Unbending Will

Chapter 1

As she gathered a plan for the coming months, she started to gather information on people who could possibly help her on her quest. His late best friend was the first person she contacted. She knew they had been stationed together frequently so if anyone knew, it would be him. On the way to his house, there were forces on patrol searching for jewish citizens. She crouched and sprinted to a nearby bush. Its leaves rustling as she squeezed between the prickly branches nearly alerted the patrollers. She laid cramped in the bushes waiting for them to pass, she could smell the M3A1 gas burning as she heard the tires crush anything unfortunate enough to get caught under its devastating weight. She slowly ascended from her hiding spot and continued on her path. Instead of going on the road, she was more cautious and chose to take a hidden route through the forest. It was a bit longer and the stems and sticks would impede her by stabbing through her clothes while she walked. As she grew closer to the address she thought was her brother's friend's home, she was caught in a state of confusion. The ''house'' was an old, abandoned shack that smelled like mildew had been growing there for years.
As she slowly ascended up the weak wooden stairs, she started to think that the house had not been lived in for several years. As she reached the front door, she heard the footsteps of what could only be a tall, burley man walk towards the other side of the door. As the door slowly creaked open, a short figure could be seen poking out of the doorway. He had red hair, glasses, and freckles engulfed his face. "H... hi, wh- wh- who are you?" he uttered shakily. " hey, I'm Oldwyn, Elisah's younger sister'' she replied tiredly from the amount of walking she had just endured. She led up with "Can I please come inside?' Before he had a chance to say another word. As he allowed her inside, she was quickly hit with a smell that could only be compared to a 4 week old roadkill carcass masked by the smell of animal feces. She tried her best not to make any impolite gestures or sounds, as this man was nice enough to invite her inside. With every step they took further, she thought more and more that she had walked into a homeless person's sanctuary. After a few slow and careful steps, she had reached the sofa. She slowly and attentively sunk into it.
After both of them had sat down, there was a 5 second period of silence before Oldwyn finally asked the individual for his name. She found out that his name was Johnson. They conversed about Johnson's relationship with her brother, and she found out that before her brother was killed, Johnson had fled the military. He only joined to get away from the toxicity of his parents home. When The new world war had begun, he was stationed in England and his barracks had been attacked. During the ambush, Johnson had been held captive and tortured. Elisah had broken into the prison and rescued Johnson. Johnson had found refuge in the dwelling that he was living in currently. Elisah would frequently stop by for quick chats with his friend. Johnson stated that Elisah was like a brother to him, and the news of his passing devastated him. As the night progressed, Oldwyn and Johnson had gotten very familiar with each other very quickly, they realized that they had lots of things in common and even though their personalities were very different, they were put through similar situations. She lost both of her parents at a young age, and his parents despised him. Around midnight, after hours of talking and reminiscing, they began to get sleepy. Instead of making Oldwyn sleep on the sofa, Johnson had offered to share his bed which would barely fit him alone. Oldwyn knew that she would be better off sleeping on the sofa. Johnson would not bear the thought of her sleeping in pain whilst he slept comfortably, so he slept on the sofa adjacent to hers. The next day, Oldwyn had woken up to the best fragrance she had smelled since she first entered the worn down house. As she slowly leaned up from her resting position, she could see him in the kitchen cooking the best meal she had ever witnessed. She continued to pretend to be asleep whilst he cooked, but he could tell she was watching. He explained to her that while he was on the force, instead of being tasked to do heinous things, he was the designated chef. He also explained how he had much experience from gardening and plants since he spent the majority of his childhood outside. Since he was close friends with Elisah, he knew that she was jewish, and prepared a dish in a way that was not offensive to her culture. As they dined, she told him about her plot to find information about her brother's passing. Since he was terrified to ever do anything dealing with the army again, he was reluctant to help. After they had spoken for a while about why she thought it was suspicious, he was also willing to help her investigate her brother's passing, but only on the condition that they could not engage with any opposing forces.
Since she agreed to his terms, he led her to his garage, which held his rusty Rolls Royce, which looked like it had been manufactured before world war one. It took at least 3 tries to start and once it finally did, it let out thick, black smoke that smelled like burning chemicals and the stench spread around the garage quickly. As they opened the garage and started driving, the car made continuous gut wrenching sounds. It wasn't long before they had some unwanted company. The attire that Oldwyn donned was that of a traditional jewish culture and could be noticed right away. As the authorities grew closer, Oldwyn quickly hid under some old dusty blankets that were used for car repair. The smell of gasoline and oil burned her lungs for the entire duration of the awkward conversation between the officer and Johnson. Before the patroller could properly depart, he decided to check the car for rations. This action alone made Johnson very anxious. The closer the officer had gotten to Oldwyn, The more Johnson panicked. As the officer ripped the blanket off of Oldwyn, she positioned herself to just right angle to fatally wound him with her heels. She thrusted her legs straight up and closed the airways of his throat, choking him to death. This interaction caused Johnson to break into a fit of screaming and rambling about how he shouldn't have come along. Oldwyn stripped the police officer of his weapon, and stole keys that he had stored in his pants pocket beside a picture of a woman who seemed to be in her mid to late thirties. Oldwyn had a carriage filled with 30 or more people being taken to a concentration camp so she decided to unlock it. As she unlocked it, the prisoners gave her a location to the concentration camp that they were being sent to. Oldwyn wanted to go to the camp right away and free everyone trapped inside. Johnson, on the other hand, was much more hesitant about going there and risking both of their lives. Instead of trying to force him to participate, she thought it would be much smarter to give him a choice: leave him where they were which risks him getting apprehended by the backup that was sure to come in search of the missing hostages, or him to come with her and help her sneak into the camp and save everyone. After some time to think in silence, he decided that the safest route was with her. She equipped herself with the officer's clothing and the M1 Garand that he had stashed away.
Oldwyn, Johnson, and the prisoners all headed towards the camp. The way there was silent and cumbersome. No one was taught to drive a German war vehicle and Oldwyn didn't know how to drive at all. When they were almost at the entrance of the camp, Oldwyn radioed the guards that she had the latest batch so she could be allowed through. As they entered the gates, Oldwyn and Johnson looked for places that they could stash the truck as a getaway vehicle. After she freed the hostages, Oldwyn started her search for the main control building for the camp. She cut a hole in both sides of a can of beans and poured them out. She made it into a makeshift silencer so she could stay concealed when firing. She shot a nearby guard in order to give Johnson a weapon to protect himself. She knew that he would rather wait in the truck than venture inside and risk being harmed by whatever awaited them. Much to her surprise, he decided to follow her inside the building. He was terrified, but he didn't want her to be alone when he could've helped. As they went up flight after flight of stairs, they realized that the main control station was near. She knew that the station would be very heavily guarded, so she developed a plan. She was going to steal a gas canister from one of the chambers and throw it inside. Instead of explaining the plan to Johnson and risking the plan being hampered, she frantically whispered "stay here" while dashing down the stairs knowing he would follow anyway. She knew that the stunt she was about to pull would be very incalculable and has a high possibility of failure. She quietly ambled towards the chamber she had seen when she had first arrived. Before entering the building, she turned around to see Johnson crawling towards her. She knew that he would ignore her instructions and follow her. As he inched closer, she grabbed his hand and drug him through the dry, dirty sand. He immediately started a fit of coughing from the dirt drying his mouth and throat. After a few quiet strides, They were at the doors of a chamber. Oldwyn shot a few holes in the door just in case there was any gas left over. She grabbed two gas masks for her and Johnson so they wouldn't have to worry about inhaling any of the nasty smoke. She used a nearby knife to twist the screws holding it in place and ran back to the command station. After they arrived, Oldwyn Slammed the doors open and threw the canister against the ground, smashing it and letting the air fill the room. She then slammed the door before anyone could see her. After 5 seconds of screaming and confusion, those remaining from the gas shot at the door, but soon they fell as well. After 10 minutes of silence, Oldwyn and Johnson casually fitted themselves into the suits and strolled through the bullet riddled door. As Oldwyn stepped over the corpses, she caught a glimpse of something halfway hidden under a cadaver. She took a sigh of relief once she realized that the hidden treasure was only a map of a German War Base and not something terribly gruesome. She took the map and flipped the switch to open all doors to the camp as they headed out. As they headed towards the truck, Oldwyn explained her plan to explore the outpost previously mentioned in the map. At this point Johnson had endured enough excitement for the day and wanted to go home. He began to panic and explained that he refused to go to any other places and do anything else. Since they didn't have any time to argue, Oldwyn provided a weapon to each refugee and drove herself and Johnson home.