We went over the plan multiple times at the farmhouse, and then we all left and made our way to the factory. We figured it would be suspicious if we all went together so we split into pairs and decided to meet up at a rendezvous point a couple of blocks away from the factory. We started our walk to the factory and I must have been in a daze of nerves because next thing I knew, we were at our destination. Hans turned to me and whispered, " Remember, you stay back here until we take out the guards and then come hide in the bushes next to the gate, and watch for other guards." I nodded my head, but didn't say anything because I was afraid if I did I might throw up. I was so nervous. We were hiding around the corner of a building, off to the side of the factory, so I had a clear line of sight to the front gate. I watched the rest of the group jog away silently until they were right up by the factory. Luckily they hadn’t been heard or seen by anyone.
Then Hans and the others slunk behind the guards, put their arms around the guards’ necks and held it there until the guards were knocked out. After that they dragged the guards’ bodies around the corner and tied them up, then they headed for the trucks. My breath started to get more and more rapid; it was time for me to do my job. I ran as low as I could over to the bushes. Then I peered through the cracks, looking for any sign that my friends could get caught. I saw Hans sliding on his back to get under the truck and start to place the explosive. I looked over at the next truck just as Aldo was placing his explosive. Everything seemed to be running smoothly when all of a sudden I heard the crunch of a boot breaking a twig. My head snapped around and I saw another soldier walking towards the gate.
He had a cigarette in his mouth, so he must be returning from a break or something. I tried to make the bird call that I had practiced with Hans to signal him, but I was so nervous my voice cracked and what came out sounded nothing like a bird. I had no idea what to do. I was going to get caught and killed, and maybe get everyone else caught as well. The soldier's eyes darted to the bush I was in. I could feel my heart thumping against my chest, my breathing started to get more and more shallow. The soldier started walking to where I was, then he pulled out his gun and aimed it at the bush. I thought it was over, I was a goner, but then I remembered. There was one thing left I could do to not be caught.
I put my hand in my pocket against the cold metal, human killing machine that was sitting in it. I pulled the gun out and started aiming at the soldier. My hands were shaking so bad, the gun would be pointed at the soldier for a split second, then it would be pointed to the right, and then the left of the soldier. I couldn’t seem to aim straight. Finally, I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and pulled the trigger. There was a loud bang and the gun jumped back as if someone had scared it, which I was not expecting and it popped out of my hand and on to the ground. I scrambled around feeling for it in the bushes; found it, and put it in my pocket again.
I slowly poked my head out of the bush and dared a glance at the soldier. He was laying on the ground, with blood spewing from his chest. He was trying to talk, but blood was filling his mouth and muffling whatever he was saying. I was absolutely disgusted. I couldn’t believe I did that to someone. I suddenly was very sick to my stomach and all of the food I had eaten for the day was now flying out all over my shoes.
One of the members of the resistance came running from inside the factory, he stopped at the guard and shot him point-blank in the head without a second thought. This sent chunks and blood exploding out of the back of the soldier’s head, and silenced whatever he was muttering earlier. Once again, food from earlier in the day was now added to my shoes.
Hans came running from the factory as well, he looked at the soldier, then at me. “Eloy did you…” I wasn’t able to respond. I was so ashamed that I couldn’t speak. We heard the others urging us to come along so they could detonate the explosives, and so we just took off at a run to catch up with them. When we got some blocks away they set off the charges and a thunderous boom thumped my chest and with it a giant ball of flames, lit up the night sky. Sirens immediately flipped on and there were shouts coming from all over. We decided not to stay and catch any more of the show.
We sprinted through the streets, ignoring the questioning shouts from random strangers, and made our way back home in record time. We got back to the house and Hans, tried to ask me how I was, “Eloy are you alright? I saw the guard, did you shoot him?” I couldn’t bear the thought of it, “I don’t really want to talk about it Hans, maybe another time.”
We headed through the secret door and down the stairs to our room in the basement. At that moment all of my adrenaline finally wore off. I was so exhausted from all of the emotions I went through I just dropped face first into my bed. Hans came in after me and did the same. I don’t remember anything else so I must have been asleep the instant my face hit my pillow.
A second later it seemed, it was the next day and Hans and I had to pull ourselves back out of bed and work on the farm as if nothing had happened because, for all we knew, nothing did happen. As we were busy working on the farm, I started to feel a little better about what we had done, possibly causing a victory for Britain and France in the future, but then the image of the soldier coughing up blood filled my brain and I lost all joy I had from it. I was hoping that I could get that image out of my mind, but I figured it probably never would.
I was expecting us to go on more missions like that almost nightly, but we didn’t do anything again for months. Hans said it was because security would be much higher and they were still looking for those responsible for blowing up the trucks and we did not want to get caught. He was right, Germans were being very suspicious and questioning everyone. Once German officers even came to the farm which caused Hans and I to have to hide in the secret basement for over an hour. The germans searched everywhere they could possibly think to look, but luckily they never found the secret entrance to the basement. At last, they decided that an older gentleman like Aldo hadn’t anything to do with the explosions. Besides, he offered them plenty of food and wine, which cheered them up a bit. After they filled themselves up on it they left the farm but did promise to return again someday. Aldo didn’t seem too worried about that sentiment though, because he figured he could just feed them some more and be off the hook.
The next time the resistance met up we did something similar to the last job, but instead of blowing up trucks of ammunition, we were blowing up a train car that was bringing guns and supplies to troops over in Poland. I was excited to be doing something good for the resistance once again, but I was also afraid and didn’t want to shoot anyone else.
Before our meeting started Hans informed me that I would have a much bigger job this time around. He said I handled myself well last time and took out the guard so I needed more responsibility. At this location, there would be too many soldiers guarding the train because they didn’t want anything to go wrong as it had the last time they were trying to transport a large amount of ammunition. They had patrols everywhere and unless there was a diversion, there would be no way for anyone to sneak in and plant explosives. This is where I come in.
Hans and a select few other members of the resistance will sneak their way to the train cars, and plant the explosives just like they did the last time around. The only thing different was, I would create the needed diversion, so they could get to the train without getting caught. Just a couple blocks from the train car there was a house where some German officers were staying. I was supposed to sneak into the building next door to the house, which was supposed to be unguarded, and throw a bunch of grenades from my building straight down into the chimney of the house next door that the officers were in. This would create enough of a commotion that the soldiers would leave the train to come to the aid of the officers that have just been bombed with grenades. Then I would sneak out of the area and meet up with everyone else at the rendezvous point.
Hans handed me a sack filled with grenades and gave me a quick rundown of how to use them. Just pull the pin out and
throw it like a ball, which seemed easy enough. Then he explained that there were only a few seconds between when I pulled the pin, and when the grenade would explode, so I had to throw them quickly. I don’t usually play ball, but I knew how to throw one so I figured it couldn’t be too hard of a job, especially with the building being unguarded. I should be able to sneak right in and right out. Then he gave me another gun, which instantly brought back memories of the soldier that I killed. I realized though that couldn’t think of that anymore. I had a job to do, in order to save people like Eliza, and I wouldn’t be able to help her, or anyone else if I was stuck in the past and worrying about one dead soldier.
This mission I was even more nervous than the last time because I had to go all by myself. We left the farm and they went one direction while I went another. I snuck from block to block trying to blend in as much as possible and finally made it to my destination without getting caught. The whole way I didn’t even see another human so I was sure things were going to go smoothly.
I opened the back door to the building I was supposed to be going in and made my way up to the top floor, but once I got there a soldier was standing there in front of me! This building was supposed to be empty! Hans had even been scoping it out himself to make sure. The Nazi soldiers must have had a change of plans, and put out more guards than originally expected. Luckily the soldier didn’t notice me yet. He was standing at a window watching down below, oblivious to me sneaking up the stairs.
I couldn’t shoot him because my gun would be too loud and I couldn’t choke him like Hans did to the other soldiers because I wasn’t sure I was strong enough. I had to think of another way. Luckily I happened to glance upon a pile of bricks that were on the floor. This building must have been slowly falling apart, which was lucky for me because it provided me a weapon.
I picked up the biggest brick I could see, and snuck up behind the soldier and just as I was about to hit him in the head with it, he started to turn around. I froze with fear for a second, but something outside must have caught his eye because he turned back towards the window and leaned into the glass to try and see outside better. I snapped myself out of my frozen state, inched a little closer to him, and swung the brick down with all of my strength. Instead of him dropping to the ground like a sack of potatoes as I expected, he fell forward through the window and landed on the roof of the building I was supposed to be bombing with my grenades.
When he hit the roof every soldier on the ground looked up to see the commotion and they saw me standing there in the window. I had to act fast so I ripped open the sack and started chucking out all of the grenades.
I heard them all exploding down below and saw the clouds of dust and rubble flying into the air in front of me. I had one grenade left, I pulled the pin and in my haste, it slipped out of my grasp and onto the ground. I tried to snatch it up and toss it before it exploded, but I accidentally kicked it away with my shoe instead. There was no time to grab it now and no place to go, but out of the window, which would be certain death too, so I just stood there dumbfounded basically. There was nothing I could do, and there was no place to go.
The grenade went off and a huge force smacked me in the chest and slammed me against the wall, luckily it didn’t send me out of the window. The impact knocked me out, and when I woke up I had a tremendous ringing in my ears, and sounds seemed all muffled. I tried to get up, but I was so dizzy I just fell back down. Then the next thing I knew I was waking up again and I could hear voices around me, but I didn’t see anyone, everything was full of dust and smoke. Then I slipped back into unconsciousness.
The third time I woke up I could hear more clearly. I had to shrug off a mound of rubble and dust that was covering me, and then I stood up. I started coughing trying to get the dust out of my lungs, and when they were finally clear I looked at my surroundings.The room I was in was nothing but a pile of rock and dust. I walked over to where the stairs were, but it was completely filled with a pile of rocks and bricks. I was now trapped unless I wanted to jump through the window.
I decided my best bet was to try and dig my way through to the staircase. I just started moving the rocks one at a time. My head was killing me, my chest ached, and my arms wanted to fall off. I gave up. I accepted my fate, of slowly dying alone, by my own stupidity and clumsiness. I sat down on the floor with my head in my hands and thought about how simple my life used to be. I would go to school to start the day, then I would come home and work in my uncle’s shop, do any homework, and then go to bed. It was simple and easy. But then I thought of my life after meeting Eliza. I actually enjoyed every day, for the first time since my parents died. I was happy to get up each day, and I couldn’t wait to be with her each afternoon. Every minute we spent together went by so fast, and I wished with all my heart I could just have one more minute with her again. I realized that if I gave up right now, sitting in this building, that wish could not possibly come true.
Thinking about Eliza gave me the strength to get back up, and to keep moving bricks. I moved them one by one until I was done. It took me hours to get a big enough hole to squeeze through and make my way downstairs, and after I had made it through and was safely on the next floor, I sat down and relaxed.
A couple of hours later I woke up to find that it was still daylight, and I would need to be extra sneaky on my way home. I brushed some of the dust off of myself and made my way down to the first floor and to the back door that I came in. I cracked it open and didn’t see anyone so I slipped through it and just as I was about to start the journey home someone grabbed my arm, “What are you doing in that building?”I looked at the soldier that had a firm grip on my arm. He was wearing a fancy uniform, with no wrinkles, and a ton of medals. He must have been a pretty high ranked person in the military. It sure didn’t look like he did much work, but I bet he made most of the decisions.
I really didn’t want to be taken away or killed so I had to think of something good, and real quick. “Uh I heard the explosions, and I was just curious and decided to take a look. I’m sorry I knew I shouldn’t have.” He didn’t seem to fully trust what I was saying. “Well, then why are you full of bruises and scrapes?”
“When I was inside a portion of the ceiling fell down and thumped me in the head.” He pondered what I said for a minute, and must have believed me because he said, “I remember when I was your age I was curious about everything too. Go have your head looked at and get home.” I quickly shook my head yes, and scuttled away. I was so close to being caught, but at least the adrenaline took the pain in my head away for a little bit.
I decided not to take any more chances of getting caught again and jogged the rest of the way back home, taking the most low profile route I could think of. I didn’t see another person the rest of the way and soon I came upon the farm. When the farm was finally in sight my adrenaline drained away and the exhaustion hit me. My legs started to buckle under me a bit, and just when I thought I was going down, Hans busted out of the house and ran up to me. “Eloy! I thought you were dead!” He started to pick me up in a hug, but I winced in pain and he quickly put me down. “What happened to you? Are you okay?” I couldn’t find the energy to talk so I just shook my head yes. He continued, “Your distraction worked perfectly and we finished blowing up the train, but you never came home. I was so worried.” Having been so tired and possibly brain damaged from the explosion, I muttered some incoherent nonsense to him. He understood that now wasn’t the best time for me to have a conversation. He put my arm around his shoulders and helped me down to our room. He laid me down on the bed and I instantly fell asleep again.
The blast of the grenade must have done a number on my head because I slept for two whole days. When I finally did wake up I was so groggy I could hardly function. I did see that Hans brought me some cabbage soup so I scarfed that down in a hurry. I hadn’t eaten in more than three days and I was starving. Afterwards I just laid there staring at the ceiling until Hans returned. This time I told him what happened
again, but correctly this time, and instead of being concerned he just chuckled. “You literally blew yourself up with the grenades we gave you. That is very funny, since you are okay of course.” He went on to have himself a good laugh, even though I didn’t find it very funny at all. He saw I was getting angry and quickly shut down his laughter, “Okay Eloy, next time we will give you a simpler mission, so you don’t blow yourself up again.” I tried to protest, but it didn’t work. Then he left me to eat more soup and regain my strength I was hoping to have another day of rest before returning to work on the farm, but I doubted that would happen because Aldo always said, if you don’t work, you don’t eat.
Soon after Hans left the room I drifted back into sleep. I had another dream about Eliza, which happens most nights. I still can’t get her out of my mind. Hans tells me that she is most likely dead after being taken away because nobody comes back after they are shipped to the labor camps, but I just can’t believe it. I can feel it in my heart and soul that Eliza is alive, and she needs my help.
In the dream, Eliza and I were getting married. We were outside under a big tree, the sun was shining, and it was so pleasantly warm. The perfect day. I don’t know if anyone was there to witness it, because I couldn’t focus on anything but Eliza. She was smiling at me with her beautiful, engaging smile, Her bouncy brown hair was pulled up so I could see her whole face, and she was staring at me with big beautiful brown eyes. In that moment I felt complete peace. It was soon ripped away though, as she was yanked away by a German soldier. Her smile instantly turned to a frown and she called for me, “Eloy, help! Please come help me! Why won't you help me!” Then the soldier lifted up his gun, pointed at Eliza, and BANG! I woke up with a start and gasping for air.
After I gathered myself, I noticed that it was extremely quiet and Hans normally snores. I crept over to his bed and he wasn’t there. I left the basement and found that the whole house was empty even though it was the middle of the night. Something wasn’t right, and I needed to find out what. I quickly searched the whole house and happened to find a small note that was scribbled hastily, and stashed in the bread box. The only thing that the note said was: “Gestapo” It didn’t need to say anything else. I knew exactly what it meant.
The Soul of the Unbroken Page 4