I threw myself beside Claude, lying face down, keeping my hands beneath my chest. "Brother," I whispered. "Open your eyes." Claude’s eyes slowly peeled open. He looked tired, as if he had just woken up out of a deep slumber. "Where were you hit?"
He didn’t answer. I pushed myself up to inspect him for a gunshot wound, finding blood pooling out from beneath him. It appeared to be his chest.
I wrapped my arm around his body and held him tightly. "You’re going to be okay, brother. You hear me?"
"Charlie," he whispered.
"Shh," I hushed him. I didn’t want him to talk.
"Charlie," he said again. "Go back to where you were. You are the smart one."
I grit my teeth so hard my jaw hurt. "I will not leave you."
"I’m not going to make it, Charlie. Tell Mama I said I’m sorry. Tell Papa I tried to be like him. And tell Annika to be strong for me. Tell them I love them, Charlie."
"Claude, stop talking nonsense, you hear me?"
"I love you too, brother."
I squeezed him tighter, praying that God spared him. He was a good man, not like so many of the others. We all deserved to die, but selfishly, I didn’t want to lose Claude, and I didn’t want to die either.
Claude had no more words. His eyes were open, staring directly at me, but I didn’t know if he was still there. I reached for his neck to search for a pulse, but another round of gunshots rang out around us.
I began to crawl away in an attempt to reclaim my hideout.
Just as I was about to make it back to safety, the ground shook.
A muffled thud stole all forms of sound.
Black smoke filled the air around me.
I couldn’t move.
An ice-cold searing pain drove through my spine.
A feeling of numbness took over.
Death felt imminent.
Chapter 22
June 1942
Beelitz, Germany
Isaw baby blue tiles framed by white cement lines. Cream-colored linens and medical equipment surround my body. "Claude?" I tried to ask anyone who might be nearby. "Is Claude okay?"
Padded footsteps closed in on me, but when I tried to lift my head, I found my body stiff and weighted down.
Panic set in.
"Herr Crane." The woman’s voice was soft, unrecognizable, and foreign. "You’re awake." Her words came out as a statement rather than a question. However, I didn’t know when I had fallen asleep or ended up wherever I was. "Are you in much pain?"
It was then that I began to take inventory of my body parts, but I wasn’t feeling much of anything. "No, no pain."
"Good. We have given you medication to help." A nurse—she is the one speaking to me. "I am nurse Geni." The woman placed her hand on my right shoulder. "We almost lost you, Herr."
"Claude. Have you seen my friend, Claude Taylor?" I asked her.
