A/N: Here it is! The first chapter! I hope y'all like it. Sorry it took so long to post. Life was a bit hectic and I didn't find a lot of time to write.

I walked down the street with Elfi quickly. Many people were not out at this time of night. It wasn't safe and Elfi had forgotten her identification papers. She held my arm like a lifeline as we walked. I didn't really like how clingy she was, but I tolerated it. Her parents abused her brutally and forced her into doing many bad things against her will. Although I had a falling out with my family, they never hit me. She wasn't used to the kindness I treated her with. I felt horrible for her. She was a good person who didn't deserve to be treated the way she was. I started to get a stitch in my side and it got to the point where Elfi was almost dragging me.

"Don't walk so quickly, Elfi," I said. "I can't keep up with you."

"But we have to hurry!" she hissed, sounding desperate.

"There's nobody out now," I said. She looked at me, obviously frustrated.

"Fine," she huffed. She slowed her pace, but she was still rushing me.

"You'll look less suspicious this way anyhow," I whispered in her ear.

A small smile played at the corner of her mouth and she slowed a little more. We walked past a dark, decrepit alley, and suddenly I heard groaning- loud groaning.

"What was that?" I asked, stopping.

"Let's go, Manfred," Elfi said, tugging at my arm. "It probably wasn't anything."

"No," I said. "I'm taking a look first."

I pulled her hand off my arm and stepped into the alley. I squinted my eyes to see better. I saw a man crumpled on the ground under the dim lamp that lit up the alley. I looked around and then back at the man. I ran over to him and hunkered down beside him. I tentatively shook him and he moaned slightly. I rolled his body over carefully.

"Please," he whimpered.

The man was battered and bruised. His face was completely covered in dried blood except for two lines down his cheeks where he must have been crying. I looked down at his arm and saw the familiar condemning armband with a gold star stamped on it.

"I'm going to help you sir," I said. I looked back up at his face and his eyes had slid shut. I shook him more frantically. "Sir?!"

He wouldn't wake. I pressed my fingers to his neck. There was still a slow pulse. I sprang to my feet and ran back to Elfi.

"There's an injured man back there," I told her. "We have to help him."

I took Elfi's hand and dragged her into the alleyway. I stopped next to the man and knelt next to him. I pulled her down next to me.

"He's a Jew," she muttered, eyeing the armband. "We have to go, Manfred."

"I'm going to get help," I told her. "Keep an eye on him."

She looked tempted to run off, but she let go of me and nodded. I got up and hurried back to the street. It was deserted. I ran down the block and quickly turned the corner. I ran into something hard and fell back on my ass. I looked up and saw a man standing there. I couldn't see his face.

"I'm so sorry, sir," I apologized.

The man grabbed me by my coat and pulled me to my feet. I raised my hands in front of my face in fear. The man let go of me and stepped into the light. He had wild brown hair that stuck out in every direction and a big grin with perfect white teeth. There was a childish quality to his face. He couldn't be much older than me.

"No apology necessary, kid," he said. "It's amazing you apologized anyway. I'm not used to that anymore."

He smoothed his coat out and I saw a gold star sewn into the lapel. I brushed the dirt off the seat of my pants and awkwardly cleared my throat.

"Will you come with me sir?" I asked. His brow furrowed in suspicion.

"What for?" he asked apprehensively. He eyed my clothes. I suspected that he was looking for a swastika or something else that would suggest I was untrustworthy.

"There's been an attack," I explained. "I need help. There's not much time."

The man's eyes widened in alarm and he nodded.

"Take me there," he said.

I turned on my heel and ran down the street. The man was right on my tail. I skidded to a stop in front of the old alleyway.

"Elfi?" I called anxiously.

"Still here, Manfred," I heard her call back.

"This way, sir," I said.

The man followed me into the alley and stopped next to the man. He crouched down.

"What happened?" he asked.

"I don't know," I said. "We just found him here."

He eyed the man's armband and absentmindedly touched his own patch.

"The hospitals won't tend to a Jew," he said. "I know where to take him."

He crouched down and stuck his arms under the man's armpits.

"Get his feet," he instructed me.

I grabbed his ankles and we lifted him up. We walked with a fast pace down the street. Elfi trailed behind us. He led all of us a few blocks away to a big apartment building.

"Will you get the door?" he asked Elfi.

She rushed to the door and held it open for us. The brown-haired man brought us down to the last door in the hall. He tapped the door with his foot loudly.

"Jochim!" he called. "It's me."

The door opened and another man stood there, looking sleepy. His eyes widened upon seeing the man.

"Come in," he said hurriedly. We all went inside and the brown-haired man and I set the injured Jew down on the long kitchen table.

"What happened?" the man who must have been Jochim asked. The brown-haired man shrugged and then gestured to Elfi and me.

"They found him in a nearby alleyway. It looks as if he was attacked," he said. "Can you help him?"

"I'll see what I can do." He went off and came back with a black medical bag.

"You can take a seat in the sitting room," he said. "I'll try not to be too long. There's tea on the table."

I began to protest, but we were dragged into the next room over by the brown-haired man. He sat us down on a tattered old couch.

"I'm sorry I haven't properly introduced myself," he said, taking a seat on the overstuffed chair opposite the couch. "My name is Chlothar."

I looked over at Elfi. I wasn't sure if I should share my name, in case he was an agent. I looked at his patch again and decided he was a safe person to speak to.

"I'm Manfred. This is my friend Elfi."

Elfi tensed up next to me. Perhaps I should have let her share her own name. It was too late anyway. Chlothar nodded and grinned, despite the situation we were all just in.

"You rescued this man though you do not know him," he said, "and for that I admire you, young man. You come across much more experienced and mature than you must be in reality."

"I am seventeen, sir. I am not young," I said sheepishly. "You can't be much older than me."

"I'm not," he admitted, laughing. "I only just turned twenty. Either way, you show spirit and caring."

"Thank you, I guess," I said awkwardly.

We sat there in gauche silence for a few moments. Elfi tugged on my sleeve. I glanced over at her and saw how uncomfortable she looked. I felt bad for putting her in this situation. All she wanted was to get home, and now she was in this strange house, with a strange man.

"Do you like the regime?" Chlothar asked suddenly.

"What?" I asked, thrown off by the random question.

"The Führer. What is your opinion of him?" he asked.

"I- I don't know. I think he has reformed our country in great ways. We are no longer overlooked. We are feared as we once were," I said. Chlothar furrowed his brow in confusion, so I kept going. "But there is something that is off-putting about him. I'm not quite sure what it is."

"Are you a Jew, Manfred?" he asked.

"Of course not!" I snapped, sounding harsher than I meant to. "I mean, no. I'm a Christian."

"I see," he said. "And yet you rescued this Jew." He gestured in the direction of the kitchen.

"If I ever see a man beaten to a pulp, Chlothar, I will help him, no matter his ethnicity," I said defensively.

"Well Manfred, I find you rather fascinating," he said, smiling. "But seeing as it is rather late, perhaps you ought to head home."

Elfi looked at me and nodded quickly.

"Yes, you're right," I said hurriedly, standing up. Elfi practically leaped to her feet. I turned to leave, but Chlothar grabbed my arm.

"It was a pleasure to meet you, Manfred," he said, standing up and offering his hand for me to shake. I clasped it and shook it fast. His grip was firm, and he wouldn't let go for longer than I would have liked. I felt him slip something into my hand when he let go. It was a small folded up piece of paper. I shoved it into my pocket after hesitating a moment.

"Take care," he said, beaming again.

"I will," I said distantly.

He showed Elfi and me the door and we hurried back outside. We walked briskly through the streets back to the apartment complex where we lived. We waited until we arrived at my door to speak of anything that had just transpired.

"That was odd," she said. "He seemed like he was up to something. What do you think?"

I considered mentioning the paper, but I decided against it. It wasn't that I didn't trust Elfi, but she would scold me for accepting it.

"I don't know," I said.

"Perhaps he's just crazy. He is a Jew after all," Elfi said jokingly. I rolled my eyes at her remark. I didn't believe the Jews were any different from anyone else. It bothered me how suddenly they were treated worse than the dirt that we walked on.

"Good night," I said, exasperated. I opened the door to my apartment and stepped inside.

"Good night," she said, sounding a mixture of confused and disappointed as she wandered over to her family's apartment. I took off my hat and shut the door behind me. I didn't mean to sound so angry at her. It was not hard to buy into the Führer's propaganda.

I took the piece of paper out of my pocket and sat down on the mattress that was set out on the splintered wood floor. I threw my coat to the side and unrolled the paper. I read the pre-printed message that was on it.

We are interested in your membership. We will send a representative by at seven o'clock to collect you. You must tell no one of this meeting.

I raised my eyebrows and crumpled the paper up. It was suspicious, but I wasn't going to report it any time soon. I found myself oddly intrigued by Chlothar, and his friends couldn't be much different than he. I took the paper and burned it in the little fireplace in my room. I laid back on my mattress and suddenly my exhaustion caught up with me. I drifted off to sleep in seconds.