everyone suddenly stopped walking. An eerie silence swept through the crowd. The only noise he heard came from the wind and the roar of the flames.
Every eye instantly looked up.
“Listen,” someone yelled. “Hear it?”
Luther did now. So did everyone else. The low droning sound of bombers coming from the west. Just like before. Another wave was coming. Pandemonium broke out. People started screaming and shoving. Two people instantly went over the stone rail and plunged into the river. The mob around him instantly turned and headed back in the other direction, the same direction Luther had been going. No one wanted to be stuck on the bridge. The sound grew louder. The planes weren’t just getting closer, there were more of them. Many more.
Luther noticed a man carrying a child in his arms with a woman right beside him. She held another child by the hand. He followed them. The man got off the bridge and turned left, then down the riverbank. Luther was right behind him. The man ran away from the bridge.
“We’ve got to get to that open area,” the man said. “See it? They didn’t bomb the open areas or by the river last time. Maybe we’ll be safe there.”
Luther tried to keep up, but he tripped. When he got up, the family was too far ahead. But he could still see them, so he started running again.
The plane noise was so loud now. All along the riverbank people were looking up and pointing. Luther stopped a moment to look. The first few squadrons of bombers were just reaching the city. You could see them perfectly outlined by the reflection of the fire on the wings and fuselage.
Then the bombs started falling again. He could actually see them falling from the bottom of the planes.
Everyone started screaming.
8
The first explosions were the loudest sounds Luther had ever heard. The ground beneath him rumbled and shook with each one. He began to scream but couldn’t hear a thing coming out of his mouth. He glanced back toward the Old Town area as three huge explosions went off, one after the other. Three fiery mushroom clouds followed, rising high in the sky. Luther buried his face again into the riverbank.
More explosions came, this time on his right and much closer. He lifted his head. It was the railway station, already on fire from the first raid.
Soon explosions came from every direction. He curled into a ball and clamped his palms around both ears, but it made no difference. Images of his mother and Eva flashed into his mind. Why had he come out here? He could be safe at home with them. And what about Ernst? If he was anywhere else but right here near the riverbank, how could he survive?
How could anyone?
Luther was certain any moment a bomb would fall right on top of them. What did it feel like to die that way? Did it hurt? Anything would be better than burning to death.
Luther continued to lay there on the riverbank for the next twenty or thirty minutes, along with a mass of strangers. The bombs continued to fall, almost nonstop. Only a few came close. Luther became more aware of two other things besides the terrifying explosions. The wind and the heat. Both had gotten much worse since the second round of bombs began. In the last few minutes, the wind had gotten so strong, Luther had to dig his heels and claw his fingers into the mud to keep from being pulled away.
But it did seem like the explosions were finally starting to cease. The hot wind made the greatest noise now, followed by the roaring sound of flames. The heat was so bad, Luther found it hard to breathe. Suddenly, a towel had blown from somewhere right into his face. He clung to it, then crawled carefully toward the edge of the river. Dipping the towel into the water, he wrapped it around his head. It offered only a tiny bit of relief.
When the explosions finally did stop, some of the people around him stood. Luther saw the father and mother with two small children coming this way. Everyone standing had to lean forward into the