{"sf1_id":800190,"sf2_id":"3egMQoPn","title":"A Thin Line - Part Three: In War","author":"RandallShepherd","words":1587,"posted_at":"2014-12-26T03:48:00.000Z","tags":["Action","Base camp","Character Development","Clean","Fiction","Fox","Friendship","Love","Military","Wolf","World war 2"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/800190-a-thin-line-part-three-in-war","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/s/3egMQoPn","image_url":"https://cdn.sofurryfiles.com/submissions/thumbnails/d2/1f/d21f93eb-2358-4e9a-a23a-97e38b33646b","description":"#3 of A Thin Line\n\nThe third part of my multi part collection of short stories put together to be a long story... if that makes sense.\nThis part was originally much longer, but decided to split up the action into a separate part in an effort not to give too much away too soon. Gust cuz I'm like that. Haha\nI have some artwork coming along with this, so check it out :)\nPS. This is a work of fiction. If something seems historically inaccurate, I'm sorry.","content":"\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; It has been six months since Damien left home.\u0026nbsp; He was deployed to the front lines in Germany a couple months after the initial invasion of Normandy.\u0026nbsp; Base camp was a busy place, home to constant noise of vehicles, planes, people talking, people yelling, cursing and complaints about the food.\u0026nbsp; He shared a bunk with a guy he had met back in the States.\u0026nbsp; They both grew up in New York, just Damien was from rural, upper New York and this other guy was from the city.\u0026nbsp; His name is Micah Stolas, a black and white fox who was assigned to the same squad Damien was.\u0026nbsp; Damien stood slightly taller than him; he was about six foot, two and Micah about five foot, ten.\u0026nbsp; Micah originally wanted to work on tanks and jeeps instead of risking his life on the front lines, but not everyone gets what they want.\u0026nbsp; He was denied the opportunity and instead was stuffed into our squad as an infantry man.\u0026nbsp; Although he was disappointed, he still enjoyed working on and cleaning guns.\u0026nbsp; Anything that included taking things apart and putting things back together, and even improving them in the process, fascinated Micah and he took pride in his talent.\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \"I wanted to be an engineer,\" said Micah back during training, \"but I just couldn't bring myself to suffer through college.\u0026nbsp; You see, in college, they can teach you the basics, they can teach you what is already known.\u0026nbsp; You know what they can't teach you?\u0026nbsp; How to innovate; how to come up with new and intuitive ideas.\u0026nbsp; That's all up to you.\u0026nbsp; There was nothing they could teach me that I didn't already know, so I dropped out, determined to figure things out on my own.\"\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; He joined the army to help pay off student loans for an education he did not receive.\u0026nbsp; Cole never had the opportunity to go to college, his family was simply too poor, it just want an option.\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; Damien sat on his bunk with a piece of paper on one hand and a pen in the other.\u0026nbsp; The blank piece of paper was the canvas for a letter, but it was yet to be decided on whom the letter should be addressed to.\u0026nbsp; He was being sent out later that day with the rest of his section to help capture small town that, otherwise, would be considered extremely remote and non-important.\u0026nbsp; But in actuality, this town consisted of a crossroads that the Germans were using to move armaments and troops to feed their defensive line.\u0026nbsp; The town was believed to be well defended and probably would not fall easily.\u0026nbsp;\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; He had finally given up on writing a letter to either his parents or his girlfriend.\u0026nbsp; The words and thoughts were not flowing and he could not bring himself to write an empty and meaningless letter.\u0026nbsp; Stepping outside the tent, he decided to walk around base.\u0026nbsp; He knew that by the next day, he could be in the heat of combat.\u0026nbsp; How could he relax with that weight on his shoulders?\u0026nbsp; This would not be his first taste of action, but it doesn't get any easier, even with experience.\n\nDamien spotted a crowd forming in front of an airplane down towards the runway that was on base.\u0026nbsp; In the heart of the crowd stood two men, one was Micah and the other was someone Damien did not recognize.\u0026nbsp; He was a big, tall character with brown fur and long, unnaturally blue hair.\u0026nbsp; Micah was deep inside the plane's engine, tinkering around with things Damien himself would not even dare to touch.\u0026nbsp; By eavesdropping on some people's conversations, it became clear that the man with the curiously colored hair was working on the airplane and failed to get the engine working properly.\u0026nbsp; Micah, being a bit of a show-off, yelled from across the runway that the mechanic made an error while assembling the engine.\u0026nbsp; The wolf insisted that everything was checking out and that Micah was full of shit.\u0026nbsp; Micah, of course being a natural at anything mechanical related and being pretty good at making people do what he wants them to do, he made a bet that he could get the engine running on his first try.\u0026nbsp; The wolf felt pretty confident that whatever the problem was with the engine was something that was far from a user error, so he took the bet figuring it would be an easy hundred dollars.\u0026nbsp;\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; Micah was visibly working hard to get the thing running.\u0026nbsp; After a couple minutes passed, Micah closed up the engine, and said, \"That should do it.\"\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; The wolf was still pretty skeptical.\u0026nbsp; He had looked over the engine multiple times himself over the course of hours, and here is a fox, a private, a fucking new guy, trying to out-do a trained military mechanic with years of experience working on engines.\u0026nbsp; Surly enough, when Micah gave the pilot sitting in the cockpit to give it a try, the engine sputtered to life with almost no effort.\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \"I'll be damned.\" Said the wolf.\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \"That's how we do it in New- fucking- York!\" said Micah.\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; An exchange of money took place between Micah and the wolf, along with a few other unlucky gamblers in the surrounding crowd.\u0026nbsp; After Micah shook hands with the wolf, the crowd dispersed and Micah made eye contact with Damien and waved at him with his hand full of cash.\u0026nbsp;\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \"Getting a little cocky there, huh?\" commented Damien to Micah as they approached each other.\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \"Well, maybe.\u0026nbsp; Sigmund's a good guy, he just overlooks small details.\"\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \"Sigmund?\" asked Damien.\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \"Yeah, Sigmund Phenex.\"\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \"Do you two know each other?\"\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \"No, not really.\u0026nbsp; I met him the other day in the mess hall.\u0026nbsp; He's from Cali.\"\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \"He's a long way from California.\"\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \"We're all a long way from home.\u0026nbsp; Hey, Germany isn't too similar to New York, right?\"\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \"New York City, maybe.\u0026nbsp; The fields feel like home to me.\"\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; We began walking around aimlessly.\u0026nbsp; Micah continued, \"That kid's been through a lot in his short time here.\u0026nbsp; He lost his brother a couple days ago.\"\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \"Damn.\"\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \"That's putting it lightly.\u0026nbsp; He's handling it really well, though.\u0026nbsp; If he's feeling anything, he's doing a great job at hiding it.\"\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \"Does that make you feel bad about taking his money?\"\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; Micah laughed, \"Yeah, right.\"\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; Micah didn't have any siblings.\u0026nbsp; He grew up poor, just like Damien.\u0026nbsp; But life was harder for him out on the streets of the big city than for Damien in the country.\u0026nbsp; He'd rarely talk about his home life. \u0026nbsp;It was kind of a touchy subject that Damien tried his best to avoid.\u0026nbsp; For Damien, he did have a brother once, but it didn't last long.\u0026nbsp; The poor guy didn't even survive his first hour.\u0026nbsp;\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; Later, Damien found himself in the back of a rickety truck being sent out on their nighttime assault on a small village.\u0026nbsp; The darkness and quiet of the night was comforting to Damien.\u0026nbsp; In a way, it reminded him of home.\u0026nbsp; It was cool, quiet, not much around; though he knew this would be the calm before the storm.\u0026nbsp; The other men in the truck with him were not speaking.\u0026nbsp; The guy sitting to his immediate right was holding a cigarette in one hand and a small photo in the other.\u0026nbsp; The light was dim but the photo showed a woman holding an infant.\u0026nbsp; Damien didn't know why, but he felt compelled to ask, \"Is that your family?\"\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; The guy didn't speak at first, only took a puff of his cigarette.\u0026nbsp; He eventually spoke up, \"Yeah.\u0026nbsp; You wanna see?\"\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; He handed the small picture to Damien.\u0026nbsp; The two looked happy.\u0026nbsp; The woman depicted kind of reminded Damien of his girlfriend, Alice.\u0026nbsp;\n\n\"Cute kid.\" Damien said.\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; The man said, \"Thanks.\u0026nbsp; His birthday was last week, and I wasn't there.\"\u0026nbsp; The silhouette of the man inhaled another lungful of his cigarette and slowly exhaled.\u0026nbsp; \"It hard not being there for your kid, you know?\u0026nbsp; You have any kids?\"\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \"No... I don't.\u0026nbsp; My girl and I haven't even considered it yet.\"\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \"Smart thinking in a way.\u0026nbsp; A kid shouldn't grow up without his father.\u0026nbsp; A father should always be there.\"\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; Micah was sitting across from Damien.\u0026nbsp; Micah was looking at the floor, almost like he was transfixed on something that wasn't there.\u0026nbsp; Damien tried to make eye contact with him, just to see if anything was the matter, but Micah just looked away.\u0026nbsp;\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; The truck hit a bump, causing everyone in the back to sway around a bit.\u0026nbsp; The sky was clear.\u0026nbsp; The stars were so beautiful here, it's a shame that such violence was bound to take place.\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; An M1 Garand was resting on the floor in front of Damien, the barrel was in his left hand.\u0026nbsp; The ammunition was heavy, but he was used to it at this point.\u0026nbsp; The helmets were uncomfortable but everyone wore them.\u0026nbsp; If there was even the slightest chance that a shitty helmet could keep you alive, any rational person would wear it.\u0026nbsp; Damien watched as the man next to him tucked the photograph into his chest pocket and stomped out his cigarette on the wooden floor of the truck.\u0026nbsp;\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; A state of unrest overcame the people in the truck as the commander announced in a hushed tone, \"Approaching target.\"\u0026nbsp;\n\n  \n  \n\n","series":{"name":"A Thin Line","previous":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/788782-a-thin-line-part-two-love.json","next":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/806141-a-thin-line-part-four-the-village.json"}}