The Condemned | ✔️

4

Frank had drifted asleep. And when he awoke, it wasn't because of his natural body-clock, but because of movement.

Movement that shouldn't have been occurring.

"EVERYBODY UP!" Came the order in strict German, assaulting Frank's ears with surreal pain. "UP!"

What was happening?

"Sir? Sir?" Aksel appeared by his side, eyes wide as bustling bodies drifted about like a confused school of fishes, caught in a harried current and thrown about in a reckless fashion. "I thought you said they had gone. You said the Germans had gone!"

He wiped his eyes with his fingers, the different voices and sounds collecting like an orchestra in disarray. Out of tune. Syncopated. Staccato and jabbing his senses like a bayonet.

Desperately, Aksel gripped his hand.

"MOVE! MOVE!" Came the voice again. More light streamed into the area as people were directed out of the vicinity, shuffling along into the light outside.

"No, no, no! This can't be happening!" Frank sought a cause for this to be happening, scrabbling amongst the recesses of reason for a solution.

My Division was patrolling all over! I heard what they said! I'm MIA! They would've searched for me and found me here!

But one thing was certain; the men outside weren't Allied troops.

Aksel and Frank were swept along in the tide, squinting their eyes as they moved out of the door, pressed into close proximity as they marched along, dragging their feet.

"This can't be happening!" Frank repeated.

"FASTER! FASTER! MOVE! YOU'RE GETTING SHOWERS YOU LAZY SCUMBAGS! MOVE!"

Showers? Showers? At a time like this?

At his side, Aksel whimpered. "What's happening?" He wailed, flashes of fear lacerating in his darkening eyes. "You said they had gone! You said they had gone!"

Soon, they were ushered into a silver, grimy room, stripped naked and huddled side by side, no room between them. Everyone continued to fidget and wiggle as if that would get them out of the situation, as if it would save their lives.

Through all the chaos, Aksel held on to Frank's arm, his nails digging into the soldier's bare flesh.

The stench was appalling.

As Frank gagged and kept a hand on the little boy, he tried to ascertain the situation. No military training prepared him for this. No amount of drills and jumps could ready him for the words that ricocheted around like a grenade.

"This happened to another barrack! They said they were getting showered, but they got gassed!"

"Gassed?"

"Gassed and killed! Gassed and killed!"

"Stripped naked and poisoned with fumes! Gassed! Gassed!"

Frank moaned in animalistic pain. The doors slammed shut. The light extinguished until everyone was contained in a state of darkness. The blackness was contaminating, spreading quickly and insidiously, gulping everyone into it's hungry mouth...

"HELP! HELP!"

"I don't what do die!"

"Blessed be He who spoke and the world came into being; blessed be He!"

"Dear Lord..."

"Help!"

"What's happening!" Aksel's voice broke into a sob, the words barely reaching Frank's ears against all the other anguished cries. He crouched down to Aksel's height, not caring about all the other people jostling and shifting about...

"It's alright. Close your eyes. It's alright. Think of something happy. Think of your parents. You know the Pearly Gates? That's where we're going. And everything will be fine. Everything will be a-a-a..."

But Frank couldn't get his words out. He too succumbed to tears.

The last prayers and pleas of The Condemned rang about the room.

"Let my family live long and happy lives... A-atone for my sins... L-let me go peacefully, l-let me go quick..."

The words were soon engulfed by incoherent cries and screams, screams that rose like a symphony of death, rising like a crescendo in the room, filling the space.

Hisses, whistles... Screams, screams, so many screams...

Then silence.

Apart from the sporadic sound of bodies hitting the floor.