Chapter 38: The Boy from Auschwitz
My life fell into a predictable pattern, or as predictable as it could get in a war zone. When we were at base I trained with Yori and the Commandoes. When I wasn't with them I was writing letters to my family or helping Howard in the lab. At night, I went to Bucky's room. Things still hadn't progressed but that didn't change the fact that we both had considerably fewer nightmares when we were together than when we were apart.
When we were out on a mission it was a mish-mash of sleeping in abandoned buildings and barns or in the middle of the woods or catching Zs in the back of the bouncing truck with my head leaning on Bucky's shoulder and his arm around me. Then was the blaze of bullets and blood that was the actual raids before the peaceful aftermath of our trip back to base.
We found more bodies of mutants with the paperwork gathered from the other makeshift labs. Some were off on their own and some were in buildings occupied by HYDRA. From the documents we'd found we knew that the Red Skull was funding this Klaus Schmidt and giving him lab space in exchange for whatever information he uncovered. They were partners only in the loosest sense.
It was HYDRA, not Schmidt, who was the main priority of the SSR, however, so we spent more time blowing up factories and warehouses than labs. Still, I felt more vindicated after taking out a half-dozen scientists and the skeleton guard of a lab than after tearing through an entire troop or two of HYDRA soldiers.
We'd just come back from a raid on a one of Schmidt's labs. The place used to be a grain house back in the day but thanks to us it was a pile of rubble. None of the mutants had still been alive, but as per usual we had boxes of paperwork with new information loaded up in the back of the truck and a heavy pall over us from digging the graves earlier.
Yori and I were preparing dinner when it happened. Over the sound of the others talking quietly I heard screaming echoing through the trees. Abandoning the soup I stood up sharply and turned to the north, the direction none of us had dared to look since we made camp.
"What's wrong?" Steve asked, standing up sharply and lifting his shield readily.
"I hear screaming," I said softly, expression pained as I looked north. There were winces all around the camp.
"That's not so surprising," Falsworth said gently, "considering where we are."
"It's a child," I said, my voice breaking at the sheer pain and fear I could hear in the screams. They hadn't stopped, just long, drawn out shrieks of agony that tore into my soul.
Dum Dum nodded in the direction of the screams. "It's Auschwitz," he said bitterly, and a grey cloud descended over us at the mention of the name.
"But it's a child," I insisted. "We have to do something."
The aggrieved look on Steve's face told me that he wished to god he could agree with me. "We have our orders. We'd need a lot more men to be able to take on Auschwitz."
I sighed. "You're right," I admitted, even though it killed me to say. I sat back down by the fire and wrapped my arms around myself. Bucky got up from where he was sliding more bullets into a magazine and moved to sit next to me, wrapping an arm around him. I smiled humorlessly at him in thanks but even he could knock the cold out of my bones as the screams continued. I winced and selfishly hoped they'd stop soon even though I fear what it meant if they did.
Yori placed a hand on my shoulder. Her voice was comforting as she said, "Konban ni watakushitachi wo iku." To anyone else it would have sounded like some kind of platitude to make me feel better but I spoke the language. Tonight, we go. Yori was on board.
I looked up at her. I could tell by the way her jaw tensed and she angled her head slightly that she could hear the screams too and wanted to help whoever was screaming as much as I did. I think we both had the same gut-wrenching suspicion. That whoever was doing the screaming was like us, a mutant. That walking away now would mean abandoning one of our own.
Dinner was a somber affair. Bucky lingered close to me and so did Yori as we ate dry rations – we were too close for a fire. When the time came to turn in for the night, Yori and I volunteered.
Bucky kissed my temple sympathetically as Steve looked at us. He didn't seem suspicious, just a little surprised.
"Are you sure you want to?" Steve asked uncertainly. "Maybe if you're asleep…"
"I won't be able to sleep," I replied and I knew that even if I didn't plan to rescue the shrieking child I wouldn't have been able to sleep anyway. The screaming had stopped for periods but it kept coming back. It had cut off abruptly almost an hour ago and I worried what that might mean.
Bucky kissed me goodnight and tucked himself into his bedroll as Yori and I perched on large rocks, seemingly taking up the guard. As we waited for the others to drift off I considered what we were doing. Our plan – well, it was nonexistent. We were going to follow our ears into Auschwitz to find the screaming child and it was going to break our hearts to leave everyone else behind, despite the fact that we had no choice. Steve was right – we needed more people to liberate the whole camp.
Not to mention it was ridiculously dangerous. The two of us against a whole camp of Nazis? They weren't HYDRA but they were still no joke. I was confident I would come out of this with a bullet in me, probably more than one, and Yori would probably be hurt as well.
But the decision had been made the first time we found a mutant lab. When we walked in and none of them were alive and we found out what was gone on, Yori and I had both promised each other, ourselves, and other mutants that we would try and save as many of our kind as we could. Thus far, we'd been able to save distressingly few of them.
I prayed Paulette and Matthaus were safe as Dum Dum's snores started up and Yori stood, her eyes fixed on me meaningfully.
It was time.
It was surprisingly easy to get into Auschwitz, in the end. The concern was people breaking out, not in. Yori grabbed a hold of me and, when the search light had passed, she flew us onto the roof of a building near the edge of camp where we could sit and wait for the screaming to start again, hunkered down in the shadow of a chimney.
All around us was a scene from hell. People too emaciated to be alive, and yet they lived. Their own clothes looked too heavy for their skinny frames. Women and men with their heads shaved to prevent lice, people huddled together to keep out the chill. Children gathered together with wide, staring eyes that saw nothing but horror. I forced myself to look though, made myself watch as the prisoners were herded around the camp.
"This is hell," I said hoarsely, my stomach churning.
"This is what happens when someone decides that they have a right to power over another," Yori replied darkly. "Yes, this is hell."
I twitched. We were not on any strict schedule but I knew that the longer we were gone the more chance there was that one of the Commandoes would wake up and realize we were gone. It wouldn't take long for them to realize where we'd gone and then they'd come for us, risking themselves. I couldn't let that happen.
When the screaming started again it was almost a blessing because it was from the building we were standing on. I looked to Yori in surprise and we glanced down at our feet, then around the camp. It was still dark and would be for several more hours. We waited until the searchlights passed once more and then Yori dangled over the side of the building. Working quickly, she jimmied the window and slipped inside. I followed her in.
My lips twisted into a sneer at the rich carpets and wood paneling on the walls. Whoever lived and worked here lived in the lap of luxury while not a dozen feet away others were treated as less than animals. It made me want to rip the throat from whoever lived there with my teeth, and I meant that literally.
The screaming was still going and it was easy to follow. I was surprised no one was going to investigate until I realized with a jolt why they weren't – everyone knew what was going on, and no one cared.
The shrieks were so loud outside of a door that I had to cover my ears with a wince to keep them from throbbing in pain. The door wasn't even locked, I noticed in surprise when Yori was able to open the door with ease. We swung the door open and stepped inside.
The room was part office, part horror story. In front of us was a large oak desk with filings cabinets and shelves lining the walls around it. The right half of the room was walled off by glass and within was a white-tiled room with metal tables and straps. Torture implements in the guise of medical equipment hung on the walls and glittered on surgical trays.
Only one table was occupied. On it lay a small, brunette boy, no older than eleven or twelve. He seemed to be unconscious, which would explain why the screaming had stopped. Straps ran across his chest, stomach, wrists, ankles, throat, and forehead. Even if he were awake he would have only been able to move a few millimeters.
Yori and I exchanged heartbroken glances and rushed to the door into the glass room. Yori tugged it open and we flew inside to the boy's side. He seemed okay, at least physically. There was a bandage around his right forearm and on his left was inked 214782. His eyes were shut and he might have been sleeping if not for the horrifying surroundings.
"Leibchen," I murmured, cautiously touching the boy's shoulder. I had no way of knowing if he had internal injuries or if he was screaming for other reasons. The moment I touched him though, he came awake and screamed once more. I quickly pressed a hand over his mouth and held a finger before my mouth in the universal sign for silence. The boy's eyes were wide and fearful and blurry but he seemed to understand that much at least because he fell silent.
"Lass uns gehen," I murmured to him. "Wir sind Freunde."
The boy was obviously suspicious but he didn't seem all that unnerved by Yori's strange appearance or by me when I pushed a bone blade from my finger and slit through the ropes holding his head and neck down as Yori gently stroked his hair and hummed soothingly to keep him calm. She didn't speak German and I wasn't sure the boy spoke English, so there was no guarantee they could even communicate. I murmured endearments and encouragements as I carefully cut the straps away.
"Well well. I had one subject and two more walk into my lab of their own free will."
Yori and I whipped around, both of us startled. We'd been so focused on the boy and making him feel safe that we hadn't bothered to watch the door. Standing on the other side of the glass was a man with lines around his eyes and grey at his temple. He wore glasses and tweed and with a jolt I was reminded of Dr. Erskine's usual style. But this was not the friendly German doctor who'd encouraged me when no one else had - this was a monster.
Yori dove for the door with a monstrous shriek as the man pressed a button on a remote pulled from his pocket. He held onto the handle and, to my shock, Yori wasn't able to overpower him. The door stayed firmly shut despite her attempts to yank it open and the man just smiled benignly at us.
"Gas!" I shrieked as the smell hit me. That's what the button had done. He was gassing us. He didn't need to fight us, all he had to do was keep the door shut long enough for the gas to work its magic and then he'd be free to waltz in and do whatever he wanted with us.
Again Yori screamed and instead of tugging on the door she raised a fist to punch the glass. Her fist bounced of it and I shrieked in rage as I realized that it was not normal glass. My vision swam and my thoughts went murky as the gas began to work its way into my system. After a moment or two of clean air I would have been able to purge it, but not if the input was continuous.
Yori collapsed with a weak curse as the gas began to work on her. A moment later I dropped to my knees, clinging desperately to the boy's table in an attempt to pull myself up. Through bleary eyes I could see the doctor calmly donning a gas mask, three soldiers doing the same. When had they arrived? I hadn't smelled them. Then again I couldn't smell anything but gas.
The door open and shut firmly. I kicked off the ground, trying to break for the door, but my limbs would cooperate. I managed an awkward face plant onto the ground as the soldiers sneered. They stepped over me to get to Yori.
"Not quite down yet, are you?" the monster with the glasses said, kneeling next to me. He reached out to touch my cheek. I watched in helpless agony as Yori was dragged past me. There weren't enough tables so she was tossed into a chair as the men whipped off their belts to use as restraints. Yori's head lolled sadly.
The men turned to me next. Again I tried to swat them away. They laughed as I managed a weak wave of my arm in protest. But I was close, very close, to an ankle. With all the strength I could pull together I lunged and sunk my teeth into flesh, cloth, and leather. The man screamed as my teeth sharpened within his flesh and dug in deeper at my bleary-minded order. I heard the monster shout something in protest and then the blast of a gun once, twice, three times. Bullets slammed home into me but I didn't let go, tears running down my cheeks from pain and fear.
"Well, well!" the monster was standing over me, delighted. "You are a marvel! Shot and yet you do not give up. Wounded, and yet you heal. You are fascinating, my dear."
I finally released my grip on the soldier's ankle long enough to say, "Go to hell."
The monster was laughing as I faded into oblivion.
When I woke up I was strapped down like the boy had been. Bright light burned into my eyes. I slanted them, as much to try and take stock of my surroundings as to try and get away from the light. The boy was on his table, staring at me fearfully. Yori was in the corner, looking more furious than I'd ever seen her as she struggled and fought against the bindings but I could tell by the fuzziness in her eyes and the lack of strength in her gestures that they'd given her something to keep her subdued.
"You're awake!"
I looked to my left and saw the monster looming over me. He was wearing a white coat and a mask now, his hair tucked under a cap. His hands trailed over the scalpels on one of the standing trays with an eagerness that made me shiver.
"I hope you don't mind starting us off," he began, like he was asking if I minded sitting by the kitchen at a restaurant. Polite and only slightly apologetic. "But you see, now that I know some of what you can do, I am curious! Your friend there, she will be a fine encore as well."
Yori bit out a Japanese curse and the man shrugged carelessly, obviously not understanding what she'd just said.
"Now, this would go easier if you gave me a little information on your abilities before we began," the doctor said. "As you can see, I've already gotten you ready."
For the first time I realized that my shirt was gone, my top covered only by a thin sheet. The man lifted a scalpel from the table and observed it curiously.
"Go to hell," I spat at him and roared in his face. The man laughed.
"No, I think not. You see, my dear…" He whipped the sheet back and placed the scalpel under my collarbone. I inhaled sharply as I recognized the placement. A standard Y-incision. How many times had I used variations of it in dissection labs in school? He was going to cut me open and dissect me alive.
"You are the one in hell. Me? I am in heaven."
The knife cut down and the pain began.
Leibchen – sweetheart
Lass uns gehen – let's go
Wir sind Freunde – We are friends
