The bullet missed his skull by inches.
Soren's eyes had barely opened when the c***k of the shot snapped him fully awake. Instinct took over before thought could, and he threw himself sideways, rolling down the muddy embankment in a tangle of limbs. He hit the bottom hard. Cold, filthy water splashed across his face, cutting through the fog in his head like a blade.
"Snyder! Get up!"
Around him, soldiers in weathered field-grey uniforms crouched along the ridge of the embankment, working the bolts of their G98 Mauser rifles and returning fire toward the tree line. The air reeked of gunpowder and wet earth, and somewhere ahead a machine g*n was hammering in long, merciless bursts. A German officer in a lieutenant's coat was shouting his name, firing between words. Then a shot from across
