Soul to the Rhine

Chapter 43
Rosia worked quickly. She just decided in the morning, bought the ticket in the afternoon, and took the train to the main hospital early the next morning.

This is the first time that Rosia is on the road alone.She subconsciously searched the station and found Eric nowhere to be seen.Presumably he had been transferred to other positions long ago.

About going back this time, Rosia told Werner yesterday, and Werner didn't object, but just told her to be careful on the road.

Before getting on the bus, an inspector looked through her paperwork and let her go.The Gestapo are now living happily in their base camp in Warsaw, and their shadows are rarely seen in places like the station.Therefore, the atmosphere was much more relaxed than before, and the inspector just flipped through the paperwork and was done.

After arriving in the car, Rosia half-closed her eyes and planned to use her magical skill of sleeping standing up.Today's trains are completely incomparable to modern ones, and they drive very slowly, making you very tired along the way.

People around her were talking, basically from every country. What came to Rosia's ears were Polish, German, English and Czech. Even when a woman spoke loudly, she could understand it sporadically. It's partly French, it's quite scary.

If you think about it carefully, there are so many language geniuses in this era, and each person can master several foreign languages. As far as she knows, Werner knows at least seven languages.However, she was not particularly clear about the level of the original owner. Before, it was certain that she knew German but not Polish. But now, listening to others chatting, it seemed that the original owner also dabbled in several other poor foreign languages.

Half of the journey passed amid the chatter of foreign languages. Rosia fell asleep in a daze, her consciousness in a state of half-awake and half-asleep.Suddenly, I felt a long whistling sound in my ears, and the train vibrated for a while and then stopped.

The people who were still chatting around looked at each other, not understanding what was going on.

At this time, a horn sounded outside the train, and an angry voice came from inside: "We have received a report that there are sixteen Jews hiding in this train. If you don't want to die, hand them over as soon as possible."

There was an uproar in the car.

"How is it possible? How come there are so many Jews hiding here?"

"Didn't you check your ID before getting on the train? How could a Jew get on this train?"

"Now there is a sudden inspection. If those Jews don't cooperate, won't we not be able to get home even after dark?"

"I advise you not to worry about these useless things. What you should worry about is whether the angry Germans will kick you off and stop the train, so that you can only walk back."

"..."

The car was in chaos, and various languages ​​were mixed, making Rosia a headache.Inspectors moved through the carriages to maintain discipline, but to no avail.

"boom!"

"Boom!"

The sound of gunshots was heard outside, and the car suddenly became quiet as if there was a power outage.

"I hope these sixteen people can appear in front of me immediately. If these Jewish pigs don't get out within 10 minutes, then the train will be stopped and returned to Warsaw for inspection."

The prophecy of the man just now came true. It seemed that if the Jews could not be handed over in 10 minutes, they would all have to get off the car and walk.

The train has already traveled halfway. Whether they are going back to Warsaw or to the border city, the distance is about the same. It takes at least two days to walk.Rosia couldn't help but smile bitterly. It seemed that she had been very unlucky recently and no good things would happen to her wherever she went.

The car felt like it exploded.

"What? This is a train that is running normally. Why do you stop it when you say so?"

"We are all legal citizens, and each of us checked our documents before getting on the bus. Why should we implicate us when arresting Jews? We should go to the inspector."

The inspectors also had bitter faces. They had indeed checked one by one. If there were really Jews in the car, they could only have got on the car in advance and hid in some hidden corner.

Angry voices were like a bursting dam, exploding in all the carriages. Except for those facing each other, it was impossible to hear what others were saying.

"boom!"

A bullet hit an unknown carriage, and then there was silence again.

"There are 8 minutes left." The voice outside seemed to have calmed down and became interested.

Everyone shut their mouths. They already understood that what the shooter outside said was true and not a threat.So they began to doubt each other's identity and observed their appearance. Some people had begun to rummage through the simple seats and knock on the wooden boards, looking for a place to hide.

Although Rosia did not want to participate in the hunt for Jews, it seemed to be connected to her fate.While she was hesitating whether to look or not, Rosia suddenly found that she had received suspicious looks from several people. She felt shuddered and immediately turned around to look for the Jews as well.

"boom!"

"Ten minutes left."

Everyone speeded up their movements in silence.

……

"Ten minutes left."

The movements began to become urgent, and some women who were traveling alone could not help but begin to cry.But this group of Jews was clearly hiding very well. Even though the whole car was mobilized, no one was found.

……

"The 10 minutes are up. You guys really gave me a surprise." A German officer rushed into the train cab and directly pulled the driver out.

At this time, the inspectors also began to drive people outside.

"I'm not leaving. You have no right to do that. I'm taking the bus legally."

Some women were struggling to stay on the train, but were thrown off the train by two inspectors.A group of soldiers with guns came out of the car and walked around in the car fiercely. The passengers immediately did not dare to say anything, suppressed their anger, saluted and got out of the car.

Rosia followed them, feeling helpless.

Bad day.

After the carriage was emptied, there was a dense crowd of people standing outside. They were unwilling to leave and wanted to see if there were really Jews hiding in the train.In fact, they all still thought that the Germans had made a mistake and wanted to get back in the car.

However, things went against expectations. Not long after, two gunshots rang out in a carriage, and a screaming voice suddenly came out.Immediately afterwards, a Jewish girl was thrown out and fell to the ground in a panic.

The faces of the passengers standing outside turned dark, but the officer didn't care.Jews were picked out one by one, and those who struggled to escape were shot dead by him.Everyone was quiet, watching the sixteen Jews standing or lying suddenly appear in this deserted place.

"Damn Jews, why do they harm people wherever they go?" A woman behind Rosia cursed in a low voice, and no one else dared to speak.

The officer waved his hand, and the soldiers immediately grabbed the remaining Jews into the car. When everyone was watching him silently, the officer picked up the loudspeaker again: "Everyone must be in a hurry to reach the destination, so let's Come on, you should pay for your stupidity."

After saying that, he didn't even care about the remaining [-] people, got into a military vehicle and left.The train carried a dozen Jews and a group of soldiers, and everyone watched with grief and anger as it left.

All of a sudden, all the passengers were left in this deserted place, and no one had anywhere to go.

This is the middle section of the border between Warsaw and Poland. No matter how they walk, they will definitely not be able to reach it tonight, which means they will definitely spend the night in the wild.

Many people were frowning, and acquaintances got together to discuss whether to go to the border or return to Warsaw. Rosia was alone and could only stand aside and listen to their discussions.

After a while, a woman came over and pulled her sleeve: "Miss, my name is Karina Marlow. Do you want to go back to Warsaw or go to the border?"

Rosia smiled bitterly in her heart, thought about it seriously, and said, "If possible, I still hope to go to the border. That is my destination after all."

"That's great." Karina cheered, "We are going too. I am traveling with two men. They are both my colleagues. Are you willing to go with us?"

Rosia looked behind her, and two men also looked over. They were dressed quite simply and cleanly, and had good looks. They both wore a pair of glasses and looked very elegant.

Rosia thought about it carefully. She only knew that Germany was to the west of Poland, and the general direction was to go west, but she would never be able to find a specific direction to go on the road alone. It was obviously the best way to go with other people. It’s a safe approach and you can also look out for each other.

"Okay, let's go together, I'm Sia Luo."

"Hello, Sia." Karina happily pulled her over and introduced the two men to her: "This is Brent Burke, and he is Laurie Ive."

Rosia greeted the two of them and walked on the other side of Karina.Karina has a lively personality and looks a few years older than Rosia, but she talks and moves like a teenage girl.

Those going to the border city and those returning to Warsaw were quickly divided into two groups. Those going back to Warsaw accounted for the vast majority, while only a dozen people went to the border along the original route. Several people were obviously from a group like Karina. After discussing it, they chose a main road and left.

In addition to the four people from Rosia, there was also an old couple in their 60s or [-]s. They were walking hobblingly and could not walk very fast. No one wanted to take them with them to slow down their journey.

Karina seemed to sympathize with the couple. After asking them if they would mind taking the couple with her, she ran over and pulled them into the team.

Soon, there were six people in the team. After the two men discussed the route, they walked in the direction of the team just now.

It had just arrived in the afternoon, and the weather was still a bit sultry, because the group of people walking with the couple was walking very slowly. Karina kept talking like a sparrow at first, but as time went by, her voice became more and more... Long, she was too thirsty to speak.

Rosia is the calmest one among them. There is no unnecessary expression on her face and she looks calm and composed.But if you look closely, you can see that she is actually in a daze.Anyone who has experienced more than ten years of education in modern times has never developed the ability to be in a daze everywhere.There are even stronger people who can fall asleep while sitting, standing, or even walking. Therefore, when you are on a boring road and there is no water, daze is definitely the best way to pass the time.

Anyway, by the time Rosia finally came to her senses, it was already sunset and it was almost dark.

Karina had a terrible sore throat for a long time. The two couples didn't talk all the way, but they were also very tired. Only Rosia's face remained the same as before.

The three of them sighed at Rosia's physical strength, and Brandt and Laurie went to a nearby river to fetch water.

The place where they stopped to rest was quite good. There was a small river not far away, so there was no shortage of water.The reeds by the river are very tall, which can also serve as a cover in the night. It is only March, and there are no flies or mosquitoes in the reeds, so we can barely stay overnight.

The two men filled the cups with clean fresh water and the drinking problem was solved, but the three of them didn't bring anything to eat and were all empty-handed.

The couple carried a gray cloth bag with only a stack of pancakes inside.

After walking all afternoon, the moon is out now. Everyone is very hungry. If we only eat pancakes, we probably won't be able to survive the whole day's walk tomorrow.Rosia listened to the growling stomachs around her. After hesitating for a while, she took out the food in her backpack and shared it.

Before taking the car this morning, she bought a lot of special delicacies in the hotel and prepared them for Pino to eat. Now it seems that she can only do it as an emergency.

"Wow, Sia, you are so cute. Why did you bring so much delicious food? Oh my god!" Karina's eyes suddenly lit up when she saw what Rosia took out, and she couldn't help but take a cheese roll. .

The delicious snacks from the top hotels in Warsaw were naturally not good enough. Although Rosia felt distressed for a while, she had already taken them out and shared them generously.Several people ate very happily, but the old couple probably couldn't get used to it, so they only ate a little and then put it down, continuing to eat their pancakes.

No one forced them, and after they had eaten and drank enough, they each found a place and slept among the reeds.

I woke up early the next morning and continued on my way. The boring walk was very torturous, especially when the surrounding scenery did not change for a long time.Rosia was fine, but Karina had to take a break every time she walked, which greatly slowed down her speed.

Brandt and Laurie calculated that if they relied on their speed today, it would take at least the day after tomorrow to reach the border.

The speed of taking the train and walking are completely incomparable. The train arrives in less than a day, but it takes three days to walk.After hearing this time, Karina didn't want to move at all, and even Rosia was a little troubled.

The food in her backpack can only last until tomorrow at most, and the four of them still have to save food. This is the situation now. When there is no food the day after tomorrow, it will not be able to survive at all.

Several people were a little silent, and at night they found a place with water to stay.This place is sparsely populated, and it is not a place with train tracks. After walking for a whole day, I didn't meet anyone. Rosia had a lot of money on her and she couldn't use a cent.

After drinking some water and eating something simple, Rosia's backpack was already more than half empty, and the four of them could only last until tomorrow night at most.

If they can't meet other people tomorrow or find something to eat on the road, no one knows whether they can continue walking.

A whole day of non-stop walking has seriously exhausted the physical strength of several people. Rosia's current body has almost lost the ability to stay up late, and she is also very tired now. She puts her backpack next to her head and tilts her head. He lay naked and fell asleep quickly.

In the middle of the night, we were leaning against the river. The night wind was still a bit cool, and the reeds around us rustled.

Rosia curled up unconsciously in her sleep and grabbed a handful of reeds to shield her body, but it was of no use and she was still very cold.She turned around randomly several times, but she still couldn't bear the cold. Finally, a gust of cold wind blew directly on her forehead, so excited that she had to open her eyes.

Looking at it, there were many dark shadows all around, and the reeds were swaying in the wind. Rosia was the only one left by the entire river, and there was no trace of anyone else.

(End of this chapter)