Cheap Thrills (6 Thrilling reads) (25 page)

Chapter Two

“S
o what’s your name?” I asked after being silent in the car for an hour. I didn’t want to say anything at first. He had tried at least ten times since we left the trench to make conversation. But I figured that if I was going to die, and this was a trap, I might as well just savor my last breaths. I guess I was feeling intrigued. Maybe this wasn’t a capture. Maybe his story checked out. Maybe my brother trusted this man. I looked at him and wondered. I saw he was a big guy. He had tattoos. He was an American, or at least one of the last. He was around forty, I guessed. He had big arms. The type of arms someone who worked in an industry of sweat and tears would have. He had blond hair and blue eyes. He was definitely safe in this world we lived in. He looked German, or at least Nordic. And then he spoke. And now I was paying attention; I knew I was safe.

“The name is Jerry. I’m from the Midwest — well, I
was
from the Midwest.”

I relaxed a little. The moon in the sky was bouncing off our headlights. The black finish on the car was blanketing us in the dark. I felt an overwhelming sense of relief. For years I had been waiting to meet a rebel. I had heard about them. I knew they existed because the news would broadcast the executions of the “traitors,” much like they did with the Jews.

The rebels were in favor of freedom. They stood against the Germans. They fought for the idea of overthrowing them. The Germans had played down their numbers for years. They said there were only a few hundred of them in the world. Jacob and I believed that one day we would meet them, and fight with them. It was a childhood dream. A dream that we carried with us into adulthood. A dream that maybe was in reach.

“Are you a rebel?” I asked, unsure of how to word it, not wanting to jump the gun.

“I am a freedom fighter. If you want to call me a rebel, that’s fine. But where we are going, those sorts of accusations aren’t favored,” said Jerry.

My eyes widened a little. What did he mean? Where were we going?

“And where exactly are we going, Jerry?” I asked.

He just turned his head a little and winked at me. “Get some sleep, Abel. You’re going to need it.”

I just sat there and stared out the window. I wasn’t going to sleep. I wanted to know where he was taking me.

Chapter Three

W
e pulled up to a barn in the middle of nowhere. We had been driving for seven hours. I never knew that the area Jacob and I had been occupying was so far away from anything of any significance. I did, however, recognize some of the places I had visited over the years. A lot of them remained unchanged, and untouched. Maybe that was the reason we’d survived for so long. Maybe that was why I was still alive. It still played on my mind. I wanted to know why, after all this time and all those years, my brother got caught. Surely the odds were in our favor? Well, they were in mine now. Even if I was going to die, at least it would be at the hands of Americans, and not the barbaric death that would surely be waiting for me if the Germans got their hands on me.

“We’re here,” Jerry said, his Midwestern accent a delight to hear.

“Okay, so what now?” I asked.

“You meet the gang,” he said.

We got out of the car. I stretched. It was now sunrise. The birds in the sky were scattering from the east. The trees were a fresh sight for sore eyes compared to the putrid surroundings I had grown accustomed to. I could hear singing. Not people, but the wildlife. I had imagined after seeing all the war-torn areas I had experienced that every single place on the face of this planet was destroyed. It was a pleasant surprise, one that I was embracing with all the warmth I could muster, considering the circumstances.

We walked up a stone pathway. It was dotted with all sorts of flowers. Not natural, but planted, as if it was the work of a talented gardener. It blew me away. This place looked like the Garden of Eden. And planted in the middle of it was a freshly painted barn. It resembled a kid’s animated film. It was so idyllic that I almost forgot about the danger this world offered.
Almost
.

“It’s so nice around here. You sure you lot are rebels?” I asked. I just had to. I felt as if I was in a Mary Poppins skit, not some rebel camp. You imagine such places to have a weapons armory or some sort of warehouse with rundown vehicles of war, and mechanics tinkering with the underbelly of big metal beasts of violence. This place smelled cleaner than anything I had ever smelled. Fresh air, mixed with a hint of pollen. Good job I wasn’t bunged up, or it could have set off my hay fever.

“We are rebels, yes. Why don’t you believe me?” he asked.

I just continued up the path, following his wide frame up to the barn door. We both stopped abruptly. I just stared at the grain of the wood on the big door. Suddenly, my staring was interrupted by a large fist banging on the wood — a sort of rattling knock, like a secret clubhouse knock. 
Bang, bang, bang, — bang bang
.

An assortment of locks was unbolted from the other side. It took a good minute. Then the door swung open, revealing a massive staircase going underground. It burrowed into the dirt, and way beyond that as a sheet of darkness escaped down the flight of stairs. I couldn’t see much past a couple hundred steps; it just seemed to go on forever.

Standing in the door frame was a little old lady holding a halogen lantern. Her gray hair sparkled in the light. She gave me a warm smile and an even warmer one to Jerry. He nodded his head and guided me into the barn. The door behind us closed more quickly than it had opened. Before I knew it, we were both in the dark. The only light in the barn was the one the old lady had coming from her lamp. Suddenly a switch was flicked. A line of lights lit up the staircase as the sound of bulbs turning on echoed down the pit. I could see the staircase reach down even farther now as more bulbs lit up below. I shook my head. I didn’t like the idea of walking down so many stairs.

“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

“Y
ou
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, feeling 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.