Years, of swinging a pickaxe in the mining tunnel, developed strong arm and back muscles. Roy had no idea of his strength. Looking down at the woman, Roy saw that she was injured. Taking his bayonet, he cut the woman free and then pulled the top cover of the bed over her naked flesh. Between sobs, the woman kept repeating the same French phrase over and over.
"Oh, thank you, sir, thank you. May God bless you."
When Roy walked around the bed, he saw the sergeant sprawled on the floor in an unflattering position. He was fully exposed from the waist down, and a small pool of blood was clotting beneath his temple where Roy struck him. Roy snatched the sheet off the bed and floated it over the sergeant's body.
Good God what have I done, Roy thought, I've murdered a man, a soldier, someone of senior rank.
Roy scanned the room and realized the woman had vanished. He started to panic and debated running away and deserting the Army.
That man was a monster; he deserved to die. No, stop Roy, killing, is wrong. Remember the hanging? That's what they'll do to you. Run, now.
Roy held his fists to his head and screamed. It only took Roy a microsecond to decide his new plan of action. He walked back over to the sergeant's body and pulled back the sheet. He wanted to get the soldiers name and so he pulled his dog tag out and removed one of the two tags. The soldier groaned and started moving. Roy fell backward and read the dog tag.
"Okay, Sergeant Fassbender, you're alive, and I didn't kill you, after all." The body continued to groan. Roy quickly gathered his things, ran out the door, and down the stairs. The woman had vanished, and the streets were empty. Once his boots hit the cobblestones, Roy never stopped running until he reached the command central nearly seven miles to the southwest. He ran straight for the senior commander's tent. When a lieutenant exited, Roy bumped into him.
"Oh, good grief; excuse me, Sir," Roy stammered, puffing from being out of breath.
"Hey, watch where you're going soldier," the lieutenant said as he pulled his uniform into order. "What a minute. Aren't you the man who killed all those Germans and awarded the cross?"
"Yes, sir," Roy snapped to attention.
"I was there, the day you got your award. Let me shake your hand soldier, you're a hero." The lieutenant stuck out his hand.
Instinctively, Roy raised his hand to a salute then realized the man wanted to shake hands, so he dropped the salute and reached out to shake. The officer saw Roy's salute and moved his hand from a shake position to a salute, and then back to a shake position. The two men repeated this motion several times. Finally, the higher-up grabbed Roy's hand and stopped the ridiculous antics. Pumping Roy's arm, the officer congratulated him.