Chapter 21
Hey Everyone I am back with another chapter! I've had a lot going on the past year or so and have been struggling with feeling fatigued and a general lack of motivation so I apologize for the delay. Please review and let me know what you think of the chapter! God Bless :)
-Innocentia999
Lilla's POV:
I blinked my eyes, my brain not even comprehending for a moment the sentence that had just left his mouth.
"I'm sorry I just hallucinated. It sounded like you said we were going to help Edith escape?"
"Yes that is what I said" he stated, flatly.
I stood up sharply, still in shock and feeling almost wobbly on my feet.
"Don't play with me Heim."
"You think I brought you all the way out here simply for a practical joke?"
I slowly turned to face him.
"Why are you doing this?" I asked, softly.
"Doing what?"
"Helping Edith to escape. Your kind have sworn to wipe people like Edith and I from the face of the earth. You participate in it every day and hardly take a look at all the other prisoners suffering. Why are you helping Edith now?"
"It's a great way to get back at Johanna for one thing for disobeying my orders. If your friend is gone she no longer has leverage."
I tilted my head and gave him a meaningful look.
"I don't believe you."
"Are we gonna discuss the plan or what?"
"No, no you don't get to do that. You don't get to intimidate me into silence and shut me out."
He glared at me and I could tell he was getting irritated.
"Would you just drop it?! There are more important things to attend to right now."
All of a sudden I felt of emotion wash over me and words came pouring out before I even remembered who I was talking to.
"No why?! Why is this world so cruel to me? What have I ever done to anyone to deserve this?! I didn't ask to be born a Jew and all I've ever done is be a kind person and mind my own business and yet I'm treated as if I'm merely a disease, a plague upon society! People take one look at me and they whisper 'Oh look there she goes the Jew?! 'Go back to where you came from Jew! Don't come in my shop Jew!'" I paused, taking a breath and sighing sadly.
"They judge us before they even know us."
As I took a few deep breaths, Heim just gazed at mw in annoyance.
"You done?" he inquired.
I put up my hands in surrender, knowing by now it wouldn't do any good to antagonize him any further.
"Alright, but I'm probably gonna still interrogate you about this later on."
"You do and I'll make sure you sort all the junk in the cellar AND give it a deep clean, including of the cobwebs and any of the rats."
"Well it's a good thing rats don't frighten me then. I even raised two of them as pets as a child."
"Really then what animal do you fear?"
I placed my hands on my hips and gave him a smug grin.
"Warfare 101, never give the enemy your secrets."
It was in that moment I thought I could detect an ever so small side grin upon his face but it could've just been my imagination.
"So what's your plan?"
Heim explained his idea thoroughly to me and I had to admit his plan was sound.
"Are you sure this is gonna work?" I finally inquired as we drove back to the house.
"There's no guarantee about anything in life, much less if this will succeed. We can only hope nothing goes wrong."
"Thanks that's very reassuring." My stomach began to tighten in knots just thinking about what we would attempt tonight. If we were caught, the consequences would be cruel beyond any imagining.
###
Night had fallen and I sat waiting in a chair, gazing out the window, anxiously shaking my leg up and down as I gazed out the window upon the dark path that ran by the Heim's house. Herr Heim was out working late, and Frau Heim and Peter had long since retired to bed. I had been giving instructions by Heim to wait here for him to bring Edith.
"Where is he? Come on, Come on" I urged under my breath in Hungarian, drumming my fingers on the window sill.
###
Several minutes earlier…
Rupert's POV:
Wilhelm and I were patrolling the women's camp as the prisoners began to retire for the night to their bunks. I had made sure I had kept an eye on Lilla's friend, watching as she moved towards the barracks with the other prisoner's, slumped forward in exhaustion. I looked back to make sure Wilhelm was a good distance away before striding over and gruffly demanding "You come with me." She backed away, shaking her head, but before she could dart away I grabbed her in a tight hold, placing a hand over her mouth so she couldn't scream. She struggled as I dragged her far behind the barrack.
Once I was out of sight of the other prisoners, I pressed an ethylene covered cloth over her mouth until her struggling ceased and she collapsed against me unconscious. I laid her on the ground and made a small incision over her heart, not too deep to cause harm but substantial enough to appear like a bullet wound. Then I took my pistol from its holder and fired one shot up into the night. The loud bang! echoed in the dark and soon I heard footsteps racing across the prison yard to my location as I knew would happen. Wilhelm was the first one on the scene.
"Rupert what happened?!" he strode toward me but stopped when he saw the body.
"This one tried to run. Shot her through the heart. She's dead" I replied, nonchalantly standing up. In the dark thankfully they wouldn't be able to see the wound as well.
"Oh well" Wilhelm shrugged, not once doubting my sincerity. "What are we to do with the body? The men at the crematoria are off duty for the night."
"We can just take the body to the woods, leave it for the animals" I suggested, my heart pounding, hoping that Wilhelm would not raise any objection.
"I'll help you carry it."
"No I can carry the body myself. I need you to go and inform my Father and the others what happened and where I am, just in case anyone asks questions."
He nodded and saluted me before hurrying away. With a sigh of relief under my breath, I hauled Edith off the ground and carried her in the direction of the woods by my house.
###
Lilla's POV:
My heart jumped as Heim finally appeared carrying Edith in his arms. I quietly slipped out the door and speed walked as silently as I could over to them.
"Is she alright?" I inquired, knowing she was just unconscious but still concerned for my friend.
"She'll come around shortly. Come this way we don't have much time" he whispered urgently.
During our meeting in the clearing he neglected to tell me how he was actually going to sneak Edith out of camp entirely but I had a feeling I was about to find out.
A little ways up the path, concealed partly by the shadows of the trees lay a brown military like truck, with a dark green canopy thrown over the back. Suddenly a woman opened the drivers side door and stepped out.
She had dark brown hair, intense brown eyes and her skin was slightly more on the pale side. She carried herself almost like a soldier, with a tense, strong, and upright posture. She wore a dark brown skirt and dark flat shoes, pairing with a white blouse with a military like jacket over it.
"Well, Rupert I really am surprised to see you doing something like this. Who would've thought you could put aside your own ambition and selfishness for once" she said, her voice dripping with quiet resentment and disgust.
"Calm down Alice and open the back already" he replied, his voice leaving no room for argument.
The woman, Alice, rolled her eyes, but did as he said, moving towards the back of the truck. I followed along with Heim, not really knowing what to do or say giving the obvious tension between the two.
"Put her here" Alice barked quietly, as Rupert settled Edith into the truck, and began binding her hands behind her back.
"What are doing?!" I hissed. Alice's eyes settled on me for the first time, and the hardness they had displayed toward Heim had somewhat softened.
"Just so she doesn't make any noise or put herself in danger by trying to escape when she wakes up before I can get her to safety" Alice replied.
As much as I disliked it I didn't want Edith to be put in any further danger so I raised no further argument.
Once Alice had closed the back of the truck and lowered the flaps, she turned towards Rupert.
"So tell me Rupert, this life your leading does it make you feel good?! Is it just a fun game for you to walk on the backs of innocents and slaughter them just to advance your career?!" she hissed.
I was surprised to hear her raise an objection to the destruction of my people and the actions of the monster the Germans called the Fuhrer.
"Alice…" Heim began to warn but Alice continued quietly yet bitingly.
"Do you think Onkle (Uncle) would be proud of you?! Seeing the man you've become?!"
"Now is not the time?! Get in the truck and get the girl to safety before the sun rises!"
Alice said no more but simply strutted to the drivers side, got in the vehicle and headed down the road, the truck soon lost from our sight.
Heim and I stood there for awhile watching after it.
"Who was she?" I finally inquired.
"My cousin" he replied, before beginning to stride back down the path towards the house.
"Wait a minute" I raced after him and momentarily blocked his path.
"She's your family! I thought… well since you follow the Fuhrer as you call him, I thought everyone in your family supported him."
"No" he simply replied, continuing to stride back to the house.
I quietly hurried to catch up with him.
"Were you close once? I mean it's just she seems to really care about you."
"We were once, now we're not."
"Why not?"
"Lilla I do not wish to go into details right now. I'm tired and irritable and all I want is a good rest" he replied.
I stopped for a moment as he continued on, gazing at his back as he did so, reflecting on how much had happened today.
"Heim" I called out softly.
"What is it?" He kept his voice low, continuing to slowly move along, his back to me.
"Thank you. You know you're not exactly everything I expected."
"Well" he stopped, and partially turned around to gaze at me, his eyes intense yet also somewhat soft "perhaps you shouldn't judge someone before you get to know them" he finished meaningfully.
He then turned around and headed into the house. I quickly followed.