‘Where do you think they are heading, Sam?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘It feels like they have torched every city to the ground. The people I’ve met say that Dresden, Hamburg and Berlin are just rubble. Haven’t they done enough bombing?’
‘The Allies will continue to damage anything that allows the Axis powers to move men and materiel to the front. Industrialsites, communications centres, bridges, railways.’ He looked a little ashamed as he added, ‘They also need to damage the German people’s morale.’
Elsa pushed herself away from the window ledge and sat down on her bed. Her soul felt weary and her limbs like lead. ‘It’s working. My aunt was still alive when my mother and sister began their journey. What if they have bombed Bremen again? What if they are all dead? I had no news from them before I left Gollnow. Why am I travelling so far if there might be no one at the end of it?’
Sam turned his back to her and stared up at the sky. The planes had left an eerie void outside that had yet to be filled.
‘The planes have changed since I was captured,’ he mused. ‘America wasn’t even in the war. All those men up there, risking their lives, and I have done nothing but think about my next meal.’
‘I am glad you spent most of your time in a camp and not fighting. I don’t think I could be with you if I knew you had killed.’
He turned to her, surprised. ‘Ihavekilled, Elsa. And I was glad to do it. It was either them or me.’
‘I don’t believe you were glad to do it.’
He turned away and stared out of the window. ‘You know what I mean.’
She came and stood beside him. ‘Yes, I know what you mean.’
Another ominous hum grew in the sky, but this time the planes remained in the distance, the pilots oblivious to the fact their route was being observed by such an unlikely alliance. Soon explosions peppered the horizon, lighting up their targets in a frenzy of exploding fire. Then a slight pause, just long enough to draw breath, before the next light show began.Chaotic eruptions chased after the planes, lighting the sky, and leaving fires that spread in soft amber and blood-red hues.
‘It’s hard to believe people are dying right in front of us. I convince myself they are all safe, but I know some are not. I have seen these raids too many times of late. I worry sometimes about how little I feel now.’ Elsa looked at Sam. ‘I am afraid I have become cold-hearted and only worry about my own life. Am I cold-hearted, Sam? Maybe I don’t have a heart at all?’
‘We have all seen too much.’ Sam took her hand in his. ‘I’m convinced you still have a heart. It might be bruised, it might be battle weary, but who can come out unscathed from war?’
‘How can you be so sure?’
‘Because if you didn’t have a heart, Elsa... you wouldn’t feel the need to question your ability to care at all.’
* * *
Elsa woke suddenly to the sound of the main door opening and male voices below them. She nudged Sam awake. His sleepy smile quickly faded when he heard the voices too. He signalled for her to wake Klara and by the time the first saw burst into life, Elsa, Klara and Sam were running through the pine forest, hand in hand, leaving their temporary home far behind.
The forest thickened, long, slender, straight trunks stretching skywards. The canopy of branches was heavy with pine needles and swallowed up any light that attempted to filter through. The light-starved lower branches stuck out, naked and shrivelled, high above them as they navigated their great trunks below. The ground was soft but firm, thanks to the continually renewed carpet of dead pine needles, and made a pleasant change as it cushioned each weary footfall and gave a gentle spring to their steps as well as their spirits. They had walked for almost an hour when Elsa stopped and finally blurted out what she had ignored — or at least had tried to.
‘I have to . . . stop.’
Sam turned to look at her with eyes that were so dark brown that she thought at times they appeared almost black. ‘Why?’
Heat swept over her cheeks as instant as a fireball. Did he really need her to spell it out? ‘I need to...’
‘Need to what?’
She gritted her teeth, wondering if he was finding some pleasure in teasing her. ‘Go to the toilet,’ she whispered furiously.
Needing to go to the toilet had never bothered her before, but now she had come to know Sam — like him — she found herself feeling coy about the subject.
‘Oh!’ He flustered endearingly. ‘Do you want me to stand guard?’
And listen? Absolutely not!
‘No.’
‘I’d turn my back,’ he added as an afterthought.
