Cold and wet, the surviving members of the East German group were driven on by shoves from soldiers and barking of the dogs. In places the snow was deep and they sunk into drifts, barely able to lift their legs. It began to snow again and it was falling heavily by the time Katrin saw a wired compound. She was mentally and physically exhausted by the night's events, which had seen three of their party shot dead and left lying in the snow. Not caring where they'd arrived at, Katrin merely wished to sit down and get warm.
The males and females were separated and the three remaining males, including her brother, Thomas, marched away. The five women were led to what appeared to be the camps storeroom. Their hands remained tied and their clothes wet, as they were pushed inside. There they sat on the cold wooden floor, shivering and sobbing.
The recently widowed Frau Lehmann wept softly, still coming to terms with the loss of Herr Lehmann. Her daughter Monika's eyes were red, but she was able to carry on a conversation.
"What do you think will happen to us now?" Monika asked.
"A prison cell perhaps," Katrin offered, not wanting to alarm the bereaved woman further.
"Or shot dead, like your father, Monika," Sabine offered.
"Sabine; please!" Katrin said, looking to her distraught friend and the widow.
"Well you have to be realistic. They're killers and won't want any witnesses; will they?"
"I doubt they'll care. We'll be handed over to the Stassi and they're not going to worry if we're dead or alive. Some dead might suit the Stassi. Serve as a warning to others. Maybe they let us live to tell the story," Katrin surmised.
"Maybe these Bulgarian pigs will rape us first," Sabine again offered unhelpfully, which brought a moan of anguish from Frau Lehmann.
"Sabine; can you just not say anything, if it's going to be like that," Monika yelled.
"Fuck you... and fuck your dead father for bringing us on this death march. What a fool's errand this was."
Katrin said nothing, but couldn't help but agree with Sabine's sentiments. Looking back, the whole venture had been one of stupidity. She had considered pulling out, and now cursed herself for not doing so.
"Too many people in the party, travelling in winter, putting their trust in locals. We're lucky we're not all dead from bullets or exposure," she thought ruefully, before turning her thoughts to survival.
Katrin recalled one of the group, an officer, had given an order in German.
"So; one of them has some education. Enough to learn a second language," Katrin thought, feeling this was a positive sign.
Nothing more was spoken, as they remained with their own thoughts. Katrin noted Marion, who had lost both her parents remained stoic. It was only Frau Lehmann who continued her quiet sobbing. After some hours the door opened and light flooded in. A young Bulgarian Corporal spoke in German and indicated they should stand. Other soldiers grabbed them and marched them across to a barrack. They were herded to where two beds had been pulled together, end on end and ordered to sit. Their hands were untied, and the five women sat there, looking at the floor, shivering from cold and concern about their fate.
The Corporal departed and Katrin glanced up to note the soldiers ogling them. Suddenly Sabine's prediction did not seem so out of the question.
"We are not from their country. No one likes Germans," Katrin thought. "We were trying to escape to the West, so no one cares of our fate. This is a bad recipe."
As if to verify her fears, one of the Bulgarians, a tall wiry figure, indicated that the women should remove their coats and jackets. Once they had each done so the coats were tossed in a pile in the corner. The same soldier then motioned again, and the women had to remove their vests and T-Shirts. All five women sat there in their bra's, while the soldiers leered and spoke excitedly in their own language.
"This is not good Monika," Katrin said fearfully, stating the obvious.
"I told you!" Sabine offered.
Katrin glanced back to the number of beds in the barrack.
"At least twenty," she estimated. "Four men per woman and not many soldiers will be interested in Frau Lehmann."
She looked back to the soldiers and noted the tall one had eyes only for her. He entered into a discussion with a sandy haired soldier and at one point pointed toward her. Both soldiers laughed. Katrin shivered and not from the cold. Just then the barracks door flew open and in walked three men.
"Stani, Stani!" one of the new men barked at the women, as all the soldiers stood to attention.
The German women stood as Captain Asen Milkov sat down in the empty chair facing them. He cast his eyes across each of the women, nodding, pleased with what he saw.
"The Gods have smiled on me for once" he mused, indicating they should sit. "Five years in this shit hole border patrol, three months since the last woman and now, once again, I get some small reward."
The Captain was a bitter man. His father had died when he was young, leaving his mother to bring up six children. With few options she had sold herself to men, in order to feed the family. Milkov hated her for this, as it saw him and is siblings mercilessly teased about it. The son of a whore, he and his brothers learned how to fight, dealing out justice to those who dared taunt him. Despite this, he wasn't unintelligent. He enjoyed learning about the world; languages in particular.
Asen Milkov's abrasive nature and intelligence made him a prime candidate for the Bulgarian army. Following his two years compulsory service he'd signed on permanently; quickly rising through the ranks. Milkov had shown loyalty to the Bulgarian army and could speak English and German. He should have had a bright future. However, five years previous, in 1972, he'd returned to his village, walked to his mother's door and knocked. When she answered the door she smiled, happy to see her son. Milkov had raised his revolver and shot her dead.
Captain Milkov should have been hanged for murder. However, the army had other plans and he was tried by military court. His punishment had been a posting to the border patrol. Isolated; freezing in winter; sweltering in summer; few periods of leave, when he might return to see the mother of his three children; having to take orders from the Stassi. The chip on Captain Milkov's shoulder grew increasingly larger with each passing year.
However, there were two things that Milkov enjoyed about his placement, deep in the forest, near the Turkish border. One was the hunting. Milkov loved to hunt and wild boar abounded. When the alarm was tripped or, as in this case, an informant passed on information, it was humans he hunted. There were aspects of this that caused Milkov disquiet, such as killing at close range. It always brought back visions of his mother. However, hunting humans led to the second benefit. None of his soldiers shot at any woman in the party, who were younger than middle aged. They were to be taken alive. Milkov had glimpsed the prisoners they had taken that night and felt this catch showed promise. Now, surveying the woman shivering before him, his initial impression was confirmed.
"Hmmmm! Three very attractive young German woman; another tall, plainer girl and one fat, blubbering cow, who we should have shot." he thought, dismissing the last two to concentrate on the first three. "One is dark, almost middle eastern, possibly Jewish, and very attractive. One is shorter, has a fine bosom and is pretty enough; and this final blonde one... very German; pretty; with a nice innocence about her. Hmmmm!"
As he watched them the dark-haired girl and the buxom one exchanged quiet words. He heard the dark haired one tell her companion to remain strong and follow her lead.
Milkov had seen enough and barked an order to his soldiers. They immediately stepped forward, presenting blankets, which the women wrapped around themselves. Despite this Frau Lehmann let out another large sob.
"There is no need for that Frau," Captain Milkov began, in quite passable German, enjoying the surprised look on the women's faces. "You are not to be harmed, merely held here in comfort, until your countrymen arrive to take you back to Germany. Of course, what happens to you then might give you cause to cry, but that is not my business."
Not wanting to delay, the Captain then turned and spoke to his Sergeant, who had entered with him. He gave him the answer Milkov had predicted.
If there were multiple prisoners, Captain Milkov always gave his second in-charge, first choice. The Sergeant had the men's respect and it was very important to keep him on-side. The Captain was always amused that, given the choice, Sergeant Zogrov would select the plainest looking woman. Why this was, Zogrov would never say, but they had been in the same unit for five years and it was always the case.
True to form Zogrov came close to Milkov's ear and whispered that he'd take the tall, plain looking girl. The Captain related this to the soldiers, causing them to smile broadly and begin to talk among themselves.
"Quiet," Sergeant Zogrov bellowed at the soldiers in Bulgarian, causing the women to jump and the soldiers to immediately come back to attention. "All you will get is the old fat one, if there is any more of that noise."
The five German women could understand none of what the Sergeant spoke of. However, after Katrin got over her surprise at the Captain speaking fluent German, she'd noted where he looked. He was clearly interested in her and her two friends, but his eyes lingered on Katrin a little more often. She'd seen the tall, strongly built Sergeant indicate toward Marion and felt the Captain had related this to the soldiers. They'd become very animated looking toward her, Monika and Sabine.
"This is not good. Not good at all. What to do?" Katrin mused, again glancing back to the beds, before the Captain spoke again.
"You remain with us in our camp for now. Maybe for two weeks, maybe more; depending on when the track out becomes passable. So we must find you all somewhere to sleep. This poor old woman...," the officer continued, pointing toward Frau Lehmann, "... she must be with people her own age, to comfort her in her time of loss. The boy will come out of the cells. He will move to Corporal Elgin's quarters and the old woman will take his place, in the cells with the men."
Katrin heard Sabine mumble something under her breath. The Captain also heard it and looked toward Sabine, before speaking again.
"You!" he said pointing to Marion. "You will bunk in with Sergeant Zogrov."
Marion looked to the Sergeant then lowered her eyes, accepting her fate. Katrin was impressed that she kept it together, but suddenly felt a wave of trepidation, as the Captain's eyes again settled on her. He held her gaze and smiled, until she bowed her head.
"You!" she heard and looked up to see him pointing to Sabine. "You can come to my quarters, where you will stay until we take you out to meet the Stassi."
"No!" Sabine shouted, a defiant look on her face. "I will not be your whore. You Bulgarian pig!"
No one spoke and Captain Milkov let the silence hang for a minute, showing no reaction. He then made a grand show of looking alternately from Monika to Katrin. Finally, he spoke again.
