I sat on the ship, handcuffed to a metal bar. I struggled in my restraints, trying to free myself. "Do you have anything on you I could use," I said. "I've tried, we are not getting out of this. I heard a few of them talking, we are going to Italy," the girl replied. "You speak German?" I said. "Yes, I learned it before I joined the Resistance," the girl said. "I never asked you what your name was," I said. "Natasha, Natasha Maven."
We sat there in silence as the ship bounced on the waves. "You know what will happen when we get to Italy," I said. "I know," replied Natasha. I looked around me to find something that could help us. Then I saw something on the wall above me. A small piece of metal, hanging off the wall. I reached my arm up the wall. I reached for the small piece of metal. It was inches away. I kept reaching. My arm felt like it could break any second, until I felt the metal.
I started to twist the metal, trying to separate it from the ship's steel walls. I twisted it, until it fell to the floor. I reached down and grabbed it. I started to pick the lock. It took several minutes until finally; the cuffs came off. I ran over to Natasha. "I can do it myself," Natasha said, sternly. The cuffs fell to the floor making a loud bang. "Somebody probably heard that."
We ran through the cargo area. The ships control area was directly ahead of us. I heard voices coming from it. We creeped through the small, steel hallway. "They're saying were off the coast of Spain right now." Natasha whispered. I didn't know how much soldiers awaited us inside the bridge. "Do you have anything on you that we could use," I said. "I only have the small piece of metal." Natasha replied. "That'll do," I said.
We began to inch towards the big, metal door. Immediately we slammed the door open. Natasha ran towards the man at the wheel. She grabbed him by his head, slamming him onto the metal wall. Three soldiers stood, guarding the doorways. I stayed back as Natasha violently beat the captain. The soldiers drew their guns. Natasha took out the lockpick and held it up to the nervous, crying captain's neck. "Don't move, or he dies."
She spoke in perfect German. I stood at the door with my weapon drawn. My gun was pointed at the girl's leg. I did not dare shoot. If I shoot, the girl dies. Along with my father.
Natasha stood there still with the sharp piece of metal to the man's neck. "Please," he cried, "I have a family." Natasha stood there not loosening hold on the weeping captain's bleeding body. "Maybe you should have thought about that before you abandoned them." She said. "Natasha, we have another use for him." I said. I entered the room.
The soldiers now pointed their guns at me. Natasha pushed the sharp, metal piece to the man's neck as he screamed in agony. The soldiers around me started to put their guns down slowly. They didn't risk shooting. I continued to walk down the walkway of the bridge. I stood next to the girl as we stared down at the cowering crew.
"You will all drop your weapons, or this man will die." Natasha said. We stared silently as the soldiers started to put their guns down. The clatter of guns falling to the steel floor echoed throughout the room. I started to go over to each one of the guns and collect them. As I walked past the soldiers a young man, in his early twenties stood there, with his eyes to the ground. At first, I did not think of it at all, but it was about to get horribly worse.
I walked back to Natasha. "This is everything," I said. I grabbed a submachine gun and pointed it at the soldiers. "You will do what I command, or your crew and captain will die," Natasha said.
I looked at the Russian girl in hatred. She held my father captive, making him feel pain every second. I kept my eyes to the ground. My father looked at me with his desperate, red eyes. I knew what to do. I started to pull the small pistol from my pocket.
I looked around the group of soldiers. Natasha stood next to me still holding the captain. "We will arrive at the African coast soon. You will be given a canteen of water. You will get off this ship and we shall leave you. If we find any stowaways, they will be shot. Understand!" Natasha said in perfect German. "Nein," said one of the soldiers. "What did he say." I said. "No," replied Natasha. The soldier who spoke started to walk towards me. He slowly started to bring something out from behind his back. Before I could realize what, it was, it was too late. A shot rang through the air, along with a scream of agony.
I opened my eyes. I was alive. I looked around, the man still held the pistol, with smoke still coming out of the barrel. He had a look of pure fear on his face. He started in shock. I turned around to Natasha. She stood there with the captain's body. Blood dripped from his neck as Natasha stuck the sharp piece of metal into his bloody neck. I looked at Natasha in shock. She had done it. She showed no emotion in her face. She just stood there with the lifeless body of the captain. I turned my head back to the man, he was gone. Where he stood was the small, pistol.
I ran through the ship. Tears dripped on the steel floor as I ran. I thought I had a chance to save my father. I had the gun aimed at the girl's head. I didn't know what went wrong. I continued to run. I opened the heavy metal door. I didn't care we were still at sea. There was nothing for me in life anymore. I jumped into the dark, black ocean.
I searched the ship for any food. Natasha waited for me in the bridge. I found a few cans of food in a small storage area. I walked to the bridge, past the German hostages. "I found a little bit of food, not much, but it will do," I said. The bridge stood silent, except the sound of me and Natasha eating. The captain's body laid ten feet away from me. His blank, dead eyes stared at me as I ate the food he would have been eating. Me and Natasha sat in silence as we ate. "We are supposed to arrive to the African coast in about thirty-five minutes," Natasha finally said. "Where are we supposed to go once, we drop off the soldiers in Africa," I said. "I want to escape to the Americas," she said, "I started the Resistance not against the Germans originally, but against our own government." "Why though, why would you want to kill your own people." I said. "Because they killed my father," Natasha replied.
"We are some of the most heartless people on the planet," said Natasha. "Our government kills without hesitation; I was forced to watch my father die in front of me. He drowned in front of my eyes as the NKVD stood there and laughed. The captain stood over the dead man's body and spit on it as I laid on the ground, sobbing," Natasha said, angrily. "They have no soul; they are demons on this planet and deserve to suffer in hell. All I remember of my father's death is his dead body floating in the water and the name of the vile, villainous captain that haunts me. Boris Adrik."
I stared at Natasha in sorrow for her father, while my brain was in absolute shock. Her father was murdered in one of the most brutal ways in all the Soviet Union, and the execution was initiated by my father.
"We're coming up on the coastline," Natasha said, getting up from the metal table. I sat at the table, thinking, "my father ruined this girl's life." I got up from the table, while Natasha yelled something at the cowering German sailors and soldiers. I looked out along the coast. It was nothing but beaches and a few trees along the white beach. I went upstairs to the bow of the ship where Natasha stood over the soldiers. Natasha started to yell something to the German soldiers. It sounded like they were getting off this ship.
One by one, the men started to walk down the flimsy, wooden ramp to the beach. The waves crashed against the beach as soldiers walk off into the distance, each with a canteen of about one liter of water. Once they were out of sight, we began to pull away from the beach. "Where do we go now," I ask. We have a long journey ahead of us, based on the map location, we're at the coast of South Africa."
"Seriously!? How have we come so far, we will be sunk by a German ship by the time we reach America," I said. "It is better dying than going back to Europe. You are right, we have come this far. So why throw it all away to go back to Europe and deliver ourselves to the Nazis." Natasha said. I stood there in silence. "Then let's go. The more time we spend on this ship, the bigger the chance of dying." I said. Natasha gave me a quick nod. She turned around to the controls and the ship started to cut across the waves.