Der Metzger Herr Messer

I walked out into the open air. "Messer, you going home?" A man with a shaved head walked over to me, his boots hitting heavily against the concrete sidewalk.

I nodded and looked back across the border. "Yeah, I'll probably be away for a while." I rubbed the back of my neck. "Turks are acting up, I'm going to see what I can do." I nodded a few times and walked to my car. "You hear about the bombing?" I laughed softly. "It's their fault you know."

My friend laughed and patted my back. "Yeah yeah, sad it wasn't us that did it?"

I shook my head. "I'm just glad someone did." I squeezed his arm and pulled away. "Send them home." I did my salute.

My friend nodded a few times. "Easy. It'll get done in time. People are getting sick of those foreigners, just give it time and Germany will be back in German hands."

I relaxed my shoulders and pulled my car door open. "I hope so."

My friend leaned and watched me get in. "You look like a clown in that thing. A yugo?"

I shook my head and pursed my lips. "Eine Volkswagon."

My friend cocked his head. "Volkswagon?"

I nodded and sat down. "Ja."

My friend laughed. "Shit. Short end of the stick." He patted my hood and turned away. "Well, see you back home."

I nodded and started my car. I pulled out of the house we'd rented and towards the autoway. A horrid noise filled my car as I drove on towards home.

I looked back towards Austria, spotting a few of my friends driving back home to Germany. I looked down at the cassette player. "American piece of crap." I jammed the button and popped a cassette tape out. I tossed it into my passenger seat and shifted into drive.

My auto picked up quickly and zipped on down the way. The car felt like it was pulling forward slightly, like someone had loaded the trunk while I was away. "What the shit?" I shifted to a higher gear and shifted back into my seat. The car picked up slightly as I zipped out of the south state.

I looked out over the vast green and brown as villages passed by. The day was warm, the wind easy, but still my stomach felt uneasy and turbulent at the odd weight in my car. It was just enough to make me worry, but I was sure I could deal with it later.

A loud whine filled the air as I took a curve in the highway. A red and blue flash ran across my rear view. "Scheisse, der polizei." I took a deep breath and made sure my shirt was covering my tattoo. I found a way off the motorway, the police followed close and turned off the siren.

We turned off into a small village with a half built mall near the offramp. I zipped down towards a parking space and stopped. My car lurched forward slightly. I watched as the van pulled up behind me and an officer got out. I turned my car off and started to lean my head out. "What's the problem?"

The officer motioned for my to step out. "What? What has to be wrong?"

I pushed the door open and sighed heavily. "Listen I--" I stopped myself and spotted the reason for the stop. My car had a massive flat time in the back. "Oh...shit." I put my hand on my head and the officer grew a bit apprehensive. "That'll do it."

The officer nodded a few times. "Must have been a nail." He walked over me and looked me over. "Oh...you're coming from Austria, aren't you?" He put his hands on his hip and looked at my arm. "Hmm...I think it'd be best if I detained you."

I put my hand up. "Listen, I don't--"

The officer shook his head and pulled a pair of cuffs out. "You're not under arrest, you're being detained." He put his hand on my side and started to turn me to face the car. "Cooperate--"

I turned and put my hands against the car. "I am...."

The officer took my wrist and pulled it behind me. "Okay. Okay, thank you." He pulled my wrists together and snapped the cuffs on. "Um...." He tugged at the right cuff, unable to get it to my left wrist. "Hmm...problem." He pulled a second pair of cuffs from his side and crudely bound my wrists together. "Big man, seems like all of you are giants."

I huffed and let him spin me around. "Superior German breeding." I huffed and tested my cuffs. "Why exactly am I being stopped?"

The officer lead me around my car and towards the curb before the half built mall. A few workers were gathering around the edge as I was sat down. I looked up towards the highway and saw my friends car stopped, he was standing out by the edge with something to his head. "Well, that tire. Why are you being detained? Well, I think you know why. Especially considering--"

I felt my heart stop as I looked to my car, the trunk still sitting low. "Granate, Granate! Bomb--

I  was cut off as an earshattering bang went off from my car. I cringed away as the officer was thrown against the walk. I tried to yank my hands forward, the chain caught around my back and kept my from stopping a piece of metal from tearing my throat open. I tighten up and dug my feet into the ground as the officer rolled onto his side, his back peppered with small bloody holes.

I felt my throat burn as I slumped forward and laid against the ground. I felt my vision blur as I tried to bring my hands to hold my throat closed. The world was ringing and the sky turned from blue to grey. I couldn't think, all I could do was process the pain in my throat and the world from my bland, tunneling, view.

I felt something grab my shoulder and pull me onto my back. A man with a thick black mustache was standing over me. He wore a bright orange vest and a hardhat, and his skin was a dark brown. I tried to grab him, my hands still bound behind my back. The look of twisted panic in his face told me everything. He grabbed my neck and looked back to the right. "Hilfe! Hilfe! Rufen Sie einen Krankenwagen!" My brain couldn't put meaning to the words he was saying, it simply sounded like noise.

I closed my eyes as the muffled noise drifted away. The last image burning my mind was my friend, standing on the highway, dialing my death.