Panzerfaust

Chapter 24 - Snow-bound

Part II. of the Panzerfaust Series

January 24th, 1945, Memel-Klaipéda, Reichskommissariat Ostland

note: I am not dead. might be a little sad and depressing. i mean the chapter, not me. or both?

It was fucking cold.

No, not just cold that made you shiver and curl your fingers and toes inside your gloves and boots; so cold that you wanted to wrap yourself up in fur next to a blazing stove, pour a glass of mulled wine and forget about the rest of world. 

Memel, this sea-side town of ancient Prussia was as unwelcoming as their habitants; none were able to help the SS reconnaissance officers looking for a young mother with her newborn son. As if they disappeared into the icy droplets that the wind brought over from the salty mass of water rushing to attack the mainland again and again, in never ending waves.

The Lithuanians were less happy with the German forces  - after the Soviet retaliation -  as they were the first time when the Schutzstaffel occupied the old Prussian town; they were afraid to aid them against the Red Horde, having to taste their wrath on their own skin. Sturmbannführer Otto Skorzeny, infamous Kommando of the Friedenthall Battalion can see it in their eyes too, sense their resentment like a prick of a needle on the back of his neck everytime he turns around: why are you here? you are not welcome. What willl you take this time?

Sophie. 

Would she look at him the same way these people do once he returns to home? 

His little wife's figure swims into his memory; smiling radiant on his side during the cacophony of outings, stroking his large hands over the dark mahogany of their dinner table during quiet evenings. Taut body above him highlighted by the flames of the fireplace as they make love on the rug of living room floor, cat-green eyes glinting at him, mouth open to receive a scorching kiss from her husband's, stealing her climax straight from her lips.

I left her in safety, no?

She did not cried when he left. 

She did not cried since that fight about the book. 

That bloody book, damn it to Hell. 

Flipping through the Führer's book on the sofa, golden hair fanning out on the cushions as Otto plays with a few desolate strands with a purring Macskacicó on his lap next to her. If he tries enough, he can feel the content happiness and the soft lavender smell of her shampoo in his nostrils, overpowering the salty fragrance of the streets of Memel. 

'This book here says that my people are of lower class than Germans. Not only is this morally wrong, but scientifically incorrect as well. Do you believe any of this?'

'You're Austrian, Sophie.'

'Nem, én magyar vagyok!' The book slammed from her grip into the floor, sliding a few meters from the force of the throw.

'I cannot take this.' She buried her head in her palms. 'This isn't right.'

'Its just a book. I told you to take it with a grain of salt.'

She looked up at him in disbelief, lips contorted into a snarl.

'Are you a Christian, Otto?'

'Yes?'

'Do you have a Bible?'

'I think I have one in my office. Why?'

Before he could register, she darted out of the room, naked feet squaking on the floor as she heads to his office, scanning the shelves for the Holy Book, frantically turning to the page she wanted.

"For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.'

'Otto, this is a sin.' She pointed towards the book, laying on the cold floor. 'A crime against humankind.'

And she was crying, no she was sobbing. Tremors shook her narrow shoulders as she let go of all the sadness and misery since her abduction. Morning light from the high office windows shined through the flimsy nightgown covering her body, as if she was an angel floating on a cloud made by the cherubs. And he is scared to touch her for solace, scared if he does, she'll turn to dust.

Her tears would freeze on red cheeks here, trapping the sadness in ice. Is it possible to kill love with frost? 

Commander Otto Skorzeny thinks it is when he sees his adjutant's face; torment and determination frozen on Baron von Fölkersam's face; a mirror to his Aldermann's reflection. They checked the majority of the timber framed buildings surrounding the city already looking for the girl and the baby; knock, ask, scan, be polite. Without any avail. 

'They don't want to help us, you know.' Adrian says quietly. 'I can understand why.'

They're hiding too well, and without moving - its too dangerous to go out in this weather with such a young child for too long. They must be near.

'Next house, then. Go on.' 

So they go on. They have nothing else left.