by Luis Samways
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I said out loud. I was thinking it, not necessarily wanting Jerry and the old lady to hear it.
“Elevators make too much noise, and get stuck. Stairs offer us a stealthy getaway.”
I just looked on in amazement. “But how the hell did you build this?” I asked.
“We didn’t — the Germans did.”
“The Germans built your rebel camp?”
Jerry laughed. “No, this isn’t the rebel camp. We don’t have a rebel camp. This is a base we took over a few weeks ago. We are waiting for the Germans to meet our demands, and we will let the base go and move on.”
I was confused. Too much information for me. I just couldn’t see what Jerry was talking about. “How did you know this base existed? You were in prison.”
“I have my ways.”
With that being said, I was ushered down the stairs. It took ages to reach the bottom. The farther we moved down, the thicker the air was. I counted two thousand steps. We reached the bottom. All that was at the bottom was a steel door with a red light above it. There was a buzzer of some sort on the right of the door. Jerry hit it. The little old lady stayed at the top of the stairs. She had some sort of rocking chair up there. I guessed she was the lookout.
“Jerry here. I have company. We need an escort.”
I waited beside Jerry and watched his body language. I felt as if he were holding something back from me.
He turned to face me and had a strange look in his eyes. “I’m sorry, Abel. Protocol.”
Without any hesitation, he socked me in the face. I hit the ground and saw a boot come hurtling toward me. Everything went black.
Chapter Four
I woke up looking at the ceiling. It was a tiled ceiling. I had never seen one. I’d seen them in films and comic books that I had managed to scavenge out on my runs, but I had never actually seen the inside of a building, well, not a tiled one. I was scared. I remembered how I had gotten there. Jerry had punched me in the face and then stomped on my head. It had knocked me out, and now I found myself in a room with a bed and no windows. Obviously there were no windows because we were underground. I wondered how deep underground we were. How far was two thousand steps? Eight hundred feet? Maybe nine? I sat up fast and realized I wasn’t alone. Someone was standing in the doorway. It was a woman. She was young and beautiful, but had a hardened appearance. She looked dirty — not in the literal sense, but in the sense that maybe she wasn’t afraid of conflict.
“You’re awake, then,” the woman said. I nodded. She walked closer to me. She stood at the foot of the bed and smiled. “Good. I was wondering when I’d be able to meet you. The last Jew, ay?”
I was a bit cautious. How did she know I was the last Jew? Did Jerry decide to tell everyone?
“Yeah, how do you know that?” I asked.
“Didn’t Jerry tell you?” she said.
“Tell me what?”
Suddenly Jerry walked into the room. He nodded at her, and she smiled at me and left through the doorway.
“Glad you’re awake. Sorry about the black eye. I just needed to get you in as quickly as possible. I didn’t need you seeing anything that could get you killed,” he said.
“Like what?”
“Like weapons of war, that sort of thing. You are a civilian — you have no right to see such things. Knowing the layout of this building could get you killed, if not tortured. People will want information, and when they come calling, it’s best if you don’t know anything that could get you in trouble.”
“What people?” I asked.
“Who do you think?”
I shook my head. “The Germans are coming here?” I asked, feeling my pulse quicken.
“Yeah. We have a deal with them.”
“What sort of deal?”
Jerry turned to face the wall. “It doesn’t concern you. What does concern you is that you need to play nice, and everything will work out just fine.” He then walked out of the room and shut the big heavy metal door behind him. A flap on the door slid open and his eyes penetrated the room. “Play nice, okay?” he said, sliding the flap shut, leaving me in darkness as I sat on the bed, trying to catch my breath.
Chapter Five
“You sure they will take him?” I heard a voice say as it approached my cell door.
“Taking him isn’t what I want from them. All they need to think is that they will take him.” Then the door opened and Jerry, and a new man I hadn’t met walked in.
“So you are the last Jew,” the new man said. He had a white beard and a pirate’s patch over his left eye. He had a few scars running down his face, and he was wearing a tank top with army supplies strapped to his chest.
“I guess so,” I said.
“Good, you’re just the man we need, then,” he said, extending his hand. I shook it, and he flung me to my feet.
He started examining me from head to toe. He asked me to open my mouth and say “ah.” I did as he commanded. He seemed like the sort of man you obeyed. I wasn’t stupid; I knew what was happening. It looked as if I had trusted the wrong man. It looked like they were going to use me as leverage to accomplish their goals in the so-called war they were in.
“You are our guest,” the bearded man said, offering me a cigarette.
I declined. “Hostage?” I said.
The man looked at Jerry, and Jerry nodded his approval. “So you’re a smart one, then. Yes, you are our hostage. That’s what the Germans think. We need them to think you are our hostage so we can get what we need. Your brother told Jerry about where you were hiding. In turn, Jerry told the head officer at the camp where your brother was executed that he had information on another Jew. That earned Jerry his freedom for the day, so long as he brought you back to the camp. Jerry was being escorted by some soldiers. Those soldiers are now dead. You are our guest, and the Germans are going to do whatever we ask them to do to save their embarrassment once again. You will act scared. You will talk to them when they arrive, they will try to take you, and we will kill them, take their supplies, and move on to the next base,” the bearded man said.
I just sat on my bed and shook my head. “This is insane. How do you know they will come? Why me? Why use me?”
The man smiled. “You are the last Jew, the real last Jew this time. You are worth more to the Germans than Hitler himself. You are our ticket.”
“Ticket to what?” I asked.
“Freedom.”
He went on to explain that this was his plan all along. He would dream of the day that he had something the Germans wanted. He needed me. He said that they wouldn’t dare trade me for anything. The Germans didn’t know how big the group was. They planned to overthrow them, overpower them. They wanted a chopper. They wanted supplies.
“What if they take me or I’m shot dead?” I asked.
Jerry sat next to me on the bed. The springs underneath me buckled a little under both our weight. “You wouldn’t be the first innocent person to die in this war, Abel,” he said.
“That’s not much comfort to me, Jerry.”
The bearded man pulled on his cigarette. “Either way, Abel, you will help us accomplish what we need to. By force or by free will. You will help us.”
“And what if I don’t?”
“We will kill you after we are done with you. Simple as that. Or you join the fight and earn yourself a spot in our family.”
“How do I know you won’t use me again in the future?”
Jerry smiled. “You don’t, but be assured we will until being a Jew isn’t of any use to us, and then, we’ll treat you like the rest of the idiots in our camp.”
Both the bearded man and Jerry laughed a little. I didn’t. I felt used and abused. Hell, I knew I was in danger. I knew I couldn’t trust anyone. The whole world wanted me dead, even these people. I had expected that something bad was going to happen, but nothing like this.
“What about my brother? Did you tell him your true intentions?” I asked, feelin
g self-righteous and honorable.
“Your brother knew I was going to rescue you, and that’s what I did. You have food, shelter, and security. Nothing bad will happen unless you make it happen. Just do as we say, and you can be on your way,” said Jerry.
“And what about me joining your ‘family’?” I said.
“You need to earn that right, Abel. Earn it, and we will talk.”
Both men walked out and left me alone, this time with the door left open. I could see the light on the wall outside my cell. It was welcoming and frightening at the same time. I figured I’d wait for a while before I went exploring. Maybe they’d forgotten to shut the door. Maybe I’d get another stiff shot to the head if I ventured out. Either way, I wasn’t taking any chances.
Chapter Six
I got up from my bed and stretched. It had been three and a half hours since I’d talked to Jerry and the bearded man. I figured it had been that long because of the chiming clock located outside my cell. It had gone off every quarter of an hour without fail. It was a buzzing clock. Like an alarm.
The first time it went off, I thought someone in the compound was sounding it off, warning the others of an attack, but then it continued without hindrance for a few more times. I counted each time it went off. Every time it did, someone shouted something. It was as if they lived by time. Everything was done in accordance to time. A man had shouted, “Chow-down in an hour.” The clock went off another four times. And then someone entered my cell. The door was still left open, so they had no problem coming in with a tray of food. The person smiled and placed the tray down on the bed. He nodded and walked off. I examined the tray for a while. Two bits of hard bread and some sloshy shit in a bowl. Hell, it might have been icky-looking, but I was used to eating stuff from trash cans. I smelled the bowl of slush. It smelled of canned meat and potato starch. I decided it must be safe, and if it wasn’t, as least I’d have a full stomach when I died.
Ten minutes went by, and I had finished the last bit of food. It tasted surprisingly good. I felt warm and rested. It was a feeling that I wasn’t exactly used to. Eating shit all your life will make you accustomed to an upset stomach. What I was feeling was as alien as compassion from my fellow human beings.
I heard a rattle at my door. Someone was at the doorway; it was the woman who had been here before. She was beautiful, as I probably mentioned earlier. She came in and sat next to me on my bed. She started playing with her hair a little and then gave me a look I had never seen anyone give me before.
“Last Jew on the planet,” she said.
I just nodded. This whole “last Jew” shit was beginning to annoy me. I was more than a race of people — I was a goddamn human! Didn’t they know that?
“You ever heard the saying ‘If you were the last man on the earth’?”
“Can’t say I have,” I said.
“Well, if you shut that door, I can show you the definition,” she said.
I shook my head. “But I thought you guys were in charge of shutting the door. Aren’t I a prisoner here?”
The woman smiled. I could see her brown hair bounce off her shoulders as she grinned, showing pearly white teeth.
“No, you can go about your business as you choose. You are our guest.”
“Jerry told me I was your hostage,” I said.
She smiled again. Her Latino heritage really shone through when she was acting coy. I knew what her game was, and I wasn’t like that. Sure, I felt attracted to her, but I was not in the business of getting friendly with my captors.
“So I’m free to walk around the compound?”
“Yes, do whatever you like, Abel.”
I got up from my bed again and stretched once more. The feeling of curiosity had overrun my core. I was excited to see what was beyond these walls I had been encased in for the better part of the day. “And no one is going to punish me for stepping out of my cell?”
She shook her head. “Nope. I’ll show you around if you want.”
I nodded. She took me by the hand. She had a caring way about her. A compassion I had never seen before. She generally looked like she cared about me in some way. I immediately felt that I could trust her.
Chapter Seven
New-Germania
Commander Klaus entered the Major’s office in the middle of the square. Its big bay windows overlooked the marvelous splendor of New-Germania’s capital city in the United States, known before as Washington D.C., now simply known as Section 8. A jet flew by the window as Klaus timidly made his way over to the big arching desk the Major operated from.
“So you made it, Klaus.”
Klaus nodded, sitting down, folding one long leg over his knee.
“The situation is being handled, Major. I don’t see why we need to go through with anything rash.”
The Major smiled. His black leather garments shone in the dim dusk escaping into the room.
“Rash would be to blow the rebels to hell — now, that would be rash. What I am suggesting, as are the rest of the army commission, is a solution to a problem that has plagued our people for the past seventy years. We need to exterminate every single Jew to fulfill our promise. Our legacy depends on it. Out of the millions of Germans who have died at war for this day to come, don’t you think we owe it to them? To their families?”
Klaus nodded his head in understanding. For too long he had dreamed of the day that was this day. For too long he had dreamed of finding the last Jew, and accomplishing what Hitler had set out to do all those years ago.
“For Germania, Major.” Klaus saluted as he stood up.
“For Germania,” the Major repeated, and smiled.
Klaus walked out of that meeting feeling renewed. Maybe down the line he had lost sight of what really mattered. But now he knew what really mattered. And the German army was prepared to do what it needed to do to accomplish it. For it did not end with the last Jew, Abel Brewer. It just began with him, and ended with them. It ended when they said it ended. And the Major was far from the end. He sat alone at his desk, pondering his next move. A small smile wrapped around his lips as he pushed a button on a receiver that sat neatly at an angle on his pinewood desk.
“Call in the air strike on the compound. Coordinates are as follows: 84.523.345, DELTA, EAST,” the Major bellowed into his two-way.
A man’s voice echoed out of the speaker. “Target destruction ETA, fifteen minutes.”
Chapter Eight
The Rebel Compound
I must admit, when I first saw the console in the middle of the compound, I was rather impressed. Even now, recalling it makes me think of how lucky I was to be with such a prepared group, such an advanced rebel group, at that. When you think of rebels traditionally, you think of scroungers, humanitarian aid, and knock-off Russian weapons. These guys didn’t have knock-off anything. They had the computing power to do what they liked. I saw they had scanners for all sorts of threats: air, sea, bio, chemical, and nuclear. Every single possibility was covered. I felt safe.
Looking at what trouble they’d gone to in securing such a base was mind-boggling. It never occurred to me what Jerry had said to me before. The fact that it wasn’t really their base at all didn’t even register with me. It should have. Hell, if they were smart, it should have registered with them. Looking back on it now, we all should have seen what was coming. But “what ifs” don’t really mean shit when it comes down to it. What really matters is how you deal with it.
“So the console operates on what power source?” I asked, feeling pleased with myself; it wasn’t often that I got to be inquisitive, let alone be in the company of people with such expertise. I mean, down the road, I could need some of this information. Who’s to say that I could be on my own one day and need to know certain technological advantages that will keep me alive? It’s possible…I guess.
“Electricity…what else would it run on?” the girl who had escorted me said with a laugh.
I now knew her name. “Danni, I know this may come a
s a shock to you, but I didn’t have many electrical components in my trench.”
“What exactly did you have in your trench?”
I smiled and then felt a little empty. “Besides my brother, nothing of any importance,” I said, immediately feeling selfish for my having self-pity ruin something light-hearted.
“I’m sorry, Abel,” Danni said.
I immediately recalled my self-pity and shook myself out of my slump. “No, I’m sorry. It’s selfish of me to always be harping on about my dead brother,” I said, trying to sound tough in the face of the tears welling up in the corner of my eyes.
Danni’s beautiful smile made me forget what a coward I had been all my life. It made me forget my troubles for that split second. It made me remember that being human isn’t always about the bad stuff. It could quite possibly be about the good stuff, if I let it.
“Your brother was important to you. You have every right to be upset, Abel. Just know this — I, along with everyone here, am here for you. Don’t you forget that!”
I must admit that having someone you just met no more than four hours ago tell you something along those lines — it might have clouded my judgment a little…just a little.
Chapter Nine
In the Meeting Room
“You’re saying what I think you’re saying?” Jerry asked as he bit his lip nervously. Both he and the bearded man were alone in the meeting room away from all of the others.
“Yeah, Jerry, we are pretty much screwed. How the hell am I going to tell the others?” Jonas asked while scratching his big beard.
“We don’t. We just evacuate. Surely we can’t keep everyone in the dark? We don’t need to say anything, just that it’s unsafe and we need to get going!”
“And then they will ask questions, questions I don’t feel comfortable answering.”
Jerry got up from his seat in frustration. “Like what, exactly? That we shouldn’t have trusted the Germans? We come clean, Jonas. We come clean.”