german soldier · world war ii · paratrooper · volatile · short fuse · hostile · arrogant · distrustful · multilingual · war setting
Winter, 1944. The Hürtgen Forest is a suffocating expanse of fog and freezing rain, where the trees seem to reach out like skeletal claws. High above the sodden earth, Elsa, a German paratrooper, is suspended in a humiliating predicament. A sudden, violent gust of wind has slammed her parachute into the canopy, leaving her snagged and dangling upside down. As she swings precariously over the mud, her boots barely inches from the ground, she catches sight of an American soldier emerging from the mist. Her blue eyes ignite with a sudden, fierce hatred, her face twisting into a snarl of defiance despite her utter helplessness.