Then Katsyusha realised she was the only one who was crying.
They were huddled together as families before they had been lined up. She had been alone, though, she had stood bare and freezing whilst the others pressed close and whispered their farewells. But none of them wept or even appeared scared. Just tired. All of their faces and eyes were dull and dirty.
Were these really her people? Katsyusha always looked at her people as happy, even if they lead simple lives. Although it was clear now that had all been a delusion in her head. She had thought they were happy. But now she was staring the truth of the war in the face. All those rumours about Ludwig and his people… of what they were doing… it was true? She hadn't had the heart to think it could possibly be reality. Ludwig was stern and strict…but he wasn't cruel. Or so she had thought.
She glanced to her left, the cold making her shiver violently and her eyes were blurred from tears. A woman, pale and solemn, with a little child looking bewildered at her feet and clutching onto her hand tightly. He was shuddering just like Katsyusha. On her right was an old man, must have been about 60, his face was creased with wrinkles and his frame looked painfully thin. They both looked at her as she glanced at them. Full of emotion and pain. It was different looking at human's eyes to county's eyes. They revealed more. Humans had short term lives, and they felt so much fear for the end and their mortality. And yet the pale haired girl was the one with tears streaking her filthy face, the one who would live through this and for much longer after.
She was thankful they hadn't recognised her as Ukraine. They were treating her in the same horrible conditions as her people. If they knew who she really was… surely she would be subject to a different, perhaps worse fate.
Then they were ordered forward. The uniformed men barked loud German words, and some poor English and Ukrainian. She stepped forward along with the others, the cold mud was wet under her numbing feet.
They stepped amongst the pale bodies, some of them stirred only slightly whilst the others were already dead, the crimson running from the napes of their necks mixing with the grey-brown mud. Katsyusha folded her arms to cover her naked chest as they were halted again, forming the line once more, the two figures still at her side along with many others. This was disgusting. She couldn't believe people could really do this to each other. Strip them of clothes and rights, before lining them up to be rid of like an infestation. It was silent, all painfully silent besides a few confused squeals from young children and babies. She saw the rifles as she looked forward, more hot fluid spilling from her eyes as she saw the bodies strewn across in hundreds in this damp ditch.
There was a series of gunshots, the sound like thunder across the pale skies.
Then it was silent again. Katsyusha just remembered being splayed on the floor, pain throbbing through her chest and neck along with hot dark blood staining her skin and running onto the floor in streaks. The old man was already dead, he had curled up after he had fallen amongst the other corpses and quickly bled out. The child was also silent now, he had cried sharply for some time. The sandy pale strands, heavy with mud, were blocking the nation's eyes, but she saw the woman's chest rising and falling rapidly. And with silent tears, Katsyusha entwined her fingers with the woman's. And then with the cold dead fingers of the man. Her people, her suffering people. If she remained silent, if she stopped stirring, maybe the soldiers would believe she was dead. Then she could escape.
Whilst the guns were reloaded, the soldiers talked casually, as if this were normal.
Katsyusha wasn't the best at German, but she could… she could pick it out. She could hear in their words…
Bratur.
They were going to betray him. They were going to attack Ivan too… it was true. Millions of them lived in her brother's country. But…What about their alliance? Their promise?
The pain made her breathing ragged, and she could have just screamed with tears as another line of bare humans were called forward into the sight of the rifles.