Berlin blood

“Paul, I don’t have your business.” I archived it from the very beginning, when we first received information about your “death.” And then God knows who became interested in you. I was dragged through various kinds of interrogations. They almost called you a traitor, but you are alive and standing in front of me. It’s not clear where your business is. Maybe in the Gestapo, maybe in our archives. What do I care? — Yes, it’s me standing here in front of you. I know that I left very quickly, and we quarreled, so to speak. But I needed to disappear, I understood too much. And I still understand, noting to myself that I left on time. I see you are completely at the bottom? — As you can see, yes. I can’t say I’m disappointed in the way you acted or the way you left, no. Now I partially understand you. We really don’t know what to do: the Fuhrer executes everyone, removes them from their posts. In a word, it’s a mess. I don’t even think I’ll be able to sit still until tomorrow, and what power do I have? Except over the youths who have no power over themselves, so they get into battle. Oh, how hard it is for me to realize all this. Yes, history repeats itself. I don’t remember who said it, maybe you, maybe not. I really don’t have your documents, Paul, and I don’t know where they are. Perhaps destroyed, like your rewards. However, I must say that we remembered you and honored you. And since the SS shows up to me, then things are really bad. — You know, many times I thought that I had become a traitor, but now I understand that we are not traitors, no. I caught myself thinking this many times, but after Moritz died… Did you know that he was alive? — No. Was he alive? God,” the man gasped. — Yes, it turns out he was alive all this time and was working for the British. And they sent him to kill me,” Paul turns his gaze to the man, who stands with a sad look. “I’m sorry that everything turned out this way, I’m sorry that you had to accept the death of your friend.” He was not a bad guy, he could have had everything he wanted and everything he wanted, but we were all mired in war, we were all at the epicenter. Rebirth of humanity. And not only — the whole world. “If only I could live to see the moment when everything falls into place, however, sometimes I want to look into the future, otherwise everything is like underwater when we were taught to swim.” Two holes at a distance of several meters were connected by a rope, and you had to swim by holding it, and so you go down, hold your breath and swim, and when you swim to the middle, you can’t see where you came from and where you’re swimming: everything is in the dark, and you are enveloped by a wild desire to let go of your hand and go deeper. — Yes, no matter how sad it is to hear this, they lowered the draft age even further — to sixteen and a half… — More? Where else lower? Do they really want to send children? The Commodore nods. — Yes, all the others died and lie somewhere, scattered all over the world. And now it makes no difference to them where they lie: the whole earth, without borders and states, began to belong to the dead. They stood in silence for several minutes and each thought about his own, personal thoughts. — Tell me, do you still have, maybe, at least a passport or something? “Hmm… Yes, there is something left,” the man took hold of the handle in the table and, pushing aside the drawer, took something small and capacious from there and brought it into Paul’s hand. — Here you go, here is your cross for your first combat mission, as well as a small book that I was able to snatch from the hands of the Gestapo. This is something like a passport, at first you can live. Although depending on where you go… — Thank you, but I’m afraid I can no longer travel further than Berlin and Germany. There is persecution everywhere, and our people sit wherever they can. For fear of being discovered, they themselves kill or are kept in fear. Screams were heard on the street “I’m afraid you’re right, you won’t have time to leave Germany.” All the exits were blocked, everyone began to run, and after the operation and the unsuccessful assassination attempt that was carried out, there is now careful control over everyone who leaves and arrives. Although these people have no choice but to keep the people dependent on them in fear. They don’t know or know anything else. This could have been foreseen and seen; everything was heading towards this. If the Fuhrer does not understand what is happening and does not end up dying at the hands of the enemy or his own, if he does not turn out to be a coward… — Well, we are all cowards by nature. — Paul sighed. — Thank you and goodbye. I assume this is yours? They looked at the cars that were approaching the building. — Probably yes. Well,” he put on his cap, “to leave, having drunk more cognac,” the man poured himself and Paul, and both drained their glasses. Paul turned around, saluted, and left. In the same uniform, which did not belong to him, but suited him so well, he went out and went down the stairs. Soldiers rushed past, but he just walked on, not paying any attention: there were no documents, which meant he had nothing else to do here. He left the building, Nora was still standing and waiting for him in the same place. He walked toward her like a fine Navy soldier. — What kind of wonderful man is coming to meet me? Do you want to invite me to lunch? — Nora turned it into a joke, Paul just smiled. “I think that until Berlin, like the whole of Germany, is hit by a volley of enemy fire, yes, we can. I know you wanted to leave, but we didn’t have time. The general has been taken, and you will have to do the paperwork. — It’s OK. I didn’t want to leave here, I wanted to be with you, and where is the second thing on the list. The main thing is that we are nearby and you are alive. Tell me, where should we go now? “Well, since I’m alive, I think my house is open to us.” Come on, I’ll show you a lot of things. — OK then. They walked slowly, blending into the crowd on the street. Their hearts were filled with either anxiety or an understanding of what awaited them next. Paul looked at Nora, the girl who was not afraid to go all this way with him. She looked at him, the man for whom she gave up everything and put her life on the line, making no mistake. *** Entering the apartment, which turned out to be very cozy, with a balcony, they went out to watch the sunset. Planes flew across the sky towards the border. — The end is near? — Yes, close, but I can save us. They spent the night as any lover should, giving love to each other. They were not interested in either the past or the future. They were only interested in the present, which was felt in every kiss on the skin, in every breath and in every glance addressed to a different part of themselves.