Liberation (War Shadows: Book 2)

Chapter Sixty-Six

This wasn't how Rebécca had imagined her time with the resistance.

When the Ambassador gave her the name of his contact in the resistance, she'd expected them to put her to work right away. Instead, she'd found herself sequestered to the basement from the second she'd arrived. With one instruction: stay silent, disappear. No light, minimal movement during the day, and most of all, no noise. If anyone had so much as half a suspicion that there were Jews in the cellar, it would all be over. All of them would go to Drancy, and the older man hiding them would be shot. If the wrong people found out, all of them would die. And so, all of them sat in their separate spots in the tiny cellar, silent until they were given the all-clear from upstairs.

There were five Jews other than herself in the cellar: two teenaged siblings, an older woman, and two small children. Other than the teenagers, none of them were related; most of them hadn't even known each other before they walked down those stairs. Only God knew where their families were: they all knew that thinking about what likely happened to them would only make the pain of separation even worse, adding the knowledge that they were either dead or in an unimaginable hell onto the burden that came with survival. Nobody even talked about the lives they'd left behind on the rare occasion that any of them spoke. For the five people down there in the darkness, that cellar had become their world, a world that was under a constant threat of extinction.

Rebécca couldn't bring herself to think like that. In fact, the only thing she could think about was what was going on outside. Were her parents still in Drancy? Was Zachary okay? Was that gestapo officer Jackie had worked with looking for her and the others? And where the hell were the Allies? She had so many questions, and the only way she could answer those questions was by getting the hell out of that cellar.

The only time she ever saw the man who hid them was at night, when he came down with dinner and any messages the resistance had for them. He was quiet, but he seemed like a nice enough man. He just looked like an old grandpa, one with his back permanently hunched from hard work and burn scars on one side of his head that told the story of battles hard won during the last war, which he almost always had covered by an old, felt cap. Every night, the widower brought down bowls of the heartiest stew he could muster with all of the food rationing, and loaves of bread for each of them, which was supposed to fend off any hunger they might have before their next dinner. Every once and awhile, he would give them a bit of cheese, as well, and he even had fruit sometimes, but any occasion involving produce was few and far between, according to her fellow Jews in hiding.

It didn't matter to Rebécca; it was only a matter of time before the house of cards that was Nazi Germany fell, and foods that they could only dream of at that point were readily available, again. And damn it, Rebécca would be there that day, further insult to injury to the empire that was supposed to last a thousand years. An empire that was supposed to bring about the end of Judaism in Europe.

"Good evening," the older man said quietly as he came downstairs with that night's ration of stew and tomorrow's ration of bread. Even when it was okay to talk, they had to talk quietly. Yet another thing that drove Rebécca crazy about being in hiding. "How are you?"

"Surviving," the older woman said.

Sadly, surviving isn't the same thing as living, Rebécca thought to herself, but she didn't say that. The older woman had already chastised her about being grateful that they were lucky enough to have a friendly roof over their heads, food to eat. That they were alive, period. Forgive her for wanting something more out of her life than just surviving in somebody's basement.

"You'll be happy to know that I was able to scrounge up some meat, carrots, and potatoes, today," the man said as he passed out the bowls of stew. "The resistance is now cycling which hiding places get what rations; I should be able to get you more good food more often."