Cryptonomicon

Shaftoe peeks over the top of the seawall. As he more or less expected, all of the people who were standing up are now draped over the nearest Mercedes, having been bodily lifted off their feet and flung sideways by a moving curtain of shrapnel. But two of the survivors--the veterans--are belly-crawling towards Otto's cabin, whose thick log walls look extremely reassuring in these circumstances. The third survivor is blasting away with his submachine gun, but he has no idea where they are.

The ground is convex in a way that makes it hard to see those belly-crawling Germans. Shaftoe fires a couple more mortar rounds without much effect. He hears the two Germans kicking down the door to Otto's cabin.

Since it is only a one-room cabin, this would be a fine moment to be armed with grenades. But Shaftoe has none, and he doesn't really want to blow the place up anyway. "Why don't you kill the one German up there," he tells Root, and then heads down the beach, hugging the seawall in case the Germans are looking out the windows.

Indeed, when he's almost there the Germans smash the windows out and begin firing in the direction of Enoch Root. Shaftoe creeps underneath the cabin, opens the trap door, and emerges into the center of the room. The Germans are standing there with their backs to him. He fires his Suomi into their backs until they stop moving. Then he drags them over to the trapdoor and dumps them down onto the beach so they won't bleed all over the floor. The next high tide will carry them away, and with any luck they'll wash ashore on the Fatherland in a couple weeks.

It is silent now, the way it's supposed to be at an isolated cabin by the sea. But that doesn't mean anything. Shaftoe makes his way carefully up into the trees and circles around behind the action, surveying the killing zone from above. The one German is still crawling around on his elbows, trying to figure out what's going on. Shaftoe kills him. Then he makes his way down to the beach and finds Enoch Root bleeding into the sand. He has taken a bullet just under the collarbone and there is a lot of blood, both from the wound and from Root's mouth, when ever he exhales.

"I feel like I'm going to die," he says.

"Good," Shaftoe says, "that means you probably won't."

One of the Mercedes automobiles is still functional, though it has a number of shrapnel holes and a flat tire. Shaftoe jacks it up and swaps in a surviving tire from the other Mercedes, then drags Root over and gets him laid out in the backseat. He drives into Norrsbruck, fast. The Mercedes is a really great car and he wants to drive it all the way to Finland, Russia, Siberia, down through China--maybe stop for a little sushi in Shanghai--then on down through Siam and then Malaya, whence he could hop a sea-gypsy's boat to Manila, find Glory, and--

The ensuing erotic reverie is cut short by the voice of Enoch Root, bubbling through blood, or something. "Go to the church."

"Now padre, this is no time to be trying to convert me into a religious nut. You take it easy."

"No, go now.Take me."

"What, so you can make your peace with god? Hell, Rev, you ain't gonna die.I'll take you to the doctor's. You can go to church later."

Root drifts off into a coma, mumbling something about cigars.

Shaftoe ignores these ravings, burns rubber into Norrsbruck, and wakes up the doctor. Then he goes and finds Otto and Julieta and takes them over to the doctor's office. Finally, he goes round to the church and wakes up the minister.

When they get back to the clinic, Rudolf von Hacklheber's arguing with the doctor: Rudy (who's apparently speaking on behalf of Enoch, who can hardly even talk) wants Enoch's wedding to Julieta to happen now, in case Enoch dies on the table. Shaftoe is startled by how bad the patient suddenly looks. But remembering what he and Enoch talked about earlier, he weighs in on Rudy's side, and insists that marriage must come before surgery.

Otto produces a diamond ring literally out of his asshole--he carries valuables around in a polished metal tube shoved up his rectum--and Shaftoe serves as best man, uneasily holding that ring, still hot from Otto. Root's too weak to thread it over Julieta's finger and so Rudy guides his hands. A nurse serves as bridesmaid. Julieta and Enoch are joined in holy matrimony. Root utters the words of the oath one at a time, pausing after each one to cough blood into a stainless-steel bowl. Shaftoe gets all choked up, and actually sniffles.