Page 29 of Firefly

The men who ran the camp delighted in experimenting on its captors. Some used technology to flay their victims; others found sick pleasure in extracting pain with their bare hands.

If he ever escaped this place, he would burn it to the ground on his way out.

When the camp quieted, soldiers heading to their tents or into town to find entertainment, he darted to the kitchens, pilfering the potatoes he had seen come in earlier in the night. They were meant to feed the soldiers, which was an easy choice for him. He filled two buckets to the brim and dashed into the prisoner’s barracks.

They were healthier already, and several moved to collect the vegetables as he dumped them on the ground. “Cook them first. Don’t let them poison themselves,” Simon instructed. It wasn’t something a grown man needed to hear, but these men were starved beyond rational thought. One man nodded, clapping him on the shoulder, and he dipped his chin.

Simon raced back to the kitchen with his buckets, refilling them, and dumped them out in the next tent. This tent was lighter each night, several of its residents having been shipped off to other places.

He had tried to follow, but the commands binding him forced him to remain here. He knew there were camps set up for those who were too ill to work, filled with the dying. But try as might, he couldn’t go to them.

When he had delivered potatoes to all the prisoner’s tents, he moved through the dark to the medical tent. There was only one, and it was used to treat only the soldiers.

Lifting the lid of a medical kit, he found a pain-sedating serum and several needles and grabbed them, taking them back to the third tent. A man approached, kissing the backs of his hands as he took the medicine. “Thank you,” he said in broken English, and Simon’s chest ached.

He wished there was more he could do for these poor souls.

He froze as sulfur filled the air. Just as he had expected, several demons filtered into the tent, hovering over the men. They didn’t seem to notice as demons tested them, searching for pain and suffering.

These demons weren’t looking for bodies to inhabit. They were here to feed on the weak and dying.

One of the demons noticed him and bared his dark teeth. It misted out of existence, leaving the others behind. Two more spied him and shrank into the shadows. Clearly, his reputation among the demons in this camp was spreading.

While he hadn’t found a way to capture even a fraction of what he needed for her father, he had thinned their ranks, easing some suffering.

Two more demons spotted him and evaporated, leaving only one. He approached the dark form as it latched on to a dying man. It was too caught in the throes of his misery to see Simon coming. He let his teeth lengthen as he drove them into the creature and drained it in moments.

Wiping green from his lip, he wondered if this would be his new eternity.

Chapter 21

Rebecca

Rebecca woke from another dream, wiping her damp forehead on the back of her sleeve. This time, she had seen Simon. He was fighting against the Nazi soldiers, helping turn the tide of the war. She smiled at a dream that would never be his reality.

If Simon had lived and had never met Rebecca, that would have been his fate. He would return as a decorated war hero, and his father would be proud.

Instead, his loved ones had mourned him in a farce of a funeral years ago, and only Rebecca and her father knew the truth.

And Sarah.

She looked over and sat up. Sarah wasn’t in bed beside her.

“Sarah! Sarah, where are you?”

She tried to keep the panic from her voice, but these days, every small thing set her on edge.

Sarah would be five in less than a month. She was old enough to look after herself, but Rebecca couldn’t stop the fear that seized her whenever her daughter was out of sight.

Sarah bounded into the room, swinging the door wide to let in more light.

“Mama! Wake up! The war is won!” Sarah twirled a small American flag, dancing in a circle.

Rebecca rubbed her eyes, some of the panic easing her chest. “What do you mean, darling?”

“The Soviets have Berlin surrounded!”

Thea rushed in, grabbing Sarah’s hand. “I’m sorry, Rebecca. We were listening to the news.”

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