A Partisan's Fight - COMPLETED!

Chapter Forty-Eight

Content Warning: Aftermath of Torture.

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Banging on the door of the run down building was the fast way to get a response. She prayed they'd answer the door. She was ready to break it down if she had to though. Nobody was going to get in her way of helping Markus. They were foolish if they thought otherwise.

A light peeped out as the door cracked open. "What do you want?" An older woman barely peeked out. She sounded irritated that someone dared to knock on her door at night.

"We need help. He has been hurt. Please let us come in." Mina begged the woman, hoping she'd open up her door more and let them in.

The woman opened the door up a bit more, eyeing them up. She focused on Aldrik, boring holes through him. "We do not help camp guards."

Mina watched the door begin to shut on them. She couldn't let that happen. She had to do something. "Please! Please help us! Help him."

"Nein! Go away!"

She had to make a split second decision. Risky or not. Markus's life depended upon it. The determination lit up her eyes as well as a shadowed darkness. She pulled her sidearm out and aimed at the woman, kicking her foot in between the door and the frame to stop it from closing on them. "I. Said. We. Need. Help."

"You are crazy." The woman barely breathed out as she held her hands up and backed away from the door.

"My friend needs help. Where is your common courtesy?" Mina held the door open for Aldrik, refusing to take her eyes off of the woman. "Who else is here with you?"

"My daughter and son... and my mother." The woman's stubborn tone took on a shaky, fearful one instead. Her face had paled considerably.

"Do you have somewhere where we can lay him? Somewhere with lots of light?" Mina wanted to stop scaring the woman, but she'd dug her grave already. She deserved the fear she felt for being so rude.

Nodding, she began to walk toward another room. "You can put the gun away. I do not want my daughter to see it. I will cooperate."

Lowering the gun, Mina watched the woman carefully. "I have no need for it to be out if you help us. We will be gone as soon as we can. Life can go back to whatever you call normal for the days we live in."

"Lay him on the counter." She pointed to a large island in the middle of the kitchen. "I will get some medical supplies."

Mina's eyes narrowed briefly.

"I will not try anything. I promise." She reminded her, cautiously leaving the room to get supplies.

Mina went straight to the countertop. The worry she'd been hiding came out. Rubbing the hair out of his forehead, she was able to better evaluate Markus. His face was nearly unrecognizable. She could feel the tears sliding down her face. "What did they do to him, Aldrik?"

Aldrik rubbed her shoulder. "I do not even want to imagine. He is a fighter, Mina. Let us pray he has the strength left to fight for his life."

Mina wiped away a tear as the woman re-entered the room. She handed Mina a couple of torn rags, makeshift bandages, and antiseptic.

"I do not have much." She looked down at the body in her kitchen.

"Thank you." Mina gently set the things down on the opposite counter. She began evaluating the rest of Markus's torn up body. There was too much blood to distinguish the holes from the barbed wire or see the bruises that she had no doubt were coming in. "Where is the rest of your family?"