I went over to kick Ernst out of the chair and told him we needed to get going.
"Well Charlotte, we better get going. It was so nice meeting you." said Albert said as he walked up the stairs, out of the cellar.
She quickly ran over to me and grabbed the collar of my uniform. She pulled me down to her level and spoke.
"Please, Albert. Don't leave me here alone. I.....I could come with you and Ernst? Please......Albert?"
"No, it's too risky. I don't want you getting hurt." I said putting my hand on her shoulder
She kept begging me until I would say yes. Ernst rolled his eyes and followed me up the stairs. He ran into my shoulder and glared back at me. I growled at him. Before Ernst opened the two doors of the cellar, I stopped him and told him to patrol the area in case Ivan was in the town or close by. I looked around the cellar for any weapons and asked Charlotte if she had any. She nodded her head and lead me over to a chest. It had one MP-40, two P38 pistols, a knife, and a PPSh-41. I handed Ernst the MP-40 and two magazines. I tossed the gun to him and he loaded one of the magazines in. I went back to the stairs and unlocked the locks.
"Charlotte? Can you had me one of the P38s?"
She walked back over to the chest and got one. She tossed it to me and I started my way out of the cellar. Ernst already started walking around, checking all of the homes. Charlotte was at the third step while I was on the first. She wished me good luck and kissed me on the forehead.
"Stay here and close the doors until we come back." I said.
She slowly turned around and walked down the steps, closing the doors behind her. I walked over to where Ernst was and asked him if he had found anything. All he came out of the homes with are two loafs of bread, canned beans, some aging carrots that were still fine for consuming, and a bag full of potatoes. He walked out with a basket full of them and ran over to me, telling me to bring them back down to the cellar. I knocked on the doors and I heard her heels coming up the wooden stairs. She opened it and I showed her the basket. Her eyes widened in excitement. I wondered why she was so excited, so I asked her.
"What are you so excited about?" I questioned.
"I have not had any food in two days!"
"Oh.....well today is your lucky day!"
She came out of the cellar and thanked me as she put her arms around my waist. She looked up at me and spoke softly in my ear.
"Thank you."
"No, thank Ernst."
Ernst was looking at me and he waved his hand, he smiled back.
"Your welcome, ma'am."
Charlotte smiled back at me and played with the collar of my uniform. She got really close to my face and spoke to me again.
"You are such a handsome man, Albert." she said as she wrapped her arms over my shoulders
"You are such a beautiful......"
"Hey, I thought you were going to search for supplies too, Albert." Ernst yelled with one eyebrow up.
Albert slowly moved his hands from Charlotte and kissed her on the forehead. Albert smiled as he slowly walked away from her. He jogged back to Ernst that was already on the other side of the small village. Ernst tried to kick down a locked door over and over again until I told him to let me do it. I threw my leg and kicked the door as hard as I could. It took a couple tries but I got it. I knocked the nob off the door and loosened the hinges. I stepped into the home where there was a table and chairs that had been thrown around. There were broken wine bottles on the ground and dishes. There was blood splattered on the walls with dead bodies laying on the ground. I stepped over them and went to the attic's ladder in the living room.
I went up the attic stairs and found boxes filled with hay. I opened one of them and they just had old furniture and bottles of Vodka, wine, and rum. I took one of the bottles to bring back to Charlotte. I looked back at the ladder and saw Ernst coming up.
"Is there anything interesting, sir?"
"No, Ernst." I said making my way back to the ladder. I went back down and closed the hatch.
Ernst checked more of the homes while I went back to Charlotte to hand her the wine. She thanked me and went back down to the cellar to put it on the table. She asked me something when she came back. She was curling her hair in between her fingers and smiled.
"What?" I asked
She slowly walked towards me as if she wanted to kiss me. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ernst running back to us holding ears of corn, a smile shone on his face. Charlotte was about to put her hands on my hips until Ernst interrupted us.
"What are you two doing?" Ernst asked looking back and fourth at us.
"Nothing..." replied Charlotte with a faint smile
Charlotte was about to put her arms around my shoulders until Ernst cut in front of us and told us to get going. Ernst planned that we were going to Ukraine and would spend a number of weeks heading back to Berlin. I agreed with Ernst because my family still, or hopefully, lives there. I prayed for them to be alive everyday. I've heard about all of the bombings in Berlin. I'm afraid when I get back, my beloved city will be rubble.
"No, we can't go back!" Charlotte shouted grabbing the collar of my uniform again.
"Well, you can stay here or we can drop you off at the nearest Russian town before we enter Ukraine." Ernst explained.
Charlotte dropped to her knees while holding Albert's hand. She begged and begged. Tears started to come down her cheeks.
"Please! Please, Albert?"
Albert bit the inside of his lip and looked down at Charlotte. He got down on his knees and put his hands on each side of Charlotte's face.
"Listen Charlotte...."
"No! I'm staying, I don't care if you are here or not. Just go and find your family!" Charlotte shouted.
Charlotte stood up and walked toward her home. She rested her head against the front door once she got there. Albert walked over to her and put his hand on her upper back and rubbed it, not saying a word. Charlotte stopped crying and glanced back at Albert. He smiled and went to her and stayed there, for a while.