Chapter 32: Chapter 31: A Town in Berzasca (2)

Town in Berzasca, Balkans, Ottoman Empire

A large number of mounted Ottoman soldiers are approaching in a distance. The town’s people have seen the approaching soldiers and are all scared and panicking. They heard stories of how the military ransacked and burned down towns and massacred its populace even if they were not supporting the rebels or any movement against the government.

The children are running toward their mothers and fathers armed themselves with anything they can use. They prepared pitchforks, knives, hunting bows, or some old muskets that they can use to protect themselves. They were still hoping that the soldiers have come in peace but as time passes they can see that the soldiers are armed to the limit and their expressions are dark and grim. Talking might not even be possible with the soldiers.

Parents hid their children in their attics, barns, chicken coops, and if possible in forest huts away from the town. But most went to the town church and mosque for protection, they hope that the soldiers would be deterred to enter the holy places and would not cause any bloodshed and conflicts. All of the people are praying for their Gods, whether the person is a Catholic, Muslim, Jewish, or Orthodox Christian, hoping for peace and safety.

But it seems that God didn’t listen to their prayers. When the soldiers are near the town they started to open fire on the civilians. The soldiers didn’t even make an effort to ask or interrogate the town’s people whether there are any rebels or not, they just started shooting and killing people. They even tossed exploding or fire bombs inside buildings to burn or destroy them.

The people are horrified at what the soldiers have done. People started to run away but they were no match for the soldiers who are riding horses. They were easy and slow-moving targets for the soldiers who are having fun while doing the assault.

Teodor seeing this was stunned, he always trusted the Ottoman government and the military to protect and serve the people. He even had an argument with his daughter, Sofia, regards the atrocious actions the military is doing right now. He didn’t believe his daughter and now seeing what is happening in front of him, makes him regret and think he should have acted sooner and earlier.

But having regrets is not the right time, for now, he first needs to find his daughter amidst this chaos. He gathers everything he can bring to his clinic and loaded his favorite revolver with bullets. He had always kept this revolver as this was passed down by his father to him before he passed away. He went out of the clinic and immediately search for her daughter

“Sofia… where are you…”

Teodor shouts at the top of his lungs hoping that Sofia would hear him and respond to him. But his voice is drowned by the voices and screams of hundreds of other people. Some are crying in pain while others are screaming for help. Others are even cursing the soldiers and the Gods.

All around him are all tragedy. People were shot while they were fleeing, girls were raped and assaulted in the middle of the town, and children were stabbed with the soldiers’ sabers and swords. The entire town is in pandemonium.

“Doctor… please help me…”

A man with a large open wound in the stomach is asking for help from Teodor who is a doctor. He is lying on the ground staring at Teodor hoping he would help and save him. Teodor looks at him, the condition of the man is beyond saving. His intestines are spread on the ground and blood continues to gush outside his stomach. But he can’t say that he can’t survive with this kind of wound to the young man, the man is as young as his daughter. He can’t imagine what would he feel like if his daughter is in that kind of state.

This man is still too young to die, he thought. He approaches the injured young man to help him even though he knows it is impossible to save him. He is a doctor and it is his duty to save lives even if it is might impossible. He picks up the scattered intestines and gets a clean white cloth from his bag to try to cover the open wound.

“Doc… Am I gonna die?”

“No… you’re not.”

“Doc… Am I gonna die?”

“Doc… Am I gonna die?”

“Doc……….”

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The young man keeps repeating the same line over again. It is like a coping mechanism for the young man to keep himself conscious and awake from dying. Teodor admires and pities the struggle of the young man. He should have a lot of dreams and goals in life but it would end up like this because of the attacking soldiers. He wants at least to give the young man a painless and peaceful death.

But even that could not be given to the young man. A soldier approached them and shot Teodor and then the young man. Teodor was lucky to be only grazed on his shoulder but the young man is unlucky. The young man was shot in the legs which increase his suffering and pain. It could have been better if he is shot and killed immediately but the soldier purposely shot a non-vital shot to make the young man in pain.

Teodor sees what just happened as he flees away from the spot, he remembers that he needs to still find his daughter, and his daughter might be in the fields or near the river. But first, he needs to escape the town he is in.

He runs as fast as he can in the midst of the chaotic town, the soldiers shoot him but luckily he is able to evade the bullets. He run as fast as he can, the sensation of fear and adrenaline made his blood quicken and electrify him to move fast and agile and made his skin tingle. The pain of the bullet wound he receive in his shoulder disappeared from the combination of adrenaline, fear, and worry for his daughter. Adrenaline clears his mind to first find his daughter.

He is already at the last structure in the town and near the field when a mounted soldier is approaching him rapidly. The soldier is laughing widely and welds his swords ready to cut Teodor as he gets near to him. He sees Teodor as an easy target to kill, he is already old and slow than the young man he just killed a while ago. This is another walk of the park but he didn’t expect what Teodor had prepared.

Teodor picked up his revolver in his bag. The adrenaline removes any inhibition from him to not use the gun. Everything is in slow motion, Teodor grips the gun and points it toward the soldier. The soldier is shocked because he didn’t expect that the old man has a weapon. He tries to reach him faster to prevent Teodor to use the revolver but Teodor is already ready to pull the trigger.

“BANG!”

The soldier is shot directly in the middle of his chest. The soldier didn’t even have the time to react and he just fell off the horse. Teodor is shocked, this is the first time he shot and killed a person. He is a doctor, not a murderer. But the adrenaline clears his head that he doesn’t have time to weigh what he had just done. He needs to find his daughter fast.

He runs into the fields in his quest for finding his daughter. He run as fast as he can to the frequent place where his daughter and her friends always stayed and hung out. He knows that time is the enemy, the longer the time he won’t find his daughter, the less chance they would see ever her again.

He is lucky that the crops in the fields are large enough for him to run without the soldiers spotting him. The soldiers were also busy on their rampage and pillaging across the town that they have no time to check the fields.

Even if he is still in an adrenaline rush, he slowly felt the pain of the bullet wound on his shoulder. He is feeling the pain and burning sensation in his shoulder. His shoulder also started to get stiff and every time he moved his shoulder he would be in pain.

After running in the field, Teodor still hasn’t found his daughter, and his worry is starting to eat his rationality. He fears that it is already too late for his daughter. His mind started to imagine what happened to Sofia and almost every worst scenario had run into his mind.

He trotted in the direction of the river near the fields, the last spot where he is hoping his daughter would be there. He is starting to lose hope but he still continues to walk toward the river in the hopes for his daughter.

He eventually reached the bank of the river and he is mortified at what scene he had witnessed. He immediately grips his revolver while he is crying. He is already too late.

“BANG”

“BANG”

“BANG”