War Girls Complete Collection Chapter 166

Chapter 21

L

otte’s injury had fully healed but for some reason she was still in the hospital. Being there reminded her of her sister Anna, who was a nurse. During Anna’s training, Lotte had often offered herself as a practice patient, and she smiled at the fond memories.

Feeling bored by her inactivity, and never one to sit idle, she decided to make herself useful. If eleven-year-old Pauline measured up to the task, then, surely, the sister of a real nurse could do so as well. She was feeding one of the patients, who had both of his arms in slings, when the only doctor came up to her.

“Hey, you, what are you doing?” he asked in almost flawless German.

“Making myself useful,” she said, keeping her voice low.

“You’re German. A prisoner, not a nurse,” the man said. He ran a hand through his pitch-black ruffled hair as he stopped only long enough to berate her.

“Above all, I’m human. And since there are more patients than the nurses can handle, I thought I’d lend them a hand.”

The doctor scratched his chin as he considered her words. Lotte already knew he and the three trained nurses were overwhelmed with the severe cases and didn’t have the time to feed patients or change bandages.

“There’s another thing I wanted to talk to you about.”

Lotte’s heart turned into a tight knot. “Yes?”

“You’re no longer in need of medical care and should leave the hospital.” He sighed. “We just don’t know what to do with you.”

She swallowed hard, her eyes getting bigger.

“Since you’re a prisoner of war you should be detained in one of the prison buildings.”

Lotte hissed out a breath.

“But I talked to our commanders. You’re our only female prisoner and I convinced them it wouldn’t be wise to put you into the same room with hundreds of angry, frustrated and bored men.”

A shiver ran down her spine. She’d never felt threatened by the Wehrmacht soldiers, but who knew how they would behave penned up in a prison camp? Things happened. “You’re setting me free?” she asked with a sliver of hope.

“Not possible,” the doctor chuckled. “You may seem harmless, but you could still give your people valuable intelligence. So, I asked General Bór to let you stay in the hospital, despite the fact that we need every space for the wounded.”

“Thank you. I promise, I won’t be a burden. I’ll help as much as I can.”

The doctor gave her a long look. “Not everyone will like this, but I accept your offer. Talk to one of the auxiliary nurses about your duties.” With those parting words he dashed off to the next one of the severely injured being carried inside and left her alone.

The days passed. Many of the newcomers stared in horror at Lotte’s uniform beneath the white apron she’d been given to wear. Luckily, the resident patients had developed a liking for her. In the hospital ward she wasn’t the enemy any longer, but just another auxiliary nurse.

Much to her surprise many of the Poles spoke decent German. Once they’d warmed up to her and with the help of those who spoke her language, she could communicate with those who didn’t.

Young Mors had returned to his work as a messenger, but he found a reason to come and visit her a few times each week after distributing the Information Bulletin. Each time, he brought a more harrowing story about the atrocities committed by her own folks.

And as much as she despised what her countrymen did, deep in her heart Lotte worried about Johann’s safety. He was a Nazi all right, but she still cared deeply for him. Her emotions for him were confusing at best and gave her headaches at night.

Every day more wounded were brought into the hospital, gunshots and burns being the most frequent injuries. Lotte was changing the bandages of one patient when the door opened, and two dirty, blood-covered men staggered inside, one of them dragging the other one, who seemed more dead than alive. She rushed to meet them but halted at the hateful stare in one of the men’s eyes.

She backed away as the man yelled something in Polish. She only caught the words “German floozie” and “You’re dead.” But that, combined with the menacing tone, was enough to make her back away and slink out of sight. One of the other nurses rushed to meet them and with the help of the mean one she laid the other one on a bed, yelling for the doctor.

“Don’t take it personally,” Pauline said and put her tiny hand into Lotte’s.

“I don’t,” Lotte lied. How could she keep calm when this man cursed her because she was German? It hurt. A lot. Especially because she’d come to Warsaw to betray her own country and help the Allies. But even now in captivity she couldn’t come clean. Her contact person from the SOE had impressed upon her not to let a single soul apart from Ewa know. The fewer people that knew, the safer for her and everyone else involved.

Lotte sighed with relief when the man who’d threatened her left the hospital after receiving a few patches. He’d been filled with so much hatred that it made her shiver. The doctor cursed as he cut off the trousers of the other man and began stitching up his leg. Groans of pain filled the ward. The hospital had run out of anesthetics days ago.

She continued her rounds of helping patients, until the head nurse called, “Alexandra, can you help me please?”

“Yes, one moment.” She put down the bandages she was rolling up and hurried to the other side of the room.

“Can you hold him, while I clean the wounds on his arm?”

Lotte stepped up to the bed to keep the half-conscious man still so the nurse could do her work. When he winced, she put a hand to his face. Pained, glacial blue eyes stared back at her, and an expression of shock formed in them when they recognized each other.