Chapter 4: Fresnes

“I am a walking target,” Toha said to himself as he was at the outer edge of Fresnes. It looked almost barren. Buildings were still intact, but there was no activity. If the Germans were here, then they had protection from the building that they were hiding from. He stood, staring at the buildings in front of him. There was a small drainage ditch on the side of the road as he slowly got closer. He was 40 feet from the buildings.

The silence was interrupted by machine gunfire. He only had a microsecond to see that the shooters were from a balcony from atop of a roof. On top of the building was a pivot mount for an MG 08/15 Heavy Machine Gun. The bullets landed by his feet as he jumped to the ditch rolling into it. He listened as he heard about two or three riflemen were trying to shoot him.

“Damn, I am stuck,” he said out loud.

The ditch was serving as a natural trench for him. The top of the dirt was absorbing the bullets protecting him, but he could not look up or risk getting shot at. Without hesitation, Toha went and took his flare gun, loaded a red marker flare, and aimed it up into the sky. He could still hear the distant sounds of aircraft.

“Hopefully, somebody would see this,” he said out loud as he fired the flare. The red flare flew straight up in the air, higher and higher. It was a clear sign that he was down there to his enemies, but it also let the allies know that the enemy was here at Fresnes.

Toha felt the dirt from the trench. He knew he had to act quickly. He grabbed his stick grenade and took a good look at it. It would be an act of desperation. He was in a perfect position to fling it but at the same time, he was vulnerable to somebody throwing a grenade at him. He had to act first. The rifle shots overhead started to stop when he pulled the pin of the stick grenade. He quickly jumped to his feet and, with one quick overhead throw, flung it high at one of the buildings. He dived back into the ditch to avoid counter-fire from the rifles. Amazingly the grenade he threw flew into a building window landed on the second floor and detonated a few seconds later. Whether it took anybody out was his best guess, but there was a temporary delay in the shooting.

A pair of Breguet 14 light bomber aircraft turned and flew to the sight of the flare that was shot into the air. They knew that somebody must have fired it and were in trouble. Both were armed with bombs ready to be dropped on anybody unlucky to be underneath them.

The sound of roaring engines was getting louder and louder to Toha. The shooting stopped as the rifleman from the buildings noticed the incoming aircraft. The bombers were not planning on bombing the buildings. With the sight of the flare however, one of the aircraft spotters saw the machine gun mount on top of the buildings. Private Toha did it. It almost meant him getting shot, but he accomplished his job.

Each second felt like a minute as Toha looked straight up and saw the pair of bombers flew overhead of him. One of the aircraft dropped a couple of bombs that landed straight on top of one of the buildings. The explosions completely leveled the house to the ground and set it on fire. The machine gunner was still active and firing at the bombers as they flew by. The rifleman had stopped firing at Toha altogether.

“Like an eagle dropping an explosive shit on a house,” he said out loud. “Now, I can shoot back at them.”

He poked his head out of the ditch with his Springfield rifle and aimed it at the machine gunner that was firing back at the aircraft. The rapid-fire bullets were whizzing past the French bombers. Wither he was actually hitting the plane was Toha’s best guess. Toha had a perfect bead on him. He was completely distracted. His aim was true as he aimed carefully using the dirt from the ditch to steady his aim. He pulled the trigger, and a round flew from his rifle straight towards the machine gunner. The bullet struck, and the gunner fell to the ground dead. He immediately ducked his head back underneath as he pulled the bolt handle to load his next shot.

Meanwhile, the bombers had made a slow 270 degree turn and perfectly lined themselves parallel to the houses. Another allied observation plane had spotted Toha’s flare and flew high to get a good view of the activity from above. The aircraft could already see smoke and fires from one of the houses.

“Please, for the love of my ancestors, stop shooting at me. Let this end soon.”

One of the most significant challenges in the war was anticipating shooting somebody. You always envision firing your gun at a person in a fight but a vast majority of people never envision being shot back. Toha was realistic in that he did his part in taking out the machine gunner, asking him to take out all the rifleman was not. It was two against one against him, and they knew where he was while he did not know where they were.

Thankfully he did not have to do much more; the bombers were in perfect position. They flew overhead, and both started dropping their payload of bombs over the houses. The bombs landed dead center all over the houses. One by one, each one was set ablaze as the explosives detonated inside. It was a wall of death as the bombs exploded, leveling homes and setting fires. Pillars of smoke and flames reined the area over the town of Fresnes.

Toha cringed but was happy. The riflemen were sure to be dead now. Debris from the explosion showered over him, but it was nothing horrific. The deafening sound of the explosions was overhead from Toha as the ditch saved him from the sounds. Nonetheless, he had just to sit and wait now. The bombers went and began the process of turning around to prepare for another possible run. The observation aircraft recorded everything that was happening and began to turn around to head southwest to relay the information for Allied reinforcements.

Toha closed his eyes and rested, looking up at the sky above him. The sun was practically on top of him, but he did not care. He closed his eyes and waited. He breathed in and out, trying to get his nerves in control. There were no more shootings, only the sound of burning buildings and collapsing roofs filled the area.

“Ancestors watch over them, both my allies and enemies.”

Ten minutes had passed. Toha had not moved as the fires consumed the houses. Some of it passed onto some of the other homes. There was no one else in the houses and any that were, were dead once the bombs were dropped. The civilian population had already been fully evacuated from the town long ago. He got out of the ditch and waved at the bombers that were still checking out the area. They tilt their aircraft back and worth to wave back at Toha.

“It truly was the aircraft that did their part today,” He said.

Toha debated if he was going to turn the ditch into a makeshift shelter or head back or not. He decided it was best to wait and rest. He rested his back on the dirt and grass. He took his canteen and took sips of water as he simply sat there. Minutes went by. His guns were on the ground as he tried to think of good thoughts. The town of Fresnes was knocked out of the war. The Germans could not use the place even if they wanted to or not. The burning wreckage of the homes was a mark of the scars of war. Houses and churches; nothing was safe from war anymore. There was an eerie silence almost. The fires and burning wreckage somehow deadened the sound of artillery fire and machine-gun fire in the south. Toha was in a trance. If the enemy ever found him, he would not care. His canteen was firmly clutched in his hand as he stared blankly at a distance.

Toha lost complete track of time as a whole hour had passed. It was the afternoon now. Toha took a small number of rations and ate them to keep his strength. He did not eat much but just to keep his strength up. He closed his eyes for a minute, and when he reopened them. What he saw next shocked him.

About twenty feet in front of him was the coyote: the same and only one he had seen so far. The coyote’s piercing gaze stared at him.

“What? ... Who are you? How is it possible?”

The coyote walked on all fours and slowly approached him and sat about ten feet away from him. The coyote simply looked at him.

“Now you must wait, my old friend,” the coyote spoke to him.

Toha’s eyes widened in shock, “You ... actually spoke. Who are you?”

“It is time for your adventure to begin my old friend. You worked so hard to get here. All you must do now is wait. They are coming, and you can help them.”

There was a pause in his voice as he comprehended his words. “Wait for who? How long must I wait? I am in danger if I stay too long. I don’t know if the Germans are sending reinforcements are not.”

“You don’t have to wait too long. They will be here very soon. Don’t worry.”

Toha asked him again, “Who are you? Your voice is the same one that told me to go to here. What are you?”

“Let’s say I owe you, my old friend. Your adventure begins here. Rest here. My debt has been repaid for I am Coyote.”

A swirling mist of air and smoke-filled and wrapped the coyote’s body. Coyote’s eyes glowed yellow as the smoke completely surrounded his body. The last thing Toha saw was the glowing eyes as the coyote. The smoke quickly dissipated along with the coyote. It was like the coyote had never existed. It was quiet. Toha’s jaw had dropped.

He said quietly to himself, “He is... Coyote a great spirit or deity in the eyes of Native Americans. Some see him as a guide, and others see him as a trickster. I wasn’t going crazy, I saw somebody, I spoke to somebody, and this was real.”

Toha sat there and contemplated his thoughts. Whatever the case was, he felt that he did not want to move. If something was coming, as Coyote stated, then they will get their time.

An hour went by. Toha sat and watched more aircraft flyby looking at the destruction of Fresnes. Toha did not even want to look at it, nor did he want to check the buildings for any survivors. A part of him was exhausted, a part of him was tired of war, and a part of him was afraid of what he would see.

Toha suddenly started to hear something from a distance to his West. He grabbed his rifle as he was going to check out who it was. He poked his head out of the ditch and looked at what was coming.

Three people were walking down the road heading to the town of Fresnes. It was a man and two women each beside him. At first, it appeared as nothing new, but as he saw them get closer, he noted some of the odd features of one of them. One of the women was Chinese. The other big thing he noticed was that each person was carrying a gun.

“Odd...” He pondered to himself. “Even the women were carrying guns. It seems to them that it did not matter they were approaching a torn-up landscape. Are these the people that Coyote mentioned were coming?” No one else had come.

Without much more hesitation, Toha decided that it would be best to confront these three individuals. They still did not know that he was there, or at least he thought he was. They were at least thirty feet away.

He stood up with his rifle and aimed it downward. He stepped out of the ditch and got on the road to face the three incoming individuals.

Toha had a closer look at the group. One man looked like he was from southeast Europe, perhaps Austro Hungarian. He was holding a Mannlicher rifle, but he noticed that he had no magazine inserted in it. He was dressed in typical civilian attire. The Asian woman indeed looked like she was from China. She was wearing regular thick female clothing of French creation. She was carrying what looked like a French rifle. He did notice that there was a magazine inserted in the gun and that she was armed. The other woman, however, seemed to grab his attention most of all. She was dressed in lighter civilian attire. She was carrying some sort of revolver. She looked like she came from southern Europe, possibly Greek? She was beautiful. She had long flowing blond hair.

“I thought I smelled a mortal,” the Greek woman said. “What do we have here?”

“She knows English?” he thought to himself. “Good ... that will make the conversation easy.”

“My name is Private Toha from the United States Army. This town has been destroyed, and you are in possible danger. You are...”

The woman interrupted him, “We are in no danger mortal. I promise you that. The only one that is in true danger is you.”

The Chinese woman turned her head and looked at the man beside her. She whispered something to him, and he smiled and nodded as her attention focused back at Toha.

Toha had a look of confusion “Mortal? ... Why did you call me that?”

“Because that is what you are. You are a mortal human.”

Toha shook his head “Who are you? You don’t look like a normal group of people. You don’t look like an army or military. There are no resistance movements in this area of the land.”

The Greek woman looked at the group and then back at Toha. “We have urgent business here. We are ... looking for one of my personal belongings that I left in a house somewhere in this town.”

Toha felt that she was lying.

“Good luck in trying to find it,” he replied. “There isn’t much to this town. We ... had to destroy the town since the Germans were occupying it.”

“I can tell that. We could see the aircraft flying to this town and hear the distant explosions as we were walking here.”

Toha felt that he was in no danger but was perplexed at the motives of this group. He shouldered his rifle. It was his way of showing them that he posed no threat to them. The Chinese woman was studying him and getting a good look at him.

The group decided to walk forward, walking past him to the ruins of one of the buildings. The Greek woman had ended the conversation as she walked up to the ruins of one of the homes. She held up her arm and closed her eyes. Toha could swear he could see some sort of light coming from her hand. She then lowered her hand and shook her head.

“I am not picking up anything here,” she said as she opened her eyes and walked up to the next building.

“I doubt you will find anything, to be honest,” Toha said to the group. “This place is destroyed.”

“None of your concern mortal. Leave and go back to your ... unit,” the Greek woman said.

Toha watched as she stepped up to the next home and lifted her hand to check out the building. She closed her eyes again as Toha once again swore that there was some sort of light coming from her hand.

The Chinese woman turned and walked up to Toha. The man watched over them carefully.

“I think it is wise for you to go home,” the woman spoke to Toha. “Your squad is probably worried about you.”

He almost snapped at her “How would you know? You are a woman and don’t serve the army ... no offense. You might be carrying a good rifle, but that does not make you army. Who are you?”

“I am Daiyu. Daiyu Lu,” she politely responded. She went and wrapped her arm around his shoulder, guiding him away from the group.

Toha was getting a confused look on his face “I don’t understand. Something told me to be here.”

The Greek woman lowered her arm and shook her head. She then started to walk to the next building.

He spoke up to the Greek woman, “There would be nothing worth salvaging here. These houses have been burned to the ground!”

The Greek woman then turned around and then walked up to Toha. “Listen, human. You have no business here anymore. Go away.”

Toha brushed Daiyu’s arm away from his shoulder and walked up to the Greek woman in a challenging pose. “Listen, woman, an army is coming this way. In about a day or two, they will reach this town. The Germans are sure to send men to try to re-secure this town if they are coming at all. For you and the group, I recommend that you leave this town. Return wes...”

The Greek woman smiled, “You wish to know who I am. Very well. My name is Ariadne. Now go away. You are in the way of our search.”

“I am not against you searching; I am just telling you that it is dangerous if the Germans returned.”

Toha felt that he was not going to convince these people to leave. He decided that maybe going in an absurd direction was the best route. He decided to tell them what he saw.

“A coyote told me that you were coming.”

The entire group focused their attention on him. Daiyu had a confused look on her face. The man in the group spoke up.

“What are you talking about, lass?”

Ariadne had a look of surprise in her face. Toha shrugged in return. “Look, I saw a coyote, and he told me that somebody was coming. Are you those people?”

“What coyote?” Ariadne asked him. “There are no coyotes in Europe.”

Toha had no answer to really give. He didn’t know admitting this was just conveying that he was nuts to the group. “I know what I saw an hour ago. He called himself Coyote and then disappeared in a puff of smoke. He told me to remain in this town and wait for somebody to come. He...”