Erich

Two German hikers navigate the Swiss Alps during the height of World War 2. One of them is convinced that they ate their friend to survive. The other is convinced the 'friend' never even existed.

“Peter, I saw him again.” I ignored Hans when he said things like this. We’d been hiking through the snow for days now, with little to speak of in the way of food. It was easy for a man to lose his mind up here. “Did you hear me?” he asked angrily.

“Yes I heard you.” I replied, upset about having to waste energy carrying on a conversation about nonsense.

“He wants revenge.” At that moment a gust came blowing down the mountainside, nearly knocking us over. I dug my boots into the snow as deep as I could. I’d never been so cold in my life. I hadn’t been able to move the toes on my left foot for six days, and I was too afraid to check on them. I’d seen men lose limbs to the cold before, and nothing scared me more. I dreamt of a soft bed, a nice meal, but more than anything I dreamt of warmth. I decided to ignore whatever he was saying this time.

“This storm is getting worse,” I warned. “ We should set up the tents, Hans.” I looked back at Hans. However bad off I was, he was surely worse. He was squinting hard, holding his hand up to block the snow. His entire body was shaking like a leaf in the wind. “What’re you looking at?”

“That,” He yelled, pointing off into the distance “Is that a cave?” for a moment I was unsure there was anything at all, but then I saw it. A black hole in the side of the mountain, snow cascading off the top. It was far, but the warmth it provided would be much greater than what our tents could do. We agreed to settle there for the night, and over the course of an hour made our way there.

The cave was deeper than I’d originally expected. I explored about 15 minutes worth of the winding tunnels, but returned quickly to the mouth of the cave to avoid becoming lost. It was there that we set up our tents, and as we were shielded from the wind, even a small fire. Our food was running low, but we were almost there. General Reinhardt, that’s who we had to deliver the papers to. Once that was done he’d probably house us for as long as we needed. Maybe even give a ride back to Geneva if we were lucky. Hans was subdued, eating and setting up his tent silently. As night fell, I drifted off to sleep with the thought of a warm meal being only a few days away.

“He’s here.” I jumped awake, but someone was holding their hand over my mouth. I could barely make out that it was Hans through the light that the dying embers of our fire provided.

“Who?” I yelled, pulling his hand off of me. He immediately covered my mouth again, this time more forcefully. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I was able to make out the pistol in Hans’ free hand. He made a ‘shhh’ noise, and slowly began to back away from me.

“Who’s here?” I whispered.

“It’s Erich, you fool.” He replied, his eyes scanning towards the inside of the cave. I let my head lay back down upon my pillow and started to relax. Hans had mentioned ‘Erich’ in the past. It was worrisome that he’d taken his hallucinations to this new extreme, though. I was about to try calling out to Hans when a gunshot rang out through the cave, nearly blowing out my eardrums. I was upon Hans in seconds, wrestling the gun out of his hands.

“You’re going to cause an avalanche you goddamn idiot!” I spoke through gritted teeth, barely able to even hear myself because of the ringing in my ears. I overcame Hans quickly, and pried the gun out from his icy grip. He laid on the ground crying, shaking uncontrollably once again.

“We’re going to hell, Peter. For what we did to him, what we did to Erich. He was our friend.”

“Shut up Hans. You’ve lost it, truly you have.” I sat down and began unloading the gun. I couldn’t stand Hans another day. Yet another perk of this god forsaken mission being over: I wouldn’t have to be around Hans anymore.

“You’re the one that’s lost it,” He jumped up, his face contorted with anger “You’re the one that’s lost your mind if you don’t remember him. If you were sane you’d be like me right now.”

“I don’t know any Erich, and neither do you. We didn’t do anything to this imaginary Erich. Now please, go to sleep. We could be there tomorrow if we push hard.”

“You’ve repressed it. It wasn’t right, Peter. We’ll pay for it.” I’d had enough of his blabbering. Why did I have to put on orders with a lunatic? Why couldn’t he just follow instructions? He disgusted me. No man should be breaking down like he was. Our conditions were rough, but our brothers were dying on the frontlines, and here he was going mental over this. We were lucky. Every second I thought about it filled me more and more with anger. I dropped the gun and strode towards where Hans was huddled in the corner.

“THERE IS NO ERICH. THERE WAS NEVER ANY ERICH!” I grabbed him by the shoulders and slammed him against the wall. I’d never been so angry.

“What did we eat tonight, Peter?” His voice was so quiet I could barely hear it.

“What?”

“WHAT DID WE EAT TONIGHT?” He screamed. Where was this coming from? My mind raced. Chicken? Pork? I honestly couldn’t remember.

“Sausage, I think. Why?” Hans could hear the uncertainty in my voice.

“Bullshit.” Hans spit on the ground. His eyes were wide, crazed looking. He was beginning to frighten me. “Where are we going?” He asked “Why are we here?”

“We’re delivering documents to General Reinhardt.” There was no hesitation in my voice that time.

“Alright, go get the documents then, let’s see them.” I let go of Hans and began to pace

the cave. I couldn’t understand what he was getting at with all these questions.

“I… I’m not getting them out right now. They’re important, I don’t want them to blow away.”

My heart was pumping faster by the second.

“There’s no wind in here,” Hans said. He dug a handkerchief out of his pocket and held it in the air. It didn’t move at all. “You don’t have to get the papers out, just show me. Show me.” I grudgingly drew out my pack. My heart felt as if it was going to explode. I opened the satchel and reached in to grab the folder… but there was nothing.

“You… What HAVE YOU DONE?” I screamed, “You did something when you got out my gun… what did you do with them?”

“THERE WERE NEVER ANY PAPERS, PETER. There was never any General Reinhardt.” Hans was towering over me now, as I still searched frantically through my bag for the papers. “You’ve come up with all of it. It isn’t real Peter, you need to accept the truth.”

“What’s the truth then?”  I asked quietly. I felt faint, like I could still be dreaming.

“We got shot down six days ago, Peter. Only you and me and … Erich survived. Just look around you, Peter you know it’s true. They shot off half your toes for godsakes. And what we did to Erich… we did to survive. But it was wrong, Peter.” Hans voice cracked, every word was brimming with emotion. “There’s no ‘mission’, no ‘General Reinhardt’, just you and me, Peter, and the things we’ve done”

“You’re wrong, Hans. You’re so wrong. Just a few minutes ago you were shooting at invisible men. I won’t listen to you.” I started to regain my confidence and pushed Hans words out of my mind. “We’ll see General Reinhardt. We’ll see him tomorrow. And my god will you feel silly. I’ll pray for you tonight, Hans. Because you’re sick. I’ll pray for you.” Hans sat down besides me, somberly. Somewhere in the distance the sun was beginning to rise. I forced Hans' words out of my mind for good, and stared solemnly at the snow until I fell asleep.

A few hours later we were up and ready to set out. I relit the campfire and we enjoyed a light breakfast. We were just ready to set out when Hans motioned to me, pointing towards the back of the cave.

“He’s there, he’s there!” Hans whispered.

“Who?” I exclaimed.

“Erich!” He ran to my bag, drawing out my gun. My heart was racing, but not nearly as fast as my mind was.

“Who’s Erich?” I asked.