War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 136 Betrayal
In the fiery red sunset shrouded in gunpowder smoke, Wei Ran led Captain Katya and a small group of Soviet Red Army soldiers through a large area of ​​ruins, and finally stopped at the edge of the basement exit.

"Father Hans, Doctor Lodge, Marco, I'm back!"

Wei Ran stood on the edge of the cave and shouted, "Throw down the gun and come out with your hands up!"

Not long after, Marko was the first to climb out, and with the help of Father Hans and Doctor Lodge, he carried Mikhail out of the basement and handed it over to the Soviet Red Army soldiers waiting aside, allowing them to It was sent on a stretcher.

After Dr. Rocky and Father Hans climbed out, Mario, with a second-class Order of the Patriotic Order without a sickle hammer pinned to his chest, was the first to climb out, letting half of his buttocks wrapped in gauze bathe in the setting sun.Like Mikhail on the stretcher, he raised his fist and shouted loudly, "Wow!"

This voice directly caused the surrounding Soviet Red Army soldiers and Captain Katya to laugh out loud.But then, when children and women in hospital gowns with eczema and swollen red envelopes from flea bites came out one by one, everyone fell silent amidst the flurry of artillery fire.

Perhaps it was because they hadn't seen the sun for a long time, or because they finally didn't have to worry about being chased by the army. These Jewish women and children couldn't stop crying when the sun was shining on their faces.

"Let's go back." Captain Katya waved his hand and led everyone to turn and walk towards the Ministry of the Interior.

Along the way, Dr. Lodge and the others looked at the city that had been turned into ruins, the battlefield still fighting in the direction of King's Square behind them, and the corpses that could be seen everywhere at their feet, and they all fell silent.

In just two or three days, this city and those familiar or unfamiliar people in this city have become part of the ruins like the clinic that provided them with protection, leaving only a few wild cats and wild cats. Dogs hid inside the ruins, feasting on the food that was easily available recently.

Seeing that the building of the Ministry of the Interior was getting closer and closer, the little guy who was hugged by Marco because of his butt injury let out an exclamation, pointed to a ruin not far away and shouted in surprise, "Oliver! That's Oliver!"

The little guy had a loud voice, and the Soviet Red Army soldiers immediately raised their submachine guns in the direction of Mario's finger.

Upon hearing this, Wei Ran quickly explained in Russian that he had met an acquaintance. After getting the approval of Captain Katya, Marco immediately carried Mario to the ruins not far away, and then saw a child whose ankle was pressed by the floor.

This little guy looked a little older than Mario by a year or two. He was wearing a complete black uniform of the Boys League, and he wore a steel helmet that was too big for him.

"Oliver, why are you here?!"

Mario jumped down from his brother's arms and asked in surprise, but after seeing that his legs were firmly pressed by the floor, he immediately looked at his brother Marco and Wei Wei who was walking behind him as if asking for help. Ran et al.

The little guy named Oliver turned his head and looked at his good friend in front of him with difficulty, but after seeing the white hexagram on his chest, the Soviet medal pinned to it, and the Soviet Red Army following behind him, his eyes widened immediately. He raised his hand and pointed to Mario's chest, "Mario, what are you doing?"

"You said this?"

Mario stretched out his dirty hands and grabbed the hexagram on his chest, and said with a bitter face, "My brother said, I'm a Jew now, and I'm their spoil."

"Traitor! You traitor!" Oliver shouted heartbreakingly, "Mario, you idiot! You are a traitor! You betrayed our leader!"

"I didn't." Mario denied in a panic.

"Go to hell! You traitor! Go to hell!" Oliver grabbed a handful of dust and threw it at Mario forcefully with a cry.

However, when Mario covered his face subconsciously, the little guy Oliver who was still under the floor pulled out a P38 pistol from his arms!

Marco, who was squatting on the side, changed his expression drastically when he saw this, and pushed Mario away without thinking!

"Bang! Bang!"

"Da da da!"

After a brief exchange of fire, Oliver, who was still under the floor, was shot dead by a Soviet Red Army soldier with a submachine gun.But Marco also "plopped" and fell between Mario and Oliver.Dark red blood gurgled from his abdomen and chest, looking dumbfounded at Mario who was pushed aside.

"Save people!" Wei Ran reacted, and tore off Marco's shirt, revealing the two wounds not far apart.

Father Hans, who stumbled over, sat down on the ground after seeing the wound with blood and air bubbles pouring out. The two shots hit the liver and lung respectively. , but they don't even have a scalpel now!
"Old. Daddy." Marco stretched out his hand and held it with Daddy Hans, and said intermittently, "Gold bars. Take care of Mario."

"I'll take good care of him, I'll take good care of him!" Father Hans promised tearfully, reaching out his hand in vain to try to hold down the blood gushing out from the wound.

"Brother, brother." Mario crawled over with tears streaming down his face, and he didn't know if the remaining blood on his face belonged to his brother or his former good friend.

"Marmario. Don't be afraid. The war is coming soon."

Marco stretched out his other blood-stained hand to his younger brother Mario, but before he could touch his tearful face, he let it hang down feebly, and fell heavily on the dusty, sandy ground. superior.

"Slap!" Father Hans slapped Mario's face fiercely, "You idiot! Get away!"

Ignoring Mario who was stunned by the slap, Father Hans held Marco's body in his arms, looked in the direction of the Capitol with his old eyes, and muttered to himself, "Look at you Well done, look at what you've done!"

Dr. Rocky, who was standing on the side, sat down with the help of the broken wall, hugged Mario, who didn't dare to cry at all, and looked at the two corpses on the ground silently, speechless for a long time.

"Victor, we can't waste too much time here." Captain Katya urged.

Wei Ran nodded, squatted down and said, "Father Hans, Doctor Rocky, Mario and I will send him back to the basement. You and Doctor Rocky will take the others there first."

Father Hans sighed, and gently placed the corpse in Wei Ran's arms, then stood up staggeringly with the support of Nurse Lai Ni, "Doctor Rocky, let's go, let's go now Save the others, be it the damned Germans or the damned Soviets!"

Dr. Rocky glanced at the Soviet Red Army soldiers around him, gritted his teeth and stood up, gently pushing Mario to Wei Ran's side.

Wei Ran looked up at Captain Kajia, "Comrade Captain, you take the others back first, can I go there later?"

Captain Katya nodded upon hearing the words, waved his hand taciturnly, and led the others towards the building of the Ministry of the Interior.Even though there was a language barrier, she had seen similar tragedies more than once on the road from the Soviet Union to Berlin, and she was already numb rather than indifferent.

Bending down to pick up Marco's body, Wei Ran freed a blood-stained hand, and led Mario to the basement where they came.

Before he could take a few steps, the Jewish girl Mora caught up, grabbed Mario's hand from the other side, raised her head and said to Wei Ran, "He is my trophy, and I promised Brother Marco to take care of him." his."

"Then keep up." Wei Ran sighed, and continued to walk to the basement hundreds of meters away.

Back at the entrance of the basement, the complicated footprints on the wet ground were still clearly visible, but at such a distance of several hundred meters, Marco died at the hands of an eleven or twelve-year-old child.

Looking up at the direction of the opera house which was still fighting in the distance, Wei Ran carefully put down Marco's body.Then I saw that in the inner pocket of the clothes that I had torn apart, there was still a crudely made boy group knife. The edge of the scabbard of this knife had been damaged by a bullet, but it was also because of this extra hit , let the meaningless bullet roll into Marco's body, causing more damage.

"How ironic"

Wei Ran glanced at Mario, who was still clutching Marco's gradually cold hand and weeping in a daze. He took out a pack of crumpled cigarettes from the pocket on the other side of the corpse, took out a lit one, and took a puff. Then he was choked and coughed again and again.

Stuffing a lit cigarette into Marco's bloody mouth, Wei Ran leaned against a collapsed brick wall, closed his eyes and listened to the sound of gunfire and artillery fire that seemed to come from all directions, quietly waiting for the time One minute and one second passed.

It wasn't until the cigarette was burnt out that Wei Ran flicked the cigarette butt away, patted Mario on the shoulder to signal him to let go, and then carefully sent Marco's body into the basement and placed it in the farthest place from the door. A rollaway bed.

Finally, he picked up the Youth League knife in his arms, Wei Ran silently stuffed it into the air vent and blocked it with a brick, and then climbed out of the basement.

"Mario, let's block the hole together." Wei Ran squatted beside Mario and asked.

Mario looked up at Wei Ran with tears in his eyes, "I killed my brother"

"It's not you." Wei Ran sighed, "The person who killed your brother committed suicide a few hours ago."

Seeing Mario looking at him inexplicably, Wei Ran sighed, bent down and picked up a large piece of brick stuck together by cement, and threw it into the entrance of the basement with great effort.

"Mario, come and help." The Jewish girl Mora picked up two bricks and threw them into the basement like Wei Ran.

Mario looked around blankly, then looked at the direction of the basement hole, then resisted the pain from the wound on his buttocks, picked up a brick and walked towards Marco's temporary grave.

(End of this chapter)