The Demon of Papa Company
“Got a smoke?” a tall solder asked as he knelt down beside one of his comrades. He was thin, and covered in mud nearly from head to toe. His helmet sat low on his head and all but devoured his eyes in the dusk light. His cheeks and chin were unshaven. “I had a carton just the other day, but I can’t find ‘em anywhere now.”
“No sweat, bud, I gotcha’ covered,” the other man said. He was sitting in a ditch beside the road. He patted the ground beside him and gestured for the tall, thin soldier to sit beside him. Then he pulled a packet of cigarettes from his chest pocket and held it out for his new friend to take one.
“Thanks, mac, I ‘preciate it.” The first soldier said as he produced a lighter. He lit the other soldier’s cigarette first before lighting his own. “You a replacement?” he asked as he took a seat. “I don’t think I’ve seen you around before.”
“Yeah, got sent up last week. Name’s Harra. Not gonna’ lie, man, it’s scary up here so close to the enemy. It’s all fun and games being the reinforcements until you’re given orders to actually reinforce.”
“I’m Donny, Donny Drisko,” The tall soldier replied. They shook hands and puffed on their cigarettes and listened as artillery in the distance bombarded somewhere near.
“I’m tellin’ you, Donny, that ‘Demon of P Company’ guy is nuts. He just keeps throwing everything he’s got at those Nazi divisions.”
“Who, Colonel Myers? Nah, he’s a good guy. A lot better than most of the officers in this whole damn mess of a war, and that’s gospel. I’d rather have the Demon of Papa Company telling me to go die than any other guy.”
Harra sucked long and hard on his cigarette and let the smoke trail from his nostrils in thick tendrils. “Why’s that?” he asked.
“Because the Demon cares about his guys. Every fella under his command, he gives a crap about them. We’re not just a company. We’re not just squads. We’re people, guys in the same messy business as he is. And he’d do anything for us, so I don’t mind doing all I can for him.” Donny stared off into the distance as he flicked his cig but out into the road.
“So Papa feels a sense of loyalty to ‘im?”
“You could say that, yeah.”
“What did he do to earn that?” Harra asked. He plucked a grenade from his belt and tossed it into the air like a baseball.
Donny squinted his eyes. “You know why he’s called the Demon?”
Harra puckered his lips and shook his head.
“Well, sit back there, pal, cuz I’ve got a story for you.”
Harra grinned. “Alright, am I gonna need another smoke?” he asked.
Donny handed him the carton before settling himself comfortably to tell his story.
“So, Colonel Meyers was on assignment with Papa Company and they were tasked to take out this Nazi company that had dug in to stay. We surrounded them and called in the artillery and the flyboys and between the both of them they pummeled that position to dust. I mean, we’re talking nothing could have survived after that carpet was laid out. So that’s when Papa moved in. We fought hard for twelve days and by the thirteenth, we finally were able to hold ground. We gave a final push and stomped right over those poor bastards trying to keep us back. But what we weren’t expecting, was what these guys were guarding. It was a giant cave, and somehow even with all the artillery fire and bombs dropping all over the place the thing hadn’t collapsed on itself. If you saw how hard those boys had hit that place, you’d agree with me that it was nothing short of a miracle.
“Anyway, Colonel Meyers sees this friggin’ massive cave and what does he do? He grabs a handful of guys and marches right in. Okay… we didn’t march in, we snuck in. But whatever. I swear that cave went for miles, man. We kept following it and it kept going on and on. Eventually we started wondering if maybe it was just not going to end. Like, maybe it’d just go to the other side of the earth? We’d pop out in Australia or someplace. Eventually the cave started getting bigger, you know, opening up and getting wider. And then the walls… There were pillars carved out of the stone and gargoyles and runes. It was crazy. I’d never seen anything like it. At the end of that tunnel there was this giant door. Thing was big. I mean, seriously the most ginormous door you’ve ever seen. We knocked like good gentleman and when no one answered we sent an anti-tank round through that baby.
“The cavern beyond was… well, it was immaculate. You had to see it to believe it, man. Same carvings and jazz from before, but much bigger. Giant statues and runes, and those torches that hang from the walls… and right in the middle, all these Nazi officers and soldiers performing some ancient ritual. Craziest performance you ever saw. There was a big pentagram drawn on the floor with blood, and some guy wearing a goat mask. And everyone’s just chanting and murmuring. So… we opened fire. We dropped to the floor and just let ‘em have it. All of it. Grenades, rifles, machine guns, when I say we opened up, I mean we opened up.
“It was probably because we caught ‘em with their zippers down, but we got every one of ‘em. I mean, we wasted those guys. They had nowhere to go. We were all grouped in their only exit, and there wasn’t much in ways of places to take cover. We’d dropped ‘em all in a matter of minutes. Well… all except one. See, the Nazis had started some ritual or incantation or what have you and, whether it was their initial plan or not, they’d called… something… into our world where it didn’t belong. I don’t know how it didn’t get a belly full of lead like the Nazi guys, but after we’d let off the bullet storm he stands up and just glares at us. And he opens his mouth and says something like, ‘Who has called me forth from my realm?’
“Well, Colonel Meyers steps forward and tells him those Nazi occult lunatics done it. The demon guy, he just snarls and says someone has to be held responsible. Says we’re to blame cuz we killed the guys who could send him back. Says he’ll start the ‘great reaping’ with us. So Colonel Meyers orders us all out and tells us to shut the door behind us so he and this… this demon can have a chat.
“We waited outside for some amount of hours, man, I mean it must have been one interesting conversation because… wow… I mean my girlfriend’s mom can go on, but she’s got nothin’ on those two! Anyway, the doors finally creak open again and Meyers steps out, but his eyes were… man, I swear they were glowing. He ordered us all up and out, but told us to wire the place to blow first.
“Man, we loaded that cave with so much TNT, you wouldn’t believe! Then when we got to the surface, we grabbed some more and packed all that in there too! Then we loaded up in the trucks and took off just in time to watch our little man-made volcano of plastic explosive. Gotta’ say, it was a thing of beauty.
“Well, to make a long story short, Colonel Meyers was never the same after that. He was vengeful and hot-headed and unyielding. He was a tough nut before, but after… and always with the glowing eyes. So we guys of Papa decided that he must have made some pact with that demon down there in that hole. Maybe he gave over his soul… or maybe he traded his body as a host for the demon to possess.”
When Donny had finished his story, he took a drag from his cigarette and blew the smoke up into the sky.
“So… he’s a real demon?” Harra asked, “I always figured it was just a nickname, you know? Something the Nazis called him because of his tenacity.”
Donny nodded his head. “Well, I mean, nobody knows for sure. But all I know is no one was in that room but the Colonel and some… thing that the Nazis called from another dimension or something. Anything could have happened.”
Both soldiers sat in silence for a few minutes until their cigarettes had all but burned away. They flicked the butts and both stood. The artillery fire in the distance had stopped. The soldiers marching along the road had thinned down to a slow trickle. It was time they both moved on.
“You think I’m crazy, and that’s fine,” Donny said, checking his rifle and shuffling from one foot to the other. “But I was there, man. You don’t forget crap like that.”
Harra nodded and smiled. “Yeah, I think you’re crazy, Donny. But it’s a good story, true or no, it’s a damn good story.”
Donny grinned back, “want one last smoke for the road, man?” he asked and he held the carton out towards his friend.
Harra accepted the cigarette and slid it into a pocket. “Thanks,” he said simply and he turned and stepped up the gully towards the road.
“Give ‘em hell, bud.” Donny called after him.
Harra turned and nodded. “Give ‘em hell.” He agreed and he muttered, “Gives new meaning to that phrase, eh?”