Which poor and innocent soul fell to the Third Reich this time. Her thought was framed with sarcasm as the sound of gunshot blasted through the air once again. However, it was the ear-piercing screech that caught her attention, turning her eyes toward the sky as the brownish mass fell onto the ground.
An⊠Eagle? She clenched her teeth, her eyes lingering on the white feathers from afar for a second.
Wait, no. Not a bald eagle. If it was a bald eagle, she would have had to laugh at the sick irony in the shot, but while the bird held a strange resemblance to her countryâs national bird, the brown feathers mingled with blood told a whole different story.
Maybe the eagles need to start adapting and evolve into ones with yellow feathers and blue eyes. A soft chuckle escaped her throat as she shook her head, the strands of brunette hair covering her eyes partially.
Not enough with Jews, now youâre going for birds too. With stealthy steps, she made her way through the crowd, the frantically moving mass proving no obstacle to the young woman.
Once I find out where you dogs stash your guns⊠A bitter smile rose on her lips as her fingers found the edges of the stone she held within her hand, pulling at the sharp end slightly as her thoughts became more and more bloody.
âYou there, girl!â She barely made it a few steps forward before she heard the booming voice, raising an eyebrow at the direction it came from. She was actually surprised that the man found her in the large mass of crowd, for her movements were anything but suspicious.
âSon of a..â The curse was lost in the crowd as the panic grew, many of those beside her suddenly fidgeting at whom the guard might be pointing to. However, she knew better. The dark brown irises turned, their trajectories landing at the guard she remembered nick-naming âKiss-assâ. At the moment though, that comment was best to be kept to herself.
âAre you not from where⊠Great BritainâNo, wait⊠Thatâs right! Youâre from âAmericaâ the brave and the free.â Her gaze hardened at his comment, not merely for the sarcasm placed into the last four words, but mostly for the fact that he thought she was British.
We might be allied with them, but donât you dare compare us to the British. He should have known better than place Americans next to the British, for her anger rose in her chest, her eyes narrowing at the mistaken comment. For the moment though, she retained her calm, her fingers curling around the stone as if to calm herself, but the edges were already biting into her skin, and the force of which drew a small trickle of blood that dripped slightly down her palm.
âI thought they taught women to remain in places there.â And that last comment was the spark needed to light the anger that was already boiling inside her chest. Her teeth clenched as if to stop herself from insulting the guard in front of her, but the motion proved to be futile.
âAre you sure you arenât talking about the Third Reich you dogs coward behind?â There was that rash and senseless side her agency attempted to retain control over, bursting through her voice as the others beside her suddenly backed away from her figure.
âPushing women back in a society that actually began to consider womenâs rights before your beloved FĂŒhrerâ She used her German accent to stress the last word in mockery, a bitter smirk drew up the corner of her lips,
âOr do you just consider them as objects for you to f-â Her last word was drowned out in the sudden panicked whispers and shouts in the crowd, but its meaning and intent was clear. At the moment, Rachel no longer even cared to use German to address the guard, for her English conveyed the menace in her words well and clear.
âSeeing the way you suck up to your commanding officer. Your status is no better than them.â And that, is where she overstepped her boundaries. A flash of brunette hair that gleamed in the sun, and she turned from the guard.
âOh, and donât ever call me British.â If she was going down, Rachel was going to make the best of it.
I should probably run shouldnât I? No use. She at least knew that much. However, she was not about to go down easily.
Iâll show you an American woman. And one of the OSS at that.
Stop it. Stop it. Stop it! Her thoughts were frantic and her mind pushing toward the edges of sanity. If she could scream, she would, but at the moment, the only sound of screaming resounded in her own head, and it took both of her hands on her head to keep herself from losing the control she had tried so hard to maintain. The sound of a gunshot forced her to duck her head, the red strands of her hair now a mess as she shook her head, wondering which person suffered a bullet this time.
Useless⊠She could barely contain the sobs that shook her body, nor the tears that flowed from her eyes, salty against her lips.
Iâm useless⊠She didnât dare raise her head, afraid to see which other body decided to drop next to her, cold as ice, and still as stone.
âMon amie, sâil vous plait, arretez.â The unfamiliar voice nearly sent a chill down her spine, her eyes snapping up as she froze at the sound. However, the words werenât vicious, far from it. It was barely above a whisper.
M-Mon amie? She wasnât even sure if she heard the words right, but the familiar language sounded to her as if he had called her his friend. However, the voice was definitely laced with a German accent, the reason for the sudden chill in her body.
âP-Pardon..â She did not understand why he said those words to her, but he had probably heard the small whisper she had used against the cruel guard. Her eyes turned toward the source of the voice, traveling up from the uniform to the face that did not seem to fit with the words he now spoke toward the other guards.
Arenât you⊠German? Her gaze was framed with confusion at the man, but somehow, his figure seemed familiar.
You remind me of someone⊠However, before she could comprehend who he reminded her of, her feet touched at something wet, her eyes lowering with a shaking gaze at what pooled at her feet.
Blood. A sound of a scream was heard, and the young girl pulled back from the liquid, spilling out from both the young boy and the body of a large bird. While she at least took at least a tinge of comfort in the fact that the body did not belong to another prisoner, the trauma of the blood pushed at her sanity.
Auré , calmer. The familiar voice touched at her mind, attempting to soothe the young girl at the edges of her consciousness.
âEn bien, papa.â She was losing it, the figure of her father formed at the edges of her mind. Her hand immediately pulled up toward the small chain that dangled behind her hair, hidden from the othersâ view. Her fingers found the smooth lining of the locket, now tangled slightly with her hair.
Câest bien, AurĂ©. Câest bien. However, it was not alright. It was not alright that they raided her town. It was not alright for the troops to march through the streets of her country. It was not alright for every single member of her family to die.
âYou there, girl!â Her heart dropped for a second, and her eyes snapped up. Who was the man calling? Her eyes no longer caught the sight of the cruel leader that destroyed an innocent life, but the man that was talking to him now took the show, his finger pointed in front of him atâŠ
Oh no. She did not understand why, but her steps led her forward, slightly behind the man that had spoken to her. It was a dumb move on her part, but the shot he had fired at the bird held no sense of cruelty. It was more likeâŠ
Mercy. She knew what that felt like, to deliver the mercy kill, something she had to do only once before, at the death bed of an old man who suffered from infection.
âSeeing the way you suck up to your commanding officer. Your status is no better than them.â The mocking voice pulled her attention back toward the woman that the guard was pointing at, her expression so different from the frightened looks AurĂ©lie was giving her.
No⊠Donât. She admired the older woman that stood in front, for the bravery she could never seem to muster.
But please.. Stop. She could not bear to look at the woman before her, afraid that the next shot she was going to hear would be one that would end her life.
It was as if her common sense escaped her. Her hand remained around the small locket behind her hair, and she took one step forward, past the man that had spoken to her earlier. Another step.
What am I doing� She no longer knew, but she feared for the woman. Another step, closer this time.
Please⊠Please donât die. Her eyes flashed with a sense of determination the girl has never held until she heard the words from the American woman.
I won't let you die. One last step, and the young girl stopped before the woman, her position in an awkward angle right between the two who seemed prepared for a death match.
A hand was raised, as if to show the woman she wasn't afraid, but truly she was terrified.