The Curse of Dr. Zola
Chapter 1
The Lieutenant raised his hands over his head. "We surrender."
Surrounding them were Nazi soldiers, the likes of which Bucky had never seen before; none of them had. Rifles were pointed at this group of men from the 107th from all sides. They had become separated from the main group in the battle.
They weren't in typical Nazi uniforms, but still, they had Nazi symbols on their sleeves, along with some odd looking thing on a second patch.
"You are ze ranking soldier?"
"Yes, I'm in charge."
A shot rang out and the Lieutenant fell to the cold ground, dead. The unit flinched in unison, ducking down into crouches, as smoke rose from the gun barrel. They all had the same horrified looks on their faces.
"But, but, he said we surrender." One young soldier squeaked out.
"HYDRA does not take prisoners."
HYDRA? What the hell is HYDRA? Bucky thought. But that was as far as his thoughts got.
"Ve do have a need for all ze rest." The German turned to his men and swept his arm. "Get zem chained up, and get zem marching back to camp."
The men of the 107th were chained together by their ankles and forced to march in line behind a troop truck. The lead man was chained to the truck itself. A soldier sat in the back of the rig with a rifle pointed at the line, while other soldiers sat and rode. The rest walked alongside the captured men, rifles at the ready.
Bucky couldn't see their faces. The headgear they wore covered the whole face. None of them spoke, except the one who had murdered their officer in cold blood. Bucky was very angry.
After 30 miles of marching much of that anger wore off. He was cold, and tired, as they all were.
The Nazis would at least stop occasionally, to transfer those who were walking to the truck to spell them. This was the only time the 107th got a break to rest for a few moments, or urinate. Those unfortunate enough that had to do more than pee had to do it squatting down in full view.
Camp finally came into view. Camp was not the word Bucky would have used. It was a building, a very large building.
The truck stopped and the ranking officer went ahead to speak with the guard at the barb wired front gate. The fence it was attached to had to be 15 feet high, and every foot was meshed with barbed wire.
The gate opened and the truck lurched forward, dragging behind it a line of weary soldiers.
When the truck stopped at last, the chain was unhitched and the men were led inside. A row of circular barren cells were quickly filled with men. An adjacent row was already filled with prisoners. They were separated into groups of 6 men per cell; Bucky was in the middle, so they didn't get to him for a bit.
As the soldiers stepped up in line they were asked for their ranks, and then scuttled off accordingly.
"Rank?"
"Sergeant."
Bucky was unhitched and shuffled off to a cell. He was as exhausted as the rest and fell to the floor in a heap.
As there were no bunks, they lay themselves in a circle on the floor to rest their heads upon one another. The floor was hard and dirty, but not as cold as Bucky had expected.
"Hey Sarge?"
"Yeah?"
"How far do you think we marched?"
"Too damn far, get some rest."
The young man quieted down and rested his head.
Bucky breathed a tired sigh. His stomach rumbled, but sleep called his name much more powerfully, and he dozed off for a while.
He woke with a start from someone kicking him in the back. "What the hell?" A Nazi soldier stared down at him.
"It looks like feeding time Sarge."
Bucky looked in the direction of the cell door and saw that bowls of something were being passed to the men. He stood and accepted the one offered him. It contained a watery stew of sorts. Without utensils, the stew had to be slurped from the bowl. It was lukewarm at best, but Bucky didn't argue, he slurped down his stew as did the rest of the men.
When they were done, the bowls were collected and one Nazi came by giving instructions.
One by one, each cell was opened and the men within were escorted by armed Nazi's somewhere. Bucky soon discovered where. It was a factory, and work benches had been set up. Each in the group was shackled to one of 6 spots at a bench by the ankle. There were no seats. They were given instructions on how to complete their jobs, and expected to work. Satisfactory work was rewarded by food; unsatisfactory work was rewarded by punishment.
The men were returned to their respective cells at the end of the day, and they slept til dawn. A new day of work began and each day was long. They were worked each day for 12 hours, with minimal down time for bathroom breaks and meals. Meals were eaten at the benches sitting on the factory floor, the same watery stew every day.
The first escape attempt plot was whispered back and forth, and it met with disastrous results. The men who made the attempt were blasted into oblivion, much to the horror of those that witnessed it. Blue flames, not bullets, emanated from the rifles and the men simply vanished into nothingness!
The lead Nazi made them all stand at attention for hours while he lectured them on the hopelessness of escape; furthermore they had to make up that time working.
"Starting tomorrow, you vill all vork an additional hour to make up for ze loss of your comrades. Anyone caught trying to escape vill be killed on the spot. Anyone who falls behind their vork schedule vill be punished by reduced rations and beaten. You vill then be required to finish all your vork before being allowed back to your cell. Is zat clear?"
The reply he received from the men was low mumbles of assent.
"Good, now get back to vork."
As soon as he strolled out of earshot, the man closest to Bucky whispered to him. "What are we going to do Sarge?"
"I don't know, just bide our time for now until we can come up with something."