Chapter Seventeen
Life Will Go On

She sat back down, quickly covering her legs again with the coat.

"You blew his head up," she whispered. "It just exploded. Right...above me."

He nodded once. "I know."

"You forced me to kill another person."

"I did not force you, America," he said exaggeratedly. "I took hold of the gun. I shot."

"A-And? My hand just happened to be between your hand and the gun? Is that it then?"

He nodded. He was actually being serious!

"It still feels like I shot that man," she muttered wearily.

"You were aiming for the sky. If you shot, your bullet would gone into the ceiling. His would have hit you right here, America."

He leaned down and tapped her between the eyes. She shoved his hand away with wide eyes.

"I don't care about that! Because that's not how it went. I shot that man. He's dead now."

"That man? That Nazi, you surely mean?"

"What?"

"You're referring to that thing," he said, pointing at the closed door where he'd put the bodies, "as a man instead of a Nazi. Coming from an American, I call that strange."

The Adam-Nazi was giving her a correction, to which Alice scoffed hard. He was making his own kind sound like the worse party. And all of a sudden she was very nervous.

"Are you telling you would rather have the alternative? Tell me now. Did he deserve to die? Or you?"

"I-I don't know!"

"You do know. You're just too ashamed to admit it."

"No, that's not-"

"Him or you?" he interrupted with a raised eyebrow.

It wasn't even shame why she didn't dare to tell him that she didn't deserve to die. It was something unknown to her. She brought her eyes to the front door.

"You tell me..." she muttered in confusion. "Him or me?"

"What do you mean? I thought I made it obvious who I chose."

She snapped her head to him. He chose Alice? And he admitted it freely.

"Who are you?"

In that question lay all the questions she needed answered. Why didn't he kill her? Why did he save her? Why did he kill Nazi? Why was he avoiding the Nazi?

"Somebody you should have never met," he answered harshly.

That didn't sound right in Alice's ear.

No, it sounded very wrong indeed. There was a finality in his voice that told him to drop that subject, the one as simple as his identity. If she wasn't allowed that, what could she possibly ask him?

Well, Alice had a creative mind.

"Do you always lie to you captives about not speaking English?"

He turned his head to her with hard eyes.

"What?" she asked in a small voice.

"Now that you've come out of your shock, it's best to remain quiet."

"That's not really an option when...well...you know."

He wasn't being helpful as he only stared at her.

"You've kept me in the dark for weeks...about...I don't know! Stuff. I deserve to know what's happening."

"Weeks? We met yesterday."

"Oh just...shut it!"

She crossed her arms and looked straight ahead angrily.

"Who trained you? You're heartless, emotionless, rude, blunt, mean-"

"When you told me to shut it, I assumed it was mutual. So why aren't you shutting the fuck up?"

She stared at him and felt a crack in her heart. She turned her head away and felt teardrops on her cheeks.

"Are you crying? You've got to be kidding me. What are you made of?"

"I'm not a rock like you so leave me be," she murmured.

"How old are you? I've been wondering."

"Leave-me-be!"

"You're not a spy?"

She turned a teary glare to him.

"You were patrolling. Women never patrol. Unless they're a spy."

"No, that's...I wasn't patrolling. Just...tagging along."

"Why?"

He was allowed to ask her questions, but she wasn't? She gave him a foul look. Especially because he was speaking so distastefully.

And she answered him.

"It was New Year. That's supposed to be a celebration."

"That's cute. You still believe in celebrations."

Now Alice wasn't sure whether she should cry or accept the fact that this guy was who he was.

"It was stupid of you to tag along. I almost shot you."

"Yeah, stupid me!" she snapped. "But you shoot everything. Americans, Nazi, everything."

He released a hard sigh.

"Shut up, America."

"If you're someone I should've never met then why...are you keeping me alive?"

He ignored her. The effect was immediate; more tears fell.

"I-am-terrified! I need to know...something. Tell me anything. Please. Will I die if the Nazi catches me? Or will you-"

Or would he help her, that was what Alice tried to ask him. But all of a sudden she felt silly for asking him that.

"If the Nazi ever catches you, stick to your original story. I'm a Nazi who killed your fiancee and friends. I never killed any Nazi and I never spoke English with you."

Alice gasped at that notion. He wanted her to lie. He was a spy or something himself! She was snapped out of her mind when he tapped the watch on her wrist once.

"I want you to never take this off your wrist. It's got a navigation system in it. Somebody knows where you are right now. You're not alone. Okay?"

He held up his hand before Alice could speak. She had a thousand questions. Who exactly was that person who knew where she was? Could she even trust the watch now?

She saw him reach in his pockets. He had two small bottles in his hand. He gave one to Alice, while he put the other back in his pocket. The bottle was very tiny, maybe half the size of her pinkie. The liquid inside was a little yellow and had an oily structure.

"If you ever get caught and the Nazi asks you about Marcus Volturi, Caius Volturi, Aro Volturi or Jasper Hale, then don't hesitate to drink the bottle empty. You can easily take off the cap with your teeth and drink the contents."

She raised her eyes up to the strange man. He closed her fingers around the bottle, while holding her hand while he said the next frighting words.

"It kills you irreversibly within seconds. Quick and painless."

Alice was speechless, while the Nazi motioned to her with his hand.

"Go ahead, kill me with your questions."

"Oh," was all that Alice could manage.

They sat in silence. The Nazi was completely at ease.

Alice was staring at the possessions that were once the Nazi's, but now hers. She was given a watch with some technology in it and poison like she never heard of before. Quick, painless and irreversibly? And there was of course that coat, currently keeping her legs warm.

She could only think of one question to ask him.

"Are you the good guy or the bad guy?"

"I'm the guy who shot your fiancee and friends. What does that make me, America?"

She looked away in shame.

"You needn't remind me, because I have not forgotten," she whispered with newly formed tears in her eyes.

"Then why would you like me to say that I'm either a bad guy or a good guy, when really you already know the answer?"

"No," she said, turning her eyes back to him. "No. The bad guy would've shot me, because I'm an American. The good guy isn't a Nazi, because the Nazi slaughters everyone who is different."

He listened to her with raised eyebrows.

"You're somewhere in between," she said uncomfortably.

Alice saw his hand go in his pants pocket. He pulled out a pocket knife. Only it seemed like the blade was broken off. She gave him a stupid look.

"Can I trust you with this?" he asked with hard eyes. "Don't make me regret this, you hear?"

She took the broken knife from him with her left hand. She was still holding the small bottle in her other hand.

"It's mine. Much more useful then the ones your men carry."

"What's wrong with those?"

"This one was your friend's," he said, showing her. "You need both hands before you can use it."

"So? Yours doesn't even have a blade."

He reached over and placed his hand over Alice's, closing her fingers over the blade and placing her finger on a button by the side. He pressed her finger against it and a blade shot out soundlessly. He pressed again and the blade went back in.

"Oh, that's...impressive."

She handed it back to him and he looked from the knife to Alice.

"I'm giving it to you, America."

"Oh...alright."

She held the knife with its dangerous blade safely tucked inside it with only two fingers. She wasn't sure she liked weapons.

"Definitely the guy in between," she muttered more to herself than to him.

Still staring at the knife, she hadn't noticed when he took out his gun. She did however feel it when he placed it in her lap. Alice shrieked and tried to get up but instead she sat frozen with her hands next to her on the floor. There was a gun on her lap. He put it there. She held a gun before today, but that was different. Now she felt like she was a murderer and that gun was part of the reason.

"Take it easy, America. This war is fought with tanks, bombs, automatic weapons and things you've probably never heard of. The least you could try is learn how to handle a handgun, since I shot your protection dead."

Alice flinched at the brutal words which reminded her that he was the foe, the friend, something in between.

"I could shoot you right now," she said, even though she was too scared to pick up the gun.

"I could shoot you right now as well."

They turned their head to one another.

"But we won't, will we?" he asked.