Hope among the ruins (EN) ✅

Chapter 12

✲꘏ ꘏ ꘏ ꘏✲

The boy gracefully climbed out through the half-broken window. The glass left in the frames didn't hurt the exposed areas of his skin one bit.

Unlike him, I scratched the skin on my arms, stomach, and legs as I clumsily dug my way out of the small window, and the clothing this soldier had given me was already a bit tattered as the material clung to the sharp corners of the scarred glass. But there was no time to whine. Every second counted now, and we had to make the most of it just to stay alive.

In addition, when the Germans see that their soldier is helping an enemy nurse to escape from the front line, they can kill him without even blinking. So he risks his life much more than anyone else.

"Okay, now you'll have to run that way," he pointed with his gloved hand in the direction of his nose.

A once beautiful city turned into ruins opened before our eyes. Crumbling buildings, burning or charred tanks and military trucks next to each other. The earth has become a river of blood. A German army named "Axis" was stationed on a small hill so that they could see the enemy approaching from the west while in this area.

"I'll catch up with you as soon as I can. However, I wouldn't expect anything good if I were you. And this one," the guy pulled out a walkie-talkie from his backpack and attached it to my shirt pocket. "I have the same one. Don't attempt to contact me until I signal through this device myself. Once I know it's safe to contact, I'll do it myself. Don't waste the food you find in this bag under any circumstances." He threw his backpack off his shoulders and attached it to the one that was resting on my shoulders. Then I realized that it was a two-piece bag that soldiers of all nations used to carry on their marches. "You will find everything you need most in this carrier. Just save because you don't know how long it will take you to get to that red wooden house I was talking about before."

"You haven't said your name yet," I reminded him, pressing my lips together as I stared intently into his brown eyes.

"Tobias," the German soldier finally answered after a few seconds of pause. "Toby Saltzman."

"I'm Elizabeth," I shook his hand.

Then I nodded to Tobias and was about to turn towards the ruined city, but a German soldier grabbed me by the elbow and pulled me close. Turning, I saw anxiety, hope, sadness and relief in his eyes all at the same time. His face was changing with all kinds of emotions every second and I couldn't understand what he was really going through, what was really going on in his head. I could only guess.

"Remember, the town of Mateur," Tobias reminded. I began to nod feverishly. "When you reach the town, go straight to that lake. You run up to a wooden house with red boards, knock on the door and ask to be let inside."

"How will I know when I'll run into that town?"

"You will see a road sign with a sign on which the name will be written."

"Who lives in that house?"

"Don't ask, just do what I say," he snapped nervously. "Tell the owners of that house that I sent you. And now run without looking back. I'll cover you."

I did as instructed. I ran without looking back, and Tobias protected me from the side and walked towards me with a quick step. He had the machine gun pointed in front of him. When I went down a little, he stopped.

I couldn't stop myself. I took one last look at him. I didn't know if we would ever meet again. I could only hope so, though my hopes were low.

Tobias Saltzman, a German soldier who decided it was worth rescuing a simple nurse who belonged to his enemy platoon, was also looking at me. His look was still the same: a little upset, a little happy. A little desperate and relieved at the same time. I still wanted to know why he was looking at me so strangely, why he decided to help me escape.

Why did he promise to call me on the walkie-talkie when it was safe? Why did he say that he will catch up with me soon?

I will probably never get answers to these questions.

There was really no hope that Tobias would be able to contact me, because his soldiers would soon find out that he had helped the enemy escape and would simply kill him. Therefore, he will never come to that wooden house where he sent me to hide. Most likely, he will be killed immediately by the soldiers of his platoon. And this knowledge now somehow painfully choked my heart.

"Run!" Tobias urged in a whimper and started waving his hand at himself, pointing in the opposite direction from where I was standing. "Hey, here... I found some more enemies here. Come here. She's here!"

He took one last look at me, gave me a quick nod, and ran off in the direction he was directing his squad to run. Soon I heard many running footsteps nearby. I don't know why I still hesitated, my feet seemed to grow into the ground. Conflicting feelings were fighting in me: the desire to escape from this territory and the desire to go after Tobias and help him fight with his own people.

Anyway, not forcing myself, I moved in the direction of the bombed-out city and ran without looking back and counted my steps. Tobias made it clear that I must stop every fifty feet and hide in every hole dug in the ground. I will have to wait two to five minutes in it and run on. I could not stop, just as I could not disobey the orders of that German soldier.

Some part of me wanted to trust him. After all, if he wished me dead, he wouldn't have armed me and let me out of his squad's territory.

★ ⋆ ★

I kept jumping into the hole every fifty feet and counting the seconds, waiting for the five minutes that seemed to last an eternity. I dug myself out and ran on. I had to run through an entire town that had been shot up and destroyed by the Germans at war with their enemies.

But I suddenly stopped short of the fifth hole.

My attention was drawn to a soldier moaning softly right next to the tank tracks. When he saw me, he stretched out his hand and began to pray for help. I hesitated for a few minutes, but still gave in to my altruistic instinct and jumped to the soldier. I threw my backpack off my shoulders and placed the gun next to her. I started examining the guy.

There was no way I could tell from which part of his body he was bleeding, because he was lying in a pool of his own blood and that of other soldiers. Around his helpless body, body parts of other soldiers were lying everywhere on the ground: arms, fingers, legs, half of his face, noses, ears.

My eyes returned to the soldier. He lifted his jacket and shirt with his other hand. His entire abdomen was drained of blood, but completely healthy. I raised my eyebrows in complete confusion. Then I realized that he himself does not realize where the blood is coming from. I was unbuttoning his shirt and then I saw...

"Your lungs are punctured," I said immediately. This time I spoke in English because I didn't know if this soldier was German, British or American. I couldn't tell from the clothes because they were all covered in mud and blood. A red, dark, thick liquid seeped through the hole under the chest. I pressed my palm over the wound, though I didn't think it would help. "How long have you been lying here?"

"I don't know," he gasped for air. I knew from the accent that he was British. Probably not a ground unit soldier.

"Do you have any medicines or medical supplies?"

"Here," he said, tapping the tank's rails with the same hand he'd used to lift his shirt.

Without waiting for anything, I took the gun in my hand as a precaution and after locking myself on the tank I opened the hatch. When I entered it, I saw at least three soldiers inside who were riddled with bullets. One in the eye, the other was completely decapitated. The third lost his arm and simply bled to death because medical help was not provided in time.

✲꘏ ꘏ ꘏ ꘏✲