The men were disheartened and taciturn. The feeling of the end was looming over them like a mantle of gloom. They reached a point where they could have reunited to the other column, but there was no trace of the others, and neither of their passage. Not far, away was a village. The captain sent three men to make a reconnaissance. They were back after a few hours - in the village people was celebrating, there was no trace of Germans, beside three dead soldiers, hanging from a tree. People were armed with German and English weapons...
The captain decided to avoid the village. But they had to advance blindly. The portable radio couldn't contact any German stations.
During the night, Simon slept near Manfred. They could not make love but, profiting from darkness, they held hands, to give each other comfort, to silently communicate their love.
During the day Simon prepared and served meals for all the men. He was going to do water provision when they met a stream with clear water. He helped to unload and load when they made a halt.
For one week nothing happened. Then, the partisans attacked again. It was a long and ruthless battle. At the end all the partisans were dead, but in the Germans column, just seventeen men were still alive. Simon's group was safe, apart one of the soldiers who fell at the beginning of that ambush.
The captain made the men choose the three trucks in better order, made them pick up everything that could still be useful, personally took the dog tags of the dead men, then burnt all the supplies they couldn't carry, mounted the truck where Simon, Manfred and the others were, gave order to start.
They were on the move for twelve days when the truck leading the small column, blew up on a mine. Now, they were just eleven. The captain decided to leave the road and to run through the fields, towards the low valley. Sooner or later they would find a town, a city, and his intuition made him think that the towns would have been the last that the German Army would leave.
They were in sight of an old abandoned mill, with solid walls. The captain gave order to reach it. They were near it when, from behind, came the rumble of engines.
"Our side?" one of the soldiers asked with hope, standing up on the truck's body to see.
"Down!" the captain shouted, "Fast to the mill, they could be partisans!"
They were in front of the mill when there came a burst of machine gun fire and around the bend appeared three civilian trucks. Three German soldiers were hit and killed.
The Germans, shooting wildly towards the three enemy trucks, rushed headlong inside the mill, taking with them all the weapons and ammunition.
>From the three trucks around forty men fanned out and approached the mill, encircling it. Now the Germans were just eight.
"We will all die like rats, captain! Let's surrender!" a soldier shouted in a desperate tone.
Simon, hit by the tone, asked Manfred what the man said, and Manfred translated for him in a whisper.
"Don't you think they will kill us all the same, soldier?" the captain asked, with a dark expression.
"No, if we rise white flag!"
"If you want to try, go on. They will shoot you as soon as you appear. They are not soldiers, those there out. They are partisans. That tells you nothing, soldier?"
"Let me try, captain. Please?"
"Leave here your weapons. Try it. Good bye, soldier."
"But, captain, they will kill him! We are already just eight." another soldier protested.
"Nothing will change. He will just die before us." the captain answered with a sad voice.
The soldier improvised a white flag and waved it out of the window. The shots ceased. The soldier went then out, his arms raised, continuing to wave the white cloth, and walked towards the partisans' trucks. A sharp shot resounded and the soldier's head seemed to burst. Simon, who was following his walk from a window at the first floor, closed his eyes and hid his face against Manfred. The soldier caressed the boy, unconcerned by the others. Anyway, they had little more to live.
The siege lasted four days. The men inside the mill were determined to sell their lives dearly. If they had to die, they wanted take with them the most partisans possible.
There were hours of calm, of silence, when nobody and nothing moved. Simon distributed the little food to the men placed in the strategic points. Then suddenly, everybody started to wildly shoot. And again, silence descended.
While Otto was on watch, Manfred and Simon were lying side by side. Heedless of Otto, Simon opened the fly of his lover, lowered his trousers to his hips, and offered himself to Manfred. The soldier took him. Otto smiled but resumed watching outside. The two lovers were making love with desperate passion. They knew that it could be their last time. Simon noticed the fast glances of Otto, and could read desire in his eyes. Meanwhile Manfred continued to take him with his usual passion, and murmured him yearning words of love. Simon was enjoying the gentle vigour of his lover, but was aware of the swelling in the fly of the man on watch. Even a step from death, love, or simply sex, claimed its share. He was soon going to die with his Manfred.
When the soldier reached his orgasm inside him, Simon embraced him: "Manfred..."
"Yes my love?"
"Don't be angry, but... Otto desires me. We are near dying. May I give him pleasure?"
"Yes..." Manfred said with a strange voice. Then kissed him and asked in a sigh: "But you love me, don't you?"
"Sure, I love only you, you know it."
"I'll go to take his place..."
"But... don't look at us... I would be ashamed."
Manfred nodded, went near his comrade and said: "Go, Otto, Simon is waiting for you."
The man looked amazed at Manfred, then nodded. Went to Simon who was sitting on the floor, his back leaning against the wall. Without a word, the boy made him kneel astride his legs, opened the swollen fly, pulled out the turgid member and started to lick and suck it with a passion he never had when the man was taking him in the barracks. Otto leaned his hands on the wall, quivering, and looked somewhat embarrassed towards Manfred. The soldier was looking out of the window, as he didn't want to see what he knew was happening. Otto was shaking stronger and stronger, prey of an unbelievable pleasure. He felt like moaning, but he restrained, out of respect for Manfred. And in silence, he emptied into the sweet and welcoming mouth of the boy.
Without saying a word, he tidied himself, then rummaged in his pockets, and handed to Simon a gold pendent: "This my give-luck... now yours, boy."
Simon was about to refuse it, but the man eyes, visibly moved, pushed him to accept. He thanked with a nod, and put it in his pocket.
Otto went back to the window. "Danke..." he murmured to Manfred, who serious nodded.
Simon slipped near Manfred, and said: "I'm going to see the other men."
Manfred understood and nodded in assent.
Simon went to see Alfred. The man was lying in wait at another room's window, and near him there was Heinrich.
"Do you want to take me, Alfred?" the boy asked.
The man spoke to his comrade, who smiled and nodded. Alfred put down his machine gun near his companion and glided near the boy, who lowered his trousers and went on all fours. The man caressed his buttocks, gave them a light kiss and murmured: "You good boy..." then seized his waist, penetrated and enjoyed him. Simon felt that the man, even if took him with his usual manly vigour, this time was more gentle than ever. And this time also Simon felt pleasure. The man reached his orgasm. "Danke, kleine Simon..."
"Ask Heinrich if he too wants." Simon said.
Alfred talked with his comrade, who nodded. Alfred watched at the window, while the soldier went near Simon who was waiting for him, knelling on the floor, his trousers still lowered. Heinrich caressed his bare buttocks with clear desire. Simon opened the soldier's trousers, pulled out the member that was starting to harden, caressed it, then took his position. The young soldier leaned on him and slipped inside him with a soft pleasure moan, then started to piston him with short and fast strokes, continuing to lightly moan at the increasing pleasure. Soon he unloaded inside the boy, panting and groping him all over.
Simon toured the mill, offered himself to the gentle Kurt, and then to his companion Hans. At last, he went to look for the captain. The man was lying down, his eyes closed, resting a while.
Simon crouched near him and called him: "Captain?"
"What's up, Simon?" the man asked looking in his eyes.
"Before we all die, I would like to make love with you..."
"You... is not of Manfred?"
"Did you know?"
"I always knew. By first day." the captain answered with a smile, "Manfred knows you here?"
"Yes... at this point..."
"No, thanks. I very... how say it... like you. But no, thanks. Go to your Manfred. Little time we have."
Simon understood. Went back to his Manfred: "Now, I will never again leave you, until we leave." he sweetly said.
Manfred smiled him and tenderly caressed his hair. They remained silent, sitting against the wall, leaning one against the other. Suddenly the partisans resumed their attack. Wilder than ever.
The captain called his men and they went to the top floor, bringing up the ladder with which they barricaded the trapdoor. It was the last resistance, the final one.
Germans were saving their ammunition, they shot only when they were sure to hit. Partisans instead were doing an interrupted shooting. A hand grenade reached one of the four frameless windows of their room. Otto threw himself on it and blew with it, so saving his comrades. Did he do that for them, or just to put an end to his life? Simon asked himself, shocked. A shot struck down Alfred... Kurt and Hans fell almost at once. Manfred continued to shoot, when the captain said aloud: "Aufviederseen!" and, raised his pistol, shot himself in his temple.
Manfred put down his machine gun: "It's over..." he said with a whiteface to Simon.
The boy in these last moments had frantically thought. He rapidly pulled down his trousers and briefs and handed a rope to Manfred: "Tie me up and gag me! Hurry up!" he said.
"I don't understand..."
"Hurry up, we have very little time! Then you hide on top of that closet, squash down as much as you can. I'll tell them I was your prisoner and all are dead. They will believe me, they will not search for you. You remain there. I will come back. It could possibly be some days, but I will be back. Hurry up, it's our only chance... Fast..."
The partisans ceased to shoot. Manfred tied his lover tightly, gagged him and put him on a corner of the room, far from the windows and the trapdoor. Then climbed the old closet. At first it seemed he was not able, but at last he could conceal himself between the ceiling vault and the top of it, hidden behind the top decorative frame. Simon hoped he was completely invisible also to a standing man, and that his plan would work.
>From the floor under them voices came. The partisans were entering the abandoned mill.
"Careful, they can be alive and waiting for us..." a voice shouted.
"We have to make the trapdoor open, and throw a couple of hand grenades inside..." another voice proposed.
"It will be easier to throw them from outside, through the windows..." a third voice said.
Simon didn't think to that - so much the worse, he thought resigned, they will die in that way. But just in that moment a shadow caught his eye - somebody climbed in from outside. A machine gun appeared, then a young man was framed in the arch of one of the windows, his machine gun level. He jumped inside and saw Simon. He went slowly towards the boy, looking at the corpses on the floor, checking they were all dead, then went near Simon and untied his gag. The tension provoked the boy to burst into tears.
"Who are you? Are you French?" the young man asked him.
"Yes... I was... I was their... prisoner..."
"Well, we have freed you. Are they all here?"
"All dead... at last!"
"Your trousers, your briefs... take..." the young man said after untying the ropes, and while Simon was dressing, he called his companions on the lower floor: "All dead. Here there is just a boy they kept prisoner. The ladder is here, careful, I'll open the trapdoor and push it down..."
"Are you sure they are all dead? Nobody hiding, possibly on the roof?" a voice asked from under.
"No, all are dead, these were the last. Not one of them is alive, the pigs!" the young man said. Then he looked at Simon: "Why were you half naked, and tied so tightly?"
"Can't you guess it? Those bastard perverts..." Simon said trembling, hoping to be convincing.
"You mean that... that they did..."
"In turn, as a pastime... It is two weeks, from when they caught me..." Simon said crying from the tension.
They set the ladder and went down. One of the men went upstairs to check, but come down quickly, confirming that they were all dead. Simon heaved a sigh of relief. His legs folded.
"Hey, are you OK?" a man asked him, holding him up.
The young man who untied him, said gloomy: "I don't think, poor boy, they raped him for two weeks, those rotten pigs!"
"Raped?" the man asked widening his eyes.
"Yes, I found him tied like a sausage, and without his trousers and briefs, the poor thing. Ready to use! Rotten bastard fucking pigs!"
"I'm hungry..." Simon said with a weak voice.
"Come. Downstairs we found the provisions of the bastards, come eat something." the man said lifting him out almost bodily and accompanying him to the ground floor.
Simon pretended to be weaker than he was, but really the emotion of these last moments was almost too much for him. But for the moment, Manfred was safe.
The rumour of the use that Germans did of the poor boy spread, and all the partisans were full of kindness towards Simon. They asked him who he was, what he did. He narrated his story, logically omitting the months he spent in the Germans' barracks, but confessing the pilfering he did with Didier. When he said he met captain Jacques of the Voltaire brigade, two men who knew him, asked him questions and Simon answered with precision, and so he earned the men's trust. They took the boy to the nearby town where the local Liberation Committee was installed. Here Simon had a surprise - there was Marcel, his former orphanage companion, who was a member of the Committee. Marcel recognized him at once and happily welcomed him. When they were alone, he introduced him his lover, a nineteen-year-old boy, not handsome but very likeable, called Christian.
Marcel offered Simon to stay with them. But Simon was thinking of his Manfred, hidden up there at the old mill. He had to go and look for him, and organize his escape. He told then he would stay just for a few days, but that he wanted to reach as soon as possible his man.
"You got a lover?" Marcel asked him.
"Yes, he is waiting for me at Aix Les Bains."
"It's far from here, and that part of France is still controlled by Petain and the fascists. He's not a fascist, your man, is he?" Christian asked frowning.
"No, at least I don't think so. I just know that I am in love with him, and that I want to join him. I was going to meet him, when they took me prisoner."
"Get back on your feet again, then you'll leave." Marcel said, "For the moment you can live with us, we have a room downtown... We will lay a mattress for you."
Simon thought that he could ask him for a map, and advise how to avoid the roadblocks - as he had no documents, he risked being stopped both by the Germans and the partisans, depending on the zones he had to cross.
"This is not a problem, I can have documents made for you." Marcel said.
That evening Simon went to sleep at Marcel's place. He didn't know how to do to go to see his Manfred. While he was falling asleep, he heard Marcel and Christian making love. He could make out their silhouettes tightly intertwined rocking on their bed. The scene aroused him very much, so he masturbated dreaming of his Manfred.
On the following morning Christian went out first, as he worked in the coordination centre and had the first shift. Then Marcel, wearing just his underpants, went to sit on the edge of Simon's mattress.
"You became a really gorgeous boy, from the last time I saw you. You were a kid, in the orphanage. I like you very much, now, do you know?"
Simon understood by his friend's look what he was trying to tell him. "Aren't you in love with Christian?" he asked.
"Sure I love him, sure. But this doesn't prevent me, being near a boy as beautiful as you..."
"Do you think that if my man is really a fascist... I have to leave him?" Simon asked while Marcel, slipped his hand under the boy's clothes, caressing him and teasing his nipples.
"No way, these are all bullshit. A man is a man. This war has to end, one day, right? If I am now a partisan, it is just because when I fled the army, my lover was a partisan, and now also Christian is. If it were not so, who knows if I would not now be on the other side..." Marcel said smiling to him, and pushed his hand to caress under the briefs of his younger friend, "Let's make love, come on..." he whispered excited, fingering his member that was starting to harden.
"Marcel... but Christian knows that..."
"That would be the last straw! He would scratch my eyes out! he would shoot my head! But he has not to know, right? Touch me too, feel how hard it is."
"If... if you help me... I promise you a fuck you will not forget easily. I became skilled, do you know..." Simon said caressing him between his legs, through the light cloth of his underpants, and smiling him provocative.
"What do you want?" Marcel excited asked.
"If you promise to keep a secret, I will say nothing to Christian about you and me, and I will do anything you like in bed with you, while I stay here..." Simon said pulling his friend's member out, and bending to lick ands suck it.
"Mmmhhh, yes... I promise... I like you too much..." Marcel said quivering.
"My lover... is a young German soldier, beautiful to die for, sweet, gentle. I am madly in love with him. I hid him. I want to take him to Switzerland and live with him. Will you help me to organize his escape?" Simon asked him, pulling down his underpants.
"Fucking bull! You are asking me the impossible, Simon!"
"Nope. Just a map, some civilian clothes, a little money. Then I will mange alone..." Simon said resuming to skilfully lick his rod, "And possibly, some documents..." said pulling out his briefs and offering himself to his friend.
"I will see... if I can..." Marcel said with hoarse voice, preparing to take him. "I will see..." repeated sinking in his ass. Simon did his utmost to make the young man enjoy, hoping that afterwards he wouldn't step back. But when they were in the orphanage, Marcel was a boy of his word, and he hoped that in these few years he hadn't changed.
When Marcel relaxed, panting and sated, said to Simon: "You really are a bomb... If you were not so in love with your kraut, I would rather quit Christian and go with you... Well, let's see what we can do. Are you aware that if they found you with him, you risk being stood against a wall and shot?"
"I don't care..."
"Ah, power of love! Clothes for him, a map, will be easy to get them. Also money. Documents for you, there is no problem. For him, it will be almost impossible. Unless he speaks French better than a Frenchman."
"He speaks very fluently, but he has a light German accent, unhappily. He could never pass for a French. Even physically, he really has a German face."
"If we could make him pass for a Swiss, who knows? But I don't know how to explain a request of documents for a Swiss citizen... Moreover, we will need his picture, and he can't for sure come here to make it. No, for him I can't do anything."
"Well, do what you can. Meanwhile, can you lend me your bicycle and give me some food? I would like to bring him at least something to eat."
"So, he is hidden nearby! Possibly, right at the mill where they found you! Right, you said that they were all dead."
"Don't betray me!" Simon said worriedly.
"No, don't worry. But you have to be very careful not to be caught, they are fanatics, my companions. And if they catch you, I could do nothing to help you. But you had to fall in love with an enemy, you?"
Finally Simon could go back to the mill. All long the way he was very careful nobody saw him, but the road was deserted. He took the bicycle inside the mill and hurriedly went upstairs calling his lover. The corpses of the German soldiers had been taken away. When he reached the room at the last floor, Manfred had already come down from the closet and was doing some exercises to stimulate the circulation in his limbs. As soon as he saw Simon head coming up in the trapdoor, he gave him a sweet smile.
"Manfred, Love, I couldn't come earlier. I brought you some food. How are you?"
"Better, now that you are here, still alive."
"Did you remain all the time up there?"
"No, I came down last night, I needed to empty my bowels, I could resist any more. Moreover, all my joints were hurting."
"Be careful, my love, please..."
"Yes, sure."
They sat on the floor and Simon gave him a bag full of food and a bottle of wine. Manfred ate part of the food and put away the rest for later. Meanwhile Simon informed him about the help he found, and promised him that soon he would arrive with the civilian clothes and a map to try to reach together Switzerland.
"Do you really think we will be able?" Manfred asked with a sad voice.
"Sure, we have to succeed! Anyway, we will try. But you'll see, we will manage, Manfred. We are still alive."
"Simon... Otto asked me to ask your forgiveness."
"Forgiveness? For what?"
"Having forced you to do it with him, and others, when we were in the barracks... I didn't know that... Why, after that, it was you who wanted to do it? He was shaken. But I too would like to understand."
"We were near dying, all of us. I didn't want them to die like rats in a trap, but like human beings. Therefore I thought I had to do it with them. All of them. Do you regret what I did?"
"No, but... you love me, isn't it?"
"Sure. With them it has just been sex, man needs that also, but with you there is real love. There is a huge difference, don't you think? To me, you are everything, Manfred, you have to know that."
"Yes, I know."
"Then, why are you so... I thought you would have embraced me, held me tight against you, kissed me... and instead, you are there, dejected... What happens, my love? What's up?"
"I... here it is still wet with my comrades blood... Forgive me if I don't feel like... I love you, sure, but here..."
"Yes, I understand. Forgive me. The fact is that it is so hard for me to be far from you. But soon we can leave this place. Marcel promised me he will help us as much as he can."
They talked a little more, but then Simon judged it more prudent to go back on town. They said good bye with an embrace.
Two days later, Marcel gave Simon a road map, an identity document for him, money, clothes for Manfred, more food, and a letter of the Liberation Committee where he wrote that Simon Canard was charged to escort to the Swiss border the Swiss citizen Andy Froebel.
"Froebel was a Swiss that joined us, and who died in a partisan action. He always talked of his brother Andy. His name was Hans. The story could stand a superficial test, possibly. Hans was born here, you see, in this part of Switzerland and his parents had a grocer's shop, it seems." Marcel explained to him, giving him other details.
Simon thanked him. His friend bade him farewell, and the boy, a bag full of food and the other things Marcel gave him, went away. Marcel gave him news on the course of war. The Germans were retreating on all fronts, but still wildly fighting. The Allies had landed in Normandy and in Sicily and the Russians were pressing on the Eastern front. The end of the war had to be a matter of months, at this point.
Simon reached the mill. He went up calling Manfred, who welcomed him with a smile.
"Manfred, first of all you take off everything, and wear these clothes. They should fit you."
"Thank you..." the soldier said. He undressed completely and Simon couldn't help to be aroused seeing the beautiful nakedness of the man he loved. He picked up all the uniform pieces and underwear, made a roll, and threw them on top of the closet where the young man had hidden. Then showed Manfred the map and explained to him the route they had to take.
"That is around four hundred kilometres..." Manfred said thoughtfully, looking at the map.
"Yes, we will have to walk for several days, we have to be careful not to run into the roadblocks. And if you had a less German face... But we will manage, Manfred."
"Is it not better if you start to call me Andy?" the young man said with a tired smile.
"Right... but I love your name... Good, let's go, now."
"Yes. If it... if it doesn't work... never forget I love you very much, Simon. Never forget I am happy I could meet you, know you, love you."
"But everything will go smooth." the boy said with an assured tone.
They left the mill and went towards the low valley, avoiding the town, and went south-west. For a while they walked side by side in silence. Marcel advised him to move only in day time - they would raise less suspicion. Around lunchtime they stopped near a stream to eat.
Manfred said: "I would like so much to take a bath, before eating... It is ages since I last washed."
"Let's do it!" Simon said.
They undressed and Manfred saw that the boy was aroused. He gently smiled: "Come here, Love, our bath can wait."
"Do you want me?" Simon said brightening, and drew near him.
Manfred took him in his arms and kissed him. Simon felt him quivering, felt Manfred's member awaken and starting to push against him. The young man, held the boy tightly and continuing to kiss him, lay on the grass under him, suckled with passion his nipples, licked his chest, his belly. Simon quivered with intense pleasure, and when the lips of his lover seized his member, the boy moaned arching his body, caressing hair and back of his lover.
"Turn around, I want to suck you... come on top of me, Love, give me your beautiful rod... I am thirsty of you..." the boy begged.
Manfred offered his turgid member to the greedy sweet lips of his boy. They sucked each other with increasing passion. Simon was intoxicated with the male smell of his lover's groin, and Manfred let the boy's member slip in his throat and, meanwhile, he delicately massaged with his fingers in the fold between Simon's firm little buttocks.
The men were disheartened and taciturn. The feeling of the end was looming over them like a mantle of gloom. They reached a point where they could have reunited to the other column, but there was no trace of the others, and neither of their passage. Not far, away was a village. The captain sent three men to make a reconnaissance. They were back after a few hours - in the village people was celebrating, there was no trace of Germans, beside three dead soldiers, hanging from a tree. People were armed with German and English weapons...
The captain decided to avoid the village. But they had to advance blindly. The portable radio couldn't contact any German stations.
During the night, Simon slept near Manfred. They could not make love but, profiting from darkness, they held hands, to give each other comfort, to silently communicate their love.
During the day Simon prepared and served meals for all the men. He was going to do water provision when they met a stream with clear water. He helped to unload and load when they made a halt.
For one week nothing happened. Then, the partisans attacked again. It was a long and ruthless battle. At the end all the partisans were dead, but in the Germans column, just seventeen men were still alive. Simon's group was safe, apart one of the soldiers who fell at the beginning of that ambush.
The captain made the men choose the three trucks in better order, made them pick up everything that could still be useful, personally took the dog tags of the dead men, then burnt all the supplies they couldn't carry, mounted the truck where Simon, Manfred and the others were, gave order to start.
They were on the move for twelve days when the truck leading the small column, blew up on a mine. Now, they were just eleven. The captain decided to leave the road and to run through the fields, towards the low valley. Sooner or later they would find a town, a city, and his intuition made him think that the towns would have been the last that the German Army would leave.
They were in sight of an old abandoned mill, with solid walls. The captain gave order to reach it. They were near it when, from behind, came the rumble of engines.
"Our side?" one of the soldiers asked with hope, standing up on the truck's body to see.
"Down!" the captain shouted, "Fast to the mill, they could be partisans!"
They were in front of the mill when there came a burst of machine gun fire and around the bend appeared three civilian trucks. Three German soldiers were hit and killed.
The Germans, shooting wildly towards the three enemy trucks, rushed headlong inside the mill, taking with them all the weapons and ammunition.
>From the three trucks around forty men fanned out and approached the mill, encircling it. Now the Germans were just eight.
"We will all die like rats, captain! Let's surrender!" a soldier shouted in a desperate tone.
Simon, hit by the tone, asked Manfred what the man said, and Manfred translated for him in a whisper.
"Don't you think they will kill us all the same, soldier?" the captain asked, with a dark expression.
"No, if we rise white flag!"
"If you want to try, go on. They will shoot you as soon as you appear. They are not soldiers, those there out. They are partisans. That tells you nothing, soldier?"
"Let me try, captain. Please?"
"Leave here your weapons. Try it. Good bye, soldier."
"But, captain, they will kill him! We are already just eight." another soldier protested.
"Nothing will change. He will just die before us." the captain answered with a sad voice.
The soldier improvised a white flag and waved it out of the window. The shots ceased. The soldier went then out, his arms raised, continuing to wave the white cloth, and walked towards the partisans' trucks. A sharp shot resounded and the soldier's head seemed to burst. Simon, who was following his walk from a window at the first floor, closed his eyes and hid his face against Manfred. The soldier caressed the boy, unconcerned by the others. Anyway, they had little more to live.
The siege lasted four days. The men inside the mill were determined to sell their lives dearly. If they had to die, they wanted take with them the most partisans possible.
There were hours of calm, of silence, when nobody and nothing moved. Simon distributed the little food to the men placed in the strategic points. Then suddenly, everybody started to wildly shoot. And again, silence descended.
While Otto was on watch, Manfred and Simon were lying side by side. Heedless of Otto, Simon opened the fly of his lover, lowered his trousers to his hips, and offered himself to Manfred. The soldier took him. Otto smiled but resumed watching outside. The two lovers were making love with desperate passion. They knew that it could be their last time. Simon noticed the fast glances of Otto, and could read desire in his eyes. Meanwhile Manfred continued to take him with his usual passion, and murmured him yearning words of love. Simon was enjoying the gentle vigour of his lover, but was aware of the swelling in the fly of the man on watch. Even a step from death, love, or simply sex, claimed its share. He was soon going to die with his Manfred.
When the soldier reached his orgasm inside him, Simon embraced him: "Manfred..."
"Yes my love?"
"Don't be angry, but... Otto desires me. We are near dying. May I give him pleasure?"
"Yes..." Manfred said with a strange voice. Then kissed him and asked in a sigh: "But you love me, don't you?"
"Sure, I love only you, you know it."
"I'll go to take his place..."
"But... don't look at us... I would be ashamed."
Manfred nodded, went near his comrade and said: "Go, Otto, Simon is waiting for you."
The man looked amazed at Manfred, then nodded. Went to Simon who was sitting on the floor, his back leaning against the wall. Without a word, the boy made him kneel astride his legs, opened the swollen fly, pulled out the turgid member and started to lick and suck it with a passion he never had when the man was taking him in the barracks. Otto leaned his hands on the wall, quivering, and looked somewhat embarrassed towards Manfred. The soldier was looking out of the window, as he didn't want to see what he knew was happening. Otto was shaking stronger and stronger, prey of an unbelievable pleasure. He felt like moaning, but he restrained, out of respect for Manfred. And in silence, he emptied into the sweet and welcoming mouth of the boy.
Without saying a word, he tidied himself, then rummaged in his pockets, and handed to Simon a gold pendent: "This my give-luck... now yours, boy."
Simon was about to refuse it, but the man eyes, visibly moved, pushed him to accept. He thanked with a nod, and put it in his pocket.
Otto went back to the window. "Danke..." he murmured to Manfred, who serious nodded.
Simon slipped near Manfred, and said: "I'm going to see the other men."
Manfred understood and nodded in assent.
Simon went to see Alfred. The man was lying in wait at another room's window, and near him there was Heinrich.
"Do you want to take me, Alfred?" the boy asked.
The man spoke to his comrade, who smiled and nodded. Alfred put down his machine gun near his companion and glided near the boy, who lowered his trousers and went on all fours. The man caressed his buttocks, gave them a light kiss and murmured: "You good boy..." then seized his waist, penetrated and enjoyed him. Simon felt that the man, even if took him with his usual manly vigour, this time was more gentle than ever. And this time also Simon felt pleasure. The man reached his orgasm. "Danke, kleine Simon..."
"Ask Heinrich if he too wants." Simon said.
Alfred talked with his comrade, who nodded. Alfred watched at the window, while the soldier went near Simon who was waiting for him, knelling on the floor, his trousers still lowered. Heinrich caressed his bare buttocks with clear desire. Simon opened the soldier's trousers, pulled out the member that was starting to harden, caressed it, then took his position. The young soldier leaned on him and slipped inside him with a soft pleasure moan, then started to piston him with short and fast strokes, continuing to lightly moan at the increasing pleasure. Soon he unloaded inside the boy, panting and groping him all over.
Simon toured the mill, offered himself to the gentle Kurt, and then to his companion Hans. At last, he went to look for the captain. The man was lying down, his eyes closed, resting a while.
Simon crouched near him and called him: "Captain?"
"What's up, Simon?" the man asked looking in his eyes.
"Before we all die, I would like to make love with you..."
"You... is not of Manfred?"
"Did you know?"
"I always knew. By first day." the captain answered with a smile, "Manfred knows you here?"
"Yes... at this point..."
"No, thanks. I very... how say it... like you. But no, thanks. Go to your Manfred. Little time we have."
Simon understood. Went back to his Manfred: "Now, I will never again leave you, until we leave." he sweetly said.
Manfred smiled him and tenderly caressed his hair. They remained silent, sitting against the wall, leaning one against the other. Suddenly the partisans resumed their attack. Wilder than ever.
The captain called his men and they went to the top floor, bringing up the ladder with which they barricaded the trapdoor. It was the last resistance, the final one.
Germans were saving their ammunition, they shot only when they were sure to hit. Partisans instead were doing an interrupted shooting. A hand grenade reached one of the four frameless windows of their room. Otto threw himself on it and blew with it, so saving his comrades. Did he do that for them, or just to put an end to his life? Simon asked himself, shocked. A shot struck down Alfred... Kurt and Hans fell almost at once. Manfred continued to shoot, when the captain said aloud: "Aufviederseen!" and, raised his pistol, shot himself in his temple.
Manfred put down his machine gun: "It's over..." he said with a whiteface to Simon.
The boy in these last moments had frantically thought. He rapidly pulled down his trousers and briefs and handed a rope to Manfred: "Tie me up and gag me! Hurry up!" he said.
"I don't understand..."
"Hurry up, we have very little time! Then you hide on top of that closet, squash down as much as you can. I'll tell them I was your prisoner and all are dead. They will believe me, they will not search for you. You remain there. I will come back. It could possibly be some days, but I will be back. Hurry up, it's our only chance... Fast..."
The partisans ceased to shoot. Manfred tied his lover tightly, gagged him and put him on a corner of the room, far from the windows and the trapdoor. Then climbed the old closet. At first it seemed he was not able, but at last he could conceal himself between the ceiling vault and the top of it, hidden behind the top decorative frame. Simon hoped he was completely invisible also to a standing man, and that his plan would work.
>From the floor under them voices came. The partisans were entering the abandoned mill.
"Careful, they can be alive and waiting for us..." a voice shouted.
"We have to make the trapdoor open, and throw a couple of hand grenades inside..." another voice proposed.
"It will be easier to throw them from outside, through the windows..." a third voice said.
Simon didn't think to that - so much the worse, he thought resigned, they will die in that way. But just in that moment a shadow caught his eye - somebody climbed in from outside. A machine gun appeared, then a young man was framed in the arch of one of the windows, his machine gun level. He jumped inside and saw Simon. He went slowly towards the boy, looking at the corpses on the floor, checking they were all dead, then went near Simon and untied his gag. The tension provoked the boy to burst into tears.
"Who are you? Are you French?" the young man asked him.
"Yes... I was... I was their... prisoner..."
"Well, we have freed you. Are they all here?"
"All dead... at last!"
"Your trousers, your briefs... take..." the young man said after untying the ropes, and while Simon was dressing, he called his companions on the lower floor: "All dead. Here there is just a boy they kept prisoner. The ladder is here, careful, I'll open the trapdoor and push it down..."
"Are you sure they are all dead? Nobody hiding, possibly on the roof?" a voice asked from under.
"No, all are dead, these were the last. Not one of them is alive, the pigs!" the young man said. Then he looked at Simon: "Why were you half naked, and tied so tightly?"
"Can't you guess it? Those bastard perverts..." Simon said trembling, hoping to be convincing.
"You mean that... that they did..."
"In turn, as a pastime... It is two weeks, from when they caught me..." Simon said crying from the tension.
They set the ladder and went down. One of the men went upstairs to check, but come down quickly, confirming that they were all dead. Simon heaved a sigh of relief. His legs folded.
"Hey, are you OK?" a man asked him, holding him up.
The young man who untied him, said gloomy: "I don't think, poor boy, they raped him for two weeks, those rotten pigs!"
"Raped?" the man asked widening his eyes.
"Yes, I found him tied like a sausage, and without his trousers and briefs, the poor thing. Ready to use! Rotten bastard fucking pigs!"
"I'm hungry..." Simon said with a weak voice.
"Come. Downstairs we found the provisions of the bastards, come eat something." the man said lifting him out almost bodily and accompanying him to the ground floor.
Simon pretended to be weaker than he was, but really the emotion of these last moments was almost too much for him. But for the moment, Manfred was safe.
The rumour of the use that Germans did of the poor boy spread, and all the partisans were full of kindness towards Simon. They asked him who he was, what he did. He narrated his story, logically omitting the months he spent in the Germans' barracks, but confessing the pilfering he did with Didier. When he said he met captain Jacques of the Voltaire brigade, two men who knew him, asked him questions and Simon answered with precision, and so he earned the men's trust. They took the boy to the nearby town where the local Liberation Committee was installed. Here Simon had a surprise - there was Marcel, his former orphanage companion, who was a member of the Committee. Marcel recognized him at once and happily welcomed him. When they were alone, he introduced him his lover, a nineteen-year-old boy, not handsome but very likeable, called Christian.
Marcel offered Simon to stay with them. But Simon was thinking of his Manfred, hidden up there at the old mill. He had to go and look for him, and organize his escape. He told then he would stay just for a few days, but that he wanted to reach as soon as possible his man.
"You got a lover?" Marcel asked him.
"Yes, he is waiting for me at Aix Les Bains."
"It's far from here, and that part of France is still controlled by Petain and the fascists. He's not a fascist, your man, is he?" Christian asked frowning.
"No, at least I don't think so. I just know that I am in love with him, and that I want to join him. I was going to meet him, when they took me prisoner."
"Get back on your feet again, then you'll leave." Marcel said, "For the moment you can live with us, we have a room downtown... We will lay a mattress for you."
Simon thought that he could ask him for a map, and advise how to avoid the roadblocks - as he had no documents, he risked being stopped both by the Germans and the partisans, depending on the zones he had to cross.
"This is not a problem, I can have documents made for you." Marcel said.
That evening Simon went to sleep at Marcel's place. He didn't know how to do to go to see his Manfred. While he was falling asleep, he heard Marcel and Christian making love. He could make out their silhouettes tightly intertwined rocking on their bed. The scene aroused him very much, so he masturbated dreaming of his Manfred.
On the following morning Christian went out first, as he worked in the coordination centre and had the first shift. Then Marcel, wearing just his underpants, went to sit on the edge of Simon's mattress.
"You became a really gorgeous boy, from the last time I saw you. You were a kid, in the orphanage. I like you very much, now, do you know?"
Simon understood by his friend's look what he was trying to tell him. "Aren't you in love with Christian?" he asked.
"Sure I love him, sure. But this doesn't prevent me, being near a boy as beautiful as you..."
"Do you think that if my man is really a fascist... I have to leave him?" Simon asked while Marcel, slipped his hand under the boy's clothes, caressing him and teasing his nipples.
"No way, these are all bullshit. A man is a man. This war has to end, one day, right? If I am now a partisan, it is just because when I fled the army, my lover was a partisan, and now also Christian is. If it were not so, who knows if I would not now be on the other side..." Marcel said smiling to him, and pushed his hand to caress under the briefs of his younger friend, "Let's make love, come on..." he whispered excited, fingering his member that was starting to harden.
"Marcel... but Christian knows that..."
"That would be the last straw! He would scratch my eyes out! he would shoot my head! But he has not to know, right? Touch me too, feel how hard it is."
"If... if you help me... I promise you a fuck you will not forget easily. I became skilled, do you know..." Simon said caressing him between his legs, through the light cloth of his underpants, and smiling him provocative.
"What do you want?" Marcel excited asked.
"If you promise to keep a secret, I will say nothing to Christian about you and me, and I will do anything you like in bed with you, while I stay here..." Simon said pulling his friend's member out, and bending to lick ands suck it.
"Mmmhhh, yes... I promise... I like you too much..." Marcel said quivering.
"My lover... is a young German soldier, beautiful to die for, sweet, gentle. I am madly in love with him. I hid him. I want to take him to Switzerland and live with him. Will you help me to organize his escape?" Simon asked him, pulling down his underpants.
"Fucking bull! You are asking me the impossible, Simon!"
"Nope. Just a map, some civilian clothes, a little money. Then I will mange alone..." Simon said resuming to skilfully lick his rod, "And possibly, some documents..." said pulling out his briefs and offering himself to his friend.
"I will see... if I can..." Marcel said with hoarse voice, preparing to take him. "I will see..." repeated sinking in his ass. Simon did his utmost to make the young man enjoy, hoping that afterwards he wouldn't step back. But when they were in the orphanage, Marcel was a boy of his word, and he hoped that in these few years he hadn't changed.
When Marcel relaxed, panting and sated, said to Simon: "You really are a bomb... If you were not so in love with your kraut, I would rather quit Christian and go with you... Well, let's see what we can do. Are you aware that if they found you with him, you risk being stood against a wall and shot?"
"I don't care..."
"Ah, power of love! Clothes for him, a map, will be easy to get them. Also money. Documents for you, there is no problem. For him, it will be almost impossible. Unless he speaks French better than a Frenchman."
"He speaks very fluently, but he has a light German accent, unhappily. He could never pass for a French. Even physically, he really has a German face."
"If we could make him pass for a Swiss, who knows? But I don't know how to explain a request of documents for a Swiss citizen... Moreover, we will need his picture, and he can't for sure come here to make it. No, for him I can't do anything."
"Well, do what you can. Meanwhile, can you lend me your bicycle and give me some food? I would like to bring him at least something to eat."
"So, he is hidden nearby! Possibly, right at the mill where they found you! Right, you said that they were all dead."
"Don't betray me!" Simon said worriedly.
"No, don't worry. But you have to be very careful not to be caught, they are fanatics, my companions. And if they catch you, I could do nothing to help you. But you had to fall in love with an enemy, you?"
Finally Simon could go back to the mill. All long the way he was very careful nobody saw him, but the road was deserted. He took the bicycle inside the mill and hurriedly went upstairs calling his lover. The corpses of the German soldiers had been taken away. When he reached the room at the last floor, Manfred had already come down from the closet and was doing some exercises to stimulate the circulation in his limbs. As soon as he saw Simon head coming up in the trapdoor, he gave him a sweet smile.
"Manfred, Love, I couldn't come earlier. I brought you some food. How are you?"
"Better, now that you are here, still alive."
"Did you remain all the time up there?"
"No, I came down last night, I needed to empty my bowels, I could resist any more. Moreover, all my joints were hurting."
"Be careful, my love, please..."
"Yes, sure."
They sat on the floor and Simon gave him a bag full of food and a bottle of wine. Manfred ate part of the food and put away the rest for later. Meanwhile Simon informed him about the help he found, and promised him that soon he would arrive with the civilian clothes and a map to try to reach together Switzerland.
"Do you really think we will be able?" Manfred asked with a sad voice.
"Sure, we have to succeed! Anyway, we will try. But you'll see, we will manage, Manfred. We are still alive."
"Simon... Otto asked me to ask your forgiveness."
"Forgiveness? For what?"
"Having forced you to do it with him, and others, when we were in the barracks... I didn't know that... Why, after that, it was you who wanted to do it? He was shaken. But I too would like to understand."
"We were near dying, all of us. I didn't want them to die like rats in a trap, but like human beings. Therefore I thought I had to do it with them. All of them. Do you regret what I did?"
"No, but... you love me, isn't it?"
"Sure. With them it has just been sex, man needs that also, but with you there is real love. There is a huge difference, don't you think? To me, you are everything, Manfred, you have to know that."
"Yes, I know."
"Then, why are you so... I thought you would have embraced me, held me tight against you, kissed me... and instead, you are there, dejected... What happens, my love? What's up?"
"I... here it is still wet with my comrades blood... Forgive me if I don't feel like... I love you, sure, but here..."
"Yes, I understand. Forgive me. The fact is that it is so hard for me to be far from you. But soon we can leave this place. Marcel promised me he will help us as much as he can."
They talked a little more, but then Simon judged it more prudent to go back on town. They said good bye with an embrace.
Two days later, Marcel gave Simon a road map, an identity document for him, money, clothes for Manfred, more food, and a letter of the Liberation Committee where he wrote that Simon Canard was charged to escort to the Swiss border the Swiss citizen Andy Froebel.
"Froebel was a Swiss that joined us, and who died in a partisan action. He always talked of his brother Andy. His name was Hans. The story could stand a superficial test, possibly. Hans was born here, you see, in this part of Switzerland and his parents had a grocer's shop, it seems." Marcel explained to him, giving him other details.
Simon thanked him. His friend bade him farewell, and the boy, a bag full of food and the other things Marcel gave him, went away. Marcel gave him news on the course of war. The Germans were retreating on all fronts, but still wildly fighting. The Allies had landed in Normandy and in Sicily and the Russians were pressing on the Eastern front. The end of the war had to be a matter of months, at this point.
Simon reached the mill. He went up calling Manfred, who welcomed him with a smile.
"Manfred, first of all you take off everything, and wear these clothes. They should fit you."
"Thank you..." the soldier said. He undressed completely and Simon couldn't help to be aroused seeing the beautiful nakedness of the man he loved. He picked up all the uniform pieces and underwear, made a roll, and threw them on top of the closet where the young man had hidden. Then showed Manfred the map and explained to him the route they had to take.
"That is around four hundred kilometres..." Manfred said thoughtfully, looking at the map.
"Yes, we will have to walk for several days, we have to be careful not to run into the roadblocks. And if you had a less German face... But we will manage, Manfred."
"Is it not better if you start to call me Andy?" the young man said with a tired smile.
"Right... but I love your name... Good, let's go, now."
"Yes. If it... if it doesn't work... never forget I love you very much, Simon. Never forget I am happy I could meet you, know you, love you."
"But everything will go smooth." the boy said with an assured tone.
They left the mill and went towards the low valley, avoiding the town, and went south-west. For a while they walked side by side in silence. Marcel advised him to move only in day time - they would raise less suspicion. Around lunchtime they stopped near a stream to eat.
Manfred said: "I would like so much to take a bath, before eating... It is ages since I last washed."
"Let's do it!" Simon said.
They undressed and Manfred saw that the boy was aroused. He gently smiled: "Come here, Love, our bath can wait."
"Do you want me?" Simon said brightening, and drew near him.
Manfred took him in his arms and kissed him. Simon felt him quivering, felt Manfred's member awaken and starting to push against him. The young man, held the boy tightly and continuing to kiss him, lay on the grass under him, suckled with passion his nipples, licked his chest, his belly. Simon quivered with intense pleasure, and when the lips of his lover seized his member, the boy moaned arching his body, caressing hair and back of his lover.
"Turn around, I want to suck you... come on top of me, Love, give me your beautiful rod... I am thirsty of you..." the boy begged.
Manfred offered his turgid member to the greedy sweet lips of his boy. They sucked each other with increasing passion. Simon was intoxicated with the male smell of his lover's groin, and Manfred let the boy's member slip in his throat and, meanwhile, he delicately massaged with his fingers in the fold between Simon's firm little buttocks.