Disclaimer: I do not own Band of Brothers. Please don't sue me, etc etc. blah blah the whole shebang - you get what I'm saying. Janetta and Dominik are MINE.

A/N: I was actually able to make this in one day. But I think I'm having trouble in the tenses of some words. I believe it's mostly in past tense....Also, the quotes at the end are shouted by various soldiers.

.x.x.x.x.

June 4, 1944 – Building 6, Natzweiler-Struthof

It was Sunday, June 4. A holy day ignored by the Germans but a birthday that Ima and I recognized every year. It would have been Abba's 42nd birthday if he had been alive. I remembered when if it was someone's birthday, we would go out for a picnic in the woods behind our home. But now, Ima and I were the last of our family. Abba died when I was 10, Samuel ran away soon after, and now Noah was shot right before my eyes. I couldn't see a reason to celebrate someone's birthday in such a horrid time like now.

Sigh.

The night before he died, Abba told me, "He that cannot endure the bad will not live to see the good."

How can good come out of the position at which I stand at the moment? With all the bad in the world right now, I don't think that can happen, not even with Dominik's promise. Nothing will be good anymore. It will all just be evil.

.x.x.x.x.

Breakfast and lunch were skipped today, probably to starve us or bring our morale down or both. Everyone was already all bones and no skin but I still had enough strength to stretch and run back and forth in our little building. I hadn't heard from Dominik for three days. I soon learned that he had been replaced with another guard and I worried that he wouldn't be able to tell me the plan. Night was soon approaching and I noticed that the whole time we've been here, Ima hadn't said a word to anyone or to her own daughter. Maybe she's seen too much. Maybe she's given up…

"Ima, have you lost your ability to speak?" I asked.

She shook my question away and points to the sky through the barred door. Smoke rose from beyond the gates. The air smelled rancid and Ima shivered whenever she breathed it in. I was confused so I decided to see what was going on. A line of men was leading to beyond the gates to where the smoke rose and I thought of the worse. That rancid smell could be the burning of flesh! But I was afraid and pushed the thought to the back of my mind. If it was true, then Dominik must hurry with his plan. Maybe I would die before he got a chance to tell me…

I returned to the little girls and began to tell them a story to calm them down when suddenly the door opened, hitting the bedpost with a loud bang

"Achtung!" a German soldier yelled, standing in the doorway. "Everyone out now! Schnell! Schnell!"

He started to grab the elderly, all bones, and throw them out the door where more soldiers stood waiting. Their faces shined in the spotlight. It was a dark night, barely any moon to give light because of the smoke. I gathered up the small girls and had them form a line, shushing them and telling them to be brave.

Outside, Dominik directed the women into two lines with a sullen voice. Women of over 40 years of age to this line, everyone else to that line. I began to panic and grabbed Ima's arm. She did not react and I pulled harder. The girls began to sob. They cried out to their mothers who were just like Ima, too shocked. Even I broke down into a crying fit. I didn't want to be left alone, not after all that had happened.

"Emerson, do something! She's causing trouble!" the soldier yelled and I was torn away from Ima by my own friend. "Damn all these crying Jews!"

And Ima left me, just like that. I fell to the ground, kneeling on blood-stained knees. Dominik returned me into the line with the little girls clinging to each other.

This is it, I thought. This is really it. This is the end of my life, the last of the Isaacs. What is going to become of me?

I looked at Dominik, feeling betrayed. But he gave me a wink. I glared at him and looked down to the ground. Ugh! That stupid wink that gave me hope three days ago and now betrays me. When I look at him to see his reaction, he smiles. How can someone be smiling at a time like thi…

A car enters through the wooden gates, screeching at a halt in front of us, and a high-ranking looking German steps out in full uniform with medals shining about. He paced back and forth, looking as if he was going to pick out the best looking fruit among the rotten ones. That was exactly what he was doing. He began to pick girls behind me, girls around my age, and turned to the soldier who had burst into our building.

"Ah, these girls will do me some good in Auschwitz," he said to him with a smile. "I can't believe how many Jews you can squish into here, Hans."

Hans laughed. "Well, we do have the incinerator, sir. The good ones are all here."

I thought of Ima. By now, she could have been thrown in with little resistance or she could be awaiting her turn, all because she was a Jew over 40 years old. What a horrible thought. It is now that I realized that the Germans could not be trusted. But what about Dominik? He coughed as the high-ranking soldier picked the girls close to me. I looked at him like I always did when I thought he was sick and there appeared the sign, a simple word. The plan he either thought of just now or three days ago was going to take action at the last second.

Run.

And I ran away from the voices yelling for me to be shot. My legs weren't failing me and I kept on running. I was sure that I would feel multiple metal bullets pierce me but a shot rang out and the light was cut as soon as I reached the outside of the camp. And in the distance, I heard Dominik.

"Scheisse! You ruined my shot, you dirty Jew!"

Had he purposely shot the spotlight? Was he blaming an imaginary person? I didn't take the risk to stop and think about it. The voices grew distant as my little legs carried me away.

"Hurry, after her!"

"Organize patrol, you idiot!"

"I can't see anything!"

"After her!"

"Run, you slow dumbass!"

"It's too dark!"

"Do we not have dogs? Send them after her!"

"You dirty Jew! I'll have you thrown in the burner when I find you!"

.x.x.x.x.

I was panting really hard now. I had no idea how far I had traveled but no voices followed me for almost an hour and I had no German confrontation. I had no idea where I was either. I didn't want to stop to find out in the middle of the woods. Luck had been on my side tonight. If it hadn't been for the smoke…if it hadn't been for the high-ranking soldier…if it hadn't been for Dominik…I would be ashes by now.

My stomach began to growl and I felt weak from the skipped meals. If hunger didn't get me, the animals would surely eat me off. I had to find shelter. And there it was – a barn, a shelter for the night.