Chapter Eighteen
Are You With Me

"Is it loaded?" she said shakily.

"Try it."

"I must be out of my mind," she whispered more to herself than him. "Probably because my friends are dead and I'm so exhausted. I can barely make out if this is really happening or if it's only a strange dream."

"You dream of a Nazi giving you weapons for protection?" he asked in mock.

"I dream that I might someday see the end of this war," she said hopefully.

"Hmm."

"What do you dream off?" she asked lazily, putting the scary and heavy gun on the ground beside her - just in case she needed to use it against him.

"Nothing."

Alice wondered if he was only brushing her off or if he truly dreamed of nothing. To her it seemed horrible to have no dreams, in the mind or at night.

"We leave at six again. You might want to catch some sleep."

She raised her eyebrows at his change of subject. It was done very poorly.

"Sleep?" she said, shaking her head.

"Yes, sleep," he said seriously. "You just said so yourself that you're exhausted."

"Being exhausted isn't the same as wanting to sleep. After all that death, how am I supposed to sleep?"

"I'll give you something to help you sleep."

She'd heard about certain medication that could help you sleep, but what if she couldn't wake up instantly when needed?

"How can you be sure if it's safe in here?" she asked. "While I'm on sleep medication, somebody could come in."

"You can never be sure. It's a war, America. It's a risk you take."

Uncertain as she was, she hugged her knees. Her eyes were on the door.

No, Alice wouldn't get any sleep tonight.

The Nazi got up, or, she might need to think of him as Adam now - even though he did call himself a Nazi just now.

He took his and her backpack and brought it with him to where Alice sat. The floor was hard and cold, but it gave them both a good view of the door.

Once seated, he went through his bag and took out a large black phone. He dialed a number. The talk was quick, short.

"Ich brauche jetzt Hilfe."

She kept her eyes steady in front of her. She heard him say help again. He was calling for help.

"So schnell wie möglich ist nicht gut genug! Berlin ist ein Kriegsgebiet. Ich kann hier nicht bleiben."

He listened to the receiver. Alice only heard Berlin. He said something about Berlin.

"Danke sehr!" he snapped angrily in a sarcastic tone, taking the phone from his ear and throwing it back in his backpack.

He was shaking and rested his elbows on his knees. He dropped his head in his palms. Alice nervously kept guard, her eyes staring at the door.

She didn't like to she him in that state. It seemed like something was wrong.

"What was that about?" she muttered.

He shook his head. He wouldn't tell her.

"I'm...uhm...Alice Brandon, by the way," she whispered. "You're uhm...not really Adam, right?"

He raised his head and dropped his arms between his legs.

"No," he said, surprising Alice with his honesty.

She knew that he wasn't much of a talker on certain subjects. He refused to tell her so many things. But he was talking now so Alice gently continued.

"You...uhm...mentioned three names earlier. Uhm, Mars and Kai and uhm...another strange name, those three all had the same last name I think and, uhm, what was it, Jack... no, Jason? Or, at least, something that sounded like that."

He stared at her, eyebrows slightly raised. There was no response from him and her nervous rambling. She swore he was smiling a little.

"I'm not very good with uhm...names."

"I can see that."

He was mocking her definitely. Now she could tell for sure he was amused.

"You are one of them, aren't you?"

"Yes. Keep asking questions and you'll be digging your own grave."

"Really?" she asked in a raised voice. "I'm in the middle of a war with somebody whose intentions couldn't be more foreign to me. You refuse to tell me anything and the stuff you do say make no sense. One of my feet is already in my grave. Which one of the four are you?"

"The latter."

She opened her mouth to ask which one the latter was, when she remembered she said Jason. That wasn't his real name, she knew that. She gave him a look and for the first time this Nazi's face transformed in a kind smile.

"Thanks for saving me, Jason," she said, despite still not knowing his real name. "Three times, I believe. Uh, dan-keh."

Now why did she do that? Why did she speak German so horridly as she clearly couldn't speak German.

"That sounded bad," she quickly said, insecurities catching up with her.

Suddenly, it was important what he thought.

The corner of one of his lips went up.

"Bitte, Alice."

He turned his head to her.

"Did I hurt you?" he asked. "Before, when I tied you and when we fought."

She shook her head too quickly. He grimaced, looking away.

"Well, I hurt you too, didn't I?" she muttered.

"No, you didn't."

At remembering their previous fight, she also remembered all the things she said when suturing his wounds. She'd been telling him she hoped he would die from his wounds. All the time he'd been pretending not to understand her, and still she didn't know why.

"What?" he asked, probably noticing the change in her expression.

"I was thinking of all that time I was speaking English and you knew what I was saying."

"Yeah, that was fun."

At least one of them was amused.