Chapter 13: The Aftershock

In this chapter:

· A Nazi saved

· Payback

· Blame

· A new idea

· The acceptance of an invitation

· An odd shopping trip

Hugo couldn't believe that he was sitting beside the very man he had vowed to kill. It was perfect, even if it meant that he would die. He was prepared to if it meant Hellstrom would also be dead. After what this man had done to Elsie, he deserved nothing less than a painful demise.

But Hellstrom was toying with him. He could see that.

He would have to wait for the right moment.

Luckily, that moment arrived much sooner than he thought.

First, he shot away at the part of the major that had been used to violate the woman he loved.
Then he took out his knife and, with a large grin of satisfaction, stabbed Hellstrom repeatedly in the back off the neck – all the while bullets were flying in every direction, some hitting him, others killing those still standing.

Once he knew that Hellstrom was dead, he slumped to the ground, leaving the knife buried in the Nazi's neck. A bullet ricocheted and hit him in the side, one of many bullets now inside his body, but he didn't feel it.

He had kept his promise.

And now he could die without regret.

Donny tore down the stairs, jumping the last two and bursting out through the front door of the house. Elsie was almost at the door of the bar.

"Elsie!"

She didn't respond, continuing on towards the scene of the shootout. When she reached the building's door, she found that she was too upset to even be able to open it.

Thanking God for this stroke of luck, Donny grabbed Elsie by the arm and spun her around to face him. Her eyes were filled with tears and those that had already spilled out onto her cheeks left wet trails down to her chin.
He could see from the look on her face that she wasn't able to think rationally. She turned away and continued to pull on the door handle. Perhaps it wasn't her clouded mind and vision that was stopping her from opening the door, but a subconscious knowledge of what she was going to find inside.

Aldo and the remaining Basterds came out of the house across from them.

"Donny, don't let her go down there," Aldo ordered.

There was no guarantee that everyone in the bar was dead, and if one those possible survivors turned out to be a real Nazi, Elsie would be as good as dead.

"Elsie! Elsie, stop," Donny tried, but she managed to get the door open. He grabbed both her arms this time and held her back. She struggled against him, but her strength was no match for his.

Aldo approached the door and threw it open, leading the group inside to the room above the bar. They all took their guns out, except for Donny who was still trying to calm Elsie down before he could let her go.

No longer able to find the energy to fight against him, she slumped a little in his grasp. Silent sobs wracked her body. Donny let go of her and put a comforting hand on her arm, but she moved away from him, entering the room where the others were waiting. Aldo stood next to the staircase landing, trying to get an idea of what the situation was down there.

Doing her best to pull herself together, Elsie wiped the tears from her face, aware of the fact that all the Basterds were looking at her. They had seen her imprisoned and even shot once before, but they had never seen her this distressed.

Donny came in to the room, the door slamming behind him.

A sudden burst of gunfire rang out, aimed in the direction of the staircase. Aldo scowled and waited for the shots to stop.

"You up there! Who are you? British? American?" a German voice shouted up to them.

"We're American!" Aldo called back, "What are you?"

"I'm German, you idiot!"

"You speak Anglish pretty good for a German," Aldo remarked.

"I agree." The German's voice became more distressed as he realized the position that he was now in, "So let's talk."

"Okay," Aldo allowed, "So talk."

"I'm a father. My baby was born today in Frankfurt, five hours ago. His name is Max. We were in here drinking and celebrating. They're the ones who came in shooting and killing! It's not my fault!"

His plea was reasonable in the eyes of Elsie. Nazi or not, he was a soldier, just like the Basterds were, thrown into a war that he may not have been in support of. Aldo seemed to consider this point.

"Okay, okay, so it wasn't your fault. What's your name soldier?"

"Wilhelm!" the young German told him.

Elsie squeezed her eyes shut, remembering her friend who was likely lying dead below.

"That's the same name as one of my men you just killed!" Aldo shouted.

"They attacked us!" the man cried.

"Okay, Wilhelm...is anybody alive on our side?"

Elsie braced herself for the reply, but deep down she already knew what it was going to be.

"No!" came the response.

There was a brief moment of silence as the Basterds let this sink in.

"I'm alive!" a distraught female voice cried out.

Elsie couldn't believe it. Of all the people to survive the shootout, it had to be the film star that was betraying her own country.

"Who is that?" Aldo asked.

"Is the girl on your side?"

"Which girl?"

"Who do you think? Von Hammersmark!"

Aldo turned his head to look at the remaining Basterds.

"Yeah, she's ours," he replied.

No reply came from Wilhelm, but Elsie was sure that she could hear him cursing von Hammersmark for her betrayal.

"Okay, Wilhelm, what do ya say we make us a deal?" Aldo suggested.

"What's your name?" Wilhelm inquired.

"Aldo. Wilhelm, can I call ya Willi?"

"Yes," Wilhelm allowed.

"Alrigh', Willi, I wanna make a deal. I wanna send a couple of my men down to git the girl. That's all. They get the girl, we leave, you live. How's that sound?"

"Aldo?"

"Yeah, Willi?"

"I want to trust you, but how can I?"

"What other choice do you have?"

Wilhelm paused to think.

"I could kill the girl!" he pointed out.

"Well now, Willi, that's true enough. But something you need to know, so you don't get the wrong idea. Ain't none of us give a fuck 'bout that girl. But, admittedly, if you kill her, it would fuck up our plans. But you'll be dead by then anyway, so what'd you care? And let's not forget about little Max, growin' up without a pop. So in the spirit of gettin' you home to him, we got a deal, Willi?"

"Okay, Aldo, I'm going to trust you," Wilhelm agreed, thinking of his newborn son, "Come down, no guns."

Aldo took a step towards the stairs, hunched over slightly and slowly made his ways down with his hands up to show that he meant no harm.

Donny and Omar stepped up to the head of the staircase, guns at the ready in case Aldo needed back-up.

Glancing over at Elsie, Donny could see from her blank expression that she was not handling any of this very well.

"Hey Willi, what's with the machine gun?" Aldo's voice came up from the few steps he had descended, "I thought that we had a deal."

He came back up towards the top of the stairs, but remained low enough down to be able to still see the German survivor.

Donny placed his foot on the top step, ready to take action if Wilhelm attempted to take a shot at the lieutenant.

"We do have a deal. Now get the girl and go!" Wilhelm told him, sounding more distressed by the minute.

"Hold on a minute Willi. We only got a deal if we got trust. A Mexican stand-off ain't trust!"

"You need guns on me for it to be a Mexican stand-off!"

Aldo looked up at the faces of his men and nodded slowly before giving a response:

"You got guns on us, you decide to shoot, we're dead. Now, I got a couple of guys up here with grenades. They throw 'em down there, you're dead. That's a Mexican stand-off and that was not the deal!"

"Alright. Just take this fucking traitor and get her out of my sight," Willi agreed, placing his gun on the ground.

Aldo made his way down the stairs, but Elsie flew by him, getting there first.

She quickly looked around and spotted von Hammersmark on the floor, taking out a pistol, about to shoot Wilhelm, who was staring curiously at the strange girl that had come out of nowhere.

Acting without hesitation, Elsie kicked the gun out of the actress's hand and delivered another swift kick to her face. The woman rolled onto her stomach, coughing and spluttering.

Elsie glanced up at the man behind the bar, whose eyes were wide with surprise, but also gratitude – this American had just saved his life.

"I suggest you leave. Be a good father to Max," she told him.

He nodded and left the scene quickly, running up the stairs and out the front door. Aldo, who had witnessed Elsie kick von Hammersmark, did not seem to mind too much. He had, after all, made a deal with Wilhelm that he would let him go.

Elsie surveyed the scene once more. Their Wilhelm was lying to her right, obviously dead. Elsie felt a pang of grief in her chest. Very slowly, she turned her head to look back at the table.

Someone was slumped over it with a knife protruding from the base of their neck.

Donny came down the staircase, putting his gun away as he watched Elsie approach the table. She lifted the head of man that still sat at the table, by the hair, looking at the person's face. As though her suspicions had been confirmed, she let it drop back down with a thud.

Turning away, she spotted Hugo's body lying on the ground a couple of feet away. She stood frozen on the spot.

Not far from this, Aldo and Utivich were making an attempt to move von Hammersmark, who had been shot in the leg. Her protests of pain were making this a rather difficult task.

Donny continued watching Elsie as she slid down the wall, near Hugo's body, into a sitting position. This time she didn't cry, she just stared off into the air. He walked over to the body of the man she had apparently identified, looked down at him, then back at her.

"Who is this guy? You recognized him, didn't you?" he asked her.

She slowly brought her gaze up to meet his.

"That's the man who raped me," she said without emotion.

Donny took out his sidearm and, without hesitation, emptied his clip into the dead-Nazi's head, startling Aldo and Utivich, who dropped von Hammersmark. The actress cried out in agony.

"Donny! Get the fuck over 'ere and help me carry this," Aldo ordered, referring to the now-offended film star.

Donny obeyed, but not before spitting on Hellstrom's bloodied corpse. Without any real effort, he and Aldo were able to lift the woman and carry her up the stairs.

"Else, I know this is hard on ya, but we gotta move. This place'll be crawlin' with Gestapo in about two minutes," Aldo called down the stairs.

Nodding, Elsie got to her feet and walked towards the stairs. As she passed the body of Hellstrom, she paused and yanked the knife from his neck, gripping it tightly as she followed the two men up to the room above.

Utivich watched her with concern, observed the bloody scene once more and then made his way up to the rest of the Basterds.

They would have to find somewhere to get von Hammersmark treated for her wounds, otherwise she'd be whining for the rest of the night; and Aldo was already growing tired of her shit.

What they managed to find was a veterinary clinic and, after waking up the owner by pounding on his door and threatening him with their firearms, Aldo and Donny were finally able to unload their burden onto an operating table, where she lay bloody and sweating.

Sporting a darkening bruise from the kick Elsie had delivered to her face, von Hammersmark looked around at the men who were staring at her, none of them looking particularly friendly.

"Before we yank that slug outta ya, we got a few questions to ask," Aldo told her.

Behind him, Hirschberg had a gun trained on the vet, who was looked unnerved by the whole situation.

"About what?" she replied, but before Aldo could reply, a loud crashing sound came from the room across the hall.

Everyone turned their head to look in the direction of the noise.

Elsie was not taking the death of her friends very well.

Donny made a move to go to her, but Aldo stopped him.

"Utivich, go and tell 'er to get 'er ass in here now," Aldo said.

Utivich glanced at Donny, who was looking agitated by Aldo's intervention.

Stepping slowly into the dark hallway, he walked towards the room that the sounds were issuing from. Poking his head through the door, he saw Elsie throwing things about the room, cursing and crying.

Well, it was one way of dealing.

After a particularly strong cry of fury, Elsie threw one last item – a radio – at the wall, watching as it shattered to pieces. She closed her eyes and tried to regain control, her breathing ragged.

"Else?" Utivich said, stepping into the room.

She looked up at him, eyes red from crying. She had a cut on her cheek where a stray splinter of wood had hit her.

"Aldo wants you to, um, get in the other room," he managed to tell her. He was speaking softly in respect for how she was feeling.

She nodded, wiped her face on the back of her forearm.

"What have I missed?" she asked him, approaching the door.

"Uh, well, the cinema venue was changed, but you already told us that. Oh yeah, and apparently Hitler's gonna be there," Utivich explained.

"What?"

"Yeah, I know."

Elsie paused to think. "How did the shooting start?"

"The lady says that Hicox ordered three drinks like this-"

He put up his index, middle and ring fingers.

"But in Germany, they do it like this-"

He now showed his thumb, index and middle fingers.

It was so ridiculous that it had to be true.

"That's what gave him away to the Nazi at their table," he finished.

Shaking her head, Elsie walked out of the room.

As she arrived in the vet's examination room, Donny glanced up and caught site of her miserable state. She made her way over to his side, the only place even remotely comforting to her right now.

Aldo and von Hammersmark were discussing how they were going to get into the Nazi film premiere, the one that Frederick had mentioned to Elsie. They weren't coming up with much; too busy arguing over how she had been shot in the leg and how he could only speak...well, his version of English.

Von Hammersmark saw Elsie and cursed at her in German.

"What the fuck did you just say?" Elsie snapped in disbelief.

"You bitch, you kicked me!" she snarled.

"I'll break your pretty fucking neck!" Elsie screamed, jumping towards the alarmed woman, but not before Donny caught her around the waist.

"Elsie, step the fuck back," Aldo ordered. "Now, I couldn't care less if you killed her, to be honest, but if ya do, we ain't got no way of gettin' into this premiere. So calm the fuck down."

"The only reason I kicked you is because you were going to shoot that soldier we made a deal with!" Elsie growled at her.

The men in the room, with the exception of the confused vet, looked at the actress with disgust.

"Well, now, I don't think Elsie is the real bitch here," Hirschberg commented.

Von Hammersmark sneered.

"Back to the real problem at hand," she began, "How do you intend on disguising yourselves to get into the premiere?"

Aldo considered this, but didn't seem able to come up with an answer.

"I know this is a stupid question before I ask it, but can you Americans speak any language other than English?" she asked.

"Elsie speaks German and French," Kagan told her.

"Well, I need a male escort," Von Hammersmark replied.

"I bet you do," Elsie muttered. Donny smiled.

"Three, to be exact," Von Hammersmark went on.

"The Lieutenant and I both speak a little Italian," Donny finally answered.

"With an atrocious accent, no doubt", she guessed in a very snooty manner, but she did give this a little thought. "However, that doesn't exactly kill us in the crib. Germans don't have a good ear for Italian. So you mumble Italian and brazen your way through? Is that the plan?"

"Yeah, that's pretty much it," Aldo nodded.

"Sounds good," Von Hammersmark decided.

"Sounds like shit," Aldo disagreed, "but what else are we gonna do? Go home?"

"No, it's good. If you don't blow it, I can easily get you into the building. Now, who does what?"

"Well," Aldo considered, "since I speak the most I-talian, I suppose I'll be going as your escort. Donny, he speaks the second best, he'll be your I-talian cameraman."

Looking around the room for a third person, Aldo settled on Elsie, who could at least speak German.

"And Elsie. She can be an I-talian film star or somethin'."

"No, wait," Elsie interjected, "choose someone else. I think I may have my own way of getting in."

"And what might that be?" Aldo asked.

All eyes were trained on her as she gave her reply.

"Uh, well, I kind of ran into Fredrick Zoller the other day. He's the star of the Nazi film that the premiere is for. He asked me to be his, well, date, I guess."

There were mixed expressions ranging from the surrounding Basterds.

"He asked you?" Von Hammersmark asked incredulously.

"Yeah. I'm supposed to be meeting him tonight to give him an answer. What time is it?"

Aldo checked his watch. "About ten", he told her. It was felt surprisingly early.

"Fuck. I told him I'd meet him at nine. There's no way he'd still be there. But if he's gonna be in the city for the premiere..."

"Alright, then I suggest you take one of them cars we came 'ere in, drive back to Par-ee, and find this kid and tell 'im you'll gladly o-blige. If he's the star, he oughta be in contact with the big guns," Aldo told her, "Omar can come with us, instead."

"I don't speak Italian," Omar said with a confused look.

"Just keep your fuckin' mouth shut," Aldo suggested, "In fact, why don't you start practicing now?"

He turned back to Elsie, giving her a look that asked why she was still there.

She nodded and quickly left the room.

It was almost one a.m. by the time Elsie sped into the city. She jumped out of the car and raced towards The Pure Heart café.

It was still open, much to her surprise, but it seemed that a group of Nazis had forced the owner to remain open well into the early morning hours.

She scanned the restaurant, and then heard a familiar voice.

"Cécille?"

Fredrick was sitting out the front, drinking coffee and looking at Elsie with curious interest.

"Fredrick, thank goodness I caught you!" she exclaimed, putting on her best innocent-French-girl act, "I thought it might be too late."

"That's alright. Do you have an answer for me?"

He smiled a charming smile, but suddenly noticed the cut on her cheek.

"Is everything alright?" he asked.

Elsie realized that she must have looked like an absolute mess. With her mind still racing from all the night's events, she came up with an explanation.

"Oh, oui. I ran all the way here from my house. A car was driving by and flicked a stone up. It hit my cheek and, well...nothing a little make-up can't cover."

"So does that mean you've accepted my invitation?"

"Oui."

"I hope Major Hellstrom doesn't mind," Fredrick said.

Elsie held back a laugh.

"I'm sure he won't mind."

"I know it was short notice when I asked you. Do you have something to wear? If not, I know a shop nearby that sells dresses. I'm sure I can convince them to open up just for us."

It was another moment to add to her 'Strangest Things That Have Ever Happened to Me' list that seemed to be ever-increasing.

Here she stood with Nazi Propaganda star, Fredrick Zoller, to her left and an obliging French dress-shop owner to her right, both suggesting different dresses to her.

She knew she would have to be extra careful with her selection, choosing a dress with a closed back to cover up her scars.

"How about this one? Green? It matches your eyes," Fredrick grinned.

So smooth, this one.

Elsie looked at the dress. It was a thin-strap gown with a low cut back...as well as a low cut front.
Why did she suddenly get the feeling that he wanted to use her to either impress someone, or to otherwise make them jealous?

"I was thinking...blue!"she said suddenly, as she spotted lovely blue dress that actually had a back.

It was a gorgeous piece. She picked it up to look at it a little more closely. It was a flowing, midnight-blue silk gown that reached her ankles. The straps were about an inch and a half wide and were designed to sit a little lower on the shoulders than usual, as though the dress were slipping down.

"I'll go try it on," Elsie told them, walking to the changing rooms.

Slipping out of her clothes and into the gown, Elsie looked at her reflection. The color went well with her new hair and her light complexion, but it wasn't the dress that she was really thinking about. She was finding it difficult to push the events of the night out of her mind.

'I'll save that for when I get back to the hotel', she told herself.

"What's your verdict?" Fredrick asked, snapping her back to reality.

"I like it," she told him, then added, just to appear playful, "but I'm not going to let you see it until tomorrow night."

She changed back into her other clothes and came out of the dressing room. Smiling once more, Fredrick looked at the dressmaker.

"We'll take it," he told him, taking out some money to pay for it.

"I'll come by to pick you up at, say, seven?" Fredrick asked on the way out.

"Sounds great."

"Where should I pick you up from?"

Elsie now realized the problem. She couldn't exactly send him out to a house that didn't exist now, could she?

"I'll meet you inside the city?" she suggested, thinking on her feet.

After settling on a time and place that wouldn't blow her cover, they said their farewells and went their own ways.

Elsie moved quickly toward her hotel, wanting the solace and privacy of her room. It was time to face what had happened that night.