The Way Back

Prologue

May 11th, 1942

The Colonel's office was cramped. An old wooden desk sat in the middle that held various stacks of papers, all cluttering on top of one another. A fan blew in the corner, offering a slight breeze to cool down the room in the early stages of summer. Picture frames lined the walls, some of just the Colonel himself, others of his family back home.

A young girl sat in a worn out chair placed directly in front of the desk. She sat completely still despite the nerves of what this meeting request entailed with her hands placed on top of one another over her crossed legs.

Why she was here was a mystery. Two men in United States Military uniforms approached her earlier in the morning on her run. At first, she was ready to go down swinging. But they spoke simply, saying Colonel Sink had requested a meeting with her. She assumed it had to be about where she had been the last eight years of her life.

As much as she would've liked not to talk about it, getting it over with before they begin hounding again her was the ideal option. So here she sat, waiting to have her pain ripped open again.

Muffled voices echoed in the hallway outside of the door to her left. Her head tilted ever so slightly to try and catch the words exchanged. Upon not hearing anything but the doorknob begin to twist, she straightened her head and kept her eyes on the desk.

A man finely decorated in an army uniform stepped through the doorway, removing his cap as he passed through the threshold. She finally turned to face him, but did not stand up upon his greeting smile.

"Miss Lia, it is a pleasure to meet you." His voice was a calm presence, reminding Lia of her father. Maybe it was the version of her father that she created. She didn't remember him all that well. Bubbling blood spilling from a man's lips was the one thing she did remember. She shoved the thought from her mind.

Lia's tracked him the duration of his walk to sit behind his desk. The man eased himself into the seat with a small grin and adjusted a few of the haphazardly placed papers in front of him before leaning back in his seat. His eyes met Lia's in an intense stare.

The dutifully trained soldier before him gave nothing away. Her blank stare was bone chilling. Even the Colonel fought the urge to glance away.

He cleared his throat before speaking. "It has been brought to my attention that you are one of the girls liberated from the Buchloe operation and few months back." Her stare held unfaltering against the man before her, while her features gave way to no reaction upon the statement. "I was also told that you were the only one who wouldn't speak on what happened there even though the other six did."

The other six.

Lia's hand threatened to tighten in her lap. Six. There were more than six. Eleven still left at the hands of monsters.

He dragged in a small breath, breaking the silence. "You were trained in all sorts of combat, yes?"

She remembered the ways a hilt of a knife felt in her hands. How a punch broke the skin over her knuckles. The cold metal and power of a rifle in her arms. Her face held passive as she nodded once in confirmation.

"We're in an understanding that this was a high training operation, starting you at a very young age to become skilled combat soldiers." Lia nodded once more. "It has also been brought to my attention that you have not been living anywhere specific." He paused, letting the knowledge sink in. "Why is that?"

Lia's eyes narrowed. How he came by that information was unknown to her, though she expected it as the officers earlier in the morning had found her mid-run.

"I have no where to live." The high arched eyebrow on the Colonel's face hinted that he wanted her to elaborate. She suppressed a sigh as she continued, "When the Germans took us, they killed our family too. No one to live for. No home to go back to. No hope. The making of a true soldier."

Dark red blood seeping through cracks in a floor rose to the surface of her mind. She pushed it down.
He stared at the young girl for a moment, taking her words in.

"The other girls stated that you were the oldest, and spent the most time there. That you were the best trained. How long were you there for?"

Lia bit down on the inside of her cheek, drawing out the iron taste of blood that she knew all too well. She wanted to be anywhere but here.

"Since I was ten."

The Colonel couldn't hold the shocked expression that splashed over his face. His mouth parted slightly as he tried to find the words to say. He had been expecting her to have been young, but hearing the age out loud was harrowing. She was a child.

"I'm sorry to hear that." His voice fell soft as his eyes shifted down to the desk before him for a moment before dragging them back up to meet Lia's. It hurt him to follow up with the idea he had, but the Colonel hadn't brought Lia all this way for nothing. "I brought you in here today because I have a proposition for you."

Lia leaned back in her chair, a look encouraging the man before her to continue.

"I know that you have been trained as a soldier. I don't think it will be a surprise to hear that we have kept an eye on you, and we know of the fights you purposely get yourself into. You want to fight, it's the only thing you know how to do."

The young girl brushed off his bluntness. He was spot on.

"We are undergoing an operation here in the U.S. Army. One that also assimilates women into the front lines. We're placing two women in each division of the army, playing out how you will succeed in the front lines. I wouldn't come to you if it wasn't needed, but one of our selected women for the Airborne had dropped out."

Lia furrowed her eyebrows, tilting her head to the side. "Airborne?"

The man nodded. "We are testing it out. It's a paratrooper infantry where you will be dropped in over the enemy lines.  If this first trial goes correctly, we will train more paratroopers to follow in behind you. We don't know how long that will be. It could be months, years."

He he cleared his throat before continuing. "We have little time to train another to drop at the specific window. But you, Lia, have already been trained in most of the things these soldiers need. And, if the other girls spoke true, you excel at them."

The man's words began to slowly sink in.

"It is solely and completely your decision. There will be no forcing you to do so. I am asking you today if you would like to be included into the operation, where you will be trained in an elite unit for the 16th Airborne Infantry, Vitale Company."

She wasn't being forced. She was being asked. Though she did wonder what they would do if she denied. Men in power knew how to lie.

It wasn't like she was going to deny his proposition anyways. She could finally get the revenge her soul had been craving.

Lia shifted her eyes to the man before her. The corners of her mouth twitched up into a small grin, the first emotion the Colonel had seen since meeting her.

"I'm in."