The Specialists

Hans loved tower duty. The other guys thought it was cold and boring, but Hans liked his alone time. During day shifts, he’d sneak a book up there to pass the hours (he especially loved books on philosophy; he was currently working his way through Also sprach Zarathustra) and sometimes during night shifts, he’d catch a few winks.

As he watched the snow fall lazily over the camp, his thoughts drifted between how lucky he was that Aldo was willing to trade his tower shifts and Nietzsche’s musings on the dangers of nihilism. The snow seemed to hypnotize him and his eyelids started to droop. But then the floor shook and bucked and suddenly Hans was falling…