《Schwarzesmarken '86》
Mainbrace
It had been three years since that fateful winter day in Berlin. Three years since those prophetic words left her lips.
The man suppressed a shudder in his train cabin. It had been three years yet he still couldn''t help but react at the thought of her. The piercing red eyes. Although the Americans and NATO pushed back the BETA in the nick of time, it was only a stopgap solution. The Oder Neisse absolute defence line had been breached and with the activation of the Rovaniemi Hive, it was an inevitability that the line would fall.
The man sighed as he lay his head back. Memories of the time just after the fall came unbidden to the forefront of his mind. Germany was a nation that no longer existed in this world. The BETA ruthlessly destroyed everything despite the valiant efforts of the defenders. He had been one of them. His comrades were either dead or broken. And...
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.
"Katia," the name slipped from his lips as a whisper.
He was grateful he was alone in the cabin. He looked out the window as the scenery all blended together. He was going to bring her back. He saw her get on one of the trains to evacuate. She was still alive, that he was sure of. Perhaps she was already in Britain or maybe she was in one of the last human holdouts in Europe, being as foolishly optimistic as ever in her quest to unite humanity against the BETA.
Theodor Eberbach smiled to himself as he remembered that smiling, optimistic, foolish girl...
Well, no matter, he was going to bring Katia home.
Quantum Jump
Some time before the train ride...
It had been a few months since the Fall of Berlin. The rest of Europe rapidly fell to the BETA hordes. While nuclear mines planted in the event of the Line collapsing slowed the BETA down initially, their sheer numbers allowed them to keep marching, inexorably forward to the furthest reaches of Europe. Currently, there was still a resistance in France but the BETA were slowly but surely pushing them back. Theo gave them a few more weeks before the only thing left of human life in Europe were coastal forts.
For his part, Theodor was settling into his new life in Great Britain. After the fall of the DDR, him and Anett were no longer required to be soldiers. They took this opportunity to retire from the military life. Theo hoped he would find Katia waiting for him in Great Britain. And Anett...
Theodor could still remember the feel of her in that cramped room they shared in the refugee building. That soft feminine scent despite everything she had gone through. Her behavior then should have been a warning for what was to come. She was asking for someone, anyone to help her. Save her.
He closed his eyes. What was done was done. There were no redos in this life, he knew that all too well. He had lost contact with her once they made landfall in Britain although he kept an ear out for news of her. What little he found was not good. No doubt trying to drown her sorrows, she indulged in sex, alcohol and drugs. It didn''t take an expert to tell that she was in a self-destructive downwards spiral. Perhaps he could...
"Focus!" he hissed as he slapped his cheeks lightly.
He opened his eyes and once again stared down the massive stack of newspapers he had gathered and laid down on his table. Multiple publications all covering the same time period, the months between the fall and his arrival in Britain. He had promised Irisdina he would protect Katia. He even promised Katia herself. Yet when she needed him to protect her the most, he had failed. And now he wasn''t even sure if she was alive, dead or worse.
He sifted through the massive amounts of information. It reminded him of his days in the DDR when he was hunting down information about Katia''s father. He supposed one good thing about the West was that he wasn''t risking arrest this time.
However, just like all the other times he had done this, his search bore no fruits. All the publications repeated the same things. The coup d''etat, the daughter of the revolutionary hero general, the fall of the Line and the disappearance of Saint Ursula. No one had any further information. He supposed if he had stayed in the military, he would have had more information available to view.
Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.
He violently shook his head. Never again. He had already seen what happened to his comrades. To Anett. He would never return to that world.
Leaning back in his chair, he reached for the remote and turned on his TV. He had a headache and needed some white noise in the background to clear his head. Maybe fall asleep without those screams...
The TV turned on, already on a news channel. Some special report on the European Front was on. Probably to raise morale and show that humanity could stand up against the BETA hordes. Theodor couldn''t help but chuckle in a dark amusement. He supposed it helped civilians pretend that everything would be okay. Theodor closed his eyes.
"...beat them back!" a soldier said on the program "The Saint was with us. There was no way we could die!"
And with that, Theo''s eyes snapped open and he was greeted with the sight of the train cabin.
The knock on his cabin door woke Theodor. At some point he must have fallen asleep, thinking of past events.
"Sir, we have arrived at our destination," the conductor told him.
"Ah, thank you," Theodor replied somewhat shakily.
He stood up, took his baggage and exited the cabin. Although it wasn''t that much of a lead, he had followed that lead obsessively. Three years later and many trips between the European mainland and Britain, Theodor was finally sure he located Katia. The evidence lead him to where he is now, the city of Caen. With humanity being pushed back, this was currently one of the most populous cities in the European mainland. The commune transformed citadel was filled to bursting with refugees from all over Europe who couldn''t pay for the trip over to Britain, America or whatever other country would take them, begging for money to make the trip. Or perhaps just to shut out the world for another day. He had heard of how seedy the city had become and with his brief experience as a refugee, he wasn''t surprised at all.
Stepping out of the train station, Theodor adjusted the tie on his suit. He had taken to wearing them but felt like he hadn''t exactly mastered the look just yet. He caught a reflection of himself breathing out mist. It had started getting cold. It reminded him of those days.
He ran his hand through his hair to clear his thoughts.
"Perhaps I should start styling this better, I''m not a teenager anymore," he thought to himself.
Autumn Forge
It had been a week since he had arrived at the citadel city. He had a job back in Britain that he was currently getting out of using his accumulated vacation time. Still though, he didn''t feel comfortable not doing anything so he volunteered his time at the local soup kitchen. This killed two birds with one stone. First, he had something to occupy him whenever he wasn''t actively searching for Katia and second, he could also gather information from the refugees by listening in on their conversations. Having been a refugee temporarily himself, Theodor could sympathize with their struggles.
As he walked to the soup kitchen, he heard the sound of screaming jump packs above him. A formation of F-15 Eagles flew over his head. Theodor found himself in awe of the leaps and bounds that TSF technology had taken since the last time he was on the front lines and caught himself wondering if this is how the civilians thought of him and his squadron when they flew over populated areas. He should be used to seeing cutting edge TSFs by now, having been here a week, but he still couldn''t help but marvel at them.
After a few seconds, the machines disappeared from sight, blocked by buildings. Theo''s gaze returned to the ground. He walked a little faster as he was running slightly late and standing still to admire the TSFs had slowed him down some.
Turning the corner, the soup kitchen was in sight. At the door, a larger and rowdier crowd than usual. Theodor had a bad feeling as he slipped into the crowd.
Pushing his way through the multinational throng, Theodor eventually reached the door that let him into the kitchen. He quickly slipped inside and locked the door. It wouldn''t be smart to leave that entrance open longer than he had to. He leaned against the locked door and let out a sigh.
"Hey!" the matron, an older woman yelled at him as soon as she saw him "Get to work!"
Theo quickly donned an apron and rushed to his position to help serve food. Everyone was expectedly rather high strung. There was something dangerous in the air. Still, he wouldn''t allow this to distract him and he continued to serve food. As he did so, he made note of the people he gave food to. Elderly, young, male, female, Italian, German, Scandinavian, French.All were pushed out of their home as the BETA advanced. Even small children such as the girl he was serving right now. Theo shook his head slightly at the madness of the world. As he moved to serve the next person, he heard a shrill scream that pierced through the crowd''s din. He had expected a problem to erupt with the crowd like this. He looked to the matron and she nodded, giving him her tacit approval. Not bothering hanging his apron, Theo ran to the door and exited the kitchen. Pushing his way through the crowd, he reached where the commotionwas centered.
In the center is the girl he had served nursing a rapidly developing bruise on her face and a man he had never seen before at the soup kitchen with two plates of food. Double the portions given.
Before he knew what he was doing, Theodor was grabbing the man by his lapels.
"What the hell do you think you''re doing?" he snarled, spittle getting on the other man''s face.
Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.
The food had already fallen out of the man''s hands. Normally, the other refugees would pounce for the food, taking advantage of any chance to get more food. However, the crowd could feel a fight was about to start. Slowly, they started to form a circle around Theodor, the girl on the floor and the man. The other volunteers in the soup kitchen were kept out by the people on the outside of the circle.
The man, fueled by desperation and egged on by the jeering crowd violently pushed Theodor away.
"Me and my family are starving," he yelled at Theodor "What does some fucking suit wearing fuck from Britain or wherever the hell you''re from know about what we go through! You think you can feed us like we''re some sort of zoo animals to feel better about yourself! You FUCKERS!"
The obviously irrational man lunged at Theodor. Had he still been in the military and keeping up with his training, Theo would have easily dodged or blocked the clumsy punch. But, it had been three years since he last was in combat and he took the punch to the face. As pain blossomed on his nose and blood dripped down, Theo remembered those blood stained snow fields all those years ago.
Theo sat on a stool in the now emptied soup kitchen, a paper towel up his nose to stop the bleeding and an ice pack to the back of his head. His dress shirt was ruined now, with all the blood stains. He also had a few bruises that radiated a dull pain. Still, better than what the other guy had looked like.
After the punch to his nose, he lost recollection of exactly what he did, his memory picking back up to him straddling the man''s chest and beating the unconscious face into a bloodier pulp than it already was, screaming in rage. Perhaps a part of him was still in those snow fields to the east.
After his fight with the man, the local military police patrol came and quickly got the situation under control and business went back to usual. Theo could swear that the crowd had gotten smaller and the unfamiliar faces had disappeared completely. Perhaps there was something more going on...
He found himself sighing again. He wasn''t sure if he could keep this job after this. He doubted that there would be legal consequences for this, after all, that man had attacked a little girl and he only acted to defend her. Speaking of the little girl, she was sitting in front of him cross legged. She had apparently latched onto him when his co workers dragged him off the man and back into the kitchen. The matron let her in out of the goodness of her heart.
The two of them, bloodied grown man and bruised little girl stared at each other without saying a word. Theo, feeling somewhat awkward being stared at decided to try and talk to her.
"Hi," he said trying to smile in a friendly fashion despite his bloody, bruised face producing the opposite effect "My name''s Theodor Eberbach. What''s yours?"
An awkward silence descended on the two. Theodor lamented that he wasn''t good at dealing with children or people in general. On the verge of giving up and going back to staring at the ceiling, the girl responded.
"My name is Natalie," she said,her voice lacking any inflection or emotions "Natalie Duclert."
Deep Water
Theodor walked down the street, heading home. It was already starting to get darker. Following behind him was Natalie, the strange girl who had taken to following him. Theo sighed and shook his head.
After recovering enough from the fight, Theodor had his ear yelled off by the matron. Against his expectations, she didn''t fire him, but did tell him to take a few days off to both cool off and let things blow over. He was incredibly thankful for the matron''s generosity despite her prickly exterior.
In no time, he was at the entrance to the apartment complex.
"You''re not going to follow me in, right?" he asked Natalie as he opened the door, hoping she would say no.
The girl said nothing as she followed him into the building. Theo almost clicked his tongue in annoyance.
"Don''t you have a family? Won''t they be worried about you?"
The girl didn''t answer and looked away instead. Theo sighed as he rubbed the back of his head. Her hurt reaction confirmed that her family were dead. It wasn''t an uncommon thing around these parts. He didn''t want to imagine how she survived in the slums. While his comment did confirm something about the mysterious girl, it also set off an emotional landmine. Despite his better judgement, Theo felt guilty and wanted to make up for it.
"Alright look," he said "I''ll let you stay in my apartment for a few days, okay?"
The girl looked up at him, surprised that he would offer this to someone like her. The happy smile that spread across her face, told Theo all he needed to know about her thoughts on the matter.
Thankfully, the landlord wasn''t in the lobby so Theo didn''t have to explain why he was taking an obviously undereage refugee girl into his apartment. Just before Theodor was about to open the door, his stomach let out a loud rumble.
"Ah sorry," he said somewhat embarrassed "It''s been a while since I..."
He trailed off when he noticed that Natalie had a blush on her face. It seems as if her stomach was also empty. Smiling, he unlocked the door and motioned for her to enter.
"I''ll make dinner for us," he told her as he headed to the kitchen "You can watch TV in that room over there if you want."
Theo went and put on his apron as he heard the sound of the TV turning on. It had been a long time since he had someone over.
Theodor wasn''t sure exactly what the girl would have wanted to eat for dinner so he made some Linseneintopf, the soup she was served at the soup kitchen. Living alone for a few years now, he had learned to cook himself with a bit of competency. Making some German food reminded him of his childhood when Mrs. Hohenstein would make dinner for the family. With fond memories of his family in his heart, food preparation went by quickly. He set the table and went to the living room which contained the TV to tell Natalie to come eat.
If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.
The little girl had been entranced by the TV as it was her first time actually getting to change the channels and watch what she wanted. Usually when she got the chance to watch a TV, someone had put it on a news or sports channel. Natalie was watching some tv channel that played music videos. She seemed to be enjoying the song currently playing, a 3 year old West German song that Theo recognized, having heard the Wessies listen to it during Operation Neptune. Something about red balloons.
"Natalie, it''s time to eat, he said from the entrance to the room," he said.
Seeing her look somewhat disappointed while getting up, he added "You can keep the tv on."
With the now happy girl practically skipping to the kitchen, Theo suddenly felt a deep sense of loss. His quiet and peaceful days in the apartment had been destroyed and now he was going to be eating dinner with a little girl he picked up off the street with 3 year old pop music playing in the background.
"Well, things could be worse," he thought to himself as he shrugged and went after Natalie to the kitchen.
After eating dinner, Theo did the dishes while Natalie went back to the TV. Theo had made a note in his mind to buy her a book or toys because being glued to the screen like that couldn''t possibly be healthy. After seeing how late it was on his digital watch, he decided to put Natalie to bed. With a bit of resistance from her, he managed to pry her away from the TV. This presented a new problem, where she would sleep. Theodor decided on letting her sleep on his bed while he sleeps on the couch. He would need to buy a bed for her too at some point. While he did mean to look over news sources to find Katia, it appeared that the day took more out of him than he thought and he fell asleep as soon as he sat down.
Waking up early, a habit from his military days, Theodor was about to head out as usual and try to find clues on where Katia was when he remembered his guest. He could hardly leave her alone without any warning and more importantly, without breakfast. As a result, Theo sat by her bedside for about an hour until she woke up, wasting valuable time her could be spending searching for Katia. Inexplicably, the normally taciturn girl started blushing when she noticed him and told him to get out of the room. On his way out, he noted that she had no pajamas or other clothes and resolved to go buy some for her. After that little incident, the rest of the morning went without much excitement.
Now Theo was walking the streets in the refugee occupied slums of Caen. The incident the other day reeked of something fishy and he would get to the bottom of it.
Longstep
It had been around 3 hours and he had yet to find a lead on what happened in the soup kitchen. Theo was currently taking a break, eating a crepe he bought at a crepe stand while leaning on a wall. His thoughts on where to go next were suddenly interrupted by somewhat accented French.
"Hey buddy," a man, obviously a refugee said to him "You want cool gadget?"
Theo sighed. It wasn''t the first time someone had tried to sell something to him. He supposed it was time to turn this one away too.
"I''m not interested, sorry," Theodor said amicably.
"Buddy, don''t be like that," the man said "Look here, cool gadget."
He started pushing his wares at Theo. Watches of all makes were in the man''s hands. Some obviously expensive ones mixed with the cheap plastic variety. All stolen no doubt.
Theo attempted to finish his crepe while holding off the advancing man with one hand.
"Listen, I don''t want any of your stuff," he said somewhat annoyed now.
The man looked at him confused before a look of comprehension crossed his face.
"Okay okay, no watch for you," the man said "A walkman is what you want."
"Yes I don''t want a watc- wait a Walkman?" Theodor asked confused.
Sensing a potential successful sale, the man smiled.
"Yes, do you want to see?" he asked "Come with me."
The man walked off into an alleyway, probably heading to where he stored his wares. Theo finished his crepe, crumpled up the wrapper and casually threw it before following him.
Theodor followed him through the twisting alleyways. Around him, was a hidden city within a city. Cardboard constructions, converted dumpsters, windows to apartments he didn''t know existed. An undercity of refugees. He had never checked out this particular place, but perhaps he could get some information here. He was so absorbed in taking in his surroundings that he almost bumped into his guide, who had stopped in front of an unmarked side door.
"Okay, we are here Master," he said in his thickly accented French as he opened the door.
Confused about the title he was given, Theodor nonetheless followed him inside. What greeted him was shelves upon shelves of assorted electronics. All of it no doubt gained through illegal means. Theo found himself thinking of a story he read with Lise when they were still children, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves. The man quickly disappeared into the shelves, no doubt to get Theo the "Walkman". Looking around, he saw two other men, probably friends of the one who led him here lounging around talking.
"So here it is," the man said slightly out of breath "Japan Walkman."
"Japan?" Theo asked.
Of course he had heard of that country, but he hadn''t really thought much of it. It was rather irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. It was an American puppet state at best. Still though, to produce such an interesting... thing.
"So what does it do exactly?" Theo asked the man.
"Ah," the man grinned "Put this on."
He gave Theo some headphones which Theo put on. The man put in a cassette tape in and pressed play. After a few seconds, music started playing. Theo recognized the song.
"Keine Heimat?" he asked slightly swaying with the song with a grin on his face.
"Yes, yes!" the man replied just as excited "Ideal!"
"I''ll take it!" Theo said with a smile on his face.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
As Theodor made his purchase, he listened in on the two men who were talking.
"...they cancelled the meeting there after the cops came," the first one said "Something about some crazy son of a bitch."
"A really? When''s the next one gonna be?" the second one asked.
"I don''t know yet," the first one replied somewhat annoyed "Just look for those uppity, rebellious types and ask them. The probably know."
"Damn kids," the second one said before taking a drag on his cigarette "They think this revolutionary crap will do anyone any good? All the RLF is gonna do is make things worse for us."
Theo couldn''t contain his curiosity anymore. With his bag containing his cassettes, headphone and Walkman, he walked to the two men. They looked up at him, obviously not wanting him around. Despite this, Theo stayed.
"Well," the first one asked "Whaddaya want rich guy?"
Slightly taken aback by the man''s rude speech Theo took a few seconds to respond.
"I''m sorry but I couldn''t help but overhear you guys talking," he said trying to remain genial "What exactly is this RLF?"
The second man snorted, "Damn cowards, think you can go to Britain cuz you have enough money then come back and ask us for shit."
He was almost about to spit before the first man put a hand out to stop him.
"Well ya see, I''ve been having trouble remembrin'' stuff recently," he started slowly "Now if there was something that could make me remember, I''m sure I could tell you."
Theodor sighed. While he could beat the answer out of both of them, it seemed more hassle than it was worth. Theodor prepared his wallet.
Theodor exited the thieves'' cave, more enlightened than when he had entered. The RLF, or Refugee Liberation Front, is an organization founded by refugees to improve their living conditions. Supposedly they accomplish this through non-violent protests against the UN, but something about the whole organization seemed fishy to Theodor. It seemed very similar to groups founded by Stasi agents and other communist infiltrators in the West that were meant to undermine and destabilize the Warsaw Pact''s enemies. The man earlier had mentioned that a lot of the members were impulsive youths. That combined with the multinational nature of the refugees and how most of them were undocumented, it would be very easy for a competent agent to infiltrate and subvert, assuming that the organization itself wasn''t founded with that express purpose in mind.
Theodor shook his head. He had to remind himself that he wasn''t still living in East Germany. Not everything was an evil plot. It is just as likely that the organization was founded by frustrated refugees who wanted a better life for themselves and their fellow men and women. While being skeptical was fine and dandy, he couldn''t afford to be too close minded and ignore all the other possibilities until they were staring him right in his face and it was too late for him to change his mind and create a better outcome. Just like in Berlin, that snowy day all those years ago...
Theodor''s head snapped up. It would do no good thinking about those days. At some point, it seemed he had zoned out and was already walking home with pure muscle memory. He quickly admonished himself internally. He couldn''t afford to let that happen to himself too often. Unsavory sorts roamed the streets at night and it would do him good to keep his attention up.
He glanced at the bag he was holding. Perhaps some music would help him stay focused, or at least keep those thoughts away. He heard that the Bowie fellow was rather good.
Cold Fire
On his way back to his apartment, Theodor remembered his decision to buy things for Natalie. He doubted that a store would still be open at this time, but fortunately, there was still a clothing store that hadn''t closed. Making the purchases and ignoring the looks from the cashier, he continued on his way home. The reset of the trip passed uneventfully.
Ascending the stairs of the apartment building, Theodor finally got to his floor and walked to his door, unlocking it and entering.
"I''m home," he said.
"THEO!" an excited voice greeted him as Natalie''s head popped up from the sofa she was sitting on "I-I mean, you''re back."
She tried to to return to her monotone, but it was already to take back what had come out of her mouth. Theo let himself have a chuckle over the the now flustered girl''s reaction.
"W-well anyway, you''re home," the flustered girl said training to regain her usual monotone as she got off the couch and made her way to Theodor "What do you have in those bags?"
"Ah this?" Theodor said acting clueless "Well I''ve got this and that..."
The girl pouted at his reply. Theodor had a short laugh again.
"Okay okay, well I bought myself a "Walkman" and some cassettes," Theodor explained "And in this other one I have..."
Theodor trailed off, keeping the answer from her, wanting to see her cute pouting again. The girl huffed before turning around and walking back to the couch. It seemed that she wouldn''t take the bait.
"Ah wait," Theodor said urgently "Sorry for teasing you like that. I bought some clothes for you."
The girl stopped upon hearing his words.
"Are you really sorry?" she asked in her monotone.
"Yes truly," Theodor said trying to appease her.
The girl turned around again and walked back to him.
"Well?" she asked.
"You want to try them already?" Theodor asked acting clueless once more.
Thus, another round of teasing and Theodor laughing at the girl''s expense was started. In the midst of this, Theodor couldn''t help wonder when he''d gotten this soft. More importantly, did he deserve to be this happy?
It was late at night when Theodor woke up. Natalie was still sound asleep in his bed as he dressed himself, put on his coat and scarf and exited the apartment. Among other things he learned from the two men he paid, was the fact that this "RLF" was having a meeting today in an unused warehouse. Theodor wondered how they managed to find a warehouse that was unused in a citadel city dedicated wholeheartedly to fighting off the BETA but decided it wasn''t worth dwelling on right now. With questions in his mind and conviction in his footsteps, Theodor set off towards the meeting.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.
While finding Katia was still his main objective, Theodor knew trouble brewing when he saw it. That violent crowd affiliated with the RLF at the soup kitchen wasn''t good news no matter how you looked at it. So this is why he was in his present situation. He was surrounded by self styled teen revolutionaries in an unused warehouse.
Theodor had to hand it to whoever was pulling the strings behind this whole movement. They had a rather good sense of aesthetics. Any successful movement needed a good look, whether that was banners, uniforms or something else. The Nazis (Theodor barely disguised his disgust at the thought of them) knew this fact and among other things had Hugo Boss design their uniforms.
Looking around, he could see bold and brash banners hanging with proclamations such as "Peace, Security and Freedom" and "Unite Against The Oppressors" emblazoned boldly on them with some kind of thunderbolt of eagle imagery. He looked down at his sleeve, an armband given to him by the person who admitted him around it. Even the way the podium was set up and the way the light dramatically focused on whoever would be speaking spoke of the work of a master manipulator. Brash music popular with these kinds of "outsiders" blared as the teenagers did activities typical of what you would expect, treating the meeting like some sort of rave. Sex, drugs, you name it. Yes, whoever was in charge knew how to manipulate the minds of his audience of young impressionable teenagers with an urge to rebel and a need to fit into something larger than themselves and make a difference in the world.
To say only, teenagers were here would be inaccurate, they were simply the largest majority. He also saw people who were around his age and people who were older as well. Some stayed above the influence while others dived straight into the debauchery. Theodor himself was given more than a few offers to join in, some of the offerors enough to get him arrested and placed on watchlists if he took them up on it. Despite himself, Theodor couldn''t help but admire the work of a master of his craft at work.
In the middle of Theo''s analysis of his surroundings, the lights suddenly dimmed and the din around him dissipated as the crowd hushed. It seems that the main event was starting.
Arid Farmer [NON-CANON]
Theodor looked back on how he had gotten into this situation. He had been walking home from work like usual, but had taken a shortcut as it was getting colder and he didn''t want to stay outside longer than he needed to. He was in sight of his apartment building when he heard a groan coming from somewhere. Despite his better judgement, he started looking around for the source.
After a few minutes of searching, he found what made the sound. In a pile of garbage bags was a woman with short orange hair. By all accounts, she was a beautiful woman. She was wearing a dangerously short skirt and a top that showed off ample skin. Not suited for this weather at all. He supposed it would be considered fashionable if it wasn''t so disheveled. Getting closer, he could detect the smell of alcohol and the skin discoloration that indicated that she was recently in a violent incident. There was still the faint scent of sex, or death as some people would put it. It had something to do with chemistry and supposedly a dead body released the same kind of scent but that kind of stuff went over Theodor''s head. He would be afraid that she was dead if he hadn''t heard her moan earlier.
"There''s no helping I guess," he sighed to himself as he kneeled near the woman "Alright, one, two..."
And easily, he dragged the woman up. Putting one of her arms around his neck, he supported her as he slowly started moving out of the alleyway to his apartment. He would call the police once inside and they could take this drunk off his hands.
It wasn''t until he started fiddling with the lock, struggling to get the key in that he realized just who this was.
"Anett..!"
Anette woke up slowly, her head pounding and her body aching all over. She supposed she had gone overboard once again. She tried to push against the hard ground to get up and go to the place she was squatting at to freshen up when her hand sunk in.
"Huh?"
It appeared that she was in a bed. This almost never happened
"Where the hell-" she started saying before a polite cough interrupted her.
"You''ve finally decide to wake up huh?" a familiar voice said, though she couldn''t quite place it.
She squinted her eyes as the brightness made it hard to see. Disheveled red hair, green eyes, somewhat tall figure, handsome face.
"Theo?" she asked in disbelief.
"How''d you guess?" he asked her sarcastically.
"Well, I mean you haven''t changed at all and we haven''t seen each other in like forever," she said with a laugh before wincing and holding her head.
"I''d say the same but..." he trailed off with a meaningful look at her.
Anett pouted.
"Asshole," she said annoyed "You haven''t changed at all."
"Whatever," Theodor said not wanting to get into an argument with her "Look I made enough breakfast for two if you want, so just go clean yourself off real quick."
Anett debated it for a bit before shrugging.
"Alright sure," she said "It better be good."
She slowly got out of the bed and made her way to the exit.
"Ehe, the bathroom is where?" she said sheepishly dragging out the last syllable.
Theodor rolled his eyes before pointing to the door.
"Don''t take too long now," he said as he headed to the kitchen.
"So let me get this straight," Anett said to him across the table "So like for two years, you''ve been looking for Katia?"
"Uh yeah?" Theo replied, devouring his eggs and bacon.
Despite being the most basic of basic breakfasts, there was no denying that it was tasty and filling.
"You could have at least..." Anett said more to herself.
Theo didn''t bother dignifying it with a response. An awkward silence settled on the pair.
"This tastes pretty good you know?" Anett said trying to start conversation again.
"Well I''ve been living alone," Theo replied "Had to learn to take care of myself."Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.
"Haha you? Alone? You mean you haven''t gotten a girlfriend yet?" Anett laughed "Not even from your job? Come on I know you''re lying Theo. Where are you hiding her."
Theodor grew red from embarrassment.
"I didn''t bring you here to make fun of me," he said somewhat hurt.
After she exhausted herself laughing, Anett started talking again.
"So you were being serious?" she finally said "Wow, I''d think you already found someone."
She giggled to herself.
"What''s so funny?" Theodor grumbled.
"Oh nothing~," she said as she went back to eating her food.
Theodor didn''t want to interrupt her so he stayed quiet and just watched her eat. He wished this peaceful time could stretch on to eternity.
It had been a few months and somehow, Anett started coming over to sleep in Theodor''s apartment, staying longer and longer every time. Eventually, he learned to get used to her presence. However, every time she came home in worse condition than the last time, Theodor couldn''t help but become worried for her. He promised himself one day he would confront her about this. If he wasn''t so preoccupied with Katia, he would have done it a long time ago.
The phone suddenly started ringing, breaking his thoughts. He got up from the chair he was in and walked to the ringing phone, picking it up annoyed.
"Hello?" he grumbled.
Didn''t they know how late it was?
"Ay yo man? You gotta come here and get your crazy bitch out of here!" the man said hysterically, loud obnoxious party music playing in the background.
"What in the hell?" Theodor said before connecting the dots.
"Where are you?" he asked urgently.
The moment he was given the address, Theodor was already running out the door and putting on his coat, not bothering properly putting the receiver back in.
"Anett, hold on!" he thought to himself as he bolted through the snowy night.
The two of them sat side by side in the empty metro train. Theodor was still trying to comprehend the scene he walked in on.
"Listen Theo, I can explain," the slightly intoxicated woman next to him tried to say before getting cut off.
"I don''t want to understand what that was," Theo said, barely holding back his anger.
He knew that things weren''t okay with Anett, but he didn''t know that they were this bad.
"Just what do you think you''re doing!" he said finally "You leave me as soon as we make landfall and you''ve been doing that stuff on a daily basis ever since! I''ve been worried about you ever since you disappeared!"
He was starting to vent his frustrations on her. It seemed that their talk was going to happen earlier than planned.
Anett had started crying. She wasn''t exactly in her right mind and her final pillar of support lashing out at her was the final straw.
"You want to talk about me, you should worry about yourself!" she shrieked "We lost everyone there in Berlin! ALL OF OUR FRIENDS! LOOK AT YOU WITH A JOB AND NOT A CARE IN THE WORLD! WHAT''S WRONG WITH YOU! DO YOU FEEL NOTHING!"
"You know nothing!" Theodor was shouting now too "The only thing that has kept me going.. the only person.."
Tears started to come from Theodor''s eyes. All the crying he hadn''t done two years ago was catching up to him.
"OH, there you go again," Anett yelled "Katia, Katia, Katia! What about everyone else! What about me!"
"You?" Theo yelled "You abandoned me!"
"I-I only," Anett started before falling on her knees.
At some point, both of them had stood up in the empty metro car in their fight. Anett was sobbing on the ground of the car now.
"Anett, look I''m sor-" Theo tried apologizing, his senses coming back to him before being interrupted.
"Theo, I have a problem," she sobbed "Please help me."
Theo was taken aback slightly before he smiled. She finally admitted her problem.
"Well," he said somewhat shakily "I''m not too sure I''m all there either. But since you asked. I guess I don''t have a choice. Both of us will get over this together. Now get up and wipe your face. Runny mascara and snot isn''t a good look for you."
Anett stuck her tongue out at him before taking out a handkerchief and cleaning off her face. She got up from the floor and walked over to where Theodor was sitting, closer this time than before.
"So... you''re jealous of Katia?" Theodor asked.
Anett turned red "O-Of course I am. Any girl would get jealous of her. Having such a handsome guy be so devoted to her. I mean why else do you think I joined the army with you dummy..."
She trailed off as Theodor ruffled her hair and pulled her closer, into a hug. Anett ''eeped'' in surprise before nuzzling her head in closer.
"You never asked how that guy knew to call you?"
"Wanna enlighten me?"
"I had your number in my purse as an emergency contact," she explained somewhat embarrassed.
They both didn''t talk after that but the silence wasn''t an awkward one. It was somewhat comfortable, the two of them sitting together, alone in the metro car. Theo realized that they would have to reevaluate their relationship once they get back home. Rather than worrying about what is to come, he decided to enjoy what he had with her now.
It had been a few months since their fight in the that Metro car. After getting home, they were both too exhausted to do anything and ended up going to sleep together. After being somewhat flustered waking up next to each other, the two of them had breakfast together before having a long talk on what to do next. Over the next few weeks, their relationship progressed as they both fought their demons together. Anett slowly stopped drinking as much and kept away from the drugs she consumed although at times, it was difficult for Theo to keep her away from them and... satisfy her urges to sate her. And now here he was, waking up from a good night''s rest. He could still feel...
No matter. He leaned from his upright sitting position and planted a kiss on his girlfriend Anett''s lips.
"Time to wake up," he whispered "or we''re going to miss our flight."
Just recently, Theo''s hunt for The Saint finally turned up results. All signs pointed to the citadel city of Caen. As soon as he found out, he had told Anett. She supported him going over there and even volunteered to go with him, as Katia was her comrade as well. Theodor took her up on her offer and both of them called their respective workplace and took out vacation time.
"Mmmh, one more," Anette sleepily mumbled.
Theodor rolled his eyes before indulging her and giving her one more kiss. Anett smiled before her eyes snapped open. They were unusually sharp and focused for the late riser.
"Alright, let''s go!" she said with pep.
Theo took a few seconds before responding.
"You weren''t sleeping at all were you?" Theodor asked annoyed.
Anett''s response was a sheepish "ehe".
Theo sighed, smiling, before getting out of bed. Whatever might come his way, with Anett at his side he could deal with all of it. With new resolve, he prepared for his trip to humanity''s final Western holdout against the BETA.
[END]