Time away from the trenches felt like breathing air after being underwater for days. Finally, during a lull in fighting in the war, Kat and his friends (Paul, Tjaden, Kropp, and Franz), had been transferred away from the Western front and to a small base on the outskirts of a town in the French countryside. With nothing to do besides daily tasks and writing letters to his wife, he often found himself wandering aimlessly in the woods that were near the town. There was a little farm nestled right by the woods (where he'd stolen a goose from a week prior with Paul). Kat thought it was best to stay away from the farm after what happened (the woman who lived there caught him and had chased him with her shotgun), so he just walked around the woods. It was cold, and beginning to snow. Kat didn't mind, though. The snow was peaceful. He stopped walking and tilted his head up towards the sky, watching the snow swirl down gracefully. He heard soft footsteps somewhere in the woods, whirling around.