Culture Shock Origins: Aurik Wilhelm

I awake to the taste of copper in my mouth. It hurts to open my eyes, the sun burning my retinas from above. My eyes adjust as I look around. I see nothing but trees surrounding me. But wait, wasn't I just surrounded by wreckage? I look around to see Archangel on the ground, his eyes open. "Archangel." No response. "Archangel?" I crawl over to him, shaking him by the vest. "Archangel, Vhat is wrong, are you alright!" I check his pulse, his body cold. I feel for a beat... nothing. My body is filled with sadness. I use my hand and close his eyes, uttering some final words. "Auf Wiedersehen, mein Freund. goodbye, my friend." I reach down his vest and pull out his dog tags, observing them.His name was Jack Wright.

I soon notice the radio on his chest, pulling it off, I notice it was knocked to the wrong frequency. Switching it back, I call for help. "HQ, this is Priest, Requesting a pick up at..." I look down at my GPS, currently reading offline. "What the hell? Uh... previous known location was just South past Wildberg, Northern Black Forest." I let go of the button, static coming from the radio. I check the frequency and call again. "HQ, this is Priest, do you copy?" Again, nothing but static. "Dammit!" I put the radio down and look around my surroundings, I have to still be in the Northern Black Forest. I wasn't just struck and sent somewhere else, was I? I look back at Jack. He still has his gear and most of it is still intact. I reach for his rifle, inspecting it. The barrel and receiver are cracked. I put the gun down and grab his pistol, Immediately dropping it after seeing that the ammunition had discharged in the clip, rendering the gun useless. I check his vest for anything of use. I find a pack of cigarettes, a few clips of 5.56mm and 9mm ammo, three grenades, an MRE, and the picture of his family. I put the picture into his breast pocket. I then grab the trench shovel from my pack and begin digging a shallow grave.

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After about three hours of digging through roots and rocks, it starts to get dark. I lay him down in the hole and then cover him with dirt. I take his rifle and boots and stick them in the ground, followed by putting his helmet on top of his rifle. I grab my G36 and start walking away, my head hung low. "Goodbye, my friend."

After about one hour of walking, I decide to make a fire. I grab some wood and stoke it a little bit, causing it to flare up nicely. I sit down on a log and think of my mother, and how I'll never get to see her again.

CRUNCH

I hear something among the leaves behind me, causing me to get up, rifle raised. I had heard stories of how the wolves in this forest would hunt in packs and tear hikers apart.

CRUNCH

I hear it again. I aim, getting ready to shoot whatever comes out of the brush. I look down to see a bunny hop out of the bushes. I breathe a sigh of relief, sitting down, I grab one of the MRE packs and begin chowing down, whilst the bunny stares at me.

"You nearly scared me to death little guy." I say, biting into one of the extremely hard cookies. The little bunny twitches its nose at me, leaning in to get a sniff. I lower one of my cookies to it, motioning for it to come closer. He comes in, sniffing it before taking a bite. His ears go down and he runs away. I look at the cookie, it couldn't be that bad. I look up to the sky, the moon directly above me now. I lean against a tree, my G36 on my lap. I close my eyes and get some much needed rest.