Here you go, Sarah and Skyeler, the second part of the prologue. I hope it does not disappoint.
August 2, 1943
Treblinka Extermination Camp
Zook was here again for the second time in a week. Not a good thing.
It was putting him in a rotten mood.
Wilhelm, however, was in joyous spirits. He and Stangl were getting along grandly, and Wilhelm was having a good time.
Zook still didn't know why he was here. The stench of constant death was getting to him. After the train had been unloaded of its passengers, he and Wilhelm had gone to Stangl's barracks where they were invited to rest and eat some dinner before continuing on their way. So in the middle of this hell on earth, Zook was expected to enjoy dinner while hundreds of bodies were gassed and burned nonstop. It was nearing four in the afternoon, and he was feeling hungry, but his mind refused to let his stomach think about food.
He'd made some sort of excuse and left the barracks.
They'd just sent people up the path - also known as the "tube" - to the gas chambers here recently. They would be gassed and then burned overnight. Zook kept his eyes open for the Jewish girl, but he didn't see her. It had been three days since she had been taken here. Most of the forced laborers at Treblinka II never lived past five days. He knew it was practically hopeless to expect her to still be here.
And yet he still looked.
He was hoping to get some fresh air, but he wasn't sure if the air in Stangl's place wasn't cleaner than the air out here. As he walked he passed by several Jews standing around. They looked like corpses themselves, already welcoming the effect of death in their lives. He knew that every three to five days the Treblinka crew was completely new. How many of these three hundred people every night resulted to committing suicide instead of facing another day in this camp where thousands of their people were killed every day?
Suddenly there were gunshots, screaming. Guards yelling. Jolted from his thoughts, Zook glanced wildly around. What was going on? More gunshots, a woman was screaming. An SS officer ran by. Zook recognized him as a guy who had introduced himself as Kurt Kuttner. "The prisoners are making an escape!" he yelled as he ran by. "Alert the guards! Alert the guards!"
The prisoners were revolting?
Several buildings around Zook, some barracks and sheds, ignited into fire. He saw several Jewish men run away from the flaming buildings. Some of them carried small guns. Where did they get those?! Zook pulled out his gun and ran after them, yelling at them to stop. He began shooting, and brought a couple down. The last two kept running. "Halt!" he yelled, picking up his pace. He didn't trust his aim while running. He didn't want to kill them, just bring them to the ground.
More SS guards were running after them. All the Jews were gathering towards the main gate. Machine guns spattered from the guard watch towers, and the majority of the Jews fell to the ground; they did not move again. Zook forced his feet to move and broke into a full run. They couldn't let the rest of them escape!
As he ran he noticced several SS guards down on the ground, some of them dead. He recognized some, not others. Although compelled to stop and see who was still alive and who was truly dead, the prisoners were his first priority.
He darted around a building when one of the prisoners turned and shot at some of the guards. A guard in the watchtowers shot and killed him. Zook peeked around the corner to see if the coast was clear. Something moved and caught his eye. To his surprise he saw the teenage girl he'd been looking for run out of another building and head towards the barbed wire fence. She had pliers in her hands. With the guards in the watchtowers distracted, Zook watched as she managed to cut a small hole in the fence, almost large enough for her to slip through.
What are you doing? Get out there and stop her!
His feet were no longer frozen to the ground, and Zook bolted towards her. "Halt!" he yelled in German, then Polish. "Stop it right now!"
She froze and looked up at him as he aimed his gun at her. He was stunned at the change in her. Her eyes were wild and crazed, and they held no hint of the sense they did the last time he saw them. The fire, the personality, was all completely gone. Her eyes showed no recognition of him, or a sense of her surroundings. He didn't even know if she was all there anymore.
"Please..." she whimpered in Polish as she fell to the ground on her knees. Tears streamed down her cheeks. "Just kill me."
Zook stood there, frozen in time. Mixed cries of victory and anger filled the air as many Jews broke through the gate and fled. Her one request kept echoing through his mind, chilling him. Just kill me...just kill me...just kill me...
It was the right thing to do. It would put her out of her misery, without the shame and torture of being gassed. He tried to convince himself of that. She had asked for it. Pleaded for it, actually. He should grant it. She was an escaping prisoner anyway. He needed to deal with that as he would any of the other prisoners.
Zook raised the gun and put it to her head. She looked up at him once more as he put his finger on the trigger. The pliers in her hand dropped to the ground, kicking up a small pile of dust. He watched it settle, thinking of the ashes that would come from this girl's body as it burned. His finger came off the trigger.
He searched her eyes for a minute. She looked straight back at him. They were different all over again. Her deep brown eyes were still filled with tears and pain. But this time they weren't depthless from loss of her mind. He could drown in the meaning they held. He closed his eyes, tried to breathe. Then he sucked in a deep breath, gritted his teeth, and rested his finger once more on the trigger. Re-situated the gun to her head. He said the one thing that came to his mind - in Polish.
"I'm sorry."
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