Chapter Three
Who's That Girl

"Wir müssen jetzt gehen."

His tone was more hurried than before.

A gun pointed in her direction made her like a statue, deaf and mute. She could only wonder if God would forgive her for at least not trying to run. Honestly, she didn't want to die. In truth, she hoped her fiancée was still alive and would jump out from behind a tree to seek his vengeance.

In sudden, long strides, as if the Nazi wasn't even injured, he came forward and took Alice by the upper arm.

"Komm."

Even with a cloudy mind, she could tell he was telling her to come. It sounded a lot like come, only he said it with a different tone. The first letter sounded more aggressive, and the word ending with the sound of ohm.

She glanced away quickly, trying to rip her arm free, but to no avail.

"Let me g-go," she said nervously.

Alice was not a fighter, but a nurse. Despite the war, she was not trained to combat, nor to know when she was truly in danger. She had always imagined that when a gun was directed to your head, then you were indeed in actual danger. That thought was taken from her when the Nazi only used the gun as a way to scare her, but not to kill her. She couldn't deny it was working.

The brutal man yanked her when she didn't move with him. Alice started screaming.

A fight broke out, where the man struggled to get Alice down on the ground. He had this accomplished easily with his heel, which he pressed behind her knee until she fell. His hands on her shoulders made sure she landed on her back.

With a pained oomphcoming from her parted, shocked lips and again feeling that sore spot in her lower back since the brute had shoved her forcefully on the ground, Alice felt terror when his hand came on top of her lower face. His fingers pressed in her cheek and his thumb was painfully pressed in her throat. She was crushed under his massive body weight. This was already the second time. Now it could not mean much good. She'd helped him with his wounds. He no longer needed her assistance.

The exploding bombs around them grew louder and seemed to be exploding more frequently. He wouldn't force himself upon her while they were in the middle of a war zone, would he? She flinched when she heard a bomb closer to their current position.

Alice was gasping for air through her nose, her entire body shaking with freight. She never imagined this would happen to her. Her beloved fiancée was dead. Her two best friends were dead. She never even got to say goodbye. Their bodies just remained there, on these Berlin grounds.

"Sei still!" he whispered, his hand loosening. "Okay?"

No, she didn't know what he was saying. He raised his hand and pressed only his front finger against her lips. Then he brought his hand up, pressing the same finger against his own lips.

"Bitte ruhig."

His eyes were hinting a plea. It seemed unlikely he was pleading with her to stay quiet. Alice shook her head, her voice an utter mess.

"You want me quiet, so you can f-force yourself on m-me? My f-fiancée should have shot you dead."

Alice's mouth opened in a beginning of a yell, when the man sat up. His body weight crushed Alice's behind in the ground. He was very quick. She saw his hand reach to his middle, take hold of his gun and press the cold tip against her parted lips. Any noise that had meant to utter out of her mouth vanished by the feel of that deadly weapon.

One bullet through the mouth and she'd be dead. She was certain he'd do it; she could see a killer look in those eyes. Alice was at peace, despite the circumstances. Death would set her free. Maybe she'd reunite with her friends in the afterlife. It didn't mean that she still wasn't scared or that her body wasn't trembling.

A light clicking sound came from the gun. Alice thought of how her men talked about a safety lever and loading the gun before you could shoot. It usually accompanied a click. She sent a little prayer to her God.

Forgive me for not having the strength to fight this man. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to fight for my country. I hope I'm heaven worthy.

She stared into the green eyes of the man and imagined that Jacob was somewhere in the afterlife now. Maybe his spirit was with her, comforting her, telling her that it wouldn't hurt much. Those eyes weren't Jacob's, but there was no foul in pretending.

The gun pressed harder into her lips and she shifted her eyes to the gun, then back to him. He wasn't shooting her. When expecting a loud gunshot followed by death, one would not expect for that moment to take so long.

Even stranger is when the person who's about to shoot you, gets off of you. Still it was what happened to Alice. The heavy weight on her lower body part disappeared. Alice remained frozen on the ground, wondering if he didn't want to sit on top of her while he shot her dead. After all, he could easily see she had nothing against him; no weapons, no strength, nothing. He needn't restrain her.

The Nazi got up with some difficulty, wincing a few times, but eventually he did stand tall on his feet.

Alice waited for the gun to point back at her. His free hand extended to her. The other still held his gun, except it wasn't pointed at her. Did he want her to stand before he shot her?

"Komm," he said impatiently.

He was very pale. It wasn't strange, after all the blood loss. In a way, Alice saved his life.

Of course the Nazi wasn't like any other normal human being. He probably imagined he deserved her help. He probably didn't even see it the way Alice saw it, but she was certain he would have passed out by now if it weren't for her help, and maybe he would have even been dead by now.

She could see all movement off the gun, because her eyes were glued on it. It took a path to the Nazi's holster. It went in there and stayed in there. His second hand joined his first one.

Both his hands were now extended to her. Her eyes went up to see what he was up to. There was nothing for her to discover on his face or eyes.

He hadn't killed her or violated her. Or actually, he did hurt her with all the grips and pushes. And he did try to kill her. Alice had seen it in those eyes. There'd been anger, determination, but she'd also seen a shift of emotions that included confusion, doubt, misery and hesitation.

Did this Nazi have a conscience? Or was Alice just being silly now?

Without taking his hands, Alice got on her feet shakily.

What else was she to do?