The fight in the church

"Wahh! What's happening! Who are you all!? I wanna go back to Sister Anna wah!" One of the girls who is standing still behind the window begins crying out loud due to all the confusion and chaos that she has been through this past few hours. Unable to understand why are there so many bad guys suddenly in the church and why she is here now, she could only cry and cry, reverting to the natural instinct of a child. The same situation is also repeated to the few children who are also being treated as a meat shield, with some being forced to stand in front of the soldier, while some others are just left on their own to show their presence to the German.

This however could not be said to one of the blonde hair girls named Tanya though, who has remained silent until now and not muttering a single word. Her eyes cold and emotionless, her small body standing still in front of the open window, ignoring the bullethole which spread around the church's wall.

Silently, she analyses the situation and picks a spot to stand which is surrounded by many obstacles, reducing her chance of being shot to the lowest. As she knows any bullet hitting will very likely result in the death of this small and malnourished body.

The shooting from the German ceased a while ago ever since they realized what the French were trying to do, regrouping and tries to come up with a viable plan. The French soldiers on the other hand take this chance to respite and reload their rifles, discussing ways to get away from this encirclement. Taking cover from anything they could find, the result is the quite decimated church.

"Sir, this is too much!" One of the French shouting towards the leader to express his dissatisfaction with the crime they are committing. "Using children as meat shields! Did you sell your soul to the devil!? I would rather die with honor than using their flesh to save my life!"

"I agree sir! This shouldn't be something that a soldier should do! We could be court-martial for this!" A soldier from the other side shouts out loud, agreeing with his comrades.

Not everyone is fine with using such methods, although no child is harmed yet, but the very thought of an adult male using a child as a meat shield disgusts them. Looking at the children who are crying, they feel a deep sense of guilty infiltrating their very hearts, condemning them for the act they are committing.

"Shut up! Follow order or be treated as a traitor to the republic!" The leader also in anger shouted back to his subordinate. "Our intel is too important to be lost! We can discuss your damn sense of morality after this, or else my bullet shall be the one that will be debating with you."

"Now, we need to think of ways to break through their encirclement. Grab a few children and bring them along with us, they are our keys to escaping from here." Shouting orders again and giving his men some direction, the crying children are again grabbed by the soldiers but this time towards their horses.

Rushing through the open front door of the church, the French with some carrying children begin to run towards their horse who is located in a small barn that protects them from the German's gun. Lowering their head and running through the open field, they pray that the German will have mercy upon their soul, or at least the children's one.

And sadly, it seems like war really could change a human's thinking.

Noticing what the French are trying to do, Baugalf decides that they couldn't afford to let them escape. Biting his teeth, he issued down an order to let the firing continue to his men who still hope for some mercy on the child. In the end, their rifle begins spitting fire again at their target who is moving towards their horse with no regard for the innocent lives that may be lost.

"Damn it, the German is ignoring the child!" Realizing their tactic isn't working as intended, the leader nonetheless continues his plan. "Fast! We must break through their line now!"

"ARghh! My leg!" One of the soldiers who are running unluckily gets shot in the leg and falls on the ground. Desperate, he began shouting for help. "Help me! Don't leave me alone out here!"

He wants to survive, he really does, even if he just kidnaps the children as a meat shield, even if he just kill the priest of this old church without any mercy shown towards him. He thinks of his sweet home, he is still young, he has so much potential.

And just when he finishes shouting for help, another bullet from the German manages to hit him in the chest. With blood rushing up to his throat, he begins coughing blood out from his mouth, soon losing his consciousness with every second pass, which eventually leads to him falling silent on the ground.

"AHHHH! IT HURTSS!" Suddenly a boy in a soldier's shoulder started shouting and crying in pain. As one of the bullets manages to hit his still undeveloped arms and results in blood flying all over the soldier's face.

The child's body covered with his own blood, face turned pale due to the horror of seeing his own flesh being pierced open. In his eyes, he could see his own white bone in the right arm with a bullet-shaped hole in it, which will in the end result in his right arm being crippled for the rest of his life.

"IT HURTS! IT HURTS! HELPP!" Screaming in German, the French soldier holding him can feel his heart being condemned deeply as a response to their action which results in a small child being hurt by the bullet. Instinctively letting him go, the boy was then left on the open field crying alone, and eventually fell unconscious as his brain failed to handle the immense pain.

"Fast! Fast! Get on the horse! We will be heading west later and straight towards our HQ, you hear that!?" After entering the dark barn, the leader begins shouting instructions to his squad. "After breaking through their lines, we will split out to avoid them catching all of us at once, may God bless us that we will reach home safely."

May God bless them, an ironic sentence for a group of people who just raided the very church of their God.

Adrenaline pumping due to the intense atmosphere, one by one the soldiers begin riding on their mount. Now only left with five men and two children which they are holding as hostages to make the German hesitate more when shooting, they begin rushing out the small barn.

"Charge! For the glory of the republic!" Shouting out loud, the leader riding the horse leads the way with his officer sword that he is holding right now. Charging towards the German straight on, cavalry still held an important position in world war one.

"Bam! Bam! Bam!" With the intervals between each shot becoming shorter and shorter, the leader leading his squad who are under fire charge towards a weak point on the German encirclement.

With his sword swinging through a German who is blocking his way, the blood of his begins flying out and painting the sword dark red. With his subordinate cutting down another one on his way, they manage to break through it only suffering a casualty who is an unlucky ba*tard whose horse was shot and throwing him away, resulting in him crashing into a tree and breaking his neck instantly.

"Split up! Split up! Meet up at the HQ after this!" And with another order being issued, the French begin splitting their path and running back to their lines.

"Damn it!" Baugalf's eyes filled with anger looks at the cavalry who is running away from the church, eventually out of his eyesight. Failing his mission, he knows there is no way that they will be able to catch up with them now.

"Diedrich! Lead some men and try to trace them down! Although we can't reach them, but we can't just give up just like this either. The rest of the people go check up the injured children and the hostages, we can't leave them like this, we are soldiers who protect the people after all unlike those heartless monsters."

"Roger! I need around four men with me, we will start with following the trail, let's go." Receiving orders, Diedrich began leading the men to follow the split up scout.

.

.

.

"Damn it, why do I have such bad luck today for f*ck sake." Moving on foot, one of the French scout's horses after being shot finally fell down due to the wounds. Forcing him to move on his feet, slowing him down significantly.

And the brat he is carrying with him isn't helping either.

A small cute girl with blue iris, she no doubts will grow into a beautiful woman one day. But now, she is just a burden that is slowing him down a lot, with him having to lift up her with one hand and another carrying his rifle.

Right now, he still has quite a long way to cover before being able to reach the HQ, around six hours of foot distance.

'If this goes on, I no doubt will be caught by the German. The brat needs to go, but how? Letting her off sounds like a good idea, but if she exposes my track to the local…' Thinking of the option in his mind, he realized that this is a tricky situation.

'If I manage to dispose of her in some random forest nearby, this could work.' Making a conclusion the soldier holding his rifle even tighter, proceeds to throw the girl down on the ground, followed by his rifle aiming at her.

"Sorry girl, it looks like your journey will end here." Although his heart struggles due to his sense of morale, the desire to go back home makes his heart harden up, as his finger moves towards the trigger. His eyes look at the poor girl who has tough luck and cruel fate.

"Better luck next time, that you will be born in a better family, that you won't have to go through this chaotic war."

"Bam!"