.  SS men were known and feared for their brutality.  Katya had heard nasty rumors about the things they did.  If he spotted her now, she was dead for sure.  She breathed in and let the air out very slowly, afraid he would hear even the minuscule sound of her breathing, and prayed he wouldn’t spot her.  Katya closed her eyes, her heart pounding so loudly she feared he might hear it.

When she opened her eyes again, she was staring down the barrel of a submachine gun.  This was the end.  She looked into the cold, ruthless, blue eyes and knew she was going to die.

“Raus!” the soldier commanded quietly, yet sternly.  “Get out.”

“I…I cannot.  I’m stuck.  Don’t kill me, please!  I don’t want to die,” Katya begged desperately, fresh tears coursing down her dirty face.

He slung the gun over his shoulder and squatted down to dig away some of the debris, then grabbed her arm and yanked her out.  Katya bit her lip to stifle her cry of pain.

“Go,” he said quietly.  “I can only save you once.  If I see you again, I’ll kill you.”

It was only a cruel joke, wasn’t it?  He would shoot as soon as her back was turned and she wouldn’t even see it coming.  Katya stood frozen, her mind screaming at her to run as fast as she could, but her feet simply would not obey the command.

The soldier gave her a rough shove and that was all she needed.  Her brain connected with her feet and she fled.

Once out of his sight, Katya paused to catch her breath and get her bearings.  It hurt her to look at the burning city that was her home.  Beautiful Warsaw lay in ruins and nothing looked familiar anymore.  Where houses or grocery stores once stood, now were heaping piles of ashes and rubble.

Katya flinched when she heard a nearby gunshot and her thoughts turned to her sister.  Mama had said to go find Ivanka and she intended to.  The staccato rattle of gunfire in the distance reminded her of the danger and she nearly fell in her rush to go find her sister.  She hoped with all her heart that Ivanka was still safely cocooned in the bomb shelter, where she had been placed when the first bombs began to fall on Warsaw.  There had only been room for twelve year old Ivanka, and Katya had to return home with Mama and Papa to take shelter in their basement.

Ivanka must be so scared by now.  Adrenaline and fear for her sister’s safety gave Katya the strength to fight her way through the tangled debris toward the shelter.  She stayed in the alleyways as much as possible, always checking carefully for soldiers before venturing out in the street, mindful of what had happened to the woman and her children.

A commotion in the street ahead of her drew her attention.  Hiding behind the remains of a brick wall where she couldn’t easily be seen from the street, she peered through a crack and watched soldiers herd small groups of people toward a larger mob milling about.  Through the press of bodies, Katya caught a glimpse of a slender young girl with brown, ragged curls hanging to her waist.

Ivanka!  The Nazis had found her.

The gap between bodies widened and Katya saw three old men and two women knelt in the middle of the street.  One was old and the other extremely pregnant.  As she watched, a soldier cruelly grabbed Ivanka by the hair and forced her to kneel beside the pregnant woman.  Even from where she crouched, Katya could see the tears streaming down Ivanka’s face.

It didn’t dawn on Katya exactly what they were doing until she saw the soldier step up behind the first old man with a pistol in his hand.  Oh God, no!  Horror filled her soul and her shaking hand crept up to cover her mouth.  Tears blurred her vision but she could still see the bright spray of blood when he pulled the trigger.

They couldn’t shoot Ivanka!  Her sister was the only family Katya had left.  Desperately Katya tried to think of a way to save her.

“Eins!” the soldier tauntingly called out, then stepped over to the next man and pulled the trigger.  “Zwei!”

To Katya it seemed he was counting just for her benefit.  Vaulting over the broken wall, she burst from her hiding place, unmindful of the danger to herself, and ran toward Ivanka, screaming at the top of her lungs.

“Drei!”

She tried to run faster but everything moved in a terrible slow motion, just like a bad dream.  “Don’t kill her!”  The anguished cry tore from her already raw throat.

“Vier!”

Her pulse roared in her ears until she could hear nothing but the man’s hateful voice.

“Fünf!”

Hands grabbed at her, trying to hold her back, but she shook them off.  She was almost there!  She would save Ivanka!

Ivanka spotted her and stretched her hands toward Katya, begging for help.

She was too late!  The soldier stepped behind Ivanka and pulled the trigger.  “Sechs!”

      Katya fell to her knees with her hands clutched tightly in her hair as she rocked back and forth wailing.  This was not a bad dream.  She wouldn’t wake up, and nothing was ever going to be all right ever again.  Not Ivanka.  Not her dear sister.  It was more than she could bear.

Something heavy thumped against her skull and Katya welcomed the blackness spreading across her vision.