POUND” painted on it, which promptly started to follow the Dog chasing the man. The Jewish man looked behind him at the pursuer on his tail and POW! He smacked into an oak tree. The German Shepherd rambunctiously, with his sharp teeth, tore off one of the man’s legs and fled. The woman from the city pound, a young, bosomy, rosy- cheeked Aryan Specimen, tossed the robed elderly man into the back of her truck and drove off. The Dog arrived back at the baseball diamond with a human leg in his mouth and was patted on his head by his master for a task well done. Super Nazi took the leg and stepped up to the plate, swinging the limb as if it were a Louisville Slugger.
The Gestapo men uneventfully ambled by Wayne.
Wayne walked onto the campus. It was calm except for a small group of students sitting under the shade of a tree, talking amongst themselves. Wayne recognized none of the school buildings as he followed a campus path that ran along a line of mighty trees. Wayne thought about whether Dr. Hoffmann would be in her laboratory or not. He knew how much of a workaholic she was and came to the conclusion that, although it was a Reich holiday, chances were good that she would be in her lab, hard at work on some project as usual.
Wayne passed a three-story structure that had a striking gothic architecture. Below the building’s impressive pointed arch, a plaque read: REICH TEACHERS’ LEAGUE. The building housed the regional headquarters of the organization made up of teachers devoted to the ideals of National Socialism. High Nazi officials closely scrutinized the organization and it was mandatory that all teachers join it.
Coming upon a cluster of structures, Wayne had a feeling that he was nearing his destination. He looked at the name on a large building: “Engineering.” Wrong building. He walked, at a faster pace, the short distance to another cluster of buildings, and viewed the words, “Kukulstann Science Building”, on a sign at the front entrance at what appeared to be the cluster’s main building.
Wayne entered the unlocked science building. As he tiptoed through the building’s long, quiet hall, he glimpsed at the nameplates on the numerous classroom and laboratory doors. Nervous beads of sweat formed on his eyebrows as his mission neared accomplishment. He, at least once a minute, apprehensively touched the vial that sat in his pocket.
“Fuck,” he said to himself as he approached the end of the hallway. He glanced at the nameplate to his right.
“Berkerhofft.” He glanced at the nameplate to his left.
“Hoffmann.” Wayne was in ecstasy. He knocked on the wooden door. There was no answer. He pounded his fist against the door. Still nothing. He tried the knob.
It slowly turned; the door wasn’t locked. The time had come to stop dillydallying. Wayne bolted into Dr. Hoffmann’s laboratory and stopped short in his tracks, his mouth agape. Before him stood SS Captain Siegfried von Helldorf and five of his well armed Gestapo Nazis. Dr. Hoffmann was present, too. Two Gestapo men grabbed a hold of Wayne by his arms, showing no mercy in the way they handled him.
“Just as expected, my friend,” the SS Captain remarked, wearing a wide grin across his square jaw. “Ah, you underestimate the watchful eyes of the Reich Security Office, New Berlin Division,” He held up the letter that Wayne had sent to Dr. Hoffmann from Hollenburg.
“My, my, my, hero boy, were you not aware that all mail into my jurisdiction is checked for subversive and traitorous writings. Your treacherous mail stood out as a thorn in a lovely German rose garden would.” Von Helldorf slapped Wayne hard across the face.
Dr. Hoffmann spoke, “Wayne…”
“QUIET!” von Helldorf commanded her. He addressed himself to Wayne, “Or maybe you did not know that the Gestapo censors all mail. I had a strong feeling, hearing the all points bulletin at Oberkoblenz, and to where that vermin would go. Congratulations. Last night you killed some of the best trained men in the Reich.”
“That’s right — men.” Wayne boldly stressed. “They were men. Living, breathing, thinking, human beings.”
“And do not forget expendable,” the SS Captain countered. “Too bad you chose to rebel. I believe you could have had potential as one of my soldiers. It fascinates me, why, when the State provides everything for its citizens, when we have the perfect society, would some degenerates still choose to stir up trouble.”
Wayne let his thoughts be heard, “Yours is a society built on hate. You program children’s minds to hate anyone different from themselves, as you yourself were programmed. Your society is nothing but pathetic, mindless, soulless robots.”
“I will take that as a compliment,” von Helldorf said. He ordered one of his men, “Search him.”
Wayne squirmed as a Gestapo man frisked him from head to foot, praying for his precious cargo to not be found. It was, however, rapidly discovered and handed to the SS Captain. Wayne kept his gaze stuck on the vial.
Von Helldorf held up the tube of greenish compound and viewed it curiously. “Well, what do we have here? Drugs? I am not surprised that your kind is involved in such nonsense. It is perhaps these things that have warped your minds.”
Wayne’s knees began to shake, uncontrollable, as his nerves got the best of him.
On an impulse, his lips moved and he spoke, “Be careful with that. It’s not what you think.”
The SS Captain moved to within an inch of his captive and shoved the small glass bottle in Wayne’s face, “You are telling me to be careful with this? Why? Is this your next high?”
Wayne remained silent.
“I asked you something,” von Helldorf said gruffly.
Wayne timidly responded, “No.”
Captain von Helldorf dropped the vial, shattering it on the ground. The emerald glowing Gadolinium Crystals sizzled as they oozed onto the tiled floor, eating away at the tiles.
As he stood speechless, Wayne’s heart sank and a salty tear rolled down his cheek. His efforts had been in vain.
Dr. Hoffmann said, “Wayne, the time machine has been destroyed and I had nothing to do with that, I promise you.”
“I correctly expected that you would have aided this criminal again, as you have done in the past,” von Helldorf stated. “For such treason to the Reich, you will pay with your life.”
He drew his pistol and aimed it at the back of the professor’s head. He pulled the trigger. Tiny fragments of skull and brain tissue splashed onto the late Dr. Hoffmann’s messy desk.
“YOU MOTHER FUCKIN’ BASTARD!!” Wayne painfully screamed out and lunged toward von Helldorf. He was immediately restrained by the two hefty Gestapo men.
“No more outbursts,” von Helldorf raised his voice and whacked Wayne in the face with his metal club.
Like water from a faucet that had been turned on, blood began to pour down from Wayne’s mouth as his gums bled profusely. Wayne, right there and then, fully wanted to die. With no more time machine and no more Dr. Hoffmann, there was no more hope.
Wayne was handcuffed, hauled out of the science building, and tossed into a waiting Gestapo paddy wagon.
In the bare Gestapo jail cell, Erich had been listening skeptically to Wayne’s tale.
“So, there you have it,” his cellmate said upon finishing the telling of his long story. “You wanted to know how I ended up in this shithole and now I’ve told you. I hope you’re happy.”
The cellmates heard the clank of the cellblock’s bulky, steel entrance door as it opened. SS Captain von Helldorf and three of his men approached the indigent cell.
“Ah, at last the time is here,” von Helldorf snickered. “Your day of judgment, my friend, has arrived.”
Wayne shot back, “I’m not your friend, dirt bag.”
Von Helldorf returned, “Watching you hang in public will be delightful. Did he give you any information?”
“Nothing that made any sense,” Erich, suddenly speaking in a pronounced German accent. “Just some bullshit tale that he made up.”
He slapped Wayne hard, “That is for lying to me.”
The cell door was unlocked. Wayne was roughly escorted out of the cubical.
His hands handcuffed together painfully behind his back, Wayne was dragged by the Gestapo through the crowd lined streets that led into
