A Time To Rise

Chapter 5

I pick Catherine off the ground. She looks dead. I nudge her with my foot. She groans and rolls over.

"Hey."

"Hey," I say to her. I help her to her feet and lead her through to the next room. The kitchen. I get an icepack and hurry back through the breath-taking smoke to Catherine.

"Here you go."

She smiles weakly and plants it on her eye. The sound of dominant footsteps come closer all in time. I run to the cupboard and push Catherine inside and shut the doors. I jump on the chair and leap to the cupboard, hanging on with my fingertips. A deformed sound escapes my lips as I haul myself on top of the cupboard. Just in time. The people, who appear to be soliders, enter the room at the same time as another kid runs in. The soldiers laugh at her and aim to open fire when one steps forward.

"I will kill her." He has a horrible Germany accent and he stinks! I almost faint from the stench. I snap back to realilty. The smoke clears a little just in time to see Miss Hilary whack the solider on the head with a saucepan. Bang. She takes on all the soldiers so the child can run away. She shifts her eyes in my direction for a second and says,

"That means you too!" As she hits one of the soldiers on the head. I jump off the cupboard and roll when I hit the ground to break the fall and get Catherine from the cupboard. I grab her hand and yell "Run out the back door," meaning the front door. I hope she knows what I mean. Oh well. I turn and peer through the thickening smoke in time to see Miss Hilary get stabbed in the chest. Noooo! I dive under a bit of a fallen wall and wait until the soldiers march past us. I wriggle out and run to miss Hilary and hold her hand.

"Jake, you have to take care of Anne. She is the one to solve all of this."

"Take her where?"

"The resistance. You need to go to the resistance. She is the......."

Her voice trails off as her last breath leaves her body. I lay the dagger on her chest, over the wound and place her hands on it. The place irrupts in more flames and I race to the front door choking back my anger.

"Come on. Just a little further," I ask Catherine. Pleading her up the tree. She groans and the colour escapes her cheeks when her arms take the weight of her body. I turn and observe the town. The sounds of dying fill the air, the stench of smoke and dry blood threatens to take over my mind.