AN: I am so sorry for the lack of updates. College seems to be demanding my full time, so do the end of semester projects. Not only that, but this story seems to be reaching a point where it's so difficult for me to write. Don't mistake it with a writer's block, nope. I have everything settled in my mind; I just need to focus on my writing. I do believe that buying every movie about the WWII I could get my hands on is not only helping by getting me in the mood to write a couple of paragraphs, but they're also increasing the production of my tear glands.

Another known character is introduced in this peace. I, once again, apologize for the delay, and for the tiny size of my chapters… writing them long is draining not only for me, but I believe for reading as well.

Strawberry Fields

Chapter 4

As the sun began to rise, every single woman in the train wagon began awaking. Thirstiness among them. A small child cried in despair and hunger, on the furthest corner.

Haley shut her eyes tightly.

"Are you okay?" a raspy voice asked. The blonde woman swallowed hard, and nodded her head. "Liar" Was the only response she got from the brunette next to her.

"Just worried." They traded sympathetic little smiles as the youngster finally awoke.

"Auntie Haley?"

"Yes, baby?"

"Where are we?" The blonde little girl scratched her eyes with tight fists, sitting up on her aunt's lap.

"We're on a train, remember?" She asked softly, kissing the child's chubby cheek.

"Oh."

"Water!!" a tired, old lady who was close to the closest thing to a window, requested loudly and the train started to decrease in velocity. After the first manifest, many other women started to yell for water. The commotion started developing a migraine on Haley and Brooke.

-- --

She didn't know how many hours they had been there, but she was sure the sun had risen at least three times already. But there was no comfort in that. No comfort in getting on their final destination. Haley actually dreaded the exact moment the train would come to a full stop 'there', wherever 'there' was. She had already heard an exorbitant number of rumored possibilities as to what would happen once they got into what they now knew as 'work camp', and as to how horrible the work camp would be.

Being mostly scared of having them take little Indra away from her arms, she had a strong gut feeling that once they got 'there', she would never get out; at least not in flesh, blood, bones and soul all together.

With Indra asleep in her arms, she was suddenly immersed in a land of deep thoughts, where the little one would be safe with… Soldier Scott?

That was the only thing she knew of him. That and those gorgeous blue eyes of his. At least she imagined them gorgeous, once all that sadness was taken away from them.

Shaking her head in disapproval, those thoughts altogether dissipated. Sure the soldier had helped them… a little. He have them water when thirst was killing, but that was it. Haley knew it was much more risky to secretly save a child from certain, upcoming death, than contrabanding water to the prisoners.

"We're stopping again?" her new found friend, Brooke, whispered annoyed.

"Maybe they'll clean up the dead…" a fairly older woman beside Brook said thoughtfully, looking at her own friend, who had died from weakness after a severe round of coughs.

"Or the poop bucket. It is really full and stinky and yucky." A red haired little girl, who didn't appear to be older than seven, wondered loudly. Haley gulped, remembering the horrid experience earlier that day.

"Think he'll come and give us water again?" Brooke asked with an extra low tune to her voice, avoiding the possibility of being overheard and questioned by others. The blond girl simply shook her head in response, she'd rather not get her hopes higher than she could… and that was pretty darn low.

When the train came to a full stop, the members of the SS in the first wagon started getting off it. This stop was bound to make the already full train even more crowded.

As dozens of other females were shoved into the wagons, a tall blond from the SS began pouring water over the train with a red hose.

The water ran through the wooden cracks, and fell, carrying dirt, into poor awaiting mouths inside the filthy cabin.

The hose man was rather quick, leaving many mouths still in despair, many throats still with acute pain.

"Give them more!" Another tall man, dressed all in black, ordered. When the blond soldier did not comply, Nathan Scott took the hose himself, and begun pouring more water over the wagons, mainly through the windows, trying to avoid the dirt.

It still wasn't enough. But it, indeed, was something.

While Nathan couldn't stop the train and free every 'passenger', it surely was his wish.

Possibly, a death wish.

Inside the dirty wooden rectangle, Haley silently wished for the fastest way to end this. Even if it meant death.

Her own death wish.

Before they left, the SS soldier began another round of shoving people inside the train, making Haley, Brooke and every other woman sitting down, rise to make room for the rest of them. The human warmth was starting to become unbearably hot, and somewhat stinky.

"Auntie? My legs are hurting me… Can I sit down?" It was twelve hours later, and the little one's legs could no longer support her, and the air down where her nose could reach wasn't the purest to breathe.

"I'm sorry sweetie, if you sit down, someone might step on you." Brooke answered the question, without thinking. Indra raised an eyebrow at the older woman and held tightly on Haley's now brown dress.

Even the child could remember Haley's dress as one of the most beautiful one she had ever seen. Once a pearly light pink, a silk lace tied up on her waist was now ripped and had been lost somewhere along this unexpected trip; Indra remember asking Papa for a dress like that, he said she'd get one the day she turned five. Now looking at the dirty skirt, she had doubts of whether she would still ask for one when she finally turned five years old.

"Don't worry, baby; no one is going to step on you." Haley answered pointedly, looking at Brooke who gave her a sheepish look; while reaching her now skinny and weak arms – two years of only potatoes certainly didn't do her any good-, to raise her niece to their eye level.

The youngest breathed in some fresh air, the little bit of it that came through the tiny window; only to realize it wasn't that fresh at all. What she had just gotten inside her little lungs was pure smoke from the train's machinery.

"Auntie!" Indra squealed, but not happily. "What is that?" She pointed outside, and her aunt moved forward so she could see what was approaching. The strange gut feeling she had on the pit of her stomach multiplied in size and only made her feel worse.

All those people in the wagon began pushing each other, in hope to see what was on the outside.

"It is too grey…" Brooke whispered. Haley nodded silently. It was indeed too grey… huge walls closed what seemed to be a giant square, barbed wire everywhere. The train rolled not much gracefully past the open gates and across half of the quad.

The whistles blew louder as the machinery's velocity decreased. Men in their grey uniform stepped off and opened the wooden doors to each and every wagon, the prisoners in the furthest wall to the door started pushing the others, so the ones closer began falling from the train.

Giving some impulse so Indra could jump off and not hurt herself – too much – Haley ended up colliding to the floor, on her knees and hands.

"Up. Now!" one soldier spit.

Swallowing a cry, Haley got up and moved along the lines that were formed, reaching for Indra's hand.

"Indie, stay close." She whispered, looking softly at the child that depended on her. The little girl nodded, and wrapped her thin arms around her aunt's left leg.

"Haley, wait up." Brooke stumbled across the line, so she could move closer to the only ones she knew there… even if she didn't know them well enough, she'd rather be with the closest thing to a friend she had than alone.

"What do you think it's going to happen?" The monotone in her voice was only broken by fear.

"No idea. But we should stick together." The blonde nodded her silent response, as they moved closer to one of the many sheds.

Whispers flew around; some Jew still thought they'd be moving to another ghetto, at least, that was what was promised to them on the station.

-- --

Nathan Scott stepped off the train, fully dressed in his black uniform, the SS symbol in a golden brooch on the neck line. A Luger P 08 tucked on the waistband of his pants, the swastika neatly in view on his left forearm. He was breathtaking. Mostly because when people saw him, they thought death was near and most tried to hold their breaths, unsuccessfully.

He saw a tall blonde woman, dressed in dark green dress uniform, curly hair tucked in a neat bun on the back of her neck, a cap tightly attached to the top of her head, slightly to the right side.

"How was the trip?" She asked bitterly, lifting her hands to take his coat.

"You already know the answer to that, don't you?"

"Yes." Peyton Sawyer looked down to her feet, and fiddled with the buttons of his coat. Even though she was what Hitler would consider a pure Arian, she was an orphan, and the Scotts had taken her under their wings without much argument. But she knew that if she didn't follow their rules, she was also on the death line. Following the Nazi line of thoughts and rules was implicit in being a Scott, even if a surrogate one. It was demanded by Dankrad Scott, and there was no way of disobeying him without punishment.

"Then why did you ask?" He barked.

"Just because I care. I'm enjoying this just as much as you are, so don't you pretend to be the only nice one in this story. Get a hold of yourself, Nathan." Grumpily, she threw his coat upon his foot, and stomped away from him, and towards one of the sheds where the highest members of the Nazi army expected her to be, explaining the rules to the new batch of slaves.

She stood beside the entrance at ease position, as the women coming inside the shed were given a dress uniform, vertically striped in blue and white. A potato sack: was Brooke's first thought on their now permanent outfit.

Grabbing one for herself, Haley ended up straying from Indra, who tripped on a pebbled and fell on her knees on the blonde woman's black polished shoes.

Panic took over the little girl's relative; this would probably be the last she saw of her little Indie. That emotion was suddenly replaced by surprise as the clean blonde woman offered Indra a helping hand. The small child smiled brightly, bound her head in a silent thank you, and skipped towards her aunt, latching on her hand as they walked inside the shed together.

I am not going to beg for reviews, if you like the story and would like to leave productive criticism, feel free to do so.

Lola.