James Mullins - The Winter Sniper

As debris from the nearby truck landed in the snow around him, Hale stuck his head up to assess the situation. He quickly saw that the men from the next campsite had reached their feet and were looking for the source of the mayhem. Hale, pulled another grenade from his belt, twisted the cap, and flung it toward the group.

Hale’s throw came up a few feet short, and the grenade struck the snow just shy of the circle of light shed by the fire. An alert man instantly noticed the explosive and yelled, “Granata!”

All eight of the Russians, trained to instantly react to such a proclamation collapsed to the ground. The grenade exploded spraying shrapnel and flame over the space they had just been occupying. Hale, taking advantage of the confusion, jumped to his feet and started running in the direction of Maki.

The Russians, seeing Hale’s retreating form, stood, and attempted to raise their rifles to attack. Before the first one could line up a shot, the sound of automatic weapon fire erupted from the tree line. Maki’s bullets quickly found flesh, as Hale flung himself to the ground in reaction to the sound of the gunfire.

Hale looked back over his shoulder and saw Maki’s bullets cut down the Soviets. Before the last one fell, he was able to get off a single shot in Maki’s direction. Hale’s worry over his commander quickly dissipated when he heard Maki’s voice cry out, “Hale, move your ass. It’s time to go!”

Hale leapt to his feet and ran toward the voice. The Russians, roused by the noise, began firing at every shadow they saw in the forest. Before long, the entire column, stretching out for miles, had been roused from the growing racket of gunfire. The impenetrable forest of Karelia greedily digested the lead projectiles the frightened Russians wasted.

As the two Finns retreated from the road, they heard the growing crescendo of gunfire coming from the Soviet column. Laughing Maki said, “I think you succeeded beyond my wildest expectations. It sounds like the entire division has been roused from slumber!”

Hale nodded in acknowledgement at his superior officer’s words. Maki quickly noticed Hale’s lack of enthusiasm over the success of his efforts, “What’s wrong?”

They reached their skis and put them on in silence. As they started to make their way to safety Hale replied, “I feel like every time I have to kill, a piece of me is dies inside.”

Maki stopped skiing. Startled Hale shot past him, noticed the Lieutenant had stopped, and turned himself around, “What’s wrong sir?”

“In my jubilation, I had forgotten that we sent at least thirty men to the grave.” Maki replied solemnly.

Hale nodded slowly, “As this night has unfolded, I have thought more and more about the lives I have been taking. Its senseless really, but as soldiers of Finland, what choice do we have? These men have been fooled into thinking that our country attacked their mighty nation.”

“And now, filled with lies of our tiny nation’s aggression, they are here in a perverted sense of patriotism.” Maki replied.

“You talk as if they had a choice sir. The system they live under, while it has put food in their once empty bellies, has taken away their right to think, and the freedom to choose their own path.” Hale replied.

Maki gave Hale a faint smile, “Hearing you philosophize, if one didn’t know any better, one would think you are the university graduate.”

Hale snorted with laughter, “No, just a small-town boy who listened to his pastor in church with a thirst for reading. There isn’t much to do during our long winter nights other than read.”

“Oh, there is other things you can be doing. You’ll find that out when you marry Nea.” Maki said.

Hale’s eyes fell, “I’m not even sure I want to. Do I deserve her now? All of this killing. Every time I do it, I feel like I’m surrendering a piece of my soul to the devil that the fat preacher used to extort us to ignore. Is there going to be anything left of my soul for her when this is all done?”

Maki halted and turned to face Hale, “Man slaying man is indeed a tragedy. Whether from the word of God or a philosopher like Marcus Aurelius, who spent too much of his life killing to defend his home, men try to rationalize the feelings we get from killing.”

“The bible says that murder is one of the ten biggest sins you can commit. That committing sin is evil. Here in this desolate forest I have done much evil, and for what?” Hale said.

“To stop the greater evil of what would happen if many of these men reach our homes.” Maki replied.

“Not all of those men are evil. Many of them are here because they were forced into the army against their will. Thanks to Stalin’s propaganda machine, they think they are here in the righteous cause against Finnish aggression.” Hale said.

Maki’s eyes narrowed, “The world knows that the attack was a lie.”

“But these men clearly don’t.” Hale snapped back.

Maki put a comforting hand on Hale’s shoulder, “True. Their Commissars work day and night to fill their heads with bullshit.”

The word Commissar reminded Hale of Pekka, “I don’t want to think about what those self-righteous bastards are doing to Pekka right now. Those damned evil men, Marxist to the core, have taken on an almost religious holy quality to themselves. They act like they are the prophets of a new religion.”

“That’s a good analogy, the Commissars are indeed preachers of Lenin and Stalin’s unholy new religion. They extort us to adhere to the tenants of the new faith. These evil men rail against the old faith and demand that we abandon God and Jesus Christ. Instead we must turn to the holy way, Socialism, and the holiest of holies, Communism.” Maki drew in a breath and placed a comforting hand on Hale’s shoulder, “I don’t want to imagine what Pekka must be going through. Though there is nothing you can do about it to bring him back. use the anger from his capture. Let it fill your heart.” Maki said.

“Why should I fill my heart with anger?” Hale wondered.

“Because it’s better to give up a piece of righteous anger every time you have to kill an enemy instead of a piece of your innocence.” Maki replied.

Relief flowed out of Hale, “Could it be that easy?”

“It has to be. Otherwise the men forced to fight throughout the ages would lose their souls to the God of War. Be angry with Stalin, and his preaching crusaders of socialism the Commissars.” Maki urged.

“Then I will be angry today, so that the love in my heart and what’s left of my soul can be spared for Nea.” Hale said.

Maki glanced over Hale’s head and saw the first tinge of gray on the horizon, “Come my friend, we must get into position to support the defense of Kivennapa.”

Hale and Maki sat in silence as the sun slowly pushed the darkness away and cast its light on the endless miles of snow-covered forest. During the last hour, they had made their way to a position just to the south west of the village of Kivennapa. Through the trees they spied a small cluster of buildings at the center of a crossroads.

Hale couldn’t quite put his finger on it but the village was missing something, “The village seems odd to me somehow. I know the people that lived there were evacuated two days ago.”

“It looks odd because you are used to seeing signs of life from such a place.” Maki said.

“How so?” Hale asked.

“For instance, there isn’t any smoke.” Maki replied.

Hale nodded, “I couldn’t put my finger on it, but that’s what must be weird about it then. You think the Russians are going to notice?”