach they still worked fine.
Ignoring the protest from his side Horst held his breath, lining the iron sight up with the officer that was cautiously peering around, looking for trouble then moving forward when he found none.
Little did he know.
What Horst wouldn’t give for a proper scope right now. With that he could turn the K98k into a true bringer of death, picking off whole squads instead of the one or two men he could now before being forced to relocate.
Horst squeezed the trigger, the kick of recoil in his shoulder shuddering through his body and jarring his stomach painfully.
Wincing, Horst gritted his teeth against the pain, quickly re-sighting as he acquired a fresh target. The rifle cracked again and another man dropped, then another, Horst picking his targets with practised ease after three days in the ruins of Berlin currently and countless months in the hell of Stalingrad before that.
It would be wise to move Horst thought grimly. His ammo wouldn’t last much longer, his food already gone, the last sparse meal eaten last night. It wouldn’t take long for the Russians to find his hiding place but Horst wasn’t sure he cared anymore, tired of it all. So very tired.
His guts cramp as Horst fired again and the pain brings clarity with it, helps solidify his decision, the thing he’s been mulling over since he arrived in Berlin three days ago. His death… the place was already chosen, it was just the matter of when. Now seemed as good a time as any he decides as the rifle barks once more and another man drops. But still they come. More careful now, true, but relentless. Like a wave that will eventually drown him.
Let them come. Horst wasn’t afraid, not anymore. He no longer cared to live, not anymore, not like this.
Decision made, Horst can feel the ghosts of his comrades gathering at his shoulder, certain if he turned his head he’d see them again.
Big Hans, always smiling, until the day he was shot down like a dog, still hanging in his chute as he dropped over Crete. Dead before he’d even got his feet on the ground.
Konrad. A sniper had ended his life in the fields of France, one of the first to be lost.
And then there was Fritz. Dearest Fritz, his best friend, dying in Horst’s arms never knowing how much Horst had loved him, the declaration left unsaid even then, fear keeping him quiet. It was maybe Horst’s deepest regret.
Horst wants to see them again. Craves it. At peace for the first time in many years now the decision has been made.
Horst takes his last shot, magazine empty. No matter, he’s ready and if he’s lucky Fritz and Hans and the rest might be there to welcome him. Horst hopes so.
Smiling he leaves cover, waiting for the end. Just to be sure Horst raises the rifle, refusing to be captured, not that, dear god, please not that. It has the desired effect, six muzzles raising in an instant, all aimed at him.
Horst is still smiling when the bullets hit him, piercing his heart and killing him instantly. Free at last from the pain and loneliness; free from the burden of duty. His duty is done now, now maybe he’ll be free to join his men, to be at peace and to see his Fritz once more.