CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Many times, we took the wrong road and had to turn around and try another direction. Even so, we still managed to make much better progress than we would have if we had stayed on the main road. By lunchtime, we guessed that we were pretty close to the town we wanted to reach.

While we drove on, several enemy planes flew over us toward the main road where the long line of cars was. Each time they flew past we could hear their bombs being dropped upon the helpless line of cars. For a moment, I was proud of myself for having made the decision to leave the main road. However, one of our cars then suddenly sank deep into the mud and would not move any further.

We got stopped and began to collect sticks in order to place them underneath the tires of the stranded ambulance. The two sergeants acted as though they were going to help us collect sticks, but then they suddenly started to walk away back down the road without saying anything to us. I called to them to stop.

"We don't have time. We are going," they shouted back to me.

"I demand that you stop and help us!" I cried.

They began to walk away even faster than before. I took out my gun and pointed it at the one who had tried to steal the clock earlier. I fired but missed. The two men then began to run. I fired two more times and managed to hit one of them. He fell and the other continued to run. Bonello ran over to me and asked if he could go to the fallen man and finish him off. I gave him my gun and he walked over to the soldier. He pointed the gun down at him and fired.

He then dragged the body back to me to show that the man was dead. We collected more sticks and tried our best to get the ambulance out of the mud, but nothing worked. In the end, we had to leave it. The two sisters moved to a different car and then we drove on. We did not get very far, however. Soon, all of the cars sank deep into the mud. We had to leave them, as well, and continue the rest of the way on foot. I decided it was not safe for the girls, and giving them each ten coins, I told them to go back to the main road. They would have a better chance of surviving in a large group of people than with us if we were caught by the enemy. The girls looked confused, but eventually began to walk back toward the main road.

The men and I then continued our way in the opposite direction.

(end of section)