Several people in shirts crammed into the cramped room, incessantly fidgeting with headphones and equipment on hand. Dino poked his head out from a tangle of wires and shouted, "There's a sound! Listen to what they're talking about!"
The noise of static buzzed from the headset, and the few people sitting in front of the machine kept pressing buttons, as an indifferent voice with a distinctive, somewhat garbled German accent spoke.
"...My former colleague told me they were on the brink of madness... couldn't even use white towels, anyone who dared show a tendency to surrender was immediately executed, everyone was afraid..."
"Yes, even the church was under their surveillance, they would not allow the incursion of the Eastern Orthodox Church, if you always talked about some less popular Bible stories, they would say you're a heretic..."
"I have too few drugs to offer, now it's almost none, I know Mrs. Dell's leg has been aching, but the hospitals have been looted clean by them... may God bless people."
"He's gone into the Confessional!" Jonathan pressed his headphones and said, "Switch the channel, quick, switch the channel!"
Nick leaned in, tilting his body to listen with the headset on Jonathan's left side, his brown eyes so deep they looked like a piece of fallen skin.
"...I am terribly sorry, Lord, I have sinned..." The voice kept breaking intermittently, "People are dying incessantly, and I am partly to blame, I know they are doomed not to go to Heaven, but maybe going to Hell is a kind of relief..."
Nick's eyes immediately widened, his hands trembling with excitement, nearly shouting out loud, but soon the voice came again.
"There are no anti-inflammatory drugs left, those who have been sutured can only rely on their own immunity or wait for death, the two operations did not go well, and the woman from three days ago didn't make it through, she and her child both died, I don't know how to atone for this grave sin, I just hope you can forgive me, my Lord..."
"...Last night I heard the crow's call, which means the army passed under my house again, I do not know what they wanted this time, or if they were dragging another person killed out of his house..."
Just as Dino was about to say something, Nick motioned for him to be silent, frowning and listening quietly.
"Artur is a special patient, he requested that I operate on him to remove the shrapnel embedded in his ribs from the disaster three years ago in an abnormal laboratory accident, but I had to refuse him; without enough drugs or a sterile environment, I can't just open his chest cavity..."
"He appeared in immense pain, almost howling, unable to utter a complete sentence, I don't know what he has suffered, but the people of this era are all the same, I can't do more for him."
"The day after I refused him, I heard of his death, a gang was loudly pursuing the murderer who killed him, which means he wasn't completely dead yet, he must have had a secret to take to the grave..."
Everyone in the small room held their breath, though it was winter, the room was still hot, everyone sweating, not even the time to wipe the sweat that flowed into their eyes, even Jones standing by the door was so nervous he could hear his own heartbeat.
"I know when Artur was young, he was a scientist, while I was examining his wound, he kept mumbling formulas, as if dreaming of work."
"I had thought his strong obsession would at least let him hold on for a while, that once the red flag entered Berlin, there might be hope for him, but, unfortunately..."
"Bang! Szzzz—"
A loud noise startled everyone in the room, the sound of electricity signaling that the noise came from the other end, they heard a lot of German cursing, Nick didn't need to listen to know, those who burst into the room each had a swastika on their shoulders.
"Fuck!" Nick couldn't help but curse in his native language, he took a deep breath and pointed towards the outside, "Let's go!"
A group of people rushed out of the door, almost in the blink of an eye they were gone, even the heat of the room quickly dissipated.
Soon a somewhat pale and skinny boy came out from the bedroom door, Jones hurried up to him and said, "Felix, why did you come out? Did they disturb you?"
"No, no, I just want to know when all this can end," Felix said, "My heart is beating so slowly, it might stop soon."
"No, it won't, we're preparing surgery for you, everything will go smoothly."
But the boy just looked out of the small window at the gray sky, the dry branches were covered with crows, people in uniforms shuttled through the alleys, and they all took flight, becoming a few drops of black blood splattered in the sky.
Blood... too much blood.
When Nick burst into the church, all he saw was this scene, he didn't see any living person here, but there was a lot of blood, and what was even stranger, there were not many signs of struggle, as if someone specially splashed a big bucket of blood here.
"Oh God..." Dino walked in, looking around as he went, the pews in a row after row of the church were all covered with blood, faint traces of splatter visible.
"There's one here whose throat was cut," Dino pointed to one of the sources of blood, "Slashed from right to left, nearly decapitating the head, just laying there, suffocated by the blood before bleeding out too much."
"There's another one over there," Nick said, "Looks like everything from the neck to the ribs was cut open, and just in one stroke."
"There are no signs of gunfire," said one of the people, "No blood spatter was caused by gunfire."
"I know," said Nick, "They don't have many bullets now, they won't shoot unless necessary, look for any bayonet marks."
"Aren't all these made by bayonets?" Jonathan asked somewhat confused, "What other cold weapons do they have besides that?"
Nick turned his eyes to look at him and said, "You think the Gestapo did this?"
"Of course, don't you think so?" Jonathan suddenly realized something was wrong after he spoke. He said, "If a group of people were capturing one person, how could the victim have bled so much?"
"More importantly, how could he have his throat slit on this side and then have half his body cut open on that side?" Nick asked. "Don't tell me you think all this blood came from just one person dying."
"Could it be that they perished together?" Dino had just spoken when he realized it wasn't right, then continued, "Where is the body then? They wouldn't sneakily make the victim's body disappear, they'd rather leave the mangled corpse here for everyone to see."
"Maybe they felt that a loss on their side was embarrassing?" Jonathan said, "Or is there something particularly special about that doctor named Shiller, something that required them to cover up for him?"
By this time, Nick had already reconstructed the events that had happened here in his mind. He licked his dry lips, feeling sweat drip down from the hair at the back of his head like a flood coursing through a forest, washing away some sensible part of his mind with it.
"This is not about perishing together..." Nick muttered, as he took a few more steps forward, stepping in the gaps where blood hadn't splattered. This was very difficult, as the church was small to begin with, and a large amount of blood had already seeped into the cracks of the floor.
As he moved forward, he neared the side of the podium, with the statue of Jesus in front of him. Just as Nick was about to pass, he heard a faint creak.
"Get out of the way! Move quickly!"
Dino's shout came a little late; Nick dove to the side as fast as he could, but the toppling statue of Jesus still struck his foot, causing him to scream in pain.
The plaster statue of Jesus shattered, allowing Nick to pull back his foot, which sported a gaping wound at the ankle, swelling before his eyes, but the intense pain wasn't enough to draw his attention back.
Because behind the cross that Jesus was bound to, three bodies were tied from top to bottom. The first person's throat was almost completely cut through, the second person's half head was missing, and the third person's side was split open. They lay face down as they fell, appearing as believers praying amidst the rubble.
Nick swallowed hard.
He struggled to his feet, enduring the pain, and limped over to the three people, reaching out to open the mouth of the first one.
Inside was a small, shining object. Nick took it out and found it was a metal part, akin to a toy car's bearing, but it was blackened from being scorched, its original appearance indiscernible.
In the second person's mouth lay a piece of resin, seemingly part of an amber pendant, but it too was smashed and chipped beyond recognition.
The third person's mouth contained a burnt piece of pine bark, tiny, but pine burns with a scent unlike other woods, which allowed Nick to recognize it.
"What in the world is going on?" Nick asked.
"There must be some meaning to this," Dino said. "He wants the person who finds all this to understand something from these bodies."
"What is it?" Nick was completely puzzled. He said, "Could it be something from a Bible story?"
"There are many stories in the Bible related to the number three," Jonathan said. "But if we're talking about the most famous, it's probably the Three Wise Men, who each brought Jesus three gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh."
"So these three damaged items correspond to that?" Nick asked, looking at the objects in his hand. "Metal parts, resin, and tree bark?"
"Perhaps that's what he was thinking. These three men are no wise men," Jonathan said. "Maybe he's suggesting they were just masquerading as wise men, that the treasures they brought are worthless."
"This is madness," Nick exclaimed, deliberately turning his head away to avoid looking at the three bodies. He said, "Why would they come here? Why were they after Shiller?"
"He's an easy target," Dino said. "His professional surgical skills, access to drugs, and apparently not being troublesome are reason enough for some people to act without restraint."
"Yes, but they are sorely mistaken," Jonathan added, "I've always said that the intellectual-looking types are the most difficult to deal with because if he can be the only carp among a pond of crocodiles, either there's a shark standing behind him, or he himself is a shark. Let's go."
With his teammate's support, Nick walked towards the church's back door, timing his escape perfectly. Shortly after they left, people rushed in, but the first sound in the church was not the brash yelling one might expect, but an eerie silence.
Nick sighed and said, "Aside from this church, where else would he appear? I think we need to meet."
"Are you really going?" Dino asked. "I'm not questioning you, but if he can take down three fully armed Gestapo agents in a church, he could take you out too."
"He has no reason to do that," Nick said. "He might seem crazy, but he's definitely not insane. Regardless, he's our hope to get through these last few months."
"He's also Felix's hope," Nick thought to himself.
After dinner, Jones was bandaging Nick's injured leg. The cut wasn't deep, but a smashed ankle could be fatal. It would soon swell up considerably until it stiffened and became completely immobile, severely limiting his mobility.
"Our people have tracked him down," Jonathan walked in and said. "He didn't go to church tonight; instead, he went to a residence in the old residential area downtown. So far, no one has been spotted watching the place."
Nick abruptly turned his head to look at him and asked, "He entered a residence? Who lives there?"
"According to the bar owner downstairs, it's a couple by the last name Eisenhart."