L'amore e la guerra - Love and war

Ch. 13

Friedrich was sleeping peacefully, but it was a very dark, sleepless night for Ludwig and Feli. Marshal Badoglio had just announced that Italy was done with the war. That meant that Germany was on its own against the world.
After the bombings, Ludwig had been increasingly worried. There was no denying that the war was going according to his deepest fears. He knew very well that they were fighting on the wrong side, but he could not really wish for Germany to lose the war. If that happened, the German people, Nazis or not, would have been royally screwed. Ludwig could not even contemplate the thought. However much he hated the Nazi Party, he loved Germany. That was why he was risking his life in the Resistance, to eliminate the Nazis and have his beautiful, free Germany back. He cringed in fear at the thought of what the Allies would have done to Germany if the war was lost.
Feli instead had been relieved. She knew that the German troops that were still in Italy were very angry and that the partisans were still fighting for their lives, but the fact that the war was over was a wonderful thing. She just wanted to go back home, bring Ludwig and Friedrich with her and see her grandpa and Lovino again.
Ludwig was sitting perfectly motionless when Feli decided to talk.
"Ludwig... I've been thinking."
Ludwig snapped out of his thoughts and looked at her. She had a very determined look, which was pretty rare. He nodded his head to make her go on.
"Why don't we go back to Venice?"
Ludwig looked at her, a stunned look in his eyes.
"What?"
"Come on. You can't deny that the war is not going like they want us to think. You and I know very well how it will end. So why do we have to stay here and wait for the Allies to kill us here while we could be safer in Italy?"
Ludwig said nothing. Feli cried out in exasperation.
"Come on! We can't stay here! What if we get caught in another bombing? What if something happens to Friedrich?"
"I can't leave, Felicia. You know very well I can't. But you and Friedrich are free to go. Actually, you should go."
"I'm not going anywhere without you!"
"Be reasonable."
"No, you be reas..."
she couldn't even finish the sentence. Someone was knocking at the door. But the rhythm of the knocks told them one thing: one of the dissidents was at their door.
Ludwig got up with his gun in hand. He went to the door and opened it.
Feli let out a scream. Reiter was there, leaning on the door frame, his legs shaking, badly injured and bleeding.
"Shit! Feli, help me get him in! Colonel, are you ok? What happened?"
While Ludwig was helping him to their couch, Reiter spit some blood and said weakly "I'm sorry. They figured me out."
Ludwig cursed. Feli gasped.
Feli tried to tend to the Colonel's wounds, but he was bleeding too much. There was no way to help him.
"You guys... you guys run away. They figured us out. I don't know how they did it..."
After having said that, Reiter closed his eyes.
Feli shook him, tried to call his name, but he didn't answer.
He wasn't breathing anymore.
The man who had saved Ludwig's life and managed to keep them all out of a camp in Poland had died.
Feli started weeping. It was not fair. An honourable man like him, killed like a dog. Bled out like a pig for slaughter.
Ludwig was starting to lose his cool. If they knew who they were, then there was no way they could take the first train to somewhere. And they didn't have a car. What were they supposed to do? Ludwig wanted to bang his head on the wall.
He looked at Feli. She was still sitting by Reiter, crying. Ludwig's head was spinning. They were fucked. What could they do now?
Friedrich's wails got them back to reality. Feli's head jerked up. She wiped her tears, shakily got up and quickly went to get him, trying to make him go back to sleep. Ludwig followed her. He didn't feel comfortable to have them out of his sight at that moment.
Feli was thinking at an alarming speed, looking for possible solutions. And the only one that she could think of was also the most difficult one.
"Let's go to your father, Ludwig."
Ludwig thought he didn't hear that right. "I beg your pardon?"
Feli looked sure of what she was saying. "Let's go to your father! He is above all suspicions! He's a General! No one will think he's hiding people, even if it's his son's family!"
Ludwig coughed. "That's exactly why we can't go there. He's going to take our asses to the Gestapo in a heartbeat. And you know I haven't talked to him very much ever since... well..."
That was right. When Ludwig married Feli after just six months from their first meeting, his father had not been very pleased. Herr Beilschmidt senior was Feli's grandfather's most important colleague when she and her family went to Germany. He had had a huge role in Ludwig and Feli's encounter, and he was still regretting it. He wanted his son to marry a nice, blond, blue – eyed German girl, and he never really got over the fact that he didn't. Especially when Ludwig's marriage had made him a relative of the very annoying Romano Vargas. That was why he had come to see Friedrich a week after he was born, but had not showed up ever since. Neither him nor Ludwig felt like seeing a lot of each other.
"Come on, Ludwig! We have to try! We can't take the train and we surely can't walk all the way to Italy! And we can't go around with Friedrich, we would attract too much attention! We have to try!"
Ludwig sighed and rubbed his eyes. She was right. If there was a tiny little bit of hope to make it, it was his father. There was no choice. If his father didn't hide them away, they might as well sit down on their couch and wait for the Gestapo to come knocking at their door.
"Ludwig! Say something!"
Ludwig sat down. He ran his hands through his blond hair. Then he sighed, swallowed his pride and said "Get Friedrich. We're going to my father."