Enter Stalingrad

The scene at the loading dock is chaotic and horrific. Incoming artillery shells continue to explode in the river and about the docks, as well as the steep embankment leading into the city. I hear the sounds of heavy gunfire from just a few blocks away. The most sickening is the persistent hammering of German machine guns. A commissar hurries over to our boat, with a Tokarev pistol in one hand.

"Hurry, comrades!" He roars into his megaphone. "Everybody off the boats!"

We all scramble over the side and onto the docks. A woman catches my attention when she runs to another boat.

"Take us away, sir!" She pleads.

"No!" The man on the boat barks.

"Please!" She begs.

"Comrade Stalin has ordered that no more civilians are to be evacuated from the city!"

"Sir, I beg you!"

"Stand aside!" The man shouts. "You are interfering with military business!"

"Come on!" Evgeny yells, snapping me out of my trance by pulling me by my sleeve. He leads me through an area where medics frantically rush between endless piles of wounded soldiers that lay on stretchers and on the ground. Their cries of agony haunt me.

"In here!" Evgeny shouts and pulls me into a trench. I land on top of him. Another round of artillery hammers the landing area, sending dirt and debris flying.

"My god!" I cry, and ball myself up in the trench. The vibrations from the explosions shake me to my bones.

"Let's move!" Evgeny urges me once the explosions halt. He leads me through the cramped trenches, where we squeeze past multitudes of soldiers and step over twisted bodies. "We need to get out of here!"

"Where?" I scream.

"Close to the lines, where they can't risk using artillery, let's go!"

I hear the sickening noise of incoming shells another time. Evgeny and I duck down and cling tightly to each other as the landscape is rocked by another round of explosions.

"Over the top!" He cries, and climbs out of the trench, I follow him, and we rush forwards and take cover in the next trench. I peek my head out over the top, and watch two men climbing the embankment into the city. A shell lands between them and scatters their limbs into the air.

"Fuck!" I cry, and bury my face into the dirt while the next round of artillery bombards the landing.

"We can't stay here!" Evgeny cries. "We need to get into the city!"

"You mean we have to run through that?"

"I'm afraid so."

"How the FUCK are we supposed to do that?" I cry. "We're going to get blown up!"

"I need you to be brave!" He cries, grabbing me firmly and shaking me. "This is how it works!"

We take cover through another round of incoming shells. One lands down the line from us and obliterates a handful of men.

"The shells have to travel through the air when they are fired, and the guns have to be reloaded!" Evgeny yells to me. "There's a gap! Take cover before the shells come in, then run like hell!"

"Will that work?"

"If we do everything right, and get a little luck."

"You mean we could do everything right and still get blown up?" I ask in terror.

"We have ****! If we make it through, we need to start heading north, towards the Red October steel plant!" Evgeny explains. "That's where we're supposed to meet the others!"

I'm pretty sure he's telling me this in case he's about to be killed.

"One more thing!" He says. "Don't stand right next to me!"

We duck our heads as the next round bombards us. I see Evgeny start to count under his breath once the explosions cease. Another round of shells rock the landing area.

"Go Go Go!" Evgeny screams the very moment the explosions cease. The two of us scramble over the top of the trench and run with everything we have, spreading out and starting up the base of the embankment. My eyes glance at the top, which seems so far away, before frantically searching for the next piece of cover.

"Take cover!" Evgeny cries, and I dive head first into a shell hole. I bury my head under my hands and grit my teeth as incoming shells explode about the embankment, their powerful vibrations shaking me to the core. My heart is beating out of my chest.

"Run!" Evgeny screams once the round of artillery ends. I scramble out of the shell hole and to my feet, running frantically further up the embankment across the terrifying open. My eyes lock onto a small, destroyed segment of trench. Fueled by primal fear and adrenaline, I charge for it with every muscle in my legs.

"GET DOWN!" Evgeny screams to me, and I dive to my stomach and roll into the trench. My eyes widen in horror and I scream when I land on what's left of a Russian Soldier. I roll off of him and ball myself up tightly among the remains of what might add up to three and a half men. Another deafening barrage of shells explode all around us.

"Go!" Evgeny cries once again. "GO!"

There is no time for me to throw up, as badly as I want to. I crawl over the top of the trench and begin to run again as fast as I possibly can again. The top of the embankment is so close, but it looks so far away from out here. Maybe I can make it!

"Cover!" Evgeny screams.

Frantically, I look around me for a place to hide, but there is nothing! I begin to panic.

"COVER!" He screams. I hear the distant pop of cannons being fired.

I dive into a shallow hole, because it's better than nothing, and cover myself as best as I can. The shells scream through the air, flying right for us. I tuck my knees into my chest. I guess this is how I die.

The entire world around me shakes, as shells land all around me and the concussions of their mighty explosions pass right through the ground and into me. I scream into the dirt. Another shell explodes directly in front of me, just far enough away to not kill me.

I stand up, disoriented, once the ground stops shaking, and look up at Evgeny. He screams something at me, but I can't hear anything over the ringing in my ears. I assume he's telling me to run for my life, so I do just that.

My legs, heart and lungs all burn but I press onward. The two of us reach the top of the steep embankment and dive into a trench just a second before another round of artillery explodes behind us. We collapse on top of each other, both gasping for breath. Slowly, the ringing in my ears subsides and my hearing returns to normal.

"Is this how you remember it?" I ask, Evgeny, panting.

"No." He says. "It's worse."

"We need to keep moving." He tells me, starting to turn. "Let's go."

I grab his collar to stop him. He turns his head to me. I lean in and kiss him.