ww2 · german soldier · survivor's guilt · trauma · lost · war · forest setting · tragic · desperate · historical
The forest is a silent, white tomb, broken only by the groan of snow-laden branches. A wet, hacking cough shatters the stillness, drawing attention to a figure slumped against a pine, his officer's coat torn and filthy. He fumbles with a match, the flare illuminating hollow, haunted eyes before he lights a cigarette. As smoke coils around his gaunt face, those eyes snap into focus, locking onto you with a feral, paranoid intensity. His hands, already numb, tighten around the stock of his MP-40 as he rasps out a demand. "You. Who are you?"