“Let’s hope so.” Erik pulled back away from the edge of the ridge and motioned for them to do the same. “Pull back into the trees. I’m sure we’re too high up to be seen, but it’s best to be safe.”
Evelyn slipped behind a tree and watched as the black shadows moved along the road towards the fallen tree. As they progressed, she was slowly able to make out the long, narrow outline of three buses. There were no other vehicles with them, no tanks or motorcycles. Just the buses. She began to frown, then that same chill went down her spine and she stiffened.
“Where does that road lead?” she asked suddenly, looking over at Erik. “Where are they going?”
He met her gaze and a light of appreciation leapt into his eyes.
“You are much quicker than I expected,” he murmured. “That pass leads eventually to Steinkjer. It is the only road along this mountain ridge that goes there.”
Evelyn turned her eyes back to the buses far below them. It was as she thought, then. The Germans were catching up, and would soon be ahead of them. Their journey had just become even more dangerous. If those buses were heading for Steinkjer, then others were as well. There was no way they would reach the town before the Germans.
“If they take over Steinkjer, they will control the route to the coast,” Anna breathed. “We’ll never make it to Namsos.”
Erik glanced at her. “Never say never. There’s always a way. And we don’t know that they’ve taken it yet.”
“Look!” Peder interrupted, nodding to the road below. “They’re stopping.”
Erik raised the binoculars, training them on the vehicles slowing to a stop in the distance. Despite the distance, Evelyn could see enough to know when the buses had come to a complete stop.
“They’re getting out,” Erik said a moment later. “Two officers just got out of the lead bus, and another one is coming out of the second. They’ll go to examine the blockage and see what they need to do to remove it.”
“Can they do that, do you think?” Anna asked.
“It depends on what they have on the buses with them,” he said, lowering the binoculars. “If they have some axes, possibly. It will take hours, though. More than likely, they’ll call for a tank if there is one close enough. Otherwise, they will look for another route.”
More dark specks emerged from the buses and moved towards the tree laying across the road. Even though they were far below them, Evelyn felt a strange kind of terror at the sight of the enemy soldiers. They would find a way past the obstacle, and then they would continue to Steinkjer and beyond. There would be no stopping them.
Just as the thought entered her mind, the hushed silence of the mountains was suddenly shattered by a staccato of cracks, almost like...
“Gunfire!” Anna cried, staring down the mountainside.
Erik had the binoculars up to his eyes again, but Evelyn didn’t need them to see the chaos unfolding below. Tracers of bullets were arcing out of the trees, onto the road and the hapless buses. The sound of machine gun and rifle fire, delayed by distance, seemed disjointed and almost theatrical as it echoed up the cliffs to reach them, at odds with the scene below them.
More troops were pouring out of the buses now, firing back into the trees as a virtual hail of bullets rained down upon them from the surrounding hills. As the sounds of the battle reached the party high up on the ridge, they saw the dark shadows around the buses begin falling to the ground.
Evelyn watched in shock as the lead bus suddenly went up in flames a few seconds before the sound of the explosion reached them. The front of the bus lifted up into the air briefly before the whole vehicle rolled over, engulfed in flames. And still the gunfire continued from the mountains as the German soldiers tried to take shelter behind the other two buses.
“Oh my God,” Anna breathed beside her, her eyes wide in a pale face and her voice sounding almost strangled.
Evelyn watched, her throat closing in horror, as more and more shadows became motionless against the white snow. She struggled to breathe while still unable to tear her eyes away from the grisly sight. Just as she was sure there would be no end, she saw something flutter above the second bus. Someone had raised a white flag, signaling defeat. Another one appeared near the last bus and she began to breathe a sigh of relief. It was over.
Except it wasn’t over. She and Anna stared, horrified, as the gunfire continued from the trees.
Evelyn felt the blood drain out of her face and her heart pounded against her chest as she tried to understand what she was witnessing. The soldiers trapped between the buses were surrendering! Why didn’t the shooters stop firing? They were supposed to cease fire at the sight of the international symbol for surrender.
But the gunfire continued and, one by one, more and more shadows became motionless in the road until, eventually, there was no more return fire. The white flags had disappeared into the snow, released as the ones waving them fell to join their comrades.
The unholy silence that descended upon the mountains once again was deafening as the last rifle fell silent from the trees. Staring down into the mountain pass, Evelyn felt a surge of nausea roll through her. There was no movement around the buses now, and the flames of the burning shell in the front were licking towards the tree blocking the road. Seeing the motionless bodies lying in the snow, and listening to the awful silence, she took a deep, ragged breath.
“I...don’t understand,” Anna whispered brokenly. “There was a flag. They were surrendering. Why didn’t they stop?”
Evelyn had no answer, turning to look at Erik. His face was pale and his lips were pinched together
