A heart-rending scream of terror pierced the night and the silence of the room, instantly pulling the frightened soul of the man who was wet with sweat from the terrifying dream back to reality. The sound of violent breathing and the rapid rise and fall of his chest became
The only alternative sound after the scream.
boom
"Commander Paulus! What's wrong!? What happened?"
The wooden door of the room was slammed open and hit the wall, making a dull sound similar to a gunshot. The man who was already sweating was shocked in both soul and body by the sudden sound.
Once again, my body couldn't help but tremble violently from top to bottom.
"No, no! Don't come over, don't come over!!!"
The man at the door of the room who was watching this scene finally couldn't hold it in any longer. He rushed from the door to the bedside and grabbed Paulus' hands that were waving randomly. He opened his eyes wide and looked calmly at him.
Paulus spoke.
"It's okay, Commander Paulus! Everything is fine! No one wants to kill you and there are no assassins. The nightmare is just a nightmare! It's over, please stay calm! You are the commander of the Sixth Army!"
Thump thump thump thump
A sound of extremely fast running, like being bitten on the butt by a pack of wolves, immediately entered my mind. A large group of fully armed German soldiers holding submachine guns rushed into the room under the leadership of their commander. The leader, the German major, held up a gun in his hand.
Ping Gun immediately started asking questions in a hurry.
"Colonel Adam, what happened?"
Colonel Adam, who was squatting beside the bed and never leaving, confirmed that Paulus's expression was gradually softening and that there was nothing serious, and then he turned around and replied to the fully armed headquarters guards behind him.
"It's nothing. Commander Paulus is just feeling a little unwell. You can go back. I will give orders if necessary."
The leading guard major looked at Colonel Adam with a puzzled look on his face, and then glanced quietly at Commander Paulus, whose chest was still heaving and panting violently. He glanced around the room to make sure there was nothing wrong before leading the group to retreat.
go out.
The last soldier to leave closed the door, leaving only Colonel Adam and Paulus alone.
"Commander Paulus, what happened? What did you dream about? How did it make you look like this?"
Paulus, who was in a terrible mood and spirit, did not answer Colonel Adam's question directly. Instead, he used the dim light of the long lamp in the corner of the room to reach for the lamp on the bedside table, hoping to get more light.
Dispel the frightening darkness.
It’s not just that the light is too dark or that the body is frightened.
Paulus reached out to pull the desk lamp and knocked over a pile of large and small medicine bottles on the bedside table. The medicine bottles without lids even fell down one after another under the domino effect.
On the ground, the small pills in the bottle were scattered all over the floor with a crisp sound like beans poured out of a bamboo tube. Colonel Adam, who never left, frowned even more.
click
Unaware of the pills that were spilled, Paulus pulled the desk lamp. The warm light that came on in an instant not only illuminated the faces of Paulus and Adam, but also drove away the little feeling left in Paulus's heart.
of fear.
"Come have a drink with me, Adam. I don't want to say anything right now."
In normal times, Colonel Adam would not recommend or support Paulus, who was already in a bad state, to drink to relieve his sorrows. Doing so would only make his sorrows worse.
But at this moment, looking at Paulus who looked extremely haggard in front of him, Colonel Adam hesitated for a while and finally couldn't bear to refuse and agreed.
"Okay, I'll help you out of bed, hold on tight."
"No need, the wine is in the cupboard and the cup is next to it. If I go out like this, it will only make more people panic. Bring a chair over and drink with me here."
After being silent for a while, Colonel Adam wanted to say something but finally stopped. Then he stood up and walked to the cabinet in the room Paulus mentioned. He opened the exquisite cabinet door made of interlaced glass and wood, and took out two bottles from
The fine French brandy that had been flown to the front line from Europe was placed upside down on the mouth of the bottle with two transparent glass glasses, and he returned to the bedside holding the neck of the bottle with one hand.
"Sit down, sit down and drink, let's talk while drinking."
Colonel Adam did as he was told, casually pulled a chair and placed it next to the bed so he could sit down.
Paulus, who had uncorked the bottle, was responsible for pouring the wine. The two transparent wine glasses were soon filled with fragrant crystal clear liquid.
Paulus, who was like a drug addict, said nothing. He poured half a glass of wine into Adam's glass and then filled his own glass directly. He put down the bottle, grabbed the glass, tilted his head and drank it all in one gulp.
, looking at Adam who had just stretched out his hand to hold the wine glass, he was very worried.
"Don't drink like that, Paulus! You are already mentally weak, and drinking so hard will destroy you!"
Paulus, who was holding an empty glass in his hand, smiled indifferently. The smile on half of his face under the light was extremely bitter, as if the liquid in the wine glass that had just been filled was animal urine rather than the finest wine.
"I didn't expect that one day I would have such a dream. How ironic it is. A person who has always flaunted how loyal he is to the head of state is now afraid of death. I really don't even recognize myself anymore."
Adam, who was familiar with Paulus, did not interrupt, but waited quietly for Paulus, who was leaning on the bed, to fill his wine glass with wine again. He knew that Paulus would definitely have something to say next.
"I had a very scary dream, Adam."
"In the dream, I was pressed by Russian soldiers. There was heavy snow in the sky and a howling wind. It was extremely cold. The ruined streets were lined with Russian civilians who came to watch. They all came to witness the moment of revenge. Come here.
See with your own eyes how I was tried and executed."
"My hands and feet were tied with torture instruments. The Russians took off my hood. I saw a whole row of corpses of German soldiers lying in the corner of the square, including officers and ordinary soldiers. The pools of blood had long been
Dried and caked, the corpses were in all kinds of strange postures, and some even had their heads incomplete."
"I was pushed to the pile of corpses by the Russians shouting declarations of judgment and revenge. A whole row of Russian soldiers raised their rifles and aimed at me. I was almost going crazy and about to collapse. I even
I wanted to kneel on the ground and beg them to spare my life, but my body refused to obey and I couldn't even make a sound."
"Then, when the gunfire rang out, it was all over."