James Mullins - The Winter Sniper

The Soviet Sergeant chuckled loudly at Hale’s frustration. He stopped for a minute and simply watched as Hale’s gaze remained locked with the Russian’s eyes. Satisfied that Hale wasn’t about to do anything rash; he moved his left hand down to Nea’s panties.

With a tug from the Russian’s fingers, the garment slid down her legs and landed on the top of her feet. Hale’s wife was now completely nude. The Russian took a moment to look down at her body and whistled appreciatively. Enraged at his impotency, Hale smashed his left fist into the hallway wall creating another hole across the hall from the first.

The Soviet chuckling at Hale, dropped his free hand to Nea’s crotch and began to rub her vagina with his fingers. She gasped in surprise, then clamped her mouth shut to remain silent. She didn’t want this monster to get any pleasure out of his actions. When this failed to elicit a reaction out of Nea, or Hale, he removed his hand from her crotch.

This time, instead of touching Nea, he reached behind her and unbuckled the belt of his trousers. Hale unable to stand it, took a step forward. Before he had a chance to take a second, the Soviet Sergeant pressed the blade deeper into Nea’s flesh. She let out a surprised yelp, and then clamped her mouth shut, trying to hold in the pain.

Hale, seeing the blood, now flowing freely from his wife’s neck, took a step back and raised his hands up in supplication. Satisfied that Hale wasn’t going to try anything further; the Russian removed his trousers. He then moved a little to Nea’s side so that Hale could see how excited he was at the prospect of having his wife.

The Russian, then pushed Nea’s torso forward, so he could position himself behind her. Careful, to maintain his hold on the knife, he looked up and met Hale’s gaze as he tried to push into her. Instead of Nea screaming at the violation, the Soviet Sergeant suddenly cried out in painful surprise.

He pushed Nea forward toward Hale, as he turned and swung the knife at something behind him, his knees gave out and he toppled to the ground in a heap. Standing behind him, was Hale’s sister Aina. She grasped the pommel of their Grandfather’s pukko blade. The metal of the blade was covered in the Russian’s blood.

Ignoring everyone, the little girl repeatedly plunged the blade into the quivering corpse of the Russian as Hale and Nea embraced. Nea sobbed uncontrollably as Hale stroked her hair and whispered into her ear, “It’s all right. You’re safe now.”

As Hale whispered the words, his eyes rested on the sight of his sister, repeatedly plunging his Grandfather’s blade into the bleeding mess the Russian had become, “Aina it’s ok now, you saved Nea, you saved us all. Please stop doing that, the bad man is dead.”

Meeting Hale’s gaze Aina burst into tears and dropped the knife. Hale motioned with his right hand for the girl to come to him. She stood and ran down the hall wrapping her arms around Hale and Nea, “It’s over now. You’re both going to be ok.”

As soon as Hale spoke the words, a fresh round of wailing erupted from his mother. Turning in her direction, Hale gestured for her to come and said, “Mom, you can’t help him anymore. Please come here, Aina needs you.”

Jenna shook her head no, at Hale’s suggestion, wrapped her arms around the body of her husband and sobbed. Her entire body shook as the grief flowed out in waves. In response to her Jeanna’s distress, Aina ran to her mother. Seeing the corpse of her father for the first time, the young girl wrapped bloody hands around her mom as they both trembled with overwhelming grief.

Looking into Nea’s eyes Hale asked, “Are you ok?”

“I think so. Oh Hale, I thought he was going to rape me.” Her voice trailed off as she began to cry again.

Hale continued to stroke Nea’s hair as she wept. The blood from her neck wound formed rivulets as it traveled down her body between her breasts. Noticing that his wife was still bleeding Hale said, “Let me get you a towel. We need to stop the bleeding.”

Nea looked down at the wound in her neck and nodded dully. Hale, quickly located a dishtowel in the kitchen and returned, “Here use this to stop the bleeding.”

Nea nodded dully and mumbled a, “Thanks.”

Hale hugged Nea reassuringly and said, “Are you good to be alone for a few moments? I need to go check on my mom and to take care.” Hale’s voice waved and tears began to slide down his cheeks as he said, “To take care of Dad.”

Nea placed her left hand on Hale’s cheek and said, “Go to your mom. I’ll be fine. She needs you right now more than I do.”

Hale nodded as Nea gave him a reassuring smile. He wrapped his mother and Aina into an embrace. Holding them for a time, he joined in their mourning, “Mom, we’ve got to take care of him now. More Russians will come soon to see what happened to the first group.”

Jenna looked into Hale’s eyes and said, “We’ll bring him with us?”

Hale shook his head, “No mom, we can’t.”

“We can load him in the sleigh.” Jenna replied.

“The sleigh can only be used on roads. The roads are crawling with the Russians. If we try to use them, we’ll just end up dead.” Hale replied.

“Then we can drag him on the sleigh Aina’s uses to play with.” Jenna replied sharply.

Hale sighed and used his hand to gently prompt his mother to look at him, “Mom, we will need to move quickly. I’ve got to lead us past the Russians to the Mannerheim Line, so that you, Aina, and Nea will be safe. I fear I won’t be able to do that if we bring Father.”

“Then what do we do with him? We can’t just leave him here.” Jenna’s voice trembled and she fought back a sob as she added, “We can’t leave him here, like this.” Her voice trailed off as she said the last sentence.

Hale pondered the question for a minute and said, “The ground is frozen solid, so I can’t dig him a hole, not quickly enough.”

“Then we must bring him.” Hale’s mother snapped.

Hale held up a hand, “There is another possibility. There might be a crater in the ground, from the truck explosion. Let me go check, we may be able to bury him there, and then come back for him later.”

Jeanna nodded, “You go do that, I’ll wrap him in a blanket. You’re right of course. We must flee so that Aina, and your baby can have a future.” She paused for a moment and tearfully added, “Oh Hale, he was so proud of you. So happy that he was going to be a Grandfather. He would have been a great one you know.”

Hale nodded, “The best.”

Hale held her hand and gently squeezed it before breaking the contact and turning to leave. He looked over at Nea who was watching them through dull eyes. She held the kitchen towel Hale had given her against her wound, “Love will you be ok for a short time? I need to go find a place to put father to rest.”

Nea nodded dully, “Good.” Hale wrapped his arms around her, looked into her eyes, and said, “Can you help Mom and Aina get ready for the journey? Everyone needs to dress warmly.” He paused a moment and looked down at her nakedness. If you don’t have anything warm enough for the journey, I’m sure my mom can find something for you to wear.”

Nea gave Hale a faint smiled and said, “Tramping through the woods, after nearly being raped and butchered is not how I envisioned our wedding night together.”

Hale managed a faint laugh in response to Nea’s levity, “Nor I.”

An olive drab green truck screeched to a halt. A man opened the passenger side door from the inside and lowered himself to the ground. Taking a deep breath, he put his hand on his hips and looked around at the scene. Behind him, a squad of soldiers disembarked from the rear of the truck and fanned out to secure the area.