Page 78 of The Pianist's Wife
‘Come on, before the light passes over us,’ Fred said. ‘You first.’
Amira didn’t know how she did it, and if she weren’t expecting, she doubted it was something she could have even considered doing, but because of her baby she gritted her teeth and stepped forward when Fred pulled a body aside.
‘We need to take our clothes off,’ he said.
‘No.’ Amira began to cry then as she whispered back to him. ‘I can’t, I can’t be naked here.’
Fred began to take his own clothes off, but she couldn’t. She couldn’t stand the thought of her naked flesh touching that of a dead person, and she couldn’t bear the thought of anyone seeing her without her clothes on.
‘If you take your clothes off, you could just lie at the top. It will be cold, but you won’t have to—’
‘Fred!’ Amira screamed, forgetting that they were supposed to be quiet, forgetting what would happen if someone,anyone, heard them. If the big light was turned in their direction and caught sight of them.
Fred spun around as a guard smoking a cigarette appeared behind him, the glowing orange end making him stand out in the dark. Hitler despised smoking, which was likely why the guard had walked away from the camp to have one, but the moment he saw Fred the cigarette dropped from his lips and he reached for his weapon.
In all the time she’d known Fred, he’d been an absolute gentleman, with no hint of aggression shown towards her or anyone else at any time. But when his horror-struck eyes met hers in the second it took him to spin around and see the guard, she immediately knew that he would do anything to keep her, and the baby, safe.
Fred ran at the guard with a speed she hadn’t anticipated, knocking him to the ground. She clamped her hand over her mouth as they wrestled. The guard was bigger, and she imagined much better fed and well rested, but Fred seemed to possess a strength she couldn’t have imagined as he fought against him.
‘Give me your scarf!’ he hissed.
She scrambled forward as he punched the guard in the face and straddled him, giving him her scarf and watching in horror as he wrapped it around the guard’s neck, strangling the man while he fought with all his might. But Fred never gave up, not until the last twitch of the guard’s leg.
‘Take his gun,’ she whispered, horrified by what she’d seen but knowing that they only had seconds now. If anyone else had heard her scream, or came looking for the missing guard...
Another figure appeared then, and Fred lifted the gun, his finger on the trigger as she scurried to hide behind him. Whatever bullets were in the pistol wouldn’t be enough to shoot every guard, but it was something.
‘Hans!’ she whispered. ‘It’s Hans, lower the gun!’
Fred didn’t do as she asked, the gun shaking, only lowering it when she forcibly covered it and pushed down on his hand.
‘What the hell happened here?’ Hans asked.
‘We had no choice,’ Fred said, his voice steadier than she’d expected it to be.
‘He saw us,’ Amira whispered. ‘If Fred hadn’t, if he hadn’t—’
‘Quickly, just put this uniform on while I strip him down,’ Hans interrupted, passing her the clothes he’d brought. ‘If the guard is naked we can throw him in with the other bodies. They won’t notice until daybreak.’
Amira stared down, not even feeling sorry for the dead guard. All she could think about was that it would be impossible not to notice his fat body among the skeletal prisoners.
‘Put his boots on,’ Hans told Amira. ‘And be sure to tuck your hair up tightly beneath the cap.’
The clothes were too big for her, but her round stomach helped her to fill them out, and she had only just put the jacket on when the rain began to pelt down, quickly soaking them through to the bone.
‘Help me throw him in the pile,’ Hans said to Fred. ‘And we need to bury his clothes among the dead, so no one sees them. I don’t need an entire search party looking for him and you.’
Amira stood, hunched and shivering so hard her teeth kept rattling in her jaw, until Hans and Fred returned to stand beside her against the building to ensure they were well hidden in the shadows.
‘They’re going to send someone to look for him soon, so you need to move fast,’ Hans said. ‘There are lorry trucks departing for Weimar, to pick up guards and SS men from town after their night off. The backs of the lorries will be empty.’
Amira tried to imagine it, calling out to a truck driven by guards.
‘You are to run alongside or call out, and then jump up into the back. You’re two men going to get drunk for the night, that’s all.’
‘You’re certain they won’t notice, that—’
‘You’re wearing guards’ uniforms and it’s dark,’ he said. ‘You won’t get any better cover, and you’ll be hidden in the back on your own.’
