Love You Till The End (Robert Zussman x Reader)

42 - Y/N L/N

November 14, 1944
Hürtgen Forest, Germany

We've been sleeping and fighting in the Hürtgen Forest for the past week. Our mission is to clear the forest the best we can so the convoy* trailing behind us can move up and make its way to the Rhineland*. We're currently waiting to hear our next objective, so we've been in the same spot for the past three days now. It's been nice being able to set up camp and get some rest.

It's November now and it's hard to believe that I left my family to join the Army almost a year ago. With Thanksgiving coming up soon, it's making me wish I were home since it was the last holiday I spent with my family before I left. I remember trying to enjoy my time with them, but I couldn't help but wonder if they'd ever see me alive again. Well, here I am, still alive, but just not with them.

Time seems to move fast when you're distracted. It also moves slowly for us, especially since we're in the middle of combat a lot of the time and it sometimes feels like it'll never end. Because of all the distractions and orders that are thrown at us, I often forget the date and if it weren't for Stiles or the letters from my mother, I'd have a much harder time trying to figure out what month we're in.

The letters my mother writes to me give me something to look forward to while fighting in this war. It's nice to hear how my family's doing back in the states and I especially love when my mother includes family photos in the envelope. Whenever I miss them, I just pull out the few family photos I have and look at them for a moment. I even stuck one in the strap of my helmet as some type of good luck charm next to the picture Zussman had given me of us. They're nice to look at whenever I take my helmet off.

Judging by my mother's recent letters, my brother and her seem to be doing okay. It's my father who hasn't been doing too well lately. My mother says he's been a lot more paranoid ever since they got the news that I joined the Army. That's not to say that my mother isn't scared for my life, but because he's been in combat before, he knows too much about the different ways someone could lose their life. What he doesn't know is that war has changed since his time in service. We don't live in trenches or fight from them very often as he did. We're constantly on the move and we have to be otherwise the Germans will know where to find us. I'm just glad he doesn't have to be here to see for himself.

The weather's been getting colder now that autumn has settled in. It's been a bit hard trying to keep warm since we don't have too many layers on, but I try to keep in mind that it could be worse, especially since winter isn't too far away. I sure as hell am not looking forward to freezing my ass off and having to fight in the snow.

Even though it's been cold lately, some of the men had gone to the nearby river to wash up. I had been tempted many times to go myself since I feel pretty damn dirty, but I didn't want to risk finding myself in an uncomfortable situation. It's bad enough trying to clean off properly when you're pretty much exposed and even vulnerable to the enemy, so I definitely didn't want to end up in a Peeping Tom situation with any of the men in my platoon.

I had enough of being dirty today though, so I grabbed my bar of soap and quickly dragged Zussman to the river, not offering him an explanation and hoping no one would be there already. Thankfully, no other soldiers were there when we arrived.

"If you wanted to wash up together again, you could've just asked," Zussman said, unzipping his coat.

"Hold on, mister, keep those clothes on. You're here to keep watch while I wash up," I told him just as he was about to take off his uniform pants. He froze and refused to make eye contact with me as I held in my laughter.

"Well, uh, okay," he said, trying to act like he wasn't embarrassed as he fixed his pants and zipped up his coat. "I'll just be standin' by that tree, keeping watch."