Ch.3

Over the next few days, we slowly took over the new trench and made it fortified for ourselves. Then for the first time since I've been here the Germans began shelling us with chemical weapons as Mustard Gas began raining down. All the men around me began screaming in pain, as I fell to the ground also as my skin began burning from the mustard gas. 

However, unlike the others, my skin would heal just as quickly as it was being burned. For the next few hours, I just writhed on the ground in pain as my skin, throat, and lungs burned up and healed. Though slowly as the gas took over the area, I began to slowly become immune to it, and the pain it caused started to lessen.

Just as the mustard gas shelling stopped, I lay on the ground trying to stop my body from shaking from the immense pain it had just suffered. Out of nowhere came Germans giving their battle cry killing the dying allied soldiers or the ones who were able to hide from the gas. Just as I was sitting up a German stabbed me in the stomach with his bayonet. 

My anger snapped at this point as I grabbed his gun and stood up towering over him. With an animalistic growl, I ripped the gun from his hands and smashed his head in. The strength behind the strike caved in his helmet and made his head look like a watermelon that exploded inside the helmet. 

"Töte den Mistkerl!" (Kill the Fucker) one of the other German soldiers says seeing me brutally kill the other one. 

Many then began to open fire on me, my anger kept rising as each bullet hit. Then for the first time since the Civil War, I lost control. The last thing I remember is bringing out my claws before slicing the face off of the closest German soldier. Then the screams of the men around me. 

I started to gain control again after shredding the soldiers around me. Then I got shot in the head from behind by another German. I turned toward him and saw several dozen Germans staring at me as my gunshot healed. While also being surrounded by the body parts of the previous soldiers. 

"Ein dämon…" (A demon) the one who shot me says seeing me covered in blood and having claws coming out of my hand. 

"Close, but wrong," I say back and charge toward them as they begin opening fire on me again. 

For the next hour, I make my way through the trench killing German soldier after German soldier. By the time I kill my three hundredth soldier, I hear the ally reinforcements charging toward the trench. So I withdraw my claws after beheading the last German soldier near me. As the allies charge into the trench they see the place littered with dead and body parts. 

I just grunt at their arrival and take out another cigar beginning to smoke again. They just stare at me in surprise and awe seeing I'm the only survivor of the trench. Then the officer leading the charge comes over to me. He appears to be a British officer as his uniform shows his British background, though there are other American soldiers in the charge too. 

"Soldier… What happened here?" the officer asks me seeing my USA flag insignia even though I'm drenched in blood. 

"Death… Death happened," I say puffing on my cigar and feeling nothing for all these dead in the trench. 

"Are you the only survivor?" the officer continues as the others run around checking the rest of the trench. 

"Yes," I say not saying much as I feel less and less human as the war rages on. 

"Sir! There are no other survivors… Seems the Germans used Mustard Gas before charging the trench… All the Germans are dead too," one of the men says running over to the officer and giving him their discoveries. 

"How'd you survive and with no injuries?" the officer says looking at me as does everyone else. 

"Guess, Jesus is watching over me," I say with a shrug as the others just stare at me not sure what to say. 

"Seems so…" the officer says unsure what to say either. Then he begins barking orders at the others, leaving me alone since I survived the battle and holding the trench for the reinforcements to arrive and take back. 

 I just sat there smoking and taking a nap while everyone ran around. Then I was woken up as the officer came back over taking his cap off and taking a seat across from me. With a heavy sigh, he pours himself a glass of whiskey before giving me one too. Then we sit there in silence drinking the whiskey for a few moments. 

"I've heard about you… You are the 'luckiest' man alive according to the others who charged with you before. Plus after doing everything you have done, I can request you get leave back home. You've done a lot and deserve some rest," the officer says breaking the silence and trying to offer me an out. 

"Nope, the war is still going on. So I'm staying, plus as the 'luckiest' man it's my duty to lead the charges," I say shaking my head as the officer just nods his head silently for a bit. 

"Then in that case. I've been given the ability to promote you to Lieutenant and several squads that you can lead. We would want you to be able to get behind enemy lines and sabotage them as you see fit," the officer says to me giving me the paperwork which he seemed to have received from command earlier. Along with it a new jacket and shirt that has a Lieutenant insignia. 

"I can do that. Though I don't want more than ten men. Any more than that and it will be very difficult to get behind the lines without being detected," I say nodding my head and signing the paperwork before taking my new shirt and jacket. 

"Good. Then here are my suggestions, of course, you can choose others if you want," the officer says giving me names and reasons why I should take them. 

"They are fine," I say nodding my head since I've not taken the time to get to know anyone in this war. 

"Soldier! Go tell these men they are to report here an hour before midnight," I say grabbing one of the men nearby who runs off relaying my orders. 

"Well, Lieutenant, I wish you luck, and may we meet again once this war is over," the officer says to me offering his hand to me. 

"You too Captain," I say shaking his hand as I go make some makeshift ghillie suits before it is time for us to sneak behind enemy lines. At 2300 hours my men come to me and stand at attention as I walk over to them.

"I'm Lieutenant Howlett. We've got a new job and it is to sneak behind enemy lines and cause some problems for them. You've all been chosen for this job at the Captain's recommendation. Though anyone who doesn't want to take part can leave now, no questions asked," I say to the men who stare back at me, and after a few moments of silence and no one leaving I continue. 

"Very well. Then in that case come here," I say and gesture to a map of the local area in the command part of the trench where I was napping. 

"This area here is a dense forest. They will have some scouts there along with ours being there. However, I believe we can make it through by wearing these," I say and pull out the quickly-made ghillie suits.

"They are not perfect, but if we move slowly and if the reports of our scouts are accurate we can get through without being spotted," I say showing the way we will move through the forest that should be free of being spotted by the scout reports. 

I then put on the ghillie suit and showed the others how to put it on. Then we quickly make our way to the forest line which is a mile away from the end of our trench line. Once there we meet with the scouts stationed nearby and reaffirm with them about the safe areas. Then I lead them through the forest telling everyone to not speak unless I give the 'ok'. 

Using my superhuman senses, I slowly make our way through the forest avoiding the enemy scouts. Thankfully our scouts were correct and this area seems to be a blind spot for the Germans. However, just as we were making our way through the forest a pair of German scouts made their way to our area. I signaled everyone to lie on the ground and not move. 

The two German scouts slowly walked by us, one almost stepped on me but thankfully missed me. After hearing them walk past us and make it out of normal human eyesight, I signaled everyone to get up and continue. Finally, we reached enemy lines, from there it took us the rest of the night to slowly make our way past the heavily guard areas. Though due to my senses, I was able to lead my men past everything without issue. 

"You all can rest here for a few hours. I'm going to scout around for their supplies and other important infrastructure," I say to my men as we get into an abandoned barn house a few dozen miles from the front lines. 

"Sir, that doesn't seem like a good idea. Shouldn't one of us go?" my Sergeant says though they are all dead tired and I don't tire easily due to my superhuman endurance.

"No, you all need rest and I'm still fine for another few hours. I will be back in a few hours, wait here though have someone on watch just in case," I say to my Sergeant who nods his head and then he begins giving orders for watch while I sneak back toward enemy lines. 

Still wearing my ghillie suit I quickly make my way this time, as the others slowed me down somewhat. Over the next few hours, I began making mental notes of where the German supply lines were. I grabbed a few things to make Molotov Cocktails. Then I headed back to my men, when I arrived most seemed more rested. Though I took a quick nap and afterward we headed out after eating a quick meal. 

We headed to the closest supply center after showing my men how to make Molotov Cocktails. Once we arrived, I along with two others sneaked up to the guards taking them out silently. Once the watch was taken out we moved deeper into the supply camp. Silently killing the guards who were making their rounds. 

Once we were near the biggest supply storage area, we through our Molotov Cocktails lighting it on fire immediately. Then we ran back the way we came through more Molotovs at other supplies on the way out as the alarms began blaring in the camp. From there we quickly headed to the next supply camp. By the end of the night, we took out three large supply camps for this area. 

"We need to move further south. We will be taking out the supplies as we move down. This area will be under lockdown now and we won't be able to do much more," I say once we get back to the abandoned barn and rest before moving out the next night. 

We were able to grab supplies for ourselves before burning them. So I let my men celebrate with liquor and excess food before we headed out. I just sat outside smoking while keeping watch, I didn't want to get close to any of them knowing they were going to die sooner than later.