A Firefight in Harpers Ferry
by Rowoon

The German Intervention in The Second American Civil War

   Cries of pain and commands rang out in two languages in the rubble. Oberleutenut Fritz Saxer fed a stripper clip into his rifle as shards of concrete flew from the wall. Automatic weapons clattered around the corner from behind the burning wreck of a car. Spotting a bandoleer stuffed with grenades, he scrambled to a collapsed wall, shooting as he went. Clouds of dust bit at his heels as he dived behind the wall. He pulled a shaft out from its holster. Twisting the cap off the end, he chucked it into the group of rebels. TRUMP! A cloud of dust and screams of the less fortunate rose as the rebels scrambled out from behind the wreak. He aimed pulled the trigger and cycled the bolt, firing at the survivors. Crack! One. Crack! Two. Crack! Three. Opening the bolt, he grabbed another clip and pushed the cone nosed rounds into his rifle. A bullet shattered a piece off the wall. There! The muzzle of a rifle poked out of a window. Pointing at the window, he ordered them to open fire on the window. "There! A sniper!" His squad joined him in the collapsed house and slammed the MG34 onto a pile of rubble and opened fire on the house.

   TRUMP! A lone rifleman had wiped out the rest of Commissar Alison Francis's squad. Cursing, she watched as the man cut down the rest. Crack! A miss. Looking down the iron sights again, she aimed her rifle at the lone soldier. "Da, ein Scharfschütze!" The man pointed to her window. The rest of his squad joined him and opened up on the place she had called home. Bullets ripped apart her pack. "Well, there goes all of my things.", She sighted. 

She raced back from the wall, her plate-like helmet clattering on to the wooden boards. She raced down the wooden stairs as ragged holes appeared in the wall. Crashing into the dinner table, she burst through the back door and slammed into the shining frame of her car. Beaming, she clambered into the car, put the pedal to the metal, splintered the wooden gate, and raced around the corner and clunked down the road.

   CRASH! A black car raced bust from behind the house and down the road. "What in the name of the Kaiser! Oh, verflixt! Fire at that car! Now!" The gunner replied, "That won't work, Oberleutenut!"

Cursing, he tried to come up with a solution. Finding one, he turned to the girl in the blue cap. "Wait! Alena! Aim for the tires!" 

The girl raced forward, her salvaged marksman rifle in hand. Looking down the scope, she pulled the trigger. CACK! FOOSH! The black tire popped as the round penetrated.

   CACK! FOOSH! One of the tires had been shot. Slamming her head into the back of her seat. Groaning, she slammed her fists into the wheel. "Darn it! I was so close!" Slamming open the door, she drew her sidearm and pulled the slide. With hate in her eyes, she stormed her way to the enemies 

The door of the car slammed open and a young woman drew her sidearm. Under his breath, Fritz muttered, "She is beautiful!" 

"Yes sir. She is." The man next to him agreed. 

Her dark brown hair cut short. Even if her face was contorted in a scowl, she was still a vision of beauty. They all just watched her storm towards them. Snapping back to attention, he yelled "Hey, drop the gun and we might let you live!"

"Hey, lass die Waffe fallen und wir könnten dich leben lassen!" One of the Germans had yelled something. Alison barely knew any of her ancestral Italian and she didn't know any German.

   "WHAT?" The German, at least she thought he was, commanded in heavily his accented English, "Drop the gun und wir might let you live!" She replied with the bird and "Up yours, buddy! The revolution will never stop!" 

  CRACK! A bullet shattered the stone wall as the syndicalist fired her gun. Flinching, he considered wounding her, but before he could do anything, she pulled out a smoke grenade and vanished in a cloud of gray soot. Jumping up and over the low shattered wall, and raced after her rifle in hand. As he chased her, he just barely saw the green helms of Americans as they rallied with his squad.