Here I go again. Thanks to all my readers. You keep this story going :)
I'm running out of good song titles to fit the chapters. Should I drop it or does anyone have some good ideas? Feel free to tell me.
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Chapter 12: La douce France.
Sophie was walking at the back of the most peculiar group that had ever passed the streets of her town. Her father, doctor Lefort, was leading them past smaller streets and back alleys to avoid curious and unfriendly looks, even if it was still dark. But a faint glow already started to appear on the eastern horizon, and if she wanted to get these men she was sure were the same ones the Nazis were looking for to the hotel of her friend, they would have to hurry. She tried to imagine Charlotte's reaction to her and 9 strange men being on her doorstep this early. She could have a pretty bad temper in the morning, but Sophie thought she could handle it.
The Basterds had improvised some kind of transport by tying their jackets together to carry Donny in to the doctor's house. Omar, Kagan, Hirschberg and Sakowitz were carrying the thing by the sleeves in their midst. It was unhandy; they barely saw where they were going, and Raine kept the tempo up. And Donny wasn't the shortest or lightest type.
The group finally reached doctor Lefort's house. Sophie was the last to go inside, and she cast one more look over her shoulder before closing the door. Her gaze wandered over the empty street, and the houses with dark windows like black voids that seemed to be watching her with invisible eyes. She shivered, and it wasn't just from the cold. She turned around, ready to hop inside, when she suddenly saw something. A lighter shadow slipping past one of the windows. She froze, and fixed her gaze on the specific window. It was as dark and empty as all the others. Had she dreamt? She guessed she was getting a little paranoid, shrugged the feeling she was being watched off her, and went inside.
The dim hallway was full of people, all standing too close to each other to be comfortable. Lefort was unbolting the door of his examination room, which he usually locked since a lot of expensive and valuable material was in there. He opened the door and went inside, followed by Lt. Raine and the men carrying Donny. The other Basterds remained in the hallway. Lefort's examination room wasn't very big, and most of the space was taken up by a desk in the far corner, several wooden cupboards and closets, and last but not least a large iron operation table, that now gleamed sinisterly in the light of the lamps the doctor had just lit. They carefully put Donny down on it. As they did so, his eyelids moved a little, and for a moment it seemed as if he was going to wake up, but when Raine looked closer, Donny had slipped back into unconsciousness again. Well, at least he had given a sign of life, but that was probably because he had been carried the whole time in an uncomfortable and possibly painful manner.
Lefort then told the Basterds they should leave with Sophie to their hiding place, to which a storm of protest broke loose. They all wanted to stay, even if there was nothing they could do at this stage.
"Lieutenant, I really think this is a bad idea." Hirschberg said, in a low tone of voice, to make sure Lefort and Sophie didn't hear him. "How can we be sure if we can trust these people?"
The other Basterds were all listening, and Raine saw they all still had their doubts.
"Look, we ain't got much of choice," he said. "And you're all forgettin' that the doc and his daughter are nice enough to help us, despite the danger they're puttin' themselves in. I believe they're reliable."
Hirschberg sighed and the others shifted on their feet. They trusted Lt. Raine, and most of them weren't really against this whole plan. But they all understood Hirschberg's point of view. No one could be sure how much these French could be trusted. Lefort and Sophie seemed trustworthy enough, but they weren't sure about this friend the girl was talking about.
Raine observed his men, and started to have about enough of this situation. They were going with Sophie, whether they liked it or not.
"Now y'all go with the girl, and listen to her." he said, in a rather angry tone without raising his voice. It was effective, though. The Basterds all realized that they had tested their lieutenant's limits. Raine didn't get angry easily, but one who knew him didn't want to try how far they could push him.
Raine then turned his attention to Lefort's daughter.
"Okay, can you take us to this hotel of your friend now?"
About five minutes later, Sophie guided the Basterds (minus Lt. Raine, who would join them later, when the Donny situation was more or less stable) to Hotel Hermes. The hotel was located in the town's centre, and was a typical small and cozy looking building often found in the French country. Despite the war, the family Bouvet running the place still managed to attract various guests from all over the country and beyond. A lot of them were German officers that were on their way through, or that wanted to take a short break from their work in the nearby city of Rouen. Most of the guests were richer people, who were able to shake the cares of the war of them with money, taking a vacation to the country side of Haute-Normandie, that, despite the closeness of the Atlantic Wall, was still a beautiful place.
The light on the horizon increased by the minute, and Sophie was getting very anxious about this whole situation now. Soon, the people in town would start to wake up, and although she was sure most of them were against the German occupation, she knew that a bunch of Americans hiding here wouldn't be appreciated. She walked a little faster, and was glad to see Hotel Hermes in the distance. She was all too aware of the light and movement in some houses, and even more aware of the eight men following her, not to mention the weapons they carried with them very visibly. None of them had wanted to leave them behind, and that probably wasn't a good idea anyway.
They reached to doors of the hotel. Sophie rang the bell, constantly glancing over her shoulder to see if anyone had spotted them. If no one opened the door soon, that was sure to happen. She noticed the Americans were nervous themselves, and they all grouped together against the doors. Sophie rang the bell again. She realized it was early, but there had to be at least someone awake in there…
She let go of the breath she hadn't realized she had been holding when an angry voice accompanied by the unbolting of locks came from the other side of the doors. A young woman about her age with dark brown hair and a round face poked her head outside. Her angry expression changed into surprise when she saw who was at the door.
"Sophie? What the hell are you doing here this early?" Charlotte Bouvet asked in quick French.
"I need your help." Sophie answered in a hushed voice.
"Who are these people?" Charlotte eyed the Basterds suspiciously, and her eyes widened when she spotted their guns.
"They're American soldiers. They need a place to hide."
"What?!"
"Please let us in." Sophie begged her friend. Charlotte, worried because of the desperate tone in her best friend's voice she had never heard before, did as she was asked, albeit reluctantly. She closed the doors behind them, and then turned to Sophie again, whilst not losing sight of the strangers in the lobby.
"What is going on?" she asked, or more demanded the know.
"They were on my doorstep a few hours ago." Sophie explained. "They have a wounded companion, my father's taking care of him now. The rest couldn't stay at my house…"
"So you thought it was a perfectly good idea to bring them here?" Charlotte filled in, an angry frown forming on her face.
"I didn't know where else to go."
Charlotte sighed.
"They can't stay here." she said. "This is a hotel! People stay and sleep here. Where am I going to put them? What if someone finds out?"
"You have more than room enough, right?" Sophie said. "Just put them on the top floor or something…"
"And what if someone wants a room there?"
"Say the floor is closed for renovations."
Charlotte opened her mouth to retort, but no words came out. Apparently, she was out of ideas. She sighed again.
"I'll have to ask my father." she said, turned around and walked off to the back of the building, where she and her family lived.
They waited for a while. The lobby of the hotel was rather spacious, and nicely decorated, with lots of paintings on the wall that weren't completely visible because of the dimness. One broad wooden staircase in the middle of the room led to the above floors.
Sophie was aware of the looks of the Basterds on her. They were gathered in the middle of the lobby, and whispered something to one another every now and then. She was standing a distance away from them, and stared down at her shoes as if they were the most interesting things she had ever seen. She suddenly felt very uncomfortable, standing here at this hour in the dark lobby with eight strange men, only wearing her night gown with her coat over it.
"So are we good?" a voice said. Sophie snapped her head up, and saw the shortest of the men, the one who had been having a disapproving look in his face all night, look at her.
"Sorry?"
"I said, are we good?"
"Yes." She replied, her voice rather high pitched, which she didn't like. Then, Charlotte returned, followed by three men: the oldest was Augustin Bouvet, the manager of the hotel and Charlotte's father. He was a heavily built man with a bald head and friendly brown eyes. The other two were Charlotte's brothers, Jean and Louis, two young men with friendly eyes as well, and eager expressions on their faces. Jean was the oldest, and the one who worked with the resistance.
"Sophie," monsieur Bouvet greeted, after eyeing the foreigners in his lobby. "What is the problem?"
Sophie explained in detail the events of the previous hours. She noticed Jean and Louis were especially interested, while Charlotte's glance got darker, and monsieur Bouvet frowned his eyebrows in concern.
"This is a very bad time." he said. "The Germans are going to have a party for a general of theirs this evening. The place will be crawling with them. It's extremely dangerous to have these men here."
Sophie's face fell. "A party?" This wasn't good. Why oh why hadn't she just stayed in bed? But it couldn't be helped now.
"Isn't there anywhere else you know they can hide?" she asked. He shook his head.
"I'm afraid not."
"Can't they just go back to the woods and stay there?" Charlotte suggested.
"No, their leader said the Germans will be looking for them there. This is their best chance. And they don't want to leave their injured friend behind."
"Father," Jean said. "I think we should help these people. We could hide them upstairs. The party is held downstairs, right? The Germans don't know anything. As long as these men stay up there, and keep quiet, nothing will happen."
Monsieur Bouvet bit his lip. His oldest son's plan sounded good, but there were many risks.
"If the Germans find them here, we're as dead as they will be." he said. "I don't like this at all."
"You could say the top floor is closed for renovations." Sophie repeated her previous idea.
"Exactly!" Louis said enthusiastically. "And what chances are there that the Germans will go up there? It's a pretty much foolproof plan."
Monsieur Bouvet sighed. "Jean, isn't there any way your friends in the resistance could help?"
"Not really. We're very underground. I don't know anybody who owns a hotel or something themselves. Besides, it's almost dawn. I couldn't get them anywhere else without being seen now."
"Very well." Bouvet said, sighing again. "You take care of it." He told his children, a stern look in his eyes, as if he blamed them for this whole situation. "Now I'll just have to inform your mother."
"She'll freak." Jean said.
"Nothing we can't handle." Louis said, winking at his brother, who grinned back at him. To them, this was all an exciting adventure. Charlotte, who was the more rational type, still looked at them disapproving, shaking her head.
In the meantime, the Basterds just stood and watched, not understanding a word of the fast French their new allies were talking in to each other. Especially Hirschberg was getting very nervous. And when he was nervous, his fuse became very short. He had enough of this, and decided to step in and ask these people a couple of questions, the first being what the fuck the problem was, because he had seen they had obviously disagreed on something.
"Okay, can anyone tell me what's going on?" he demanded.
Sophie looked up, slightly startled. She had almost forgotten about the Basterds.
"I'm sorry." She muttered.
"Sure. Now can we get this whole thing over with?"
"Yes, but…"
"But what? Do you have any idea what we've been through? You know, lady, I have it up to here. I have it up to here with them fucking Germans, and I have it up to here with your French bickering. I…"
He was cut off in mid speech when a firm hand landed on his shoulder. It was Wicki.
"Calm down, Andy." he said. "You're not being very nice to these people, and they're trying to help us."
Hirschberg huffed. He then looked at Sophie, and she had an very upset expression on her face. He immediately regretted his harsh words.
"Sorry." he said in a much softer tone of voice. "I'm just nervous, okay?"
"I understand." she said, and tried to smile at him.
"Alright then." Wikci said. "Now how is our situation?"
Sophie, with the help of Jean, Louis and a still very uneasy looking Charlotte explained their plan. The Basterds all frowned and some of them looked rather stunned at the news of the German party held here that very night.
"This is insane." Utivich said.
"They'll never know." Jean answered him in pretty much flawless English, which was in stark contrast of his brother's, who would throw in more French than English when he spoke. "And we know what we're doing. We run this place."
"All you have to do is wait upstairs." Sophie said.
"And we'll come check every hour." Jean added. "There will be no problem at all."
"What if there is? What if a Nazi does come up and starts looking around?" Kagan asked.
"Climb up the roof." Jean shrugged. The way he said it made it sound easy, and although most of the Basterds thought this plan had a little too many risks, they were more or less convinced. After all, they had made it out of stickier situations.
"I'll show you to the rooms." Charlotte said. She didn't look so edgy anymore. Sophie smiled at her, and she half smiled back. It was a good sign. Charlotte could be stubborn, and had a temper to be reckoned with, but she was the best friend anyone could wish for.
"You'll be going back to your house now, right?" Wicki asked.
"Yes." Sophie answered. "I'll tell your leader about this. I'll return later today."
"Good. Thank you. You're being very kind to us." he smiled. She smiled back. Compared to his shorter and very short tempered friend, this man was a true gentleman.
Then, the Basterds started to follow Charlotte and Louis upstairs, and Sophie hurried back home. The sun was up now, but she wasn't very worried anymore. Things were going to be just fine. She trusted her friends, and there was no way the Germans would find out if everyone acted normal.
But she didn't know about certain important factors. She didn't know how bad the Germans were looking for the men she was helping. She didn't know that all too soon, a certain colonel Hans Landa would get himself involved in the search for the Basterds, and that his talents and cunning would very soon lead him to her town.
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There. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it. I know it wasn't very Basterds focused, but it's all part of this new plotline I have in my head, and I needed to introduce some new characters of course. Also, Landa will be back soon :) And boy, it's going to get tense! Or at least, it's all very tense in my head. Hope I'll get it good enough in words.
Till the next!