While me and the German Major talk when a sudden scream fills the night, followed by the barking of a rifle. Me and the Major rush out and start towards the disturbance. The cold gusty snowy wind has died down some, but snow still falls lightly. The moon, though concealed by clouds, illuminates the ground in an eerie faint soft light. Our visible range has increased to about ten yards. We meet up with Captain Davis, who is kneeling looking down at, questioning one young coloured soldier in a deep foxhole wide enough for two men. Captain Davis asks," What happened son?" He replies jittery, " They got Jennings Captain, snatched him straight out of our hole. The Captain looks at him a while in thought and then stands up and yells," Eyes open, shoot those things on sight. They are not done with us yet men." The Major, I assume, yells the same in german. The Captain looks back down at the young man and says," Keep your eyes peeled son. They will be back." The young coloured soldier turns around to resume his watch rifle raise on the crest of the hole.
The Captain, the Major and I start back to the command tent to resume our talks when abruptly a voice cries out, "Look!" We turn and look and I strain to see in the dark. As I look, the sight becomes clear to me. Out several yards away I begin to see the silhouettes of several tall figures spaced haphazardly. Their features our obscured by the snowfall but I know what they are and I am terrified. Back lit by the cloudy moon, the wolf like beasts stand at their full imposing height. Some stand to at least ten to fifteen feet in height. They stand there still arms down by their sides as though if the were pawns on a chess board waiting for orders to strike.
I look to the Captain and his eyes are wide with terror. There has to be dozens of them, far more then we ever thought! They stand there unmoving just waiting as though they are being held back by some unforeseen wall. I am to afraid to move for fear of setting the creatures on a rampage. The Captain breaks the silence with the loud order, "Open fire!" The night is now alive with the sounds of gun fire. The bark of rifles can be heard among the sound heavy weapons hammering away. The rippling of german machine guns can be heard as the creatures in front of us are hosed with red and green tracers. The gun flashes blind me temporarily and the tank cannons soon open up. Their thunderous booms echo and splash earth and shrapnel all over the creatures. They stand unfazed when suddenly they sprint charging our line at a speed incomprehensible. I watch as the creatures blow through our lines attacking individuals indiscriminately. I watch as one of the creatures stands above the young coloured soldier we had talked to. The young man fires his weapon in a vain attempt of defence. The wolf beast grabs the man and holds him high in to the air. The young man screams as the wolf beast plunges its massive clawed hand up through the kicking and screaming mans abdomen and under the sternum. With that the beast violently rips out his bloody heart and discards the body in the most violent of manners. The beast then dashes off to find a new victim.
The Captain and the Major disperse in an attempt to find their fighting vehicles, leaving me alone in the process. Just then a dismembered bloody limb flies past me spraying me with blood. I am blinded from blood splashing into my eyes. Suddenly I am aggressively spun to the ground on my back, sharp hot burning pain envelopes my left shoulder. I wipe the blood from my eyes and see, terrifyingly, one of the wolf beasts tower above me. Its dark black fur is almost indistinguishable from the night, It snarls revealing long fangs. It's wrinkly snout blows heavy steam into the cold frigid air. It stands imposingly on its muscular hind legs. I try to shuffle away helplessly, but I find I can no longer use my left arm. I look to reveal that, through my now torn uniform, that there are five gashes in my flesh from my left breast to shoulder. It bleeds a steady stream of blood that runs down my arm into the snow. It burns horrifically and I can see the mangled muscle and tissues clearly. I try shuffling backward as the beast stands above me almost amused at my pathetic attempt to flee. I am terrified for my heart races, this will be my end to be another mangled corpse among the many this night. Then sharp gunshots of a smaller caliber weapon ring close to me among the symphony of battle. The creature shudders and turns, now perturbed, at the source that disrupts its kill. Its long furry tail almost slaps me. Its the Major! He fires his service pistol defiantly at the beast. He looks to me and shouts," Run American!"
With the beast now distracted, I clamour to my feet. While holding my limp left arm I dash through the snowy night battle. I must get back to my tank! As I run, I look over and see two of the were beasts fighting over a man. They have him stretched between them by their massive powerful jaws. His body is so mutilated that it is only his intestines that hold his upper and lower halves together. Blood pours from his open wounds and stain the snow below. I pray that he is already dead.
The rippling of Mg 42s and and small arms fire crackle and pop in the night. Red and green tracers fly in every direction for the beasts have penetrated our line and are wreaking havoc. A few tracers fly past me almost hitting me in the process. I dash holding my limp arm trying to avoid any more deadly encounters in this battle.There it is the tank! It fires red tracers into the night in a vain attempt to ward off our attackers. I almost slam into its metal hull for I am going so fast. I quickly struggle to climb up side and up on to the turret but I succeed one handed. I pull open the hatch and dive head first into the turret. Lucky surprised exclaimed," Holy shit!" as I fall on top of him. Turney, noticing my wounds, cries, " Boss is injured!" I right myself and say, "Im alright." Sammy asks desperately," What do we do Boss?" "Fight them off. Lucky turn the gun around and find targets, Turney load HE. I hear the whirring of the turret and feel the us turning. I hear the brass shell being loaded and the breech locking. "HE loaded!" shouts Turney. I can't see anything!" exclaims Lucky viewing from the gun sight. Just then loud banging sounds outside the tank hull followed by pleading desperate shouts, " Let me in! Let me in! Please! .... No! nooooo! aghhhhhhhh!!" The voice is carried away until his screams can no longer be heard. I rise up and half out of the hatch to spot the wolf beasts.
Just then a loud and thunderous boom sounds and a fire blazes from Captain Davis's tank. The beasts are thrown from the blast and the from the turret shoots a geyser of fire. The creatures must have detonated the ammunition! The Captain Davis burning tank brightly illuminates the battlefield and when I look around, all I see is carnage.Though the winds howls and my vision is decreased by snowfall, dead and mangled bodies lie scattered about and the sounds of gunfire has ceased. The tents have been torn to shredded remains, their occupants now missing. I see several of the wolf beasts occupied with finding more victims. Dismembered limbs and blood are scattered about the snow. We must be the only humans left from this slaughter. Just then gunfire sounds now from in the woods. Others must have escaped! I wonder to the fate of Captain Davis and the Major but most importantly I have to get my crew out of here.
The German Major's Panther sits silently, being back lit through the snow by Captain Davis burning tank. I hear the popping and crackling as the tanks ammo cooks off. I can't see what happened to the German's Stug tank. The wolf creatures wander around searching the slaughter field for more victims, I don't know how they haven't spotted me but I keep myself crouched as low as I can in my turret hatch. These creatures completely broke us in a matter of minutes, just how powerful are these blood thirsty beings that do not feed upon their prey? It seems that their sole intention is killing.
Turney whispers up to me, "Boss why has the shooting stopped?" I forgot they were waiting on orders from me. The turret now faces the rear of the vehicle, the barrel just hovers over the engine compartment. I whisper down "They're all dead." "What?!" exclaimes Lucky as he looks up to me. The crew shushes him as I raise a finger to my mouth in an effort to summon silence. I whisper down," New plan, we are getting out of here." "What about the Captain?" whispers Lucky. "He's gone." I reply hushed as I reach for the microphone. "Daunte." I whisper into the mic as I slowly descend into the turret, "Make a break through the woods and don't stop." "Where sah?" is the reply received through my headphones. "Anywhere but here. Sammy, keep your eyes open. Lucky shoot anything trailing us." I order slamming down and locking the hatch.
"Alright Daunte gun it!" I command and the response is the sudden shudder of the vehicle set in motion. The engine throatily growls and I hear the metallic clacking of the tracks as we begin to pick up speed. I use the periscope to observe, and not surprisingly, the wolf beasts are alerted and begin to give chase.
I see several figures come in to view trailing behind us. "Lucky, fire at will." I command. The main gun roars a thunderous boom and the cannon spews flame forth behind us. A thudding boom sounds and I see the creatures disappear behind a geyser of dirt and snow. The tank has ceased rocking and gun breech spits out a spent shell casing that clatters a metallic ring as it bounces around on the turret floor. Turney has already received another three foot olive coned high explosive brass shell and has loaded it into the cannon. The tank rocks again as the cannon roars the projectile forth at a target that only Lucky must have been able to see. The 50 cal coaxial machine gun barks at the unforseen wolf beast that Lucky as attempting to gun down. I try to view out of the periscope but the snow is making it difficult.
Suddenly Sammy shouts, "Boss they're in front of us!" I rotate the periscope to the front of the tank and view with much difficulties, two large silhouettes of the beasts in our path. "Daunte!" I shout, " Run em down!" The reply is a sharp jolt that tells me Daunte has put the vehicle into high gear and now we really will be picking up speed. I hear the chattering of Sammy's 30 cal machine gun as he tries to clear our path.
Suddenly there thud and metallic scraping sounds. I look down and see four large gashes on Sammy's side, right next to his seat. The cold freezing air pours into the breach as Sammy clutches his arm. Dark blood decorates the metal wall beside him. "Sammy are you alright?" I shout down. Turney stops his loading and exclaims puzzled, " Wait Sammy is hit?" Sammy responds still holding his crippled bleeding arm," Never better boss but the bastard got my arm." Before I can respond, Daunte shouts, " Hold on sah!" We suddenly feel as though we are being tossed around as if in an earthquake. I peer out of the periscope to discover that he have left the clearing and are now in the forest.
We jolt and jerk as Daunte swerves us over the uneven ground littered with trees, roots, and rocks. This is one hell of a bumpy ride! Lucky who had been peering through the gun sight, slams his eye in to scope and writhes in pain. Lucky's good eye has now swollen almost shut. I can't even stand up right for it feels like we are on a ship in a heavy storm. The sounds of metal scraping reverberates inside the vehicle as we are scratched by branches and rocks. I abruptly smack my head against the turret wall in a sudden jolt. My head aches and I feel dazed.
Suddenly the sounds of scraping stops and the violent rocking has ceased. I view out of the periscope and see that we are out of the woods. We are out in a snowy field from what I can see. The snowfall is less thick here and I can see a little village of a few homes two hundred yards away. But to my horror, the homes are burning. They spew flames high into the snow night, smoke rises above the burning village. The inferno's flickering light cast a reflection in the snow. I am awe struck for why is the small cobblestone buildings with their thatch roofs burning? We must not have been the only victims of the wolf beasts.
Something suddenly burst from the woods. We are not alone.