Colonel Hogan and Carter walked casually behind the Kommandant as he lead them into the quarry where there were many men on work detail digging and lifting heavy rocks and carrying them to waiting trucks. On one side of the quarry was a long staircase that overlooked a strong river below that wound its way into the woods beyond the quarry. Colonel Hogan peered down at the men at work and suddenly spied Newkirk on the ground and at the mercy of an angry SS guard who had his pistol pointed at Newkirk's head. Without thinking, Colonel Hogan shouted and suddenly all the Nazis were watching him curiously.

"Why do you halt the killing of a useless prisoner?" asked the Kommandant with a suspicious look in his eye.

"I just think it would be more fun to see him suffer a little longer rather than killing him right away!" stammered Hogan as Carter barely breathed beside him.

The Kommandant smiled and looked down at the waiting SS guard.

"I like your thinking, Colonel!" smiled the Kommandant, "You like to play with the mouse before you kill it! Very nice indeed!"

The Kommandant signaled to the SS guard and then smiled back at Hogan. Colonel Hogan signaled to Carter to follow him to Newkirk's side. They wove their way down the quarry and watched while the SS guard pulled the Englishman to his feet and replaced the pack of stone on his back again. Newkirk's ankle felt like it was on fire with pain; but he stood and gritted his teeth while he waited to see what his next fate would be.

The SS guard reached in the crowd of prisoners and to Hogan and Carter's astonishment, he pulled a small Frenchman out to help Newkirk walk. Hogan felt the color drain from his face as he made eye contact with Lebeau and realized he may be about to witness two deaths that he didn't know how to prevent. The SS guard indicated to Lebeau to help Newkirk climb the stairs up to the top of the quarry where it was assumed that they would be shot and left to the rivers current far below.

It took nearly an hour; but Newkirk and Lebeau finally reached the top of the quarry as Colonel Hogan, Carter, the Kommandant and the SS guard followed. As they reached the top, Newkirk swayed and nearly fainted as his ankle was swollen beyond description and his face was ashen. Lebeau supported his friend and stared up worriedly into his glassy face. He guided Newkirk to stand with his back to the edge of the drop off and still supporting his friend he faced the Nazis.

Colonel Hogan pushed Carter closer to Lebeau and looked pointedly into Carter's eyes trying to make him understand what he wanted him to do.

The Kommandant smiled at Colonel Hogan and turned to the SS guard to give the signal.

As the SS guard pulled the trigger several things happened all at once. Colonel Hogan pretended to be overcome by excitement and pushed Carter over the edge so that he fell backwards with a yelp.

Lebeau threw himself and Newkirk backwards and over the edge at the same time that Carter began to fall. The bullet was rendered harmless and missed them all and the Nazis and Hogan were left to watch them plummet down to hit the churning water below.

Carter twisted as he fell and pointed his body into a dive so that he sliced into the water and came to the surface in a matter of seconds. The current was strong and by the time he surfaced, he'd already traveled out of sight of the quarry and the watching Nazis. He wiped the water from his face and looked around for his friends.

Lebeau surfaced spluttering close to him and then the two of them looked on in horror as Newkirk's body rose and rolled in the water, only to sink again as the current tugged them along. Carter dived into the murky water and snagged Newkirk's arm and frantically pulled him to the surface. Lebeau swam up next to him and helped him roll Newkirk's head back and out of the water.

"He's not breathing!" shouted Lebeau as he treaded water beside Carter and Newkirk. Carter swam frantically towards the rivers edge and with Lebeau's help they pulled Newkirk from the water and turned him on his side.

"There's a heart beat! He's alive!" exclaimed Carter as he gripped Newkirk's wrist. The Englishman coughed up dirty river water and groaned. His eyes fluttered open and he stared around at the others in confusion.

"Am I dead?" he asked in a faint voice as Carter forced him to sit up.

"Not yet!" replied Carter as he hoisted Newkirk onto his shoulders and followed Lebeau into the woods. "If we stay here, they will find us and finish us off!"

Colonel Hogan watched his men fall until he could no longer see them and hoped and prayed that they would look after each other until he could reach them. The Kommandant was smiling at him again.

"I like your style, Colonel!" laughed the Kommandant. "Get rid of unwanted lazy officers while you're at it! You should be a Kommandant! Would you like me to give you a recommendation?"

Colonel Hogan smiled at him pleasantly.

"No thank-you, Kommandant!" he said a he put his cap back on his head. "I'm happy doing what I do now! If you don't mind; I do need to get back to my command and let my superiors know what kind of camp you run here as I'm sure they'd be very interested in what I've seen here!"

Colonel Hogan clipped his heels together. "Heil Hitler!" he said and turned on his heel and made his way out of the quarry and out of the camp. He found his car parked where he'd left it and drove out without any difficulty. He felt as if he were in a dream as he drove back to the house where Kinch waited.

Carter came to a stop behind Lebeau and crouched down under the hang of a sprawling oak tree on the border of the woodland. A cluster of houses lay beyond a small hill to their west and Carter recognized the house where Kinch was holed up waiting for them.

"Louis, that's where we need to be, but the neighbors are dangerous and suspicious especially with you both dressed as prisoners. We've got to find a way to contact Kinch before a patrol finds us here," said Carter as he put Newkirk down.

Newkirk struggled into a sitting position and leaned against Carter for support.

"You cold leave us here and go to Kinch while we wait?" suggested Newkirk to Carter as Lebeau nodded.

"Are you crazy? After all the searching we've done for both of you! The Colonel would kill me if he knew I'd left you both alone to be captured and killed! No way!" steamed Carter as Lebeau and Newkirk shushed him and looked around.

"Well, if we all sit here and argue, we'll attract a patrol before we can make a plan!" exclaimed Lebeau, folding his arms and staring out at the houses.

As they watched, they saw a car drive up and Colonel Hogan got out and stood by the car as if in a dream. Carter, Lebeau and Newkirk watched and waited as their commanding officer finally looked up and saw them hidden in the shadows of the large tree. His face broke into a smile and he looked around and began walking towards them.

The neighborhood seemed to be ignoring the newcomers on this day as Colonel Hogan lead his men back to the safety of the house and a future of freedom from the Nazi terrorism they'd suffered.

The End.

P.S. Thank-you for reading my first story; I hope it was enjoyed even though it was very morbid. Just if anyone is curious, I based a few parts from the Mauthausen-Gusen camp on experiences that a family friend of ours suffered during the war. He is my adopted uncle and is now in his early eighties. One thing that really unnerves me about him is that he spends every evening watching videos of the liberation's of the concentration camps. He lost his entire family in the holocaust and I believe he is still searching all those faces for the ones he lost and never found.