A/N: These lyrics are priceless!

World was on fire, no one could save me but you
It's strange what desire will make foolish people do
No, and I never dreamed that I'd love somebody like you
I'll never dream that I lose somebody like you, no

Chapter Eight
Wicked Game (HIM)

Alice knew that screaming was a good idea. Somebody opened the door and she could sense he was American. She squinted her eyes to see better in the darkness.

A sick feeling came over her when she saw who he truly was. He was a German. She just dug her own grave. As soon as she made that realization, she wanted to shrink away. It wasn't of much use as she had already drawn his attention. But then a sudden thought struck her mind. To the outer world, Alice was with the Nazi. It said so on the coat. Surely the German wouldn't shoot her dead if he saw the coat she was wearing. More importantly, why did her captivator give her such...protection?

It wasn't necessary for too long to ponder what would happen with her. A loud gunshot deafened her left ear and the man in front of the doorway felt backwards. Dead.

"Oh God!" Alice shrieked.

The Nazi pushed Alice on the ground when two more men appeared.

It happened quicker than Alice could see it. Both those men were both shot dead. Her eyes flew to the Nazi who'd turned completely hard. His stance showed no fear and his eyes had gone black. He stepped forward slowly to the door, gun in position to shoot if needed. Alice watched how he moved to possible danger. It didn't quite seem like this was a place where he would meet up with his team. He was shooting everyone dead. Everyone, except for Alice. He had given Alice a coat that could possibly help her if the Nazi caught her. But that made no sense.

He stepped inside. His head turned to all corners until he put the gun away. He turned around and watched Alice expectantly. His eyes were still hard.

She had to see to know for sure. It was mighty hard to stand up with tied hands and a heavy backpack. She stepped forward and saw the first corpse with a swastika emblem on his sleeve. So did the second. And she guessed right about the third one also being a German.

She stepped forward, first peeking inside the room. Nobody was in there. It was dirty and old, as if nobody had been there for a long time. It looked like some shed.

When she was inside, he shut the door loudly. He seemed angry.

It wasn't pitch black in the cottage, but Alice's eyes did need some adjustment to the new environment.

"I saw from the distance that those men were Germans. If I could see it, you definitely could see it."

The Nazi pulled of his backpack, threw it on the ground in a grunt. That was one of the few signs that reminded Alice that he was wounded.

"So why did you kill them? They're on your side."

His hand went in his pocket and he pulled out a knife. With that knife in his hand, he went to Alice. She stepped away but he was quicker. He grabbed her lower arm and turned her around. She was already shaking. He released her arm but instead held her tied wrist.

"Vorsicht, America."

She gasped softly. His tone had been quiet and calming. And he said America.

The knife touched her hands and she kept completely still. That's when she felt the rope loosen around her wrists until her hands were freed from one another.

He pulled the rope off of her and threw it on the ground. He turned her around by her shoulders and gave her a warning look. Alice didn't know what he kept warning her about, but she voiced her first thought.

"I know you know those men were the Nazi but you still shot them dead."

She was going mad, despite the fact that she was able to speak such words. The Nazi surely knew this, because her lips trembled and her voice was never steady.

"America?" she added as he'd said before he cut the ropes.

He nodded, pointing at her.

"Du bist America."

"Yeah, I'm from America," she said.

That's what he was surely asking her. Though his voice hadn't sounded questioning.

He reached in his back pocket. He pulled out a watch and held the ends with both hand.

"Darf ich?"

"I don't know what you're saying..."

He held up his left wrist and showed her a similar watch.

"Uh..."

If she understood correctly, he was giving her the watch. Partly, she didn't mind owning a watch. Especially now that she was in the jungle and didn't know what the time was.

She held up her left wrist and looked away.

"I still hate you."

He went to put the watch on her wrist, but stopped. Alice had her head turned away, but looked at what he was doing.

"What?" she said after a while when he only stared at her wrist.

"Entschuldigung," he said.

She didn't know what it meant and her face probably showed.

"Sorry," he said, though it was not the American version.

He said it with a short, hard oh, making it sound like sohrry. Even the r was said in a different pronunciation. Despite the different version of the word, the meaning was still the same. The Nazi was apologizing to Alice, but she didn't know why. Nazi's didn't apologize. They weren't human.

He was apologizing, but Alice wouldn't put a bet on what on earth he was sorry about.

His fingers tapped her wrist. The bruises which had formed there were in his view.

Alice felt one of her eyebrows rise, not quite believing what she was almost believing.

"Hast du Pein?" he asked very slowly in a questioning voice.

Alice understood that Germans said du when they meant you. And Pein sounded much like pain. It became obvious what he apologized for and what he was asking her now.

She felt anger rise above her skin when he mentioned pain. She'd had enough of him. Of course she had pain. It started when he took away her friends.

She glanced at the watch. It was now 1.02 am. No wonder she was exhausted. She'd been on her feet since eight in the morning.

"Sechs," he said, showing her six finger.

He tapped his watch, then pointed at the door.

"Okay?" he asked.

She looked around. He said something about the number six, the watch and the door.

"Jetz," he said, pointing down. "Ein."

He raised one finger and tapped his watch again.

"Sechs."

And again he raised six fingers and then pointed at the door.

She scoffed and shrugged. It was no use trying to communicate.

"I still hate you," she repeated.

He went to sit on the opposite side of the door. His face showed exhaustion and frustration. He searched in his bag and pulled out something she recognized as a radio. He turned it on, but the words that came out were German.

In the silence, she heard two beeps. One came from her body and one from a distance. She looked down at the watch and noticed it was exactly two o'clock. Hence the beep. The second beep was from his watch then.

Occasionally during the night, she felt hunger and thirst, but ignored it. At some point, she wasn't even thinking of something. She was just staring ahead of her with a blank mind. The only thing reminding her that time was actually passing were those beeps.

The Nazi had come to her once. He placed a water bottle in front of her, along with a can with food. Alice ignored the food, the drink and the Nazi. She couldn't eat or drink while in the hands of a Nazi, with the death of her friends close behind her.

Sharp, cold air hit her face and her hands didn't seem to warm up. She hated to admit it, but it was the dead Nazi's coat that kept her torso warm in the freezing cottage.

She felt he'd come closer to her, so she raised her exhausted eyes. He bent through his knees and stared at her.

"What?" she muttered.

He held out his hand. Alice's eyes went to it as if it was venom.

"Adam. Ich bin Adam," he said. "Wo bist du?"

Adam. That was his name, fake or real. It was the name he gave her. Alice didn't know why they were doing this introductory round, anyway.

She didn't take his hand, but she did reply in a thickly German accent one of the most common German names.

"Anna."

He watched her skeptically. She gave him the same look back.

"Esse etwas," he said, taking the can with the food and putting it on her lap. "Bitte."

He sat back in his corner and said no more. He lied down on his side with his eyes shut. Alice stared at him for a full minute, confused that this man was telling her his name and feeding her. She gazed at the dirty brown contents of the can. It was cold and seemed bland, but after a small bite, she finished it all in one breath. She took the bottle and downed it all down. Water never tasted that good. After a few minutes, her stomach hurt from eating too quickly.

She wondered if the Nazi had fallen asleep or not. His hand was on his gun and his breaths were deep. She decided not to try and find out.

Once he hissed, to which Alice instantly turned her head to him in fright. It'd been a sound of clear pain and distress and it frightened her to hear him make those sounds. It was probably the gunshot wound.

Let him die, Lord. Let that be the death of him please.

Her lower back hurt less now, but her wrists ached from the previous struggle against the rope and the Nazi. She glanced at them again. They showed a few nasty spots of red and blue. It was strange that the Nazi apologized for it. It was also strange how she hadn't even noticed he'd hurt her.

Then again, no pain could compare to the loss of her friend's, team and hope.