The Romanov Diary

Chapter thirty eight

July 24, 1918

... but he doesn't make it.

The train starts to move and more of the warm stream smokes out. The wheels of the train spin faster and faster. Yurovsky stands on the platform, waving and calling for it to stop. He even picks out his gun and shoots into the thin air. But the only thing he manages to do is to create panic. The train speeds up and has soon disappeared from the people of Perm's view.

"Damn it!" He screams and throws his gun to the ground.

People are running around, screaming and panicking from the shooting. Yurovsky barely takes notice of this. He walks back to his truck where his soldiers are already waiting.

"Follow the train." He grumply says and takes a seat in the truck.

The soldiers begin to pack up for the journey out of Perm. They're very tired from all the driving and walking, just like the refugees are. To be honest, most of them would probably rather go home and let them run. They've murdered their family and taken away their chance to ever regain the reign, isn't that enough?

"Do you think it's them?" The soldier who's driving asks his commandant.

"I don't know, but we have to find out."

"Do we really?" Another soldier asks.

The boy is young, probably around 22, and relatively new in Yurovsky's crew. He took the job for the money, and was lucky enough to not be present in the basement during the massacre. He was inside of the house, taking care of their belongings.

"What do you think will happen if Lenin finds out we let two of them escape?" Yurovsky raises his voice and walks up to the young man, pushing him up against the wall of one of the buildings.

"I- I don't know, sir..." He stutters, too scared to look him in the eyes.

"I'll tell you what's going to happen. We all will be executed on the spot!" Yurovsky takes out his gun and places it on the soldier's forehead. "And I don't think you'd want a bullet between your eyes."

The other soldiers stand by, not confident or brave enough to stand up against their commandant. So they look down to the ground instead of helping.

"N-no sir."

"Good." Yurovsky backs off and the man falls to the ground. "Let's go, we can't lose them again!"

Milo, Theo, Ella, Ophelia, Anastasia and Alexei settle down in one of the compartments, big enough for all of them. They place their belongings on the shelves above them and then relax on the seats. Milo, Alexei and Ophelia sit to the left seat from the door while Theo, Anastasia and Ella sit on the right. Joy lays on the floor under Alexei, tired from the walking and running. They all breath heavily from the adrenaline and the running.

Theo takes out the water bottle and shares it with the others.

"That was close." Milo says between his breaths.

"Too close!" Alexei agrees.

"We don't even know where we're headed. What if we end up even deeper into Siberia?" Ella says, seeming concerned.

"The train is heading west, so probably not." Ophelia shrugs and takes the bottle of water.

This has been their goal ever since they left the Ipatiev House; reaching a city with a train that will take them to the capitol. They've all been holding their breaths ever since that night, and for the first time they finally feel safe enough to exhale.