Between Two Oceans - Book 2

Chapter 2

September 1941

I don't know what day it is. I don't know how long I spent on that train. Only three days and two nights according to some girls on the block. A lifetime in my opinion.

They came to pick up Josianne and me before daybreak. There were four of them and one of them approached Rosie who was wheezing and holding her head in her hands repeating over and over what I assumed was her husband's name.

When the SS soldier grabbed her arm, she started screaming hysterically, throwing her arms and legs in all directions. I guessed more than understood what one of the other soldiers in the cell had said to her with a laugh to made her crazy.

They took Josianne and me away with a blast and I don't know why I did that but I turned around to take one last look at Rosie, lying on the ground, bathed in her blood, pieces of brains sliding down along the damp wall. I gagged but forced myself to swallow down the bile that threatened my body with more blows. Vomiting on the boots of a German officer must even have been worth death.

They made us go out barefoot, with the unfortunate rags we were wearing. We still had our nursing outfits and I had the good idea before going to Varez's friend's farm to put on a sweater over them. Josianne, she only had a thin t-shirt on and I could see goosebumps on her bare arms, but she didn't show anything on her stoic face, an impenetrable mask that didn't reveal any of her emotions.

They couldn't have been very different from mine: fear, cold, hunger, anger. Especially fear.

I am not as strong as Josianne was at hiding my feelings and the soldiers quickly realized this, playing on the fear they saw on my face by shouting even louder and playing with their weapons to impress us.

I slipped on the wet cobblestones and fell to the ground to the giggles and jokes of the Germans present in the courtyard. One of the soldiers who was escorting us kicked me in the ribs and yelled something that must have meant "get up," which I did with difficulties. My knees were bleeding profusely and the one that had taken on a strange color between black and green made me suffer excruciatingly again. I bit my tongue to keep from moaning. Above all, you must not moan, I told myself. You shouldn't show them pain or fear because they are like dogs, they feel it.

We were unceremoniously thrown into a van in which there were around ten other women and a man. We held each other as tight as we could. Some were bloody, others barely covered and the man seemed to be in a very bad state, huddled up under a filthy overcoat.

The overcoat ! I glanced at Josianne and saw that she had also thought of him. We tried to get as close as we could, ignoring the grunts of the other women who refused to let us pass. It was without counting on Josianne who pushed them with her elbows to reach the injured man while the van drove off, causing me to tip forward. I barely caught up with Josianne, thus avoiding further pain to my knees. The two SS soldiers responsible for watching us didn't flinch when they saw our commotion, but to tell the truth we hadn't even thought about them.

The man's face was hidden by his coat. I slowly reached out with my hand to carefully remove the hood that was hiding his face. Josianne and I had the same exclamation of fear. It was him. It was Doctor Varez.

He was in a pitiful state. His nose had been broken, he had dried blood around his lips, chin and neck and one eye hanging out. His right eye was literally hanging out of its socket. He raised his head towards us and opened his still good eye. When he recognized us, he tried to smile, which quickly turned into a grimace of pain.

"I... I..." he painfully tried to speak.

"Don't talk, keep your strength." I ordered him.