German-Jewish

Chapter 7

                That next day was spent dodging attacks, snapping at Aiello to cut his racist shit out towards Howard, and taking POWs. I got to witness Zussman and Pierson fight because Zussman can act like a human and show compassion when one of them asked for water. I think it's safe to say no one is doing well around here. Thanks to them fighting, though we found out that we had to ambush a string of trucks coming through with explosives.

For the ambush, Stiles and I got paired with Pierson's group. Great. Howard hasn't gotten to know us yet, but he'll find out that we are not a great pair to go with Pierson. Eventually Pierson traded me for Aiello. I took over driving the truck.

It should have been easy, but it wasn't.

"Stop!" I hear one of the Nazi's yell. I'd been trying to keep my head down.

"Get out of the truck!" another yelled.

My heart was pounding but I put my hands up and got out. "What are you doing here?" The first one asked.

"I found one of our trucks in the woods. I was bringing it back. It was one of the few not destroyed."

"Liar!" one yelled and hit me in the face. "Nice try. Do you really think we'd let a woman work for us?"

Shit.

I didn't have time to respond with anything before one kicked his heavy foot into my side. One did the other side, except into the side of my chest. I didn't remember much after that.

"We will take her to one of the labor camps, most likely," I heard someone say quietly in German. "Wait here."

"Zussman!" I heard someone yell. I snapped my eyes open and someone got thrown on the bench next to me.

"Fancy meetin' you here," Robert said nervously to me. I gave him what I could make of a smile.

"Quiet."

There was a moment of no one talking before I felt someone grab me and throw me out of the truck before there were so many gunshots I couldn't tell where they were coming from. I hit the icy ground harder than I thought was ever possible. Before I could even register pain a large pair of hands grabbed me and yanked me back up as the truck took off.

I fought the best I could to stay out, but it didn't work. There were at least three of them against me and I could see Robert trying to fight a couple out of the corner of my eye. One of the slapped me with the back of his hand and that combined with the icy air made me yell and stop for a moment.

Once that happened, one of them sat me up between him and another person. Whenever I moved they were prepared to hit me again. I endured it as much as I could. I knew that the hitting wouldn't be the worst that'll happen.

After a few minutes of me and Robert making eye contact and trying to communicate non-verbally, the truck abruptly stopped. There was all kinds of different yelling and Robert kept trying to fight them. I did too, but they were more worried about him.

"Go!" Robert screamed at me. What? He growled at one of them and wrapped him hand around my bicep, throwing me out of the truck the best he could. It was enough to push me over the barrier between us and outside.

I hit the ground again and pain throbbed throughout my back and whole side. I heard a gunshot, so I didn't move. I laid still and pretended to be dead. Maybe, if I pretended hard enough, I would be.

I head, "leave her! She's useless while dead!" and the truck roared loudly before leaving.

I opened my eyes and watched the truck go. It took me a moment before I realized Robert was still there.

"Hey," I heard Stiles over me. "Come on."

He got me up and tried tugging me towards Aiello and Daniels. "No," I said lowly and quietly.

"Fertig, come on. We gotta get you fixed up."

"No," I repeated, louder and more forcefully. "We have to get him!"

"We will, but you can't do any good when you're hurt like this."

"No."

"Marta," he said just as forcefully as I had and grabbed my arm.

I looked at him. "He's gone," I whispered, unable to believe it.

I leaned into his arm. I felt so weak in so many ways.

"My chest hurts, I can't breathe," I gasped and almost collapsed.

"I got you," He said and picked me up. Thankfully, my low weight combined with the gear I had on still wasn't too much. "It's okay, it'll be okay. You did everything you could."

That was a lie. I could've held on to him and made him fall out.

"Take deep breaths, you're okay," He said quietly. I wasn't. My chest burned and I was scared.