Chapter Six
Time Is Running Out

The first thing Alice did was tug at the phone. The Nazi only scowled at first, his body not even moving an inch. What had she been thinking? She couldn't fight a soldier three times her size.

But still Alice had to try. She lunged forward, straight into his upper body. She hadn't seen how quick his knee had come up. With full force, her gut landed in that sharp bone and the breath inside her pushed out violently. She lost her balance, which gave him the opportunity to grab her left wrist. With his other hand, he took her elbow and with a twist he had her left arm pressed against her back. Alice shrieked when she felt a sharp pain in her shoulder. He had immobilized her to the point he pulled out her remaining hope and crushed it beneath his feet.

Being in that position hurt her shoulder with each passing second. It had such a hard strain on it. She wasn't sure how long it would take until she'd scream out in pain. With her back against his, unable to see him, except feel him, she feared what he'd do next.

Involuntarily, she whimpered once when she made a wrong movement. It hurt her shoulder so much, especially because he kept pushing her arm into her own back. Her breathing was hard, but shallow. He came closer to her body and she saw his hand appear before her, to her right hand. It was the one which still held her satellite phone.

It could have been her victory. She still had the phone. But if Alice moved, she would dislocate her shoulder. It was clear as day that he was the true winner. Would she just hand it over to him like a poor loser?

No, she dropped it to the ground, giving her the only little dignity she still had. He shoved her away, earning a small shriek from her. The first thing she did was bring her left arm over her torso and bring her right one up to her left shoulder, gingerly holding the sensitive area. She turned around to see him throw Jacob's, Edward's and Bella's phones on the ground next to hers. He stomped four times, effectively or maybe not so effectively, killing the phones. She thought how they might still be working. If only she found a way to take the phones without him noticing. Their sizes were troublesome, but she had room in her backpack. And her pockets would easily fit at least two phones.

It was doable, she imagined in her naive mind.

The Nazi took out his gun and a long object which he placed on the end of the gun. She stared strangely at the gun with the now long barrel. He pointed the gun to the phones and shot several times. The first time Alice flinched, but the other times she stared the Nazi with shock. The gun barely made any sound now. All guns she knew were loud. His gun was silent.

She stared with a frozen body how he shot at the four phones. He shot, as if they needed to die. He shot, until the phones weren't recognizable as phones anymore. He shot, until Alice felt like her life was over. Nobody now knew where she was, except for this monster. He must've shared her thought, when Alice imagined the phones might still be functioning.

He cleared his throat as he'd done before to catch her eye. She looked up slowly, as if to prepare herself to look into his void eyes again. The gun was tucked away again, so at least that was a good thing.

He walked over to her and before she knew what he was doing, his hands came on top of her shoulder, feeling with his fingers. They both went down her arms, as if in a search. Alice pulled her arms away from him roughly. She wanted to step away, but his hands gripped her waist.

She squeaked, but quickly bit in her lower lip. With a hard impact she realized what he was doing. Just like he did with her friend's bodies, he was searching hers. And there was no way of stopping him. He was going to feel every part of her body. It was too hard to breathe now.

His fingers were feeling between her clothes, on her sides, her stomach and then between her breast. Her lower lip was starting to ache from her sharp teeth. He felt above her chest and Alice swallowed thickly. Her hands shook, even if they were balled into fists. No man had ever touched her and the first one who did, was this monster. His hands went around her arms to her back, feeling quickly until he reached her but cheeks. The inspection there didn't last very long, fortunately. She hated that she was in the circle of his arms, as if it were a hug. It more felt like a prison.

Next he felt her hips and then dug his hands in her pockets. She had a few medical items in there if she ever needed quick use of certain things. He felt them all, but didn't remove them.

Alice watched with wide eyes how the Nazi leaned down before her. He was on his knees while she stood on her legs. This was a sight she never imagined to see in her life. It was surreal. Then both his hands came around her right upper leg and she froze. His hands searched her legs, from top to bottom. He placed his hands on her left ankle and then went up, investigating her second leg. Alice involuntarily stood a little on her toes as his hands reached up, higher and higher. She was grateful that he didn't touch her private parts.

Back on his feet, Alice was forced again to look up. In reality, the entire moment lasted not much longer than half a minute. To Alice, it felt like she'd gone to the moon and back. She was trying to calm her racing heart and quickened breathing.

He went to the coat he'd previously put on his shoulder. It must've fallen when Alice started a fight. He grabbed it and threw it over Alice's shoulders. There was no question there in what he meant for her to do.

She watched the coat in horror because only then did she realize this was the coat of the dead Nazi. She looked over the field and saw that indeed he no longer wore his coat. She was mortified to wear it, because there was a gigantic swastika emblem on the left sleeve.

"I'm n-not wearing t-this...t-thing."

He took out his gun, pointed it at her and watched her impatiently. There it was again, the gun, which she feared so much. It was time to just do as he said.

Afraid he might shoot if she made a sudden movement, she decided to move calculatedly. She took off her backpack slowly. Her eyes never left his. She put on the much larger coat over hers. He hadn't told her to take of hers and replace it with the horrid piece of disgrace. So she wouldn't take off her own coat, the one which she wore with pride.

She leaned down and put her backpack back on. He pointed at her, then at his own coat. He was showing her how his was buttoned up and hers wasn't.

Her lips pressed tightly on each other as she started closing the buttons.

The coat provided her with warmth, but still she'd rather go cold than wear it. Except when he was threatening her with a gun. Then she chose to do as he said.

"I'll kill you when I get the chance."

It scared Alice to hear her raw voice filled with venom and a promise. She didn't recognize herself in that tone of voice, or those words.

He steered his head, watched her up and down and took something from his bag with one hand. Before Alice knew what was happening, he had both her wrist on her back and a thick piece of rope wrapped around them. It was almost as if he'd understood her, which couldn't be. He probably wanted her immobilized and this was his way of doing it. Alice had never been tied before. It felt awkward and humiliating. This might've even scared her more than the gun. Her arms were no longer in her possession. It was demeaning.

She thought of her dead friends without a grave. She thought of how this monster had manhandled her for her satellite phone. He'd crushed all her hopes when he shot the phones to smithereens. She could still feel his paws groping her body without respect and even without a warning beforehand. Now she wore a dead man's coat with her hands tied behind her back.

It was a crazy thing to do, but she raised her eyes up to him, even though hers had watered and spilled tears on her cheeks. All the pain he caused her was written on her face.

His face hardened. He shoved her shoulders once, forcing her to start walking.

Underneath the enemy's coat she still wore proof that she was a proud American soldier. She would stay strong, even if her time running out.