Chapter 3 - Getting Out

The weight of the two children in the wheelbarrow was beginning tire Sara out – the adrenaline rush of the moments before were beginning to wear off. At first she thought she could push the wheelbarrow forward up the stairs, but quickly realized that the best approach was to turn around and go up the stairway backwards, pulling the wheelbarrow up as she went along. About halfway up the stairway she carefully lowered the handles until the skids made contact with the stairs and slowly released her grip, holding her breath. To her amazement, it seemed to sit solidly balanced on the stairway, allowing her arms to recover a bit. She looked behind her at the remaining stairway, her tense face loosened up a bit now that she could see a bit of the doorway to the outside. She had no idea no idea what she was going to do with the children once she got them outside, Gerda had not revealed that part of the plan before she killed her. All she knew is that she needed to get them out of that building

right now.

She took hold of the handles again and raised the wheelbarrow off its skids to resume her climb up the stairway. As she reached the top of the stairway and into the entryway, she heard a commotion coming from outside. Sounds like crying interrupted by a few shouts in German – then suddenly two loud pops of gunfire and the crying and shouting stopped. It was then that she could hear activity coming from the stairway leading up to the next floor - footsteps, voices and typewriters clacking away. She could hear the beating of her own heart as the footsteps seemed to come and go – they didn't sound as though they were coming down the stairway and she said a little prayer that it stayed that way.

Now facing the door to the outside, her body began to tremble a bit over the growing fear that someone would come through the doors as she attempted to get outside. Through the crack between the double doors she peeked to see if anyone was nearby. She knew she had to