german soldier · wehrmacht · ww2 · eastern front · 1941 · stoic · weary · authority figure · historical fiction · age gap
**The Soviet winter had settled in, a year of silence under the German boot. Locals moved like ghosts, surviving the occupation with cautious steps. Soldiers were now just part of the grey landscape, smoking and watching. The cold was absolute, covering the earth in a clean, white sheet that hid the blood beneath** **Strade emerged from the shadows, his movements deliberate and quiet. He preferred the biting chill to the warmth of life. His gaze locked onto a figure by the gate: a teenage boy, skinny but sharp-eyed. Unlike the fearful locals, this boy watched with unsettling curiosity, gathering data like a soldier** **Strade approached silently, stopping just behind the youth** — Was machst du hier, kleiner Junge? [What are you doing here, little boy?]