Under a Blood Red Sky Read Online Free PDF Page B

fooling?
    She’d tried tears and she’d tried begging. But nothing worked. Sofia was determined and couldn’t be stopped. For Anna it felt as though her heart was being cut out. Of course she couldn’t blame her friend for choosing to make a break for freedom, to find a life worth living. No one could deny her that. Thousands tried escape every year though very few actually made it to safety, but… it still felt like… No. Nyet . Anna wouldn’t think it, refused to let the word into her head. But at night when she lay awake racked by coughs and by fears for Sofia’s survival, the word slithered in, dark and silent as a snake. Desertion. It felt like desertion, like being abandoned yet again. No one Anna loved ever stayed.
     
    Anna started counting. She counted the planks of wood in the wall and the nails in each plank and which type of nail, flat-headed or round-headed. It meant she didn’t have to think.
    ‘Stop it,’ Sofia snapped at her.
    ‘Stop what?’
    ‘Counting.’
    ‘What makes you think I’m counting?’
    ‘Because you’re sitting there staring with blank eyes at the opposite wall and I know you’re counting. Stop it, I hate it.’
    ‘I’m not counting.’
    ‘You are. Your lips are moving.’
    ‘I’m praying for you.’
    ‘Don’t lie.’
    ‘I’ll count if I want. Like you’ll escape if you want.’
    They stared at each other, then looked away and said no more.
     
    They planned it carefully. Sofia would follow the railway track, travel by night and hide up in the forest by day. It was safer that way and meant she wouldn’t suffer from the cold overnight because she’d be walking. It was March now and the temperatures were rising each day, the snow and ice melting, the floor of the pine forests turning into a soft damp carpet of needles. She should travel fast.
    ‘You must head for the River Ob,’ Anna urged her, ‘and once you’ve found it, follow it south. But even on foot and in the dark, travelling will be hard without identity papers.’
    ‘I’ll manage.’
    Anna said nothing more. The likelihood of Sofia getting even as far as the River Ob was almost nil. Nevertheless they continued with their preparations and took to stealing, not only from the guards but also from other prisoners. They stole matches and string and pins for fish-hooks and a pair of extra leggings. They wanted to snatch a knife from the kitchens but nothing went right despite several attempts, and by the eve of the day planned for the escape, they still had no blade for Sofia. But Anna made one last foray.
    ‘Look,’ she said as she came into the barrack hut, her scarf wound tight over her chin.
    She hunched down beside Sofia in their usual place on the wooden floor, backs to the wall near the door where the air was cleaner, to avoid the kerosene fumes that always set off Anna’s coughing spasms. From under a protective fold of her jacket she drew her final haul: a sharp-edged skinning knife, a small tin of tushonka , stewed beef, two thick slices of black bread and a pair of half decent canvas gloves.
    Sofia’s eyes widened.
    ‘I stole them,’ Anna said. ‘Don’t worry, I paid nothing for them.’
    They both knew what she meant.
    ‘Anna, you shouldn’t have. If a guard had caught you, you’d be shot and I don’t want you dead.’
    ‘I don’t want you dead either.’
    Both spoke coolly, an edge to their voices. That’s how it was between them now, cool and practical. Sofia took the items from Anna’s cold hands and tucked them away in the secret pocket they had stitched inside her padded jacket.
    ‘ Spasibo.’
    For a while they didn’t speak because there was nothing left to say that hadn’t been said. Anna coughed into her scarf, wiped her mouth, leaned her head back against the wall and concentrated on the spot where their shoulders touched. It was the only place of warmth between them now and she cherished it.
    ‘I’m fearful for you, Sofia.’
    ‘Don’t be.’
    ‘Fear is a such