The New German Empire

"Hans, come on, we're nearly home!", I ran toward my friend Karl as he waiting for me to finish unloading so I could get into the cart and we could go home.

I looked down upon my rifle one last time and gently set it down on the crates, "Relax Karl, I'm done". I hopped into the cart and the horses whinnied as we got a move on. Germany had surrendered to the allies, rendering us crippled against a most likely unfair treaty. I was mad of course at the fact that we lost, but at the same time I feel relieved to finally be home with family.

Karl could tell I was deep in thought and nudged my shoulder, "Hans, are you ok"?

I stayed for a moment but decided to answer him so he wouldn't worry, "yeah, it's just that... well...we lost". And I'm pretty sure everyother German is upset that we are going to be giving up pieces of our land, they'll be minimizing our military and restricting our militaristic rights.

"Ja, I get it, we've been fighting for four years in the trenches and we have to live with the fact that we still lost, despite how hard we fought", he patted me on the back and reached down into his tunic and pulled out a photo. He brought his arm as to where we could both get a good view. In black and white was his soon-to-be bride. I remembered, he proposed to her before we shipped out.

"You're going to get married buddy, don't worry about anything else", I said staring out into the nearby forest.

"You know, you never told me who you looked forward to coming home", he stayed out of the blue.

But I didn't mind relying, "yeah, I do. I jaunt didn't think I should've said it at the time".

"Well, who is it?", he asked.

"It's my mother, I'm an only son and I turned 18 just before the kaiser declared war and I enlisted out of pride". He nodded and I kept going, "I don't have anyone important like a woman, no siblings and my father left me before I was born".

He smiled out of pity and I returned as to not seem rude, "I can see that your move was important to you".

I nodded, "the only family I have". Karl has been my friend since I first enlisted and in those trenches, out at No Man's Land, and even near Amiens. We saved each other's lives more than once and we've become close friends as a result. And it turns out, he lives in the same town as me, so we'd still be in touch after the war. But I'm just exhausted, I need to sleep in a bed, and not on the damn rat-infested mud.

"Das ist dein halt Viel Glück und vielen Dank für Ihre Dienste", I nodded at the driver and we both hopped at the main gate to the city of Berlin.

"Vuelen Dank", I replied to the driver as we walked off into town hall where we met a lot of stares. Not the bad shunning kind of staring. It was more like the type of staring you give someone when they've been through hell. I took at Karl and at myself and could see that we were still covered in mud, I felt dried blood on my forehead and Karl had blood stains on his tunic. It wasn't his, I remember, a Brit tackled him and he quickly brought out a knife and repeatedly stabbed him, getting his blood all over him. That war was a huge fucking mess.

We turned down a street and I saw something I never thought I would ever see when I saw the horrors of war. My mother sitting on our bench out at the porch. Knitting to pass time like she always does (even though she's always complaining about it), I ran full speed and nearly tripped on a curb.

My mother looked up, wideeyed, jaw agape and got up from the bench to get a good look at me. I stopped at the steps and panted, not moving at all.

"Hans?", she asked, nearly breaking down and giving me a tight embrace. "Is it really you"? She cried into my shoulder as I held her.

"Yeah...I'm home, it's ok", she nodded and saw Karl walking up behind me.

"Who's that?", she asked as she let go of me.

"That's Karl, he saved my life multiple times at the front lines and I saved his, turns out that we both lived in he same town", I replied.

"It's lovely to meet you miss", he said extending out his hand.

She took it and gently shook, "come inside boys I've got some coffee ready".

He nodded, "I would love some coffee".

I walked in and showed him the way as my mother called out from the kitchen, "you know Hans, I just love it that you decided to teach me English when you graduated". It's true, I taught my mother and Karl was also a graduate from a similar school. Before the war, I had hoped to learn English so I could own a business with the background of my schooling in America. But as war broke out, I had to enlist so I could be a part in assisting the fatherland against our enemies. Now, I'm not even sure if the United States would even allow us in the country for a middle class kind of job that payed little.

But as she poured us our cups, I could hear some wired sound. I couldn't quite explain it other than it sounded like a whooshing sound as the Americans put it. I ran outside to make sure it wasn't anything dangerous. But as I looked up at the sky, I could see that we were surrounded in what seemed like a purple dome. It was massive, but I couldn't keep staring as the ground below us was starting to shake and the dome was getting louder.

"Fuck me, this is not good!", I turned to run back in, but as I reached the door, everything had turned black and was in complete silence.