Lately I have seen that the visits have grown a lot, if someone thinks they have something to say; do not shut it up. You can make reviews or send me PMs when you deem appropriate.
Discouraged, I return to the beginning of the queue, I pass some other people, their looks reveal to me that they understand the situation in which I find myself and they show me a bittersweet smile.
I need documentation to pass, but since my person does not exist at this time, it is not possible that I have said documentation. And even if I found a city council or government office to issue these documents to me, with the times that seem to run, I don't think they are for minor bureaucratic procedures.
I go back to what looked like the town square and sit on the stairs that surround some kind of commemorative statue of something that must have happened a long time ago. I need to think, think about my next move. If I can get in touch with the mafias, there are always mafias around these kinds of migratory events, maybe I can get a false passport; enough to cross the border; but who knows what they can ask me in return. Since I have nothing of the current currency and nothing that could be considered of value.
To be honest, if they ask me to pass some drugs or contraband goods, I could cross the border but be captured by law enforcement just on the other side. Going from a bad situation to a slightly better one is not that I am excited about it.
I need an outlet, I have food for two or three days. I must have found a solution within three days or I will have to stay here forever.
I could also try to hide on a merchant ship to cross the border, but if I am discovered at any moment the future would be uncertain. I don't want to end up in an orphanage from this time, I don't care what people say from this time.
My guts are rumbling, so much worry has made me hungry. I take off my backpack and grab something I may have that is moderately edible. People look at me when I take some food out of my backpack, it seems that they are even less fortunate than me.
I attract too many glances, put the food back in the backpack and get up from the stairs. As I do it three people right in front of me do it too. I feel some fear, now I no longer have the physical strength that I once possessed or something that I can use as a weapon to defend myself properly.
I hurry to leave the square, the idea is to make a detour and try to lose those who supposedly want to rob me.
I have no evidence that they are about to do so, but instinct tells me that they probably are.
I leave the square and accelerate my pace, I can hear heavy footsteps behind me, I start to walk faster and the footsteps also accelerate. I start to run and, immediately behind me, I hear the footsteps start the race.
I rotate a couple of times, and I soon realize that it was not such a good idea, this is not my city; I don't know it. Soon I find myself surrounded by a group, now older, of adults and teenagers; I recognize some of them from the plaza or from the queue area.
His gesture is grave, as if what is about to happen is something of great importance.
I try to get away from my pursuers but every time I try to move to the side, the circle gets smaller; until I can see people's faces clearly from just a couple of meters away.
They close a little more ranks, it is inevitable, they are going to rob me. My two or three day food forecast is going down the drain.
If they leave me without food, I won't have time to think about a way out and who knows if they wouldn't steal something else from me, like; everything I have. I try to move but I can't, it is a strange sensation, it is as if my consciousness is moving away from the situation and everything that happens to me feels like a movie or series. Like something not real.
One grabs my chest and lifts me up a bit, it's not that I have a lot of strength, it's that I weigh little. He shakes me a little and raises a closed fist to hit me, I close my eyes and clench my teeth; getting ready for the moment.
One, two, three and several seconds pass and nothing happens. I open my eyes.
There is a man in a dark brown coat holding my captor's arm, there are also five other figures around those who tried to rob and beat me. They all dress alike.
They have saved me. The only thing is, God knows why they did that and I doubt it is because they are good Samaritans.
The man who stops me from being beaten demands that I be released and disperse.
The one holding me by the front denies and looks at another to my left, he is clearly older but has similar features; they must be close family.
I hear the characteristic metallic sound of a weapon being loaded and cocked, then that same sequence but repeated four more times. My captor's face changes from concern to fear. The older man gives the order and I am released. As soon as he lets me go, I lose my balance and fall to the ground on my ass.
The pursuers scatter.
-Okay, let's have a brief chat. I said before, we have to talk but let's go somewhere else to have that conversation. This place does not seem appropriate to me. - He adds in an extremely polite tone.
I nod. I'm afraid. Much. But I have no other way out right now.
The figures surrounding the scene are wearing MP-40 submachine guns and long coats, but they do not give the impression of belonging to the army of any country. They guide me through the alleys to a house, although it does not appear to be very large, it is appropriately furnished.
The man who spoke earlier tells me to take a seat, I do so and he takes a chair and puts it right in front of me, then sits on it, puts his elbows on his knees, clasps his hands and rests his head on them.
-Leave us alone for a while.- He says looking up a bit. -You are intimidating a bit and I want to talk to the boy without any coercion.- One of the figures nods and in order they all leave the room.-You see, I don't know if you will believe it or not but one, let's say friend, told us that someone would appear in this town. Someone who clearly would need outside help, but who in the future could be of great use to ... Our "cause". - The man smiles after saying the cause.
This makes my blood run cold. It is not what he said but how he said it and the gestures he made while he spoke. Between that and the situation I'm in, it was terrifying.
The man waits a bit to see if I answer but I just wait in silence, he would need more information to know what this is all about, and it is not as if he is going to be worth anything, it seems that the decision has already been made.
The man looks down and continues his strange tale.
-Wow, I was hoping you'd say something. I guess you've seen that kind of ability before. You are a man of the world.- I don't know what "ability" he refers to. -Look, you will see this as an asymmetric and somewhat disproportionate treatment but I see it as an investment and our friend has never failed us. I will get you to pass, but one day I will contact you again and you will not be able to refuse, you will have to do what I tell you. It is understood?-
I nod, gulp, and nod again.
-Well. Perfekt. Erik, Adler, right? - I nod again nervously. - It's not a bad name, also with a name from here you will attract less attention. This saves us a lot of time. Tomorrow you will have your identification documents. You will cross to Batland and there you will enlist as a volunteer in the youths. No, don't worry, the youths are not used for combat, they only do light work tasks and the occasional humanitarian mission with the red cross.- He adds when my face changes to panic.
I know that youths started out as little more than "boy scouts" but I also know that they ended up as "crazy kids with panzerfaust."
It was not very funny about having to wait for tomorrow or forcing me to get into youth, but I don't have much choice either. I get up from my chair and say thanks in a small voice like the time the old man at the barrier stitched up the wound on my forehead.
-Where are you going? - asks the man. I shrug my shoulders. -No, you will sleep here. -If we have gone to so much trouble to avoid being beaten and robbed, we are not going to risk that it could happen tonight.-
He didn't know whether to be grateful or nervous. I didn't know if I could trust these people, a yawn escapes me that I try to cover by closing my mouth.
-See, even you are sleepy. Use the chair to sleep. You must be tired. - The man points to an armchair located in a corner of the room.
I take off my backpack and left it leaning against the side of the chair, then I take off my coat and reveal my shirt, it is a modern garment, although it does not differ much from those of this time if you approach to examine it closely you can notice that it's kind of strange by today's standards.
I get on the chair helping myself with my hands, now that I am somewhat shorter I find it difficult to get on the chair. When I was little I didn't pay attention to these things, I suppose because they were normal, but now that they happen to me again I pay special attention. I have gotten older and have developed certain hobbies, such as doing things in such a way that it consumes the least amount of energy and / or time possible; And the fact that I have to use all my effort to just climb up on the couch makes my little inner OCD scream with rage.
The man who kindly or interestedly, depending on how you look at it, offered me a house to sleep in and promised me identity documents, he probably approached me to help me climb but stopped trying when I finally climbed to the top of my own mountain.
-Those clothes ... - He looks with a dismayed gesture. I don't know what that gesture means. -You will attract a lot of attention when you are with other boys. Clothes like that do not exist here, you must wear the one that they provide you in the field when you join the youth.-
I am still not amused that he insists that I join that group, it is a way out, but it is no better than the orphanage that I am so afraid of.
I sit on the couch and cover myself with the coat that I had previously taken off, the house is closed but I still know from a good source that the nights are cold.
-Don't worry about your safety, I'll keep the room myself. The others will guard the house. You're sure- He announces with a very reassuring smile.
The only downside is that the smile is offset by the situation in which I find myself.
I close my eyes, I'm not sure I'm going to open them again tomorrow, but for all the trouble they took, it doesn't seem like they wanted to kill me, they could have done it many times.
I can't sleep, to sleep you have to close your eyes and empty your mind, however with everything that happened; I just can't get to sleep. The words that the man who saved me said this afternoon do not stop haunting my head.
He said that they were waiting for me, that a "friend" told them about me, a friend with a special ability. I don't know how someone knew that I would get there without knowing myself that I would get here.
I have to get to talk to that friend, she knows something. As small as it is, it's worth it to me.
There is also the fact that I value myself as an investment for her cause, what causes?
This scares me the more I think about it, they don't look like legal people, they were armed and they didn't look like soldiers. I saw soldiers at the barrier and they were nothing like these people.
I open my eyes and see that, as he promised, the man is sleeping in another chair right in front of me.
I take out my cell phone as an involuntary act to check the time, the room is dimly lit, it's twenty-seven at night, I don't know what time they get up here, but I estimate that I went to sleep around eight.
I turn off the mobile screen and curl up against the chair, now warm, to continue sleeping. I'd swear the man was watching me, all the more reason to put my phone away.
. . .
When I open my eyes again I immediately notice the cold at the tip of my nose, it is not enough to make steam come out when I breathe but the room and; probably the house; It stayed cold as I anticipated yesterday.
Again I take out my cell phone to see what time it is, it's early, it's not even six o'clock. I'm not sleepy and it's no wonder I've been asleep for almost ten hours, it should be better than fine, but since it seems that no one has moved, I'm going to go back to sleep and pretend that I'm already awake.
-You shouldn't use that kind of artifact when you're just around the rest of the kids if you don't want to draw unnecessary attention.- The sudden comment almost made me jump off the couch. Since when was this man awake?
-I just wanted to see the time.- The man looks puzzled, and it is not to be surprised; the first mobile phone that also told the time must have appeared in the mid-nineties, at this time the only thing that marks the time is the clock.
-I will give you a watch so you can see the time instead of using "that". - The man gets up from his chair and does some stretching. -Come on, it's time to get up. -He urges me to start the day.
I lazily get up from the couch and stretch like a small animal, then jump down and put on the coat that served as my blanket tonight.
I look at the man, he still doesn't tell me what his name is, of course I didn't ask either.
The man waves his hand for me to leave the room, I grab the doorknob; it is cold; I open the door and the atmosphere of the rest of the house gives me a warm welcome.
Apparently the people who stayed outside must have lit a stove and the atmosphere is warmer and more pleasant than the one in the room.
-Today you will receive your new documents, try to take care of them, since I don't think you can get new ones unless you stick to your identity and in spite of that, that will take you some time.
- Where?- I ask curiously.
-Someone will bring the documents to this house, then we will accompany you to the dock for you to pass.- He responds with a smile like last night.
I leave the room, today it seems that there are fewer people than yesterday, some may have gone to get the documents that they promised me.
There are only two of the strange and dangerous people, apart from the man who slept in the same room as me.
I think, no, I'm pretty sure he did it to keep an eye on me. The man sits in a chair in a room that looks like the kitchen. One of the people who stayed here brings you a deep plate with some food, it's meat and vegetables.
For my part, I open the backpack and extract the last cookies that I eat along with some water.
The people in the room; the man who is having breakfast and the other two look curiously at the cookies that I am having for breakfast, it must not be very common in their daily diet.
After breakfast the man turns and urges me to sit in another chair, apparently we will wait for those who are missing to come to get my documents and then to the dock, or perhaps they were the ones in charge of getting the documents.
I don't have to wait long, as the missing trio enters through a door located in this kitchen and that led to the outside, just like in the house I stayed in before for the last few days.
-Okay, it seems they have the package- The man looks at me and puts one of his hands on my shoulder -I don't know what you were called before, but now you are Erik Adler, born on March thirty-first, nineteen hundred and twenty-seven. Got it? - I nod. It's not like I have to learn it, after all that must be in the documents I'm going to receive. -Gut-
One of the people passes him an envelope, he takes it, opens it and puts his hand in it. From it he takes out a brown card, similar to a passport.
-This is your new identity document.- The man hands me the card, I pick it up, take out the wallet and try to put the card inside, it is not possible, it is too big.-If those are your old identity documents, I suggest you save them; you will never know when you will need them again.-
The man adds when he sees the content of my portfolio. I keep doing things that could put me in danger. I have to control myself, pay attention to these details, and start to get used to my new reality. I keep the new ID in the inside pocket of my coat, so it's safe but easy to reach if I need calls.
Then the man nods and gives directions to the rest to go to the dock.
-I'll go with the boy. You will keep your distance but will supervise the entire operation. It is more credible if the boy goes with an adult than if he goes with seven. - The rest agree.
That said, the others gather their things and we leave the house; it's cold; but not as much as yesterday. Although if you look at the sky you can see a blanket of white clouds, an unequivocal sign that it will snow soon. Mist comes out of my mouth and nose when I breathe. I don't know what the temperature is, but it's almost certainly below zero.
We go to the port walking calmly through the alleys, the escorts are divided into groups of two; the first couple is ahead of our position, while the second stays away from us enough to be able to intervene if necessary and the last one simply goes as far as the first couple but in the opposite direction; as covering the rear.
The man takes me by the hand, he feels strange, but I suppose that from the outside he just seems like an adult is holding a minor of the family by the hand of him; all relatively normal.
The man instructs me to alter my way of walking and my face, he says that saying something that boys my age should not have such a confident step or expression so serious; that he is something more adult.
He wouldn't believe me if I told him that until a few days ago I was also an adult. We walk through the town, some glances follow us, it seems to me that they are those of the other time.
-They're the ones from the other time.- I whispered to the man. He nods. -They wait for their moment.-
-Don't worry, they won't catch you here with me. And with the others, they just won't get there.- He smiles the same way he did until now; reassuringly but with the impression that something was not right.
We arrive at the dock area and get in line, as it is in the morning, and very soon, there are only ten or twelve people ahead; we soon reach the end of the queue.
Before the border officer at the border post can say anything the man lets go of me, he turns and crouches to see my face directly; then he brings his face close to my ear and whispers something to me.
-When you will cross, do not wait to recon the terrain. I know it's important to you, but go straight to the nearest recruiting office, and you give this to the recruiting officer.- He puts an envelope in my coat pocket. -Good luck.- He stands up and kisses me on the front. Another weird scene.
The officer asks for identification, I will give it to him. He looks a little puzzled when I take it out of his inner coat pocket but he doesn't seem to care about the minutiae.
-Wait!- The man who gave me the ID and the opportunity to cross the border asks for a moment for something, bends down again and removes the watch from his wrist. Yes, I remember him saying that he would provide me with a watch so that he would not use my "artifact", my cell phone.
He takes off his wristwatch, and puts it on my left wrist. It is something strange, since I have not worn a wristwatch for more than twenty years, but; What is not weird in this situation?
-Now you no longer need to attract so much attention.- The man smiles again. I know he does it to look like a cute goodbye but he's getting on my nerves.
So, I can finally cross to the other side of the gate. The officer tells me to go up a gangplank to a ship. I turn around just before heading up it to wave to the man who was staying on the other side of the customs barrier. It might seem like a last goodbye but in reality I was giving my most sincere thanks to that stranger who, for his own reasons, had decided to help me through this bad and hopeless moment.
I go aboard the ship and sit on the deck with the other immigrants.
. . .
I cross the pier walkway again, on my way Fried and Karl join me; they were watching the whole operation so that nothing happened.
-Has the boy left? - I nod confidently, another step for our plans to be fulfilled. The boy was right where she said he would be.
-Indeed, that is why she is our trusted confidant.- I answer, the truth is that I do not know Samantha beyond a professional relationship, but it is true that without her invaluable help we would not have been able to go that far.
The protection couple from the rear arrive, they are dirty and have some bruises on their faces. I raise an eyebrow at the sight of them.
-They took us by surprise, they wanted the boy. I don't know why, but it seemed to me that they wanted him for more than just stealing from him. That's why we fought with them and we lost both of you. - Uwe apologizes.
The other just shrugs when I look in their direction. Well, I can't ask for a better result. The package is safe and if you do what I told you then everything will be settled.
Of course chances are he won't do what I told him to do since he seems to be pretty self-sufficient, but last night I gave him enough reasons and assurance to trust me.
We will have to wait for the results.
When we reach the house the last two appear, just around the corner at that moment.
-Where were you?- I ask them, they should be at their posts.
-We retreated as soon as you got to the dock, more than four people watching could attract attention, we went back to the house and received information in a transmission from the headquarters. The other two reached South Liberion. They managed to evacuate well and safely.-
Sigh relieved. The three objectives assigned to us by the plant were assured. Mission accomplished, at least for now.
-What do we do now? -Asks the other.
-We will return with the main forces and wait for new orders.-
Everyone nods and we begin to dismantle what had been our base for the last three months.
We had been here for three months waiting for the last goal.
Now Hans, Fritz and Erik were insured.
Only the worst part remains, that they manage to survive to the tipping point. Samantha says it will be "soon" but how long is that? One month, two; one year? How much is it actually?