Remembering Dresden (Jack Turner Suspense Series Book 2) Read Online Free PDF

wrong. That’s where the orange glow came from. Luther knew why. Everything on the other side of the river was still burning.
    Where Ernst was.
    But surely they couldn’t be working all night. Ernst was just a boy, only two years older than him. He needed to sleep. In his bed. Next to Luther.
    Luther decided to sneak out once more, to go find Ernst and bring him back home. That was the only way he would ever get any sleep on a night like this. He quickly dressed and opened his bedroom door a crack. The rest of the house was dark. He listened a few moments. Not a sound. His mother and Eva must’ve gone to bed. But sometimes his mother waited up in the living room, in the dark, if Eva had ever come home late on a date. That hadn’t happened in a long time. But Luther couldn’t take a chance that she might be waiting up for Ernst.
    He decided to sneak out the back door and went the opposite direction down the hallway.
    Outside, a wave of fear stopped him. Could he really do this? He’d walked this same path to the river then over the bridge, even around the Old Town area many times. But never at night, and always with Ernst. He knew the way. And with these fires, it really wasn’t all that dark out. And there was no way he could ever get to sleep without Ernst.
    He started walking. Quickly, before he talked himself out of it.
     
     
    It had taken an extra ten minutes to get here, but Luther was now on the last street before reaching the bridge. The darkness hadn’t slowed him down; it was the bomb damage. Apparently, some bombs had fallen on this side of the bridge, knocking a few buildings down right in the middle of the street. This had forced him to find another route. But at least he’d never felt lost. The ever-present glow of the night sky had kept him on track.
    He turned the corner. The once-familiar Augustus-Brucke was across the street. Nothing else looked even remotely familiar. From left to right, everything was still on fire. One massive wall of flame. And the intense heat he‘d felt on the other side of the river hours ago had reached this side. The hot wind he‘d felt before was also much stronger now. It was actually pushing him forward, toward the bridge.
    Small groups of people huddled together along the riverbank on either side of the bridge. As he got closer, he saw all of them had blankets or towels wrapped around their heads. The bridge was still crowded with people, though not as many as before. Most of them coming this way.
    He walked up to a few of these groups near the riverbank, hoping to find Ernst among them. He didn’t. Then he realized, if Ernst wasn’t with the Hitler Youth anymore he wouldn’t stay down here; he’d go home. Luther certainly hadn’t seen him on his way here. Ernst had to still be on the other side.
    Luther decided to try and make it across the bridge. Since so many people had left the Old Town area, maybe it wouldn’t be so hard to find Ernst’s group. He could just ask people if they had seen any Hitler Youth fighting the fires. How many of them could there be?
    He squinted his eyes against the heated wind and began walking toward the bridge. At the base, he bumped into a woman with her arms around two children.
    “Where are you going, little boy?” she said. “You can’t go back there. The fires are too hot, and they’re coming this way.”
    “I’ve got to find my brother. He’s over there with the Hitler Youth trying to put them out.”
    “No one is trying to put out fires anymore. It’s no use. We were told to get over the bridge right away. There’s nothing to stop the fires from burning all the way to the river now. But I did see some young boys a little older than you working with some old men. They were carrying the wounded on stretchers toward the riverbank. Maybe he’s with them.”
    “Okay, thank you.” That had to be Ernst’s group. He started pushing his way through the crowd. When he had almost reached the far side of the bridge,