He peered into the night, and saw barbed wire to his right. He mused, “Into a minefield we have driven. I must stay clear of enemy soldiers near this position.”
He skirted between rocks and shrubs, careful to not attract any attention. He scanned the ground for signs that underneath explosives were hidden. It took him hours to make a mile, but when he did he fell on his faceless head in exhaustion. Too tired to move any further, he saw a barn standing lonely on the plain. He lifted himself, and struggled to walk.
Careful he treaded between the enemy and the mines, to reach the shelter offered closer to friendly lines. As he neared the barn door he saw firelight flicker, he pushed open the door and as it creaked he found he had startled a Prussian soldier.
The Teutonic man scrambled for a rifle, he aimed at Ulysses and started to shout, but before he could utter a word, he glimpsed at the bandaged and battered figure before him. He almost laughed at the rifle it held which seemed to be useless. He motioned for Ulysses to sit beside the fire.
The German was dressed in a uniform stitched in blue with an iron cross around his neck. Ulysses pondered it for a time, and the German soldier noticed his stare.
“This?” he asked as he lifted the medal. “This is a gift from the Kaiser and my people.”
“For bravery, and gallant actions in war. I do not hold it much esteem, you see all of my men died, there was nobody left to echo the value of war but me. So the generals pulled me from my hospital bed and hung this worthless tin on my neck.”
“I was a soldier before Archduke Franz was shot, it has been my occupation for some time. I have a wife, and a son. I was hoping to grow old before a war was called. Now I grow old, and I have outlived my son. He fought in a battle near the Marne. A forest called Belleau, which is where he was shot. I fear my wife will end her days grieving for him, and soon me.”
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