Brave Zoe Cox
Stories similar to this that you might like too.
Matt Wilson was thinking about Zoe Cox again. Zoe was a brave carer with scrawny spots and short eyes.
Matt walked over to the window and reflected on his derelict surroundings. He had always loved dirty Berlin with its talented, tall tunnels. It was a place that encouraged his tendency to feel barmy.
Then he saw something in the distance, or rather someone. It was the brave figure of Zoe Cox.
Matt gulped. He glanced at his own reflection. He was a charming, delightful, wine drinker with fragile spots and chubby eyes. His friends saw him as a deadly, deafening deity. Once, he had even brought a round owl back from the brink of death.
The sight of Zoe spurred Matt to run downstairs where his faithful German Shepherd waited for him patiently. Together they flew across town to see if there were any people left alive in Berlin who could help them escape the disaster zone.
***
“We’re surrounded,” said Matt Wilson. “There are two hundred men out there.” They stood in his cellar. The brave German Shepherd growled nervously beside him. But Matt knew it wasn’t time for this to be happening yet. He wanted more beer first.
“I have an idea,” said Matt. “Follow me upstairs. When you get into your bedroom I want you to turn left and hide under the bed with your dog. Do you understand? This is our only chance!”
He took some bottles down to Zoe Cox but she just looked at him blankly.
“Listen,” said Matt, “these Germans are monsters. There’s nothing we can do right now except try to survive. You don’t think their uniforms will mean anything to us, do you?”
Zoe still didn’t say anything. She looked terrified.
Matt sighed. What the hell was wrong with her today?
In the cellar, they heard soldiers coming up the stairs.
“Down here!” yelled Matt. He pushed open the trapdoor and pulled Zoe Cox down behind the staircase. A soldier came clattering through the door and dropped into the cellar. Matt dove against him hard enough to knock him unconscious with one punch. Then he dragged him up to the top of the stairs.
An awful noise erupted above. A man wearing a uniform that looked very similar to Zoe’s was standing outside. Another one rushed towards the cellar too. He gripped his sword tightly and bore down on Matt viciously. The German Shepherd tried to attack him, but its owner stopped him by holding it firmly under his arm.
“Put your hands together and grab the swordsman’s neck,” said Matt urgently. “Do not let go until I say.”
Together they all ran upstairs. Two German officers stumbled across the landing, drunk and confused, before falling off the side of the banister. At least four others were at the top of the steps. One had a pistol. Another held a hand grenade. A third showed no interest in combat whatsoever and simply drank a bottle of rum while pretending to be asleep.
It felt like hours passed. Matt became increasingly concerned that these men might wake up soon. Soon after, however, a cry from below told them that the cellar trapdoor had been forced open and reinforcements were pouring inside.
Now Matt found himself trapped between a squad of twelve and twenty furious soldiers and a big German Shepherd that wouldn’t stop biting their legs. He lunged at them with his blade, slashing wildly so that none of them would get the chance to use any of their weapons against him.
Finally, he grabbed his dog and threw it aside. He rolled onto the floor, kicked one German officer in the stomach then jumped back up and punched another straight in the face. Luckily everyone started panicking when he did that because it meant they couldn’t use their fists properly and therefore made it easier for Matt to avoid getting hit himself. In the end, he tripped a few of them, which helped too. Then they all fled the building.
With nothing better to do, Matt decided to take Zoe Cox back home. It seemed like a good plan.
They walked past St Pauli Cathedral without stopping. Everyone living there must have been hiding somewhere.
When they got to his house, Matt hesitated. Was this really the best way forward? Maybe Zoe should stay with him in the cellar?
But she insisted that they were going to go to her flat. Just as well. If anyone needed shelter in their city it was Zoe Cox. Matt knew she’d never forgive herself if she ever returned to the wreckage and realized that any of those people could have survived, had they only known about this brilliant idea.
The next thing Matt remembered was being carried through the tunnel system. A strange man and his dog walked alongside him. More brave citizens followed. Nobody asked why. They just listened.
***
At last, he was allowed to lie down and relax. And that is exactly what he did for the rest of that day. For many centuries before, monks in monasteries had done exactly the same thing and discovered some rather surprising things along the way. One example was that they learned how to make wine from fruit juice.
This important discovery happened in a monastery called Vatopaidia near the Black Sea. There, monks noticed that apples ripened earlier than apricots, which were sweeter and tastier than pears or oranges, so the apple wine tasted better than the sweet wines they usually produced. No doubt the monks also enjoyed drinking it themselves and almost certainly believed that God blessed the work of their hands.
Once again Matt felt jealous that the monks hadn’t come up with this new invention first. Who knew that making grape juice would taste even better than the expensive stuff he always drank?
And who would have thought that squeezing out the juice from the skins could change the taste of a whole food?
Meanwhile, down in the cellars, something else exciting was happening. Some of the British soldiers were trying to sneak through the tunnels at night and find a way out. It wasn’t easy, however, because there were lots of guards watching all the entrances and exits. But it didn’t matter. Because the most difficult part of escaping wasn’t actually leaving; it was getting in undetected in the first place.
After several attempts, one of the soldiers succeeded. He escaped unnoticed, swam across the river, and managed to cross the border to Hamburg. By now the Germans weren’t bothering much with the secrecy around that area either. Even so, the lucky escapee eventually reached Britain and was reunited with his family in Liverpool.
Back in Germany, the Germans remained blissfully unaware that a small group of refugees had successfully crossed the inner-German border. What would have happened once they arrived in Britain, nobody wanted to know, partly because they were worried that the new arrivals might ask for help.
However, nobody doubted that they would keep quiet about where they came from, mainly due to fear. After all, no one in the United Kingdom had seen a German since 1940 except possibly Adolf Hitler or Joseph Goebbels, both of whom were long dead. So what right did anyone have to ask questions about people who lived on the other side of the world?
Naturally, the British government didn’t welcome the extra refugee problem. The army still controlled most of the country’s land but civilians often sneaked across into Germany via hidden pathways, through hedges and fields. Sometimes the authorities chased them away and sometimes they turned a blind eye.
People were desperate to get away. Some took boats, while others traveled by train, car, and foot, aiming for whatever destination seemed safe enough. A lot of these new arrivals were looking for relatives or friends already living in London and Scotland. As far as they knew, England was the safest place in Europe.
Matt woke early on the second day. He was cold, hungry, thirsty, and very sore, but he could barely complain, especially considering that there was someone who was suffering more than he was. Sitting upright, he looked over to his left and saw a woman lying on the ground beside him. She was covered in blood. Not just her own blood, either. His eyes widened when he realized she was pregnant.
He lifted his head carefully and craned his neck until he was able to see what was happening. Zoe was moaning in pain. Her face was deathly pale and she clutched a hand across her stomach.
“What’s happened?” Matt asked. “Where are you hurt?”
“I’m not hurt,” said Zoe. Then a couple of large men carried an unconscious man towards her. They held him in front of her as though he was a shield. At least that was what Matt assumed they meant. From his limited experience, it didn’t seem like a particularly clever decision but then, nothing good ever came of doing anything stupid.
“Put me down!” bellowed the woman. She gestured with her free hand as though to say that she couldn’t speak.
Then another man knelt by Zoe and gently pushed open her blouse. He exposed the top half of her body for everyone to see – including Matt, although he tried to ignore the situation and pretend that he wouldn’t be affected. He needed to concentrate, otherwise, he might end up accidentally falling asleep and never wake up again.
A small crowd was gathered around them, standing well back and trying to stay inconspicuous. If they’d been caught then there would have been hell to pay.
Suddenly, Matt sensed something awful coming. His head began spinning uncontrollably and a feeling of nausea swept over him. Unable to control himself any longer, he vomited onto the floor, only narrowly missing Zoe. Luckily it wasn’t too acidic or foul tasting. Instead, it was like watery fruit juice, which made it somewhat less disgusting.
Still, Matt wiped some of it off his lips and scowled as his brain suddenly felt even heavier than before. Suddenly, the room started to feel uncomfortably warm and bright. He closed his eyes tightly but the light refused to leave him alone. It hovered just ahead of his nose and invaded every corner of his mind.
Several hours later, with dawn fast approaching, a team of paramedics arrived and took charge of the injured. They stripped away Zoe’s clothing and checked for serious internal wounds beneath the ragged remnants of her shirt, before strapping her down in preparation for moving her.
“It looks worse than I thought,” remarked one of the medics. “But we’ll manage.”
Another ambulance drove slowly past the front gate and stopped at a nearby streetlight. It honked several times in order to draw attention but it was hard work being heard above the noise. Meanwhile, behind the wheel sat an elderly driver. He looked tired and unhappy; probably due to his failure to make much progress during the journey, despite driving non-stop for so many miles.
Matt shivered. He’d been lucky to survive last night’s attack but now things were starting to heat up. There was always the chance that a sniper could spot him or that one of the search teams might find out that he was still alive. Either way, there was absolutely no doubt that his time would soon come, which was why it was vital that he stayed completely calm.
During the long journey between London and Aberdeen, he had fallen into the habit of staring at the window, just to keep his mind occupied. This particular glass pane showed scenes from all corners of Britain: houses and factories; roads and streets; public parks and market squares. It was easy to lose oneself in those colorful images and become oblivious to everything else around him.
So that was how he spent the following weeks after the events in Edinburgh Castle. He remained in hiding, traveling between secret safehouses and changing locations every few days. Whenever he finally got a moment to catch his breath, he’d spend most of it praying.
He prayed to God for guidance, protection, and forgiveness. But he also wished that he could talk to his sister again, both in this life and the next. He hoped she’d forgive him for failing to return home safely.
To keep himself from going mad, Matt did a lot of thinking and reading. The latter helped to pass the time and improve his vocabulary skills, while the former enabled him to gain an understanding of different faiths and beliefs. Not surprisingly, many of the ideas he read about conflicted with each other and with his own personal convictions, but some of their teachings seemed sensible enough.
And even if what he discovered on these journeys contradicted his deeply held Christian faith, he believed that he should at least try to understand alternative points of view before passing final judgment. That way, he might one day learn why his beliefs were right and theirs wrong. After all, Jesus would want him to think for himself. Wouldn’t He?
And yet, none of that mattered very much when Matt realized that he might never meet with God again.