The morning was surprisingly quiet, almost too quiet. The birds were chirping happily and the streets were filled with people. They rushed in and out of shops, markets, and homes. There were no soldiers of any side to be seen, it was just the three of us. The rest have moved on to capture a different town or city.
Albert got up from under the shelf and looked out the window of the shop to see all that was on the streets. The bright morning sun shone on his face which made it hard to see. He could hear movement and talking from downstairs. Small lamps and lanterns around the room were on. He looked back down at Wilhelm and Ernst who were still fast asleep, wanting to wake them.
"Ernst!" he said as Albert shook him a couple of times. "Wilhelm!"
Ernst slowly opened his eyes to look at Albert and his surroundings. He started to crawl out from underneath the shelf. Wilhelm still laid under the shelf sleeping. Albert shook him more aggressively until his eyes were wide open.
"Come on, we have to get out of this town and quickly. Wilhelm, would you have any idea were the rest of your Panzer Division is going on foot?"
"No but perhaps somewhere in the Southwest. We can try to start walking or running in that direction. Hopefully they have not gotten captured already." said Wilhelm.
All of the men crawled out from under the shelf. When they stood up, they heard the sound of glass falling to the floor behind them. They all turned around at once and saw a man standing with a cloth at the top of the stairs that was staring at them, while his legs shook. The man then made a move to get something from behind his belt, a knife that could be heard coming out of its metal sheath. The man got closer to them with it and pointed it at Wilhelm first.
"Drop the knife, you're fine. We won't hurt you." said Wilhelm.
The man still brought it closer and closer, putting it now in all of the men's faces. Albert caught sight of Wilhelm putting his fingers on his pistol holster. Ernst had looked at the stairs since the sound of a woman's heels were coming up. She did not need to see this. Wilhelm had now opened the cover of the holster and slowly pulled out the P08 Luger that sat in it. The woman had reached the top of the steps, motionless and staring at what was happening in front of her. She screamed and ran back down the stairs and into the street, slamming the door behind her.
"Put the knife down. We won't hurt you unless you do so to us." Albert said.
The man had no idea what they were saying, he still brought it closer. Albert looked back at Wilhelm's pistol holster. The gun was completely out and was aiming at the man.
"Put the knife down now!"
The look on Wilhelm's face and eyes told that he did not want to kill the innocent man but he would if the knife came any closer. Wilhelm raised the pistol higher and the man stood and stared at it while it met his face. The man put his arm back and the knife was thrown at Ernst. He screamed and hit the floor. The knife was lucky enough to go into his upper leg, where the left thigh meets his abdomen.
Bang! A shot was fired from the Luger. Ernst did not look at the man, he continued crying instead. Albert watched as the man fell to the ground, motionless with a big thud. He glared back up at Wilhelm who was still staring at the man's body with the pistol still up in the air. Blood was now spreading around the upper part of his body, soaking into the unfinished wooden floor.
"God...." said Wilhelm. "It was as simple as that, you put the knife down and we don't harm you."