The Great Altruist

by Z. D. Robinson

  “You can come with us to America if you want. Start a new life,” Kamila answered.

  Jadzia chuckled sarcastically. “Like there’s another option.”

  Content with the arrangement, the nurse left to attend to the other patients. Kamila leaned toward Jadzia and whispered: “I mean it. Come with us to America.”

  She sighed heavily and slouched in defeat. “I can’t go to America. I have to find my parents.”

  “Then where will you go?”

  “Maybe someone in Berlin will help me find them.”

  “Wouldn’t they return to your home?”

  “I want to remember Poznan the way it was before the war. No, I’ll only go to Poland if I know they’re there.”

  “Then I’ll go with you to Berlin and help you.”

  Later that day, the two girls climbed aboard the transport vehicle with nothing but the clothes they had on. Squeezed into the truck were a few prisoners Jadzia recognized, but many looked like local Germans, the fear of being noticed etched in their faces. Kamila chatted with the other passengers, trying her hardest to make someone laugh. A few people smirked but most looked at her with suspicion for being so cheery. Jadzia knew that Kamila’s hilarity was just a ruse; she was no happier than anyone else.

  After a few hours, and after picking up a few other passengers who bribed their way aboard, the truck arrived on the outskirts of Berlin. Russian tanks and soldiers monitored the streets as Jadzia and Kamila stumbled across the rubble on their way into the city. Jadzia didn’t know what she would see in Berlin, but she stood by her belief that anything was better than returning to the barracks of Ravensbrück. Despite the palpable hopelessness in the air, there were signs that people were living or, at the very least, surviving. People in search of food were everywhere: desperate men carved meat from a dead horse, women waited in lines while Russian soldiers used German military daggers to cut bread into rations. Those not in search of food climbed over mountains of rubble as buildings around them burned to the ground. Along the main roads, hundreds of wounded German soldiers lied in the gutter or on improvised cots while nurses struggled to help. From the sound of Russian fighter planes roaring overhead and the Soviet tanks crunching glass and garbage beneath their treads, Jadzia and Kamila were surrounded by chaos.

  “Where will we even go?” Jadzia wondered aloud.

  Kamila approached a woman walking down the street with her child. “Do you know where we can find our family?” Her German was broken, but the woman seemed to understand and pointed them down a long road where throngs of people were gathered.

  In the bell tower of a church high above the destruction, the tiny woman stood on the ledge and placed her hands on her naked hips. She watched Jadzia and Kamila stumble across the littered streets and down an alley to the camp for displaced persons. As the two girls walked around a corner, the woman flew high into the sky and descended on the rooftop overlooking the camp. She folded her arms under her breasts and studied the girls continually. She never took her eyes off of Jadzia.

  When they arrived at the camp for displaced persons, Jadzia grew anxious at the thought of finding her family. There seemed to be no order as people scrambled to and fro in search of food rations and whatever clothing was available. Children kept busy by playing with whatever they could fashion into a toy, but the soldiers tried desperately to organize the people in whatever way they could, some by religion, others by language, most by ethnicity. Jadzia and Kamila stood by as soldiers supplied the other refugees with food from their own rations. The chaos was overwhelming to witness for Jadzia.

  “Maybe we shouldn’t have come to Berlin,” Jadzia whispered.

  Kamila shook her head. “No, we’re in the right place.”

  A young soldier, armed only with a pencil, approached the two girls and smiled. “Where are you from?” he asked.

  “We’ve come from Ravensbrück,” Jadzia said. “I’m looking for my family.”

  “I can’t help you with that now,” he said. “You will need to find them here or in the other camps. We can make sure you have food, clothing, and shelter, if you’d like.”

  “Thank you,” they said.

  The soldier pointed them in the direction of another soldier down the road and ran to greet the next group of people arriving. The girls waited behind scores of other refugees for several hours before receiving their meager ration of food, a bar of used soap, and accommodations in a bombed-out church a few blocks away.

  Inside the church, dozens of people huddled together for warmth or fashioned partitions by hanging wet clothing. Most of the refugees kept to themselves or gossiped about politics while their children played ball or splashed in puddles in the courtyard.

  Kamila and Jadzia discovered a small, deserted room that no one else seemed to want. It had a leak in the ceiling and the door’s lock had been blown out by gunfire. The girls cleared away the books and debris on the floor. The sun had begun to set and word from the other refugees informed them of the strict curfew.

  As night arrived, only a glimmer of moonlight made its way through the cracks in the cold stone. Kamila scoured the room for anything soft. She found a few scraps of cloth and tried to rest her head upon her makeshift pillow. Meanwhile, Jadzia lit the only dry candle and went through the pile of rubble to gather something to burn. She found a few dry books but realized none of them were worth reading. She gathered the Nazi literature that wasn’t damp, lit a small fire on the floor, and tried to stay warm. A gaping hole overhead allowed a near-steady stream of water to fall to the ground in the corner and allowed the smoke from the fire to escape. With no window in the room, they felt as safe as could be expected.

  Kamila finally gave up on the idea of getting sleep. She wedged a half-broken chair against the door as tight as possible and removed her clothes, placing them over the cracks in the stone. Kamila worked fast to gather their ration of soap and washed with the cold rainwater from the ceiling. Jadzia tried not to stare but noted how much weight her friend had gained since they first met. Instead of the frail girl who was hardly able to stand on her own, she was an almost vibrant and youthful woman. After Kamila dressed, Jadzia bathed just before the fire died out. Once clothed, and with no more dry books to burn, the girls sat with their backs to each other and did their best to keep warm. The stone floor was damp and freezing; neither of them slept soundly.

  Chapter 2

  Late in the night, when nary a sound was heard besides a crying child, something stirred in the dark. The girls hardly noticed the noise at first, but soon it was too close to ignore. Kamila awakened and peered into the blackness that surrounded them. Jadzia clamored for a candle and finding one, she lit it. As the fire’s light spread out across the void, the source of the sound became clear: two young men were standing quietly over them.

  “You’re pretty,” one of them said to Kamila in German.

  The girls shrunk back against the wall and reached out for each other’s hand. The two men, dressed as Russian soldiers, stepped closer. The larger of the two men drew a knife from his belt. Frozen by fear, the girls inched closer together and tried to scream but it was too late. The two men pounced and neither of the girls could make a sound.

  Jadzia was dragged into the corner and slapped across the face by the one soldier.

  “You’re next,” he said as he tied her hands behind her back and shoved a piece of cloth in her mouth.

  Kamila struggled to break free of the other soldier but was overtaken by his companion. She tried to scream through the flesh of the soldier’s hand over her mouth, but it was use. She kicked and flailed as hard as she could while the men tore at her clothes. Finally, she landed a kick across the one soldier’s jaw but he reacted swiftly, striking her in the face so hard the other soldier lost his balance and dropped her. She landed on the cold slap and fell over unconscious, blood pouring from her mouth and nose.

  The men ignored and discarded Kamila and rushed toward Jadzia, who had started to work herself fre
e of her bounds. Before they could strike, a brilliant flash of blue light filled the room and in an instant, the men disappeared.

  Unsure but unconcerned about what happened, Jadzia broke free, dug the cloth from her mouth, and rushed to Kamila’s side. The girl’s half-naked body lied still on the stone, blood draining from her nose and mouth. Jadzia held her friend in her arms and desperately checked for a pulse. Jadzia’s hands were shaking too much to feel anything. She pressed her head against Kamila’s bared breast but heard and felt no heartbeat. The girl was dead, and upon realizing it – and for the first time since her release from the camp – Jadzia found the strength to cry. She held Kamila in her arms and wiped the blood from her friend’s face. Tears streamed down her cheek and fell to the floor, mixing with the pool of crimson beside her.

  The darkness around her abated as a gentle blue light appeared in the center of the room. Jadzia’s eyes adjusted and realized the light was not coming from the candle. The light grew brighter and Jadzia realized she was not alone in the room. “You’re safe now,” whispered a faint voice just beyond the borders of the light.

  Jadzia looked in every direction around her, never letting go of her friend, and then saw a miniature and naked woman floating at eye level a few meters away. Frightened, she latched onto Kamila’s lifeless body and pressed her back against the wall.

  “You don’t need to be afraid,” the woman said.

  Jadzia fixed her gaze on the woman. She said nothing since she couldn’t understand the woman’s language.

  The woman discerned this from her silence and said: “What language do you speak?”

  Jadzia didn’t know how to reply so she said her name aloud. The woman watched Jadzia’s lips move and turned her ear to catch the sound.

  “That may be all I need,” she said. “I’ll be right back.” The woman disappeared in a flash of light.

  Jadzia let go of Kamila and jumped to her feet, frightened by what she saw. Before she could scream for help, the naked, flying woman returned in another dazzling burst of azure light.

  “Can you understand me now?” the tiny woman asked in perfect Polish as she hovered in the air.

  Jadzia nodded.

  “I’m sorry I couldn’t get to you sooner,” she said. “And I’m terribly sorry about your friend.” The woman descended to the ground and approached Kamila’s body. She touched the girl’s face. She closed her eyes and promptly shook her head in disappointment. “There’s nothing I can do,” she said as she pulled her hand away. Turning away from Kamila, she flew into the air and hovered closer to Jadzia.

  “Who are you?” Jadzia asked.

  “My name is Genesis. Listen, I know you have a lot of questions about who I am and what you just saw. Be assured that I am a woman just like you, only much stronger.”

  Jadzia, feeling safe once again, fell to the ground and sighed deeply. “This isn’t a dream?”

  “No, I’m afraid not.” Jadzia’s hands continued to shake as shock set in. “What is your name?”

  “Jadzia Konik.”

  “Jadzia? So you’re a warrior then?”

  Jadzia looked up from staring at Kamila and shook her head. “No, I’m no warrior. My parents named me after a relative.”

  “I see,” Genesis said. “To put your mind at ease, there’s nothing you need to fear from me. I’m not here to hurt you. In fact, I’m going to make your life a lot better.”

  “I don’t understand,” Jadzia said.

  “You will in time. But this is hardly the place for us to talk. We should leave.”

  “What ever happened to the men who were here?”

  “Those men will never bother you again,” Genesis said. “They’re currently standing naked in front of a dozen tanks twenty miles away.” She laughed. “Oh, and before we leave, there’s something you should be prepared for.”

  “I don’t care where we go,” Jadzia said. “This church is freezing.”

  “You’re going to get a lot colder before you get warmer unfortunately. Get ready.”

  “What about my friend?”

  “I’ll take care of her,” Genesis said.

  Before Jadzia could utter another word, she was no longer in the church. Trees of every shape and size surrounded her, the branches and thickets so tangled she couldn’t see past the small clearing she stood in. It was still night and the moonlight painted a blue hue across the forest, even on Genesis, who was still floating in midair a few feet away. Jadzia suddenly realized what Genesis meant by getting colder: she was naked. Upon realizing this, she scrambled around the clearing and desperately sought cover, jumping behind a bush.

  “There’s no one around, Jadzia.”

  “What happened? Where are we?” Jadzia asked with a tinge of panic in her voice.

  “Far from the war. It may be over, but there is still too much sadness. We are no longer in Europe, but in a remote part of North America. And I’m sorry; I should have been more specific about getting colder. It’s a byproduct of traveling this way.”

  “How did you do that?”

  “This may be hard to understand at first, but I’m a very special person,” Genesis said proudly. “You see, I can travel through space and time as easily as you can walk.”

  Jadzia looked around the clearing and noticed the absolute silence surrounding them. Not even an animal made a sound. A moment later, she emerged crouching from her hiding spot and sat with her back to a tree. Unlike Genesis who appeared to adore being naked, Jadzia modestly brought her knees to her chin and wrapped her arms around her legs. “I don’t understand. How did we just travel from Germany without feeling anything?”

  “Passing through space as fast as we just did is a painful ordeal, but there is no need to worry. I know what I’m doing. Besides, I needed to get you here alone so we could talk. You may not realize this but I’ve been trying to contact you ever since the war ended.”

  “And why didn’t you?”

  “For starters, you were always around people. Even when you reached the city, you went to where the people were – the one place, in fact,” she said. “I never risk being seen. But when those men attacked you, I needed to intervene.”

  “Thank you for doing that,” Jadzia said.

  Genesis hovered over to Jadzia’s side and sat on a tree-limb just above her. “You’ll find I’m able to do a lot more than that,” she said proudly.

  Jadzia brushed off her cockiness and curled up tighter into a ball as the bark of the tree scratched into her back. “I wish I had some clothes.”

  “You get used to it.”

  “How do you not freeze to death?”

  “That’s another thing I can do!” she said with a pretentious smile. Without waiting for Jadzia to request a demonstration, Genesis flew from her perch and landed on a pile of sticks on the edge of the clearing. Her hands glowed a deep burning red and within seconds the sticks caught fire and warmed the cool air of the clearing. Jadzia jumped up and crawled beside the fire, while still endeavoring to cover herself along the way.

  “Thanks!” Jadzia said. She reached toward a fallen tree, snatched a dry branch, and tossed it into the flames. Before the branch ignited, Genesis’s hands turned blue and immediately the fire went out; ice crystals covered the wood. “Why did you do that?” Jadzia said. “I’m freezing!”

  “I just wanted to show you what I can do.”

  “Well, you don’t need to show off!”

  Genesis frowned like a stubborn child. “Fine,” she said. A second later, the fire burst forth again and Jadzia inched closer to the flames. Genesis sat on the opposite side of the fire and scowled. Stubborn and upset at Jadzia’s lack of interest in her abilities, she folded her arms beneath her breasts and fell to the grass.

  “I still wish I had clothes,” Jadzia said.

  “I can get you something to wear. But they'll just disappear again the next time we travel.”

  “Next time? Where are we going?”

  “You don’t want to stay here t
he rest of your life, do you?”

  Jadzia looked around the clearing and closed her eyes as the peace and quiet lingered. “Not forever. Why did you come to me?”

  “I’m here to help you.”

  “Yes, but what makes me so special?” Jadzia asked abruptly. “So many people have suffered worse than me. And so many women have endured what you just prevented.”

  “I have my own reasons for choosing you. I’ve actually been watching you for some time.”

  “Watching me? How have you done that?”

  “To me, time and space are like an enormous stream of energy, like a powerful river. To enter the stream and travel, I convert myself into pure energy. I can do the same with anything living, as I did with you. But near that stream, I can see everything that happens.”