Survival

by M. Ben Yanay

  6. A Crazy Idea

  After two hours of walking in the thicket, the trees were getting scarce, fewer and fewer and further apart. They crossed a clearing and noticed a snowy path. There were no trees, branches or any stumps for about two hundred meters wide [nearly two hundred and twenty yards]. At first, the path ahead was winding, but then, it got as straight as a ruler. Bob hit the snow with his staff. He bent over and stuck his branch in several places in the snow. “This is it. We’re here,” he said. His face lit up.

  “What do you mean?” asked Janos. “Where are we and why are you this happy?”

  “We reached the railroad. There are tracks underneath the snow. Judging by the height of the snow, no train passed here for a few days now.”

  “The tracks lead southeast, all the way to Austria,” said Ina. “I believe it reaches the outskirts of Vienna.”

  “Let’s go on, then!” Janos cried out. His thoughts raced on. We’ll get to Vienna and from there, on to Budapest. It all looks so close, so real I can feel it. He added, “Let’s walk along the tracks. We must be careful, though, in case there is danger out there, we must remain close to the edge of the forest.” He began walking between the trees, the path to his right and the forest on his left. Ina walked a little further behind him, followed by Bob. Janos felt like a leader, showing his comrades the way to safety. He heard them talking but did not listen. He directed his attention strictly to the sounds coming from the ground and either side of the forest.

  *

  “I have a dream, I would like to live in America,” Ina told Bob. She uttered these words in silence. Years of tyranny and oppression by the authorities instilled in her a cautious tone when it came to matters that did not concern the Communist Party. Moreover, she never discussed her private dreams and aspirations with anyone. She grew up a lonely child. Her parents were dedicated party officials, and she was brought up to believe in economic equality and socialist justice. Her father was party secretary at Rostov, and his domain spanned the entire area they lived in back in eastern Russia. Thanks to their elevated position, her family was entitled to benefits that raised their standard of living. This came into play in such forms as specialty food store stamps, vacations in the Crimea, and a private Dacha [a seasonal holiday cottage] in the mountains, where they used to go hunting. Ina was a proud member in the Komsomol [Russian acronym for “kommunisticheskii soyuz molodyozhi.” A political youth organization in the Soviet Union, essentially the youth division of the Communist Party]. She used to march proudly in their parades, her head held high, and holding the flag. She loved to write short stories about “good Mother Russia,” which was published in the movement periodical. She also read her poems outloud at party-sponsored social gatherings. Her exquisite writing inspired her to dream of a brilliant literary career.

  As her time in high school came to a close, her views changed completely. The massive party purges in the 1930s shattered her confidence in the party and in its leader, Joseph Stalin, who consolidated his power by ousting any opposition, whether real or imagined. No one was spared the nightly visits. Scholars and cultural figures, party officials and military officials—everyone and anyone was suspected of treason. She stopped believing in Communism and began to suspect her parents were no longer loyal to the party as before, and that all their actions were for appearances’ sake, strictly in order to survive. She feared getting hurt, and most of all, she was concerned for her parents. She knew all too well such distrust could lead to their arrest and imprisonment in some notorious gulag [Soviet labor camp], perhaps even execution for subversion and treason.

  When she graduated high school, she wanted to study literature, but her parents persuaded her to study a profession that would be of use to the Communist homeland. They wanted her to be an engineer, but they finally settled on her applying for medical school. The medical college established at Rostov in 1930 was considered a reputable academic institution worthy of her parents’ wishes. Therefore, medical studies were a compromise decided on out of necessity.

  Aged 19, Ina began attending the Rostov State Medical University, doing her utmost to keep up appearances as a loyal Komsomol member, as per her parents’ plans for her. Only at night, sleeping in the room she shared with three fellow students, did she allow herself to have “unusual” thoughts. Yet Ina’s thoughts made her confused, leading her to a dead end. In her dreams, she found herself fleeing without knowing where to. At times, she would wake up covered in cold sweat, her heart beating savagely. At the end of her freshman year, on June 22, 1941, the Germans violated the agreement previously signed between Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov and German Foreign Minister Ribbentrop, and invaded the Soviet Union as part of a military operation codenamed “Barbarossa.”

  The Russian Homeland called for recruits in her defense. Ina followed her fellow students, answered the call, and abandoned her studies. Her father’s position in the party promoted her to the position of an officer in the Red Army. After a short period of training, Ina was made a medical officer in a local defensive battalion, during the battle over Moscow.

  The Germans were defeated at Moscow. Their plan to conquer the Soviet Union failed, and they began retreating. Nevertheless, the fighting continued, and during a bloody battle, when Ina took part in an attempt to rescue an injured man, she was caught in an ambush by Wehrmacht forces.

  “I also wish to disappear from this place before the Red Army soldiers turn up,” Ina told Bob quietly. She sounded frightened.

  “What are you afraid of?” Bob asked her. “I thought you’d be happy to see them.”

  “You cannot begin to guess what I went through,” she said in a hushed voice. “If they were to find out, I’d be in trouble. Most likely, they’ll throw me in prison, or even worse, put me in front of a firing squad.”

  “Why, what are you talking about? What have you done?”

  “I surrendered and fell captive... to the Germans... I did not die in battle. To the Soviets, surrender is like betrayal. I heard of numerous executions of soldiers who had been liberated from captivity. I do not wish to die for no wrongdoing on my part. I am young; I hold life dear, but I cannot live out my days in my own homeland. Even if I am fortunate enough to make it back home, I wish to be as free as you, to live in America.”

  “Like me?” Bob asked her, surprised. “You should know that African Americans still suffer from racism and discrimination. You are fortunate you’re not black. Even to become pilots in this war, we had to fight. Congress and the Army did not have any faith in us. No one believed people of color could even fly a plane. When my fighter group was established, it was a real revolution.”

  She listened. She had no clue about racism and that it entailed such hardship. She had seen only one black person before meeting Bob. That person’s face was slightly lighter than Bob’s. He was also shorter. She came across him at the German prisoner camp. She was told he was English of Indian descent. Then, they told her he escaped the guards one particularly dark night and vanished into the woods.

  “You have one advantage over me,” she told Bob, laughing. “You can hide better than me at night.”

  “Shush! Stop!” Janos raised his hand, motioning them to get down. They could clearly see three structures a few hundred yards from where they were standing. Farther up the path, they saw train cars. Janos laid down his rifle. His heart was racing. He climbed a thick beech tree. Ina and Bob watched as he swung with great ease from one branch to the next, much like a squirrel, in his attempt to reach the treetop and get a closer look.

  The buildings’ roofs collapsed, and their walls had huge holes. Janos counted silently: One, two, three… Six transport cars, followed by one passenger car. The locomotive’s chimney was smoking. Janos could not believe his eyes. He clung to a branch in one hand and motioned his two friends to get closer to the tree.

  “What do you see?” asked Ina?

  “I can see a movement of people. This is a demolished train depot, with a train and pas
sengers.”

  “Shall we board the train, then?” asked Bob.

  Janos examined the people. “I cannot really tell who these people are. It looks like they’re wearing uniforms, but it’s unclear whether they are soldiers or partisans, or maybe even deserters. Move away, I’m jumping,” he said and leaped to the snow with ease. Ina and Bob helped him up. He smiled. “I saw light, pale smoke coming from the engine. I wonder where the train is from.”

  “If the passengers are armed, we won’t be able to defeat them with only two rifles,” said Bob. “We will have to get closer carefully and assess the situation.”

  They drew nearer to the depot and stopped behind the trees right in front of the waiting train. The figures in black turned out to be armed SS soldiers patrolling around the demolished depot and the train. The soldiers walked along the tracks as well as its edges. They were all armed. Janos counted nine of them. Then, the car door opened, and yet another SS soldier disembarked. This makes ten, Janos told himself. The door opened once again, and another soldier joined his comrades.

  “We have to kill them, one by one,” said Ina, unable to resist.

  “But you said we do not stand a chance against them,” said Bob. “What do you say, Janos?”

  “I agree with Ina, but we have to be reasonable, and sadly, you are right, Bob.”

  “So what are you suggesting?” Ina asked them impatiently.

  Janos looked at her for a long moment and suddenly realized this woman had come all the way to the railroad with them. He recalled she was only supposed to show them the way and at some point leave them behind and return to her comrades back in the bunker. So what is she still doing here?

  He gave it no thought until that moment, but now, when he heard her tone and noticed her attitude, he began to wonder about her true intentions, in addition to what may lay behind them. I must pay close attention to this woman. She could cause trouble, Janos thought to himself and decided to take the matter up with Bob the first chance he got.

  “For now, we do nothing,” Bob answered Ina. “You’d better calm down. We’ll be watching them, studying them, how many they are, what weapons they have, trying to see if they are stuck due to some malfunction or merely on a break. Perhaps they’re waiting for someone.”

  It seems he’s worried about her outburst too, thought Janos. He decided to pursue Bob’s line of thinking. “We’d better get settled and hide out. Once we know more, we’ll reassess our chances and the level of risk.”

  Bob disappeared behind a large spruce, and Ina hid behind a stump with a crown of snow. Janos examined the trees and chose one with thick foliage and branches that wrapped around one another like snakes. He climbed it quickly and focused his gaze on the train and the depot. Another soldier got out of the passenger car, another went inside, and then two came out. He counted them once more and could no longer tell exactly how many they were. Judging by a quick count of the number of the car windows, he assumed it had a total of twenty seats, ten on either side so there could not be more than twenty soldiers, all in all. The transport car doors remained shut. They’re probably transporting ammo or food, thought Janos.

  He looked for signs of life aboard the locomotive. The driver’s window was half-open. I have to see what’s going on there. Janos looked very attentively, but could not see a thing. The soldiers were chatting. They seemed calm or oblivious. He suddenly noticed a hand coming out of the engine window. If only there were some way to separate the locomotive from the first transport car, we’d be able to bolt. We would have to kill the engine driver, and… His mind raced feverishly. His own thoughts were so bold, they made him nervous. He made his way down the tree as fast as he had climbed up before. Maybe I’m crazy, thought Janos. I had better discuss this with Bob and Ina. He motioned them impatiently. Bob crawled toward him, and Ina arrived arching her back. “What’s going on, what did you see?”

  “I have an idea. But first, let me tell you I can drive a locomotive. I suggest we wait until it gets dark. Then, one of us will get between the locomotive and the connected car. It shouldn’t be a problem to detach them. Another person, maybe you, Bob, will kill the driver, and you, Ina, you’ll cover us. If you see that things are getting out of hand, open fire and both of us will flee to the woods, hoping we don’t get caught. What do you think?” Janos was speaking fast, all excited and out of breath, his eyes shined and his face was flushed.

  “Stealing a train engine from an SS platoon? What a crazy notion! You’re mad! How did I not think of it myself?” sneered Ina.

  “Our chances are good,” Janos replied. “Consider this, they seem complacent. It doesn’t even occur to them they might be attacked. This place is secluded.”

  “You have a point there. We have to plan it well. I think you’d better take out the driver and take his place. This is something I’m familiar with. I disengaged trucks complete with equipment on more than one occasion. I can separate the car from the locomotive. I’ll manage. Ina, I think you’re gonna have to climb a tree to watch over us and the soldiers.”

  Ina was still. Perhaps she went silent with fear or was it embarrassment. “Can you really drive a locomotive?”

  “Yes. I mean, I hope I can. I will most probably remember what to do. I spent long hours as a security guard on a train engine when I served in Morocco. I used to take over for the driver at times, only for fun. But I did master driving. At first, I drove only for a few minutes at a time, but later, I drove for an hour and even more.”

  “But you had a professional driver right next to you,” Ina insisted.

  “True, and this was a long time ago,” Janos admitted unwillingly.

  “Aren’t you sure of yourself?” asked Bob.

  “I am confident; I believe I’ll get the hang of it pretty quickly. You don’t forget this sort of thing.”

  “This oughta help you kill the driver,” said Bob and handed Janos a leather pouch containing a commando knife.

  “Take my rifle, Bob,” Janos suggested. “I won’t be needing it.”

  “Why is that?” asked Ina.

  “’Cause if I’m caught in the cabin, a rifle will be of no use, and it would be a shame if the Germans took it for themselves. You and Bob stand a better chance of fleeing should anything go wrong.”

  “I understand,” Ina said, unwilling to hide she her displeasure.

  There was little light and it was getting darker still. The patrolling soldiers’ shadows got blurrier until they merged into dark spots on the walls of the buildings.

  “I’d better get up the tree and keep watch,” said Ina. She began climbing the tree Janos had used before. “Go on, friends. Good luck.”

  Bob and Janos shook hands and ran toward the tracks, keeping their backs as low as possible. Ina steadied herself on a stable ring of branches and unlocked the safety latch of her rifle. She looked at both of them as they began crawling together, side by side. When they reached the locomotive, she saw each turn in a different direction. Janos headed to the driver’s cabin, and Bob moved toward the bolt connecting the train engine and the car.

  Janos was the first to make his leap. He lunged himself head on and held on to both handles of the metal ladder attached to the locomotive.

  She saw Bob continuing his crawl all the way to the tracks and followed his every move. He rose for a moment, then bent right back down and continued crawling onward.

  She looked right and left. The soldiers leaned against the wall of one of the buildings. She could not make out what they were saying. One of them lit a cigarette.

  It’s about to get completely dark, she thought, worried.

  *

  Janos held the knife in his mouth. When his head rose above the last ledge, he saw the driver’s face through the window. Janos pushed the window inside and lifted himself into the cabin. He jumped in, right on top of the stunned driver, who opened his mouth in dismay. Janos distinctly smelled alcohol on his breath. He remained on top of the driver and hit him over the head with the s
eat. He held the driver’s head in one hand and slit his throat with the other. The driver didn’t see it coming. He gasped, and his blood splashed all over Janos’s face. His eyes went dark, and his face twisted. When Janos regained his senses, he wiped his face with the driver’s shirt, rubbing the blood away until he could see again. He stood up and pushed the driver away to the floor. The driver’s head fell, too. Janos did not look at him. He was completely petrified. His hands and feet shook. “I have to calm down,” he whispered. At that moment, he was overcome with repulsion and threw up his guts.

  Bob strove to disengage the hinges on either side of the bolt, but they wouldn’t come apart. He used his strong hands to hit and shake them, but it was no use. He then thought of hitting them with his rifle but abandoned the idea fearing to make a sound. In his desperation, he pulled out his male member and pissed on the axles. The warm liquid left a shiny fizz on the rusty parts.

  “Was ist das?” [German: What’s this?] Bob heard a man’s voice behind him as the man stood in front of him. Bob managed to aim his rifle, push the muzzle into the man’s chest, and shoot him directly in the heart. The man collapsed on the tracks like a heavy sack. Though the shot barely made a sound, Bob was nevertheless concerned. He listened for the sounds coming from the building. The soldiers kept chatting as though nothing was going on, barely 100 yards away. Bob zipped up his flight suit and watched the man at his feet, who was moaning and bleeding profusely. Judging by his clothes and his face full of ash, he was obviously the boiler engineer. Hardly a young man, thought Bob. Only then did he notice the crowbar, which the man must have dropped. Bob took it, drove it into the grappling iron and concentrated all his strength. This time, he succeeded in freeing the resistant nail. His adrenaline rush made him push the car back with great ease. He quickly climbed the engine’s rear ladder and waved toward Ina’s tree.

  Bob then leaped down, turned to the locomotive, climbed the ladder by the window, and was inside in a moment, landing on the engineer’s body.