THE FÜHRER'S DAUGHTER

THE FÜHRER'S DAUGHTER (Episode 2) - Chapter 1

 CHAPTER ONE

GASPING FOR BREATH, Grace dashed across the East Lawn. Up ahead, Miles stood at the gate looking at his watch and talking with the sentry. He was unaware of her, or the guards pursuing her. Struggling to keep her lead, she nearly stumbled.

They were getting closer.

“Stop!” One of guards shouted. The sound of him chambering a round in his rifle locked her limbs in place. “Not another step, Fraulein Grace!”

Except for looking over her shoulder, she didn’t move.

This was it.

She was going to die, right here on the East Lawn.

“Put your hands up in the air!”

In the distance, Miles stood with the sentry watching her.

She wanted to cry out to him, but couldn’t manage to open her mouth. Shaking uncontrollably, she slowly raised her hands. All of existence lay suspended, like a movie paused mid-scene in freeze-frame stillness.

God, please don’t let this happen… 

All those stories Miles had secretly read to her from those forbidden books were just fairy tales, weren’t they? And yet, here she was entreating the God of the Infekts in her final moments.

#

THEY HAD FOLLOWED HER. With Frau Drexler’s help, Grace should have made it out undetected. Something must have gone wrong. Miles reviled himself for not planning this better.

But Grace was still alive—there was still hope.

Would the Führer’s guards actually kill her?

They had their weapons trained on her and she’d stopped cold in her tracks.

No time to speculate.

Andreas turned to observe the situation unfolding on the lawn.

Without another thought, Miles grabbed the gun from the Andreas’s holster, and with all his might, struck him across the back of his head with it.

“Grace!” Miles called out. “Get down!”

She just stood there, blinking in a stupor.

Behind her, the guards double-timed toward her.

“On the ground!” Miles made large gestures with his hand. “Get down!”

Finally, she dropped flat on her belly.

Instantly, Miles took aim and fired one shot, then another.

Both guards fell to the ground, their rifles falling aside.

Covering her ears, Grace shrieked in terror.

Miles ran over and took her by the hand. “Come on, Grace. We gotta run!”

#

IT MADE NO SENSE. Father’s betrayal, Mother getting shot, and Miles killing two guards with the marksmanship of an Imperial Sniper?

Who are these people?

Miles grabbed her arm and helped her to her feet. “Let’s go!”

“Miles…What—?”

“Hurry!”

The urgency of the moment didn’t fully register, until the sound of boots tramping through the palace grounds snapped her out of her daze.