Wicki chewed on a piece of grass, gazing out at the forest. Just then Donny strolled on over, wearing just his undershirt and a pair of dusty slacks. Clutching onto his baseball bat, he swung it in the air, making wind noises before stopping.
"What's on your mind?"
Wicki took the piece of grass out and sighed.
"I think something was wrong."
"With what?"
"India, I think something happened."
"What do you mean?"
"The fact she came all that way just to say she might not be able to make contact, she looked as though she was trying to tell us something."
"Do you think he was starting to suspect her?"
"I don't know. Before we head out I'm going to check back at that post office, see if she send anything."
Donny raised an eyebrow.
"It's just been a few days, she all ready made a point telling us she didn't want to risk it sending messages too often. Besides, we're all ready risking our luck repeating the same place."
"Yeah well, I'm still going to check. If there's nothing I'll let it rest."
Watching him go, Donny got a terrible feeling deep inside the pit of his stomach.
Meanwhile...
India sat silently in the train car with Landa as he smoked his pipe. She had her bag beside her and had thought about maybe taking her knitting out but her head was starting to hurt again. Sitting there, she stared off into space, trying her hardest not to break down.
Her entire body ached and throbbed. Her vision continued to blur as she sat there, Landa's arm tightly around her as he read the paper.
He was taking her through the country, to some hospital in hopes that they could do something about that tumor that was causing her to slowly loose her sight. Tumor that had slowly been starting to kill her for the last few years.
She didn't know if the bastards would receive her message, nor even care to follow. She knew she had to be smart when they arrived in Germany. She would slip away before they reached the hospital, even if it came down to her breaking something over Hans' head. She would flee, running and trying her hardest to hide.
She would start to work on trying to get back to America, but before that...she would take care of the baby.
She had been married briefly, years ago to a wonderful man who met her when she was just fifteen. Just a few years before she began working for Britain. He died suddenly, leaving her alone...just a girl to fend for herself. She knew she was foolish to have fallen for an older man at her age, but focused her life on trying to help others.
She slowly trained, and transformed her entire life on making herself someone else. The life of a spy was a depressing one, and she felt wouldn't be a long one either.
She wondered if she did escape alive, what would she do?
For the first time in awhile...she had nor idea or cared.
Later that night.
Aldo stared down at the map and message before raising an eyebrow and looking up at Wicki's anxious looking face.
"We follow her?"
Also sighed folding the piece of paper.
"Hell...we would even be lucky to follow the train, let alone be able to keep up."
"But she's one of our biggest leads. I have a feeling something was going on."
"Yeah, and it could be a trap."
Wicki seemed almost to plead with his eyes as he stared across at Aldo. After a moment, he glanced over at Donny.
"I'm sorry...it's just too risky. You said it yourself you felt something was fishy going on with her. Besides we've been using the same post office for the last few months. Our luck won't hold up forever. I say we stay in this area a while longer before moving on. If we come around these parts we'll check in. If not we'll just use another one of the Brits spies. Until then just forget about her. She seemed like a pretty smart kid. She's got some balls to be married to The Jew Hunter...but she knew the risks."
Crumpling the piece of paper, Aldo turned walking away. Standing there feeling helpless, Wicki turned and caught Donny's eyes for just a moment before shaking his head. Aldo was their leader, they had to follow orders, and if he thought India's message of where she was going was a waste of time, they simply had to follow his word.
Still, something seemed very wrong.
Picking up the paper, Wicki smoothed it over in his hands, staring at the thin handwriting from India. Feeling dread fill his heart, he knew they could do. She had written in a hurry, the letter just dated the evening before. It said she was leaving that day on a train, it's information posted along side. She said Hans was taking her to Germany and she didn't know exactly how long she would be.
Wicki noticed how quickly written these words were, as if she was in a great hurry or her hands were shaking.
He knew judging from the letter, India didn't really expect anything to be done. She had explained before how she would be making less and less contact.
Still, she bothered to show where she was going.
Hoping wherever she was, she was safe. Wicki simply folded the paper and slid it into his front jacket pocket. Looking up at the gray sky, he knew a storm was coming...sadly for him he had no idea what kind.
Meanwhile...
India laid across the seats, trying her hardest to sleep. It had begun to snow outside and the constant rocking wasn't exactly doing wonders for her stomach.
Landa knelt down, reaching over and gently touching her face.
India's eyes fluttered open as Hans sighed.
"How are you feeling love?"
India felt sleepy and sore all over. Looking around she saw how quickly the trees were passing outside and how heavy the snow was coming down. Blinking she looked around.
"Where are we?"
"We'll be making a brief stop tonight. How's your head?"
His hand slid up feeling her forehead as if the source of all of this was coming from a fever. India had the strongest urge to slap him away. Instead she sat up and lied.
"Fine..."
Hans sighed before gently taking her hand and kissing it, there he glanced down at the ugly bruise the strap had left around her wrist. Kissing it, he rubbed her hand up against his face.
"I'm so sorry about what happened."
India just stared, she knew if she said anything she would loose it. Hans stared back, his eyes showing a little emotion.
"Listen, there's no excuse for how I've been acting. It's just been so much at once. The thought of loosing you scares me darling, and then finding out we're finally having that child we've wanted so badly..."
"So you hit and rape me?"
Hans' expression dropped, suddenly she was terrified.
"I do what a husband pleases to do with his wife. I have urges and needs and you understand that. Why would we be traveling all this way to find you the best help there is?"
India sat up, gently rubbing her own wrist.
"Because you said it yourself, you're scared for your unborn child...or should I say son."
Before Landa could say another word, the train shook violently. India looked around with scared eyes as the lights flickered before Hans placed his hand on her leg firmly.
"It's the storm...God knows the winds are picking up."
Sitting back, India closed her eyes sighing deeply as Has wrapped his arm around her. Kissing her cheek, he drew her in closer.
"I promise you, I'll never hurt you again...all right?"
India didn't answer, she knew he was a psychopath and each word he said was a lie.
Two days later.
India was sedated at the hospital in Germany, glass bottles of fluids hooked up to her as she slept. The doctor, one of the finest in the countries stood just outside of her room with Landa, simply shaking his head.
"An operation would kill her. I open her up, she'll bleed out. I think the swelling you get her first. She will loose her sight soon, there's nothing we can do about that. I fear an aneurysm will more than likely be the cause of death. When this happens, I don't exactly know. Her blood pressure is horrible...she may very well pass before she can even carry the child to term."
Hans glared at the doctor.
"I'll go to another hospital, find other doctors..."
"Colonel, with all do respect you can travel everywhere you wish...but I'm sure you won't find what your looking for. There's nothing to help your wife. The best I can tell you is to keep her comfortable."
Turning, the doctor left, his shoes loudly clicking and echoing down the hall.
Turning, Landa felt his heart throb. Laying in the other room, looking so frail and week was the love of his wife.
And she was dying.
He joined her by her side, looking out the window as heavy snow began to fall. A storm had hit, causing white out conditions. Taking her hand, Hans kissed it before she opened her eyes.
"Landa?"
"We're going home tonight love."
India raised an eyebrow, feeling groggy.
"What?"
"I'm taking you home. These fools of doctors have no idea what their talking about."
"But..."
"I all ready have a driver coming. I'm afraid the trains have been shut down for the weather."
"What did the doctor say?"
"Nothing to worry yourself about. All that matters if you and our baby are fine. It was a stupid mistake to take you here...we'll travel by car and hurry back as soon as possible before this damn weather gets any worse. You wouldn't have any idea how hard it was to hire a doctor to drive in this snow."
India wanted to say something, she wanted to protest, but the drugs these people have been giving her left her in a hazy state. Laying back, India simply closed her eyes, feeling the odd comfort of Hans kissing her hand.
Good, she thought. Good...if he was taking her back, the second they returned home she would make a run for it. She would sneak off and just pray that the bastards had stayed put. She would join them, and quickly find a way to end this pregnancy.
Somehow nothing seemed to matter. Falling asleep, she muttered something before becoming still.
That evening the snow had gotten worse. Hans insisted on carrying India to the car, wrapped up in blankets. Carefully he laid her in the backseat with himself as his driver nervously looked around. Snow was pouring from the skies, the wind hitting them like glass.
When he got behind the wheel, he looked back at Hans who had India laying across the back seat, her head resting in his lap and he gently brushed back her hair.
"Sir...the roads are bad. They said there's white outs. Maybe I should drive you to a nearby inn and we can wait until the storm passes..."
Hans glared up, almost showing his teeth.
"Drive."
Gulping, the driver turned and started the engine.
As they drove out of the village and onto the side roads, the driver held onto the wheel tightly as the harsh wind rocked the car as it glided across the icy narrow roads. Within the hour, he could barley see a few feet in front of him as snow kept blowing around.
In the backseat Hans was unaware of any of this. Instead he softly hummed an old song he vaguely remembered his mother singing to him years ago when he was a child. He knew India was weak, and barley able to keep her eyes open.
He brushed her hair back, staring down at her face.
Hours passed, and soon they were driving through the countryside. Driving on a narrow curved road that sat high up on a mountain ledge, a raging icy river surrounded them down below. The driver could barley keep the car from skidding as he kept creeping along, hunched forward trying to see.
India stared up at Hans, still gently stroking her face.
That's when the car lost control.
The sound of screaming breaks filled the air as the driver screamed, trying his hardest to gain control of the car. It slid across the road before hitting the ledge and crashing down the steep drop off, hitting the raging driver below.
For India one second she was staring up at Landa, the next everything was quickly spinning out of control. She screamed as she slammed around like a rag doll. Next thing she knew she heard broken glass and icy water surrounded her everywhere.
For a second she thought she was dead.
The water hit her like a million knifes. The shock of the water caused her to snap her eyes open. She knew she was underneath the water as it spun around her. The currant forcing her to crash into rocks down below. Struggling to try and break surface, she screamed loosing her breath before finally she clawed and broke the water.
Gasping, her hair plastered in her face, she bobbed up and down from the river, quickly being dragged down.
It was snowing and she saw the wreck of the car crashed on the shore, she had been thrown. Her entire body felt numb as she struggled to keep above the water before it brought her down with a horrible tug. Struggling, she kicked and gasped for breath before she slammed into something and blacked out.
Her body was carried further and further down the river, out of sight and very far away.
Just mere minutes later, the driver, bleeding and badly battered dragged Landa out of the wreck of the car, dragging his body across the thick snow that had gathered on shore. Hans opened his eyes, his head bleeding and his entire body badly hurt from the crash.
The car had slid off the road above and crashed straight down below. It now looked like a twisted awful skeleton of metal and glass. Landa took a second, it was freezing and the storm was causing the wind to knock them back.
That's when his eyes widened.
"My wife!"
Struggling to his feet, ignoring his broken ribs he stumbled in the snow to reach the car when the driver shook his head.
"She wasn't in it, I think she was thrown!"
He had to yell over the wind. Right away Landa froze, searching, he looked around and saw the dark river just a few feet away. His face dropping, he looked around. Panic building as the driver hurried beside him.
"SHE DOESN'T KNOW HOW TO SWIM!"
The driver stared at him, knowing how bad the currant was. If she had been thrown into the driver, she couldn't have survived.
"Francisca! WHERE ARE YOU!"
Lands screamed over the howling wind. Trying to walk into the river, the driver grabbed his arm.
"There's no way she could have survived..."
Hans fought him, screaming his wife's name over and over again.
Ten minutes later...
India washed up on shore, soaked and freezing.
She clawed her way up the embankment, her hands raw and red from the freezing snow as she rolled over. Her chest heaving, she took a second, her entire body felt badly battered and beaten. Her side was bleeding and so wasn't her head.
Clutching herself, she shook all over looking around. Her vision was blurry and she had no idea where she was. Stepping into the snow, she shivered all over feeling as if she was going to go into shock before she wandered into the forest completely alone.
Her head ached very badly and all she remembered was her name being screamed before she went under the water.
Everything else was a blur.
All she knew was that she was lost and in these temperatures, she would die soon.
That's when she remembered something as she shook all over, her clothes weighing her down as she began to loose feeling in her arms and feet.
She stared up at the North star and remembered a camp, it was very far away and there was no way she could find it in daylight. Shivering she continued to walk before she stopped.
A small cave buried in the snow sat there. Shaking, she stumbled over, her footprints getting covered by the falling snow. Clawing her way over, she wiggled her way inside out of the storm and found that the cave wasn't that big at all. At one point long ago, it must have been a fox hole.
Curling up underneath the dry leafs, she shook and thought that maybe, just maybe this was the way she was supposed to die. Curling up, she shut her eyes and thought of a name...
Wicki...
Somehow that name brought her comfort as she passed out.