Chapter Three

Gleb was so worried about Anya. The doctors all had their hands full so he had to do it himself. He did the best with the cleaning and stitching, but he wasn't confident in its actual progress. All day he waited beside her, waiting for her to get up. He had waited three days. Don't fall asleep, he drowsily told himself, you can't. She needs you… He closed his eyes and fell into a half sleep.

He hadn't been asleep long when he woke up. He had heard something like a weak moan. He looked up and saw Anya awake, that's a start. She looked at him, "I'm not dead. Where am I?"

"You are in a house. My house."

"Oh." She got up to walk out the door, but Gleb ran in front of her, "Wait! Are you sure you should be leaving? I don't trust that my medical skills helped you very much, you might want to stay a bit longer. Just so nothing happens."

"But if I don't, I'll lose my job. If anything, that'll kill me faster."

"But, you can't! I won't let you!" Gleb was getting angry at her stubbornness, refusing his offer to stay and recover fully. Her stubbornness is going to get her into more trouble than she already draws to herself.

"Why do you care so much?" She looked at him, and it was probably the first time he actually saw her eyes. They were beautiful, "Gleb?"

Gleb took himself out of his gaze and said the most stupid thing he ever could, "Because I love you!" He shrunk when he said this.

"You… Love me? In what way?" She grinned.

"Um…. Well it's like a-a friend." He saw her expression change into hurt, but she smiled soon after, "Oh. I think you're lying!"

He blushed, "What? What makes you say that?" He laughed nervously.

"For starters you stuttered, then you blushed, and now you're laughing. Do you actually love me? Like, love love."

He looked and saw that she was serious, and deep down he knew she wanted him to love her, he wanted to, "Yeah. I do. Do you?"

She smiled, "Yeah. Me too." She kissed him gently on the cheek, "Can I go now?"

He was so shocked that he didn't even pay attention to what he was saying, "Yeah. You can go."

She left and he stood up, "Bye…Hey Wait!" He shook his head and laughed, she sure does know how to get her way.

. . . . . .

Anya couldn't believe that Gleb actually loved her. She wondered if he actually meant it. She meant what she said. She did indeed love him. She brushed the thought away and took up her broom and started sweeping like before. Soldiers were roaming the streets, looking for criminals, and whenever one walked past her, she jumped and looked away, sweeping in the opposite direction. She didn't really trust anyone anymore, other than Gleb. She saw a group of people gathered in the center, "Hey what's going on?" She tapped on one of the men's shoulders.

"Well, can't you see it?"

"No, not really. If you haven't noticed, I'm very vertically challenged."

He looked back into the middle, "An officer was shot, right by this alleyway. The soldiers are after the murderer."

Her face drained in color, "How did he die?"

"Are you good? You look like you know what's going on. The officer was shot with a gun."

She gasped and felt sick. The man looked at her, "I have a feeling you were behind this. Did you have help?" He grabbed her by the arm and started pulling her to the center. She twisted and broke free, "I have to warn Gleb."

"What? The General?" One of the soldiers said, running in front of her. Anya swung her broom and hit him in the head, making him stumble. She found Gleb and grabbed his arms, "Gleb! They found the body and now they're after you. They're also after me now! We have to go!"

He looked behind her and saw the crowd gathered, and the soldiers chasing after them. He grabbed Anya's hand and they ran for the train station. When they arrived a train was about to leave, Gleb helped Anya onto the train, but it started moving. He was running for the train, but tripped and fell, "Gleb! They're here!" Anya cried as the soldiers entered the station.

The train was speeding up and Gleb just barely grabbed the railing and pulled himself up. The soldiers glared at them, then fired a gun. Anya screamed quietly and her eyes were moistening with tears, "Anya?" Gleb asked, putting his hand on her shoulder, "are you alright? It's fine, they're not going to hurt you anymore."

She nodded and wiped her eyes. Right, she told herself. Gleb opened the train door and everyone on board looked behind them, when they saw Gleb, they all turned back around, avoiding his eye contact. Anya leaned her head close to him, "Wow. Everyone sure does love your company. What'd you do?"

"I don't know."

The two sat down near the back, staring out the window. Gleb kept on snaking a few glances at her. She looks beautiful. Her eyes just shine. He felt his cheeks getting hot and he turned back toward the window. After a little while, Anya turned and studied him. He doesn't look like he'd hurt anyone. His eyes are dark, but warm. What are you talking about Anya? She too looked back at the window. Hours passed and the train was still moving, they looked at each other and locked eyes. They stared at each other for a moment, then looked away, blushing. The train stopped and everyone exited the train. Gleb and Anya looked around, then at each other, "Where are we?"

Gleb looked around once again, "It looks like Germany."

"It looks awful."

Gleb huffed, "Let's just go and mind our own business."

They followed the group from the train into a small town. A couple of German soldiers stopped them, "What's your business here?"

Gleb looked at the first soldier, "Why do you ask?"

The second one replied, "Because you're a Russian Soldier."

Gleb looked at Anya, who was trembling with fright, "We are escaping Russia."

The soldiers looked at each other and nodded, "You can stay."

Anya was still trembling, but she was starting to calm down, "Do all Germans speak Russian?"

"Not all. Just some. I think all of the soldiers do."

She sighed and looked down at the ground, "This place reminds me of Russia."

They had been in Germany for about two days and they were called into a line. The line was for workers who could help repair damage. The soldiers looked at everyone in the line and were all selected to help. Anya looked behind her and saw someone trip and fall, then a soldier came, picking them up and taking them someplace. Not long after, she heard a blood curdling scream from where the man was. She shuddered at the thought. When they got there they were put into groups of people; some were working with the metal parts, others had to lift things and carry them, then the last group was in charge of actually building. Gleb had to carry, and Anya had to build. They had to do this for a couple of days, and more and more people kept failing and getting kicked out, so the two had to do more and more work. Anya dropped the tool she was using, and it hit someone in the head below her, he fell on a wooden pole keeping the building together, then the building started to collapse. She ran away from the building as it collapsed the rest of the way. One of the soldiers stepped forward angrily, "Who did this? This is an entire week of work wasted!"

Everyone working on the building pointed at Anya. The soldier came running after her, Gleb took her to the side and he said, "We gotta get out of here."

"Way ahead of you!" Anya yelled while running. Gleb followed behind her. Gleb turned his head and saw that the soldier was decreasing the distance between them. He's fast! They were running for a long time, when the soldier finally stopped chasing them. Even though he stopped, Gleb and Anya kept running. When they stopped it was only because Anya tripped. "You think we lost him?" She asked, in between breaths. Gleb nodded, "Yeah. We lost him."

They got up and walked for about six days and they came across a hill. They both looked down the hill and saw a city. They slowly walked down the hill and arrived there. The people told them that they couldn't stay due to lack of houses, so they boarded a ferry, and after thirty minutes, they arrived in a huge city.