Rifiuto: Non Miriena

A/N: My bf picked me up from dance so we could go for coffee and he apologized for his father. I told him that it wasn't his fault the man he calls 'Dad' is an absolute son of a bitch- literally, his paternal grandmother wasn't much better than him; thank God I only met her once before she died ( I know that's harsh, but... she made it abundantly clear that her grandson was lowering his station in life by being involved with an artist). So we got coffee and Chinese and headed back to his apartment, took a bunch of blankets to the living room and sat in front of the small fireplace in his apartment before putting in Nightmare on Elm Street because I've never seen the whole series all the way through.

He asked me to pull up my fan fiction so he can read it- I normally don't let him read it, just because it's me- but I allowed him to read it anyway. He's got a few little tips and changes that I can make or not, since it's my fiction, and I suggested maybe a collaboration... I know a lot about the Holocaust and the War, but he knows more because his great-uncle lived through it, and, unlike most survivors, actually talks about it. So I told him we'd try the collab, and see how it goes. And also, it was my bf's idea to have her go back; it was my idea to have her watching the events unfold from the 'bug's eye view' so to speak. This collab thing could work...

"Though it be to die, we will fight...We will fight not for ourselves, but for future generations...

Although we will not live to see it, our murderers will pay for their crimes after we are gone.

And our deeds will live forever."

- Itzhak Katzenelson (1886 - 1944), Jewish Teacher, Poet & Dramatist

19 April, 1943

Warsaw

6:30 A.M.

The water sloshed against her boots, turning the leather a disgusting shade of black; she ignored the smell, that they- for there were at least twenty others with them, of various ages- were now slugging through urine, feces and disease-laden water didn't register with her. What did register was the noise coming from the streets above them.

She could hear the thud of boots, the sound of gunfire; the sewers they were in shook with the blast of homemade bombs. Distant screaming reached her ears, and she stopped, listening. "Zahrah?" But she ignored Chava, who turned back, causing the others to stop.

"We... we have to go back." She whispered, glancing over her shoulder back the way they came. The screaming and shouting ran straight to her bones; if she listened hard enough, she thought she could hear Miriam screaming or Levi's shouting. She started back, but Asher rushed to her, grabbing her arm.

"We cannot go back!" She turned to him.

"But-"

"If we go back and the Germans find us, we will die. They will shoot us on the spot." Chava cried out, and one of the other women pulled the child into her side. "Do you want that?" He tugged her back towards the group and ushered them to keep going, but Zahrah tugged her arm out of his grip, rushing back through the few tunnels they'd moved through already towards the manhole cover. Once there, she climbed up the small ladder and after several minutes of struggle, managed to push the cover up a few inches. Through the slit, she was instantly greeted with the smell of gunfire and the shouts of both German and Hebrew. She ducked back into the darkness as someone ran by, followed by the grunts of gunfire. But once they were gone, she returned her gaze to the street, unable to look away.

German soldiers were firing at individuals, and some individuals were firing back. Groups of men and women alike threw homemade grenades or fired guns; sometimes they would hit their target, other times, they wouldn't. And sometimes-

"Levi!" The sight of her brother on the ground just a few feet from her, a German standing over him with gun pointed, ripped his name from her throat, and both he and the German turned. Seeing her seemed to give him the strength he needed knock the other man to his feet. He struggled to crawl towards her, and she had to struggle to push the cover up, only to have Levi push it back down. "Levi! Where's Mir-"

"You need to go, Zahrah!"

"But-"

"Go! This is your only chance! Go!"

"But Levi-" A grenade exploded close by and she flinched.

"Go, Zahrah! Go!" But before she could reply, he shoved the cover back onto the hole, sending her tumbling back into the sewer. She landed on her backside, staring up at the cover, waiting for Levi to pull it up and tell her she should return to the apartment. But it never came. What did, were the muffled sounds of gunfire and fighting, followed soon by the sound of water sloshing as someone rushed to her. When she looked up, it was to see Asher kneeling down and helping her up. He grabbed her hand, tugging her through the tunnels towards the group waiting for them.

"I told you not to go back!" He turned to her, taking her face in his hands. "Did anyone see you?" She shook her head, and he nodded, relaxing, before they continued on.

"I saw Levi. He... he told me to go and... and then he... he shoved the..." She stopped, glancing back, but Asher pulled her forward.

"You said no one saw you. I am not going to allow us to be captured because of one girl's ignorance." He growled, pushing her gently forward.

"I am not ignorant." She muttered. "And no German saw me, but my brother-" Her words were drowned out as he held her into a smaller tunnel and then yanked a grate shut behind metal creaked, rust hindering its progress, but once it was closed, Asher turned to the rest of the group waiting for them.

"All right, let's keep going. Hurry."