Prologue: Last Prayers

Before.

"You're putting him in a duffel bag?" Isobel rasped weakly. "He's less than three years old!"

"I have to." Vano told her quietly. "It's his only chance of escape. For sure, there's no chance they'll let us all stay together whenever this train gets where it's going. He goes with Elaine, or he goes with them."

It had been almost a month since the Germans had smashed their Caravan, burning the wagons and killing the horses. Some of the women had been taken away, never heard from again. Almost all the men had been beaten at least once. They had been rousted into cattle cars, packed so tight they couldn't even sit down. Only a few of the Caravan had spoken German, so when the Commander had shouted at them, holding up a piece of paper to explain where they were being taken, nobody understood him.

The Jews understood. They were packed in more tightly than any of the other ethnic groups. They'd shared a translation with others, and everyone in the Train knew: They weren't going home. Maybe not ever again. The laws had been changed to give evil men the right to do whatever they wanted; and there was no hope of parole.

Isobel's father and mother were already dead. She had stayed close to Vano. He was a very respected figure in the Caravan. She always felt better when she was close to him. Vano was a strong believer in family coming first; which made his decision easy to understand, and hard to imagine.

He was sending his son away.

"Elaine is working a guard. If she can get a medical pass; she'll take him. She'll be out of their sight for the length of a check-up." Vano rasped. None of them had been given clean drinking water for a while, so most of them were sick. Their guards didn't care. Isobel didn't want to know how Elaine was going to get a Medical Pass. "If Greigor can keep quiet, she can sneak him to some friends who live in-"

The guards barked something in German at them, and both fell silent. At the next set of tracks, another train pulled up, also waiting to move on. Isobel peered through the gaps in the cattle car walls. The other train was just like theirs; crammed full of people; most of them in everyday clothes. Some in pyjamas. "Dear God…" She breathed. "How did this happen so fast?"

~~/*\~~

The train dropped them off, and they were all marched into the camp. Isobel wept when they shaved her head. She wasn't a vain woman, but she knew the long raven locks had been appealing. She liked feeling beautiful. With everyone dressed the same, she could barely tell her own people apart.

Greigor was crying when his father zipped the bag over his head. It had immediately become clear they were dividing the men and women into different sections. To smuggle the kid out with Elaine, they would first have to smuggle him in.

"What was this camp before they used it for… this?" Isobel asked.

"Wasn't here. They built it for us." Elaine told her. "Or so I'm told."

"They built this. Deliberately. For no other reason." Isobel shook her head. "How much hate do you have to have in you to even think of this, let alone spend the money and equipment, in a time of war…"

~~/*\~~

She saw Vano again a few months later, as part of a work group. The Prisoners were used for hard labor here and there. There were rumors of war; and everyone who could dig a ditch or chop wood without getting paid was of interest to the Nazi's.

They were all a lot thinner and weaker than they used to be. Hard labor wasn't going to help. But that didn't seem to matter to anyone.

Vano seemed the least changed of them all. Even in his prison outfit, even as dehumanized as they all were, he had that same sense of total authority and certainty. Isobel felt herself stand straighter just being near him again. Being outside the wire was almost enough to stay sane. Being near Vano made it so much better.

Vano didn't look directly at her, but lowered his voice enough to say one word. "Greigor?"

"Elaine took him with her, as planned." Isobel reported, even though it had been months ago. "She didn't come back. I have no idea what happened after that. But the Guard she was cozying up to is gone too."

Vano gave a steely smile. "Good. She got him out."

"We don't know that for sure." Isobel said softly.

"She did. I can feel it." Vano said with certainty. "Anyway, we should get to work, before they notice."

~~/*\~~

She saw him again at another work party, almost a month later. Word filtered through from one Camp to the other now and then. She had heard that he was working hard to keep the Caravan's spirits up. He'd tracked down everyone they knew that the Nazi's had scattered, and gotten them into the same cage. He kept them all going, with stories and jokes; and sing-a-longs. The Caravan had supported itself by performances once or twice in some of the smaller villages, so there was always at least one person who knew a cheerful song.

"The hard part is getting them to sing like they mean it." Vano said warmly to Isobel as they rode back to the Camp in the truck.

Isobel felt warm for the first time in days, just listening to the smile in his voice. "How do you do it?"

"Nurture the hope."

"What hope?"

"That there is hope to nurture." Vano quipped. "That I might see Greigor again, wherever he is. That somewhere out there, there's a war being fought to make all this stop; and even if we don't fight it, our captors might lose. When you don't know what to hope for, you feed the idea that hope can exist."

Isobel smiled. "I like that." She yawned. "Ohh, I'm tired."

"Lean on me. Try to rest." Vano told her.

Isobel did so. She could hear his heart beating through his bony shoulder. It had been far less narrow before the Camps. The truck was bouncing hard, the driver seeming to search for every crack and pothole in the dirt road.

Vano started to sing. He was not the best singer, but his voice had always reached her in ways other singers couldn't. She tilted her head a bit, trying to absorb his tune through her whole body. "I don't know that one." She confessed quietly.

"Not one of ours. Some of the prisoners in the Male Camps sing this song. They even write a few."

"Sounds religious. Jews?"

"Bible Students."

"I've heard of them. There are some in the women's camp too. They sing all the time." Isobel moaned. "My back hurts."

Vano started rubbing her back, as she hoped he would. "Nurture the hope, Isobel." He rumbled to her, and started crooning the music again.

~~/*\~~

Isobel woke with a start as the truck stopped. She felt warm for the first time in an eternity, and kept her eyes shut. She could hear Vano talking to one of the other people in the truck. "...can't take away. Everyone has that something. Even if it's just a favorite memory. They can't touch that. What is it for you? I mean, if you could leave at any time…"

"And go where? People of my faith are being locked up here for refusing to salute. They're being locked up in the UK for refusing to salute the flag or obey the draft; and if America ever gets into it, my brothers won't fight for that flag either."

"That doesn't bother you? Your brothers aren't coming to save you?"

"No Witness has ever killed another on a battlefield. Don't say that like it's something to be angry about. As you said, survival in here has nothing to do with how hard you can punch back. Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation. Persevere in prayer." The other voice said. "But you don't believe in God, so I guess what I'm asking is, what do you persevere in?"

"My son." Vano said quietly. "Our children are our future. We are their past. That is how it is meant to be. I put all my hope into getting him out, and now he's out. I'm bulletproof now."

Isobel smiled a bit as she sat up. "Save some of that hope for yourself, Vano." She told him. "Greigor needs a little brother or sister to play with when you find him again."

Vano scoffed. "Yvette disagreed."

"Who said anything about her?" Isobel quipped.

~~/*\~~

The guards ordered them off the truck, and put them to work chopping trees. All of them knew how to conserve energy while they worked. Isobel crept over to Vano. "Who was that you were talking to?"

"One of the Bible Students, but apparently they're called something else now. He heard me humming one of their songs. Thought I was one of them." He dropped his voice. "He gave me an apple core."

Isobel twitched. Food was tightly hoarded in the Camps. An apple, even one that had been mostly eaten, was worth more to them than gold. "He gave it to you?"

"Yup. Apparently they all share their food." Vano shook his head. "Crazy."

The guards barked at them warningly, and they got back to work.

~~/*\~~

But the conversation with the other man stayed on Isobel's mind. She made it a point to know where the other man was during the day's work. He worked as hard as anyone else. She saw his lips move as he worked. He was talking to himself. She wasn't much of a lip reader, but from the way his eyes glanced upward now and then, she realized he was praying. Constantly.

She also noticed as a small boy seemed to materialize out of the woods as the man was closest to the trees. The boy handed him a loaf of bread. Isobel nearly wept at the sight of it, even from so far away. The man thanked the boy with tears in his eyes, and ate some quickly; hiding the rest in his clothes. Isobel had no doubt he would be giving it to the rest of his brothers when they got back.

Dangerous. She thought. He should eat it all now, before they find it. If it's found, nobody gets any. He's surely as hungry as I am. How can he just… not eat, until he can give it to someone else?

Her eyes flicked back to the boy, wondering where he came from. There were villages on the far side of the woods, of course, but the guards made sure to give civilians a wide berth. None of them wanted anyone to see what was going on a few miles down the road from their neat, normal lives.

The Boy had a guitar strung along his back, not unlike the instruments they played in the Caravan. Isobel shook her head. Some kid just walked up out of the woods and gave the starving man some bread to share with his friends. She was ashamed to realize that the only reason she didn't go over and take it from him was the certainty that the guards would notice her attacking him; and then there would be no bread for anyone.

~~/*\~~

With the work done, they all piled into the trucks to go back to Camp. Isobel sat with Vano again, glad for the chance to talk to him. When they arrived back at the Camp, she noticed the other man; heading through the fence. He had been on the truck ahead of them. She peered as best she could, with her vision starting to go funny from malnutrition. She could see people waiting to meet him. They would be eating bread soon.

"Vano?" She asked him quietly. "Do you pray?"

"Sometimes, since I arrived here." Vano admitted. "My mother was Catholic."

"So are most of the guards." She scorned. "I ask, because… The ones we can hear singing? They pray all the time. I see the women doing it. But it's different, cause… They don't pray to escape. They don't even try to escape." She gestured over at the few comfortable buildings. "The men work like we do, but I've seen the women. They work in the Kommandant's quarters. They let them work in his home."

Vano shook his head. "Then they're insane."

"The Krauts think they're safe. They're probably right. Vano, some of our people have… cooperated. And I can't see my way to blaming anyone for doing whatever they have to-"

"They aren't collaborators." Vano said honestly. "The Witnesses could leave anytime. That's why they're so impossi-"

"Leave anytime? What does that mean?" Isobel asked.

Vano started to answer when they saw an army truck rolling up to their work-camp. Another load of prisoners being dumped on them was nothing new. But Vano's sharp eyes had seen a familiar face. "Elaine?"

Isobel spun. "They caught her!"

Elaine was thrown from the back of the truck, beaten and bloodied. She pulled herself up from the mud and saw Vano. "Vano! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!"

Vano tried to run to her, screaming. "Where's Greigor?!"

Elaine was sobbing, tears making trails down the dirt on her cheeks. "They-(sob) He's gone!"

Vano heard the news and turned to stone. The guards dragged Isobel and Vano apart, like all the other prisoners in the truck. Most of them just looked with those hollow, vacant eyes. Most of the prisoners didn't have fight in them. Most of them knew that hope was dead. The guards divided them up, male and female, dragging them through the mud to the razor-wire fences.

But even in the chaos, Isobel caught a glimpse of the guards throwing things out of the truck. They'd brought Elaine straight here, and not even bothered with her personal effects. What the guards didn't claim would be burned, of course; but Isobel got a sudden clear look at Elaine's duffel bag. The one they'd hidden Greigor in for the escape. It was covered in dried blood, with a single bullethole dead centre.

Isobel kept reaching towards Vano the whole time. Let me hold him! He lost his son! Let me love him!

But with shocking speed, she couldn't see him anymore.

~~/*\~~

She saw Vano one more time, months afterward. The Camps had brought new people in, marched many more off to the 'showers'. Isobel was nearing the end of her endurance. She'd learned everything there was to learn about Endurance; and she knew she didn't have much more.

She'd seen fights breaking out in the dormitories. She'd seen people go mad. She'd seen people praying madly; and all of them ended the same way, with hard men in black uniforms dragging them off to an incinerator.

There was an amazing sense that the world didn't exist. That there was nothing past the wire. She had seen glimpses of the guards smoking cigarettes, or drinking out of wine bottles. One had brought in a few large bread rolls, and the guards gathered around a fire barrel on a cold night, eating thick slices with fresh butter.

Somewhere beyond the razor wire, there was still someone having a normal life. It seemed impossible to Isobel that it could be true, and yet there they were, talking about what was in the newspaper.

She could barely move from her usual spot in the compound. It had been months since her last proper, nourishing meal; and she had little energy for things like walking. She observed other prisoners hiding their rations, one scrap at a time.

Then, one day, everything changed.

Elaine had been kept in a different dorm for much of the time, but one day, out of nowhere; Isobel looked up and saw Elaine there, looking down at her. "Hi." Isobel rasped.

Elaine sat down. "Took me months to talk someone into transferring me back here." She groaned, looking unwell. "But I had to tell you."

"You don't owe me an apology for anything, Elaine. It was a long shot to begin with." Isobel assured her. She didn't have the energy to hate anyone. Except the guards. Some days it felt like she only woke up so she could feel more hate for those uniforms.

Elaine settled down slowly, groaning as she rested. "Izzy, I have to ask you something." She rasped. "Are you in love with Vano?"

"I was, before he married." Isobel yawned. "I was… young. He was my first love, really. Even if he never knew it."

Elaine smiled. "You don't anymore?"

"I don't know. When Yvette left…" Isobel waved it off. "Doesn't matter anymore. Why do you want to know?"

"Greigor is alive."

Isobel's eyes opened to an almost normal sort of wakefulness. "What?"

Elaine leaned in. "The plan was to smuggle him to the Doctor while I was getting checked; and then escape, going a different way. Even if I got caught, they'd stop looking for the boy. Except the Doc saw the kid and ratted me out to the Krauts. The guard came to drag us both back to camp… The guard in question had a girlfriend who worked as a nurse for the Doctor. She flat out begged him to let the boy live. And since we'd smuggled him that far in a duffel bag, there was no paperwork on him…"

"But the Doctor knew." Isobel whispered. "And if he was willing to rat on his patients…"

"The nurse took the kid. The guard is what? Twenty? If that? He was more interested in scoring points with his nurse than killing babies. The Doctor's Office was collecting blood donations for the war; so it was easy enough to fake a bloody duffel bag..."

"So when they brought you back…" Isobel's brain was foggy.

"'Killed while trying to escape' works for everyone. The nurse faked the papers." Elaine nodded. "Or at least, that was the plan. She put Greigor in a cabinet and told him to stay quiet until closing time. I have no idea what happened after that, but I think they got him out."

Isobel felt life flowing into her suddenly. She had good news to share. She had something positive to tell Vano. She had something that wasn't just more despair. She had joy to give him. She was moving before she even realized she was able to stand.

"Where are you going?" Elaine called after her.

"To volunteer for the next work crew."

"They take volunteers?"

"They grab whoever they need. If I'm in the right spot, I can be sure. I honestly don't know if the guards can tell us apart, other than these patches on our outfits."

~~/*\~~

But the next work given to the Prisoners was also the last. The truck only drove them a few kilometers. Barely out of sight of the Camp. Isobel had seen Vano being loaded onto one of the trucks. It took everything she had not to scream the wonderful news to him.

The guards unloaded them, and tossed down some shovels. "Dig." They ordered. "Dig here. We need a trench, good and deep."

Isobel picked up a shovel, and scanned for Vano. He was digging, up the other end of the work party. His head was bowed, and full of lines. He looked… broken.

Its because he thinks his son is dead. Isobel thought distantly. They couldn't break him, but losing his boy did. I have to tell him. I can bring him right back to life with a word.

It took hours, carefully working her way down the line. The guards were careful now, to make sure nobody got out of line, figuratively and literally. But little by little, the icy, cold-packed mud started to break under their slow moving shovels, and Isobel started working her way up towards Vano… Who barely seemed aware of anything.

After a while, the Guards relaxed. Their charges could barely muster the energy to keep moving the tools. They were no threat. Isobel moved her way carefully up the trench, doing nothing to draw attention.

Isobel started creeping a little closer... when Vano collapsed. Isobel sent a look to the guards, who didn't care. Whatever they were talking about, it had them rattled; and it was way more important than watching their prisoners.

Maybe they're losing the war. Isobel thought hopefully. Maybe they're getting ready to desert their post, and they'll leave us alone here…

Vano wasn't getting up. Isobel finally reached his side. He wasn't responding. If he was even breathing, she couldn't tell.

"Nurture the hope, that there can still be hope." Isobel rasped in his ear. "Elaine tricked the guards who brought her back. She lied. Greigor is alive!"

Vano didn't move. She had hoped the words would bring him back from whatever dark place he'd been in since she'd seen him last; but it was too late.

"Vano…" She started to cry. She had no tears left, so she wept inside, the way they all did now. "Your son is safe. You could see him again. There's still hope." She licked her parched lips. "Hope and… other things."

"Deep enough!" The soldier shouted. Isobel looked up and saw him standing over her with a machine gun pointed. He reached out with one boot and pushed her into the trench. Isobel, clinging to Vano's still form, had no energy to stay upright, and they both overbalanced into the hole.

Looking up blearily, Isobel could see the guards doing the same with the rest of the work party. Male and female. They were being pushed into the trench she'd just helped dig.

"Ready!" The soldier in charge roared.

Its a grave! She realized suddenly. They had us dig our own grave…

And amazingly, the first thing she felt was sheer relief.

"Aim!"

"Vano…" She whispered to the still body beside her, searching for last words. "I never told you, but when Yvette left the Caravan, I hated her. I thought she was the most horrid woman who ever lived. She had you, and a son… And she wanted out. I couldn't understand how anyone could feel that way. I would have loved to have you and Greigor. And… And I still would. I know you don't feel the same about me, but this much I can do. I can offer love. Because I love yo-"

"FIRE!"

After.

And it was suddenly a warm, sunny day.

Isobel froze. Something was terribly wrong. Something was totally different. There was no mud. She wasn't in pain. She smelled flowers and fresh bread. Except she wasn't hungry. She couldn't remember the last time she wasn't hungry or cold, or aching in some way. It took her almost half a minute to figure out what she was feeling, because she was actually feeling… healthy.

She looked around. It was a garden. She was wearing comfortable clothes. She could hear kids laughing. She hadn't heard children laughing since…

"Isobel?"

She turned, and felt her hair- her hair!- swish past her neck. A young Asian woman was nearby, with a basket of food. "...w-w-where? How the… Who…"

The woman smiled. "Take your time. I don't know where you were before here, but I'm sure this is a shock."

Isobel nodded automatically. "Shock. Yes." She stammered out. "Where am I? Who are you?"

The woman smiled. "My name is Kasumi. You're going to have questions. I'm here to answer them. It'll sound fantastic, but I promise: Everything I tell you will be the truth. And most important of all, you need to know that you have nothing to worry about. Maybe not ever again."

Isobel took a step back from her automatically. That was clearly a lie. Which meant this woman was trying to fool her into something.

Kasumi set the basket down. "I brought lunch." She said brightly. "Help yourself. I'm sure there are a dozen questions fighting for first place right now. And when I answer them, you'll have more. Sort them out, Isobel. We've got all the time in the world."

***

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