Dangerous Territory

Memories of Cuxhaven

Levi woke up to the sound of German words. They drifted through his head, nonsense at first, mere syllables with no meaning. Then he heard the sound of a click. Was that the hammer of a gun cocking back?

He drifted back into a dream. As often happened, the image of Petra working in the garden came to his mind. He was looking out the kitchen window, she was sitting daintily with a wide-brimmed hat. She paused, set her tiny gardening spade down, and glanced over to Levi.

Only, instead of the youthful face of his wife, half of her face was blown off with blood pouring down.

"C'est la Gestapo," she said, her voice a weak whisper.

The dream shifted, faces he once knew, some long dead, some he had no idea what happened to them. They swirled with expressions of fear and a cacophony of screams. He wanted to tell them all to stop. "Stop screaming! We need to be quiet." Yet when he opened his mouth, what came out was also a scream. The screams got louder and louder, the faces of fear and pain spinning all around him.

"Stop! Stop yelling, dammit! They'll hear us. Stop!"

Suddenly, he was in a silent, cramped attic, staring at a phone. The only sound was people breathing on his neck, and all he saw was that phone looming bigger and bigger. A pale, delicate hand laid over his, and with it the gleam of a gold wedding ring. He could not take his eyes off the phone, but he knew it was Petra beside him.

"Nous sommes saufs, n'est-ce pas, Levi?" We're safe, aren't we, Levi?

He wanted to tell her yes, they would be fine, they always made it out of danger, and he would protect her like he had sworn to God on the day they married. He wanted to give her those same reassuring words, but this time he would never get the chance.

Just then, the phone rang, a clanging cacophony that made everyone in the room jump with fear. Levi yanked the receiver up to his ear, and a terrified voice on the other end screamed.

"C'est la Gestapo. Fuyez, sauvez vos vies!" It's the Gestapo. Run away, save your lives!

* * *

Levi jolted up at the sound of a gunshot heard on the other end of the phone. He heard the clanging ring again, and he spun around. A hand laid on him, and at first he feared that memory was being relived. He heard someone answer the phone and German words again. He saw a uniform, and on it that dreaded symbol: the swastika.

Gestapo?

He blinked out his eyes and saw Eren sitting on the bed, one hand holding the telephone to his ear, the other resting on Levi's arm to calm him and keep him quiet.

Eren looked down at Levi and put his finger to his lips. Questions had to wait. Levi knew he could not speak and let whoever was on the phone know he was there. He sank back onto the pillows as his heart raced so frantically, it made his whole body tremble.

"Sagen Sie dem Hauptmann, dass ich komme sofort." Tell the captain I'll be right there. Eren hung up the telephone. "I'm sorry about that. I have to meet the captain."

"What's going on?" Levi whispered, still not trusting that the dream was purely a memory.

"It's a meeting about the Panzergrenadiere who met Americans yesterday. There's fighting to the north."

"Will you be sent out?"

Eren looked troubled. "I don't know." He laughed wryly as he shook his head. "Bei meinem Glück, I'm finally reunited with you, and they'll send me out to get shot."