Tuck Everlasting, The Continued Story.

Chapter 4

Miles and Winnie ran into the woods, the gunshots and screams growing smaller with distance. Winnie felt guilty leaving the other nurses behind, knowing that they would be defenseless, but Miles insisted that they keep moving forward. She was slower than Miles, but pushed herself to keep up with him. They dodged trees in their path and lept over logs, trying to maintain stablility despite the rough tarrain.

The hill was becoming steep, which helped propell them forward, and they began to wonder if they had outrun the men who were chasing them. Suddenly, Miles and Winie both slipped on a wet patch of grass and tumbled down the long steep hill. They continued to tumble, hitting rocks and bushes, untill the hill became lateral once again and they slowed to a stop. They sat up, catching their breath. "Are you ok?" Miles asked Winnie. Then he rolled his eyes. "Right." He said.

They heard dogs barking, and somebody shout something in German, and they quickly lept to their feet. At the top of the hill where they had just tumbled down, fifteen Nazi soldiers lined up, each pointing their rifles at Miles and Winnie. If they ran and were fired at, the soldiers would know they were immortal. If they stayed, they would be captured. Winnie and Miles had little time to debate this, so Miles took action. He quickly took a granade from his belt, and lifted it to his mouth. He took the pin out with his teeth and expertly threw the granade right at the line of soldiers.

As soon as they saw the granade, some scattered away while others shot at Miles and Winnie, who were already running away. Miles and Winnie didn't look back, but they heard the grenade go off, and hoped that they had stalled the soldiers at least for a moment.

The continued to run through the woods with the sound of barking dogs getting closer. They pushed their way through a large bush, when suddenly they came to halt. Speeding mere inches away from their feet, was a rushing river; moving so fast that anything that fell into it would be immediately swept away. Miles turned to Winnie, and shouted to be heard over the sound of the rapids. "We have to jump!"

Winnie's forehead creased with worry as she shook her head. "I can't swim!" she shouted.

Miles pointed upriver and shouted, "That log! We can hold onto that!" Sure enough, quickly floating down the river was a thick log, with the stubs of fallen branches protruding on all sides. Winnie nodded, and Miles grabbed her arm. "On three!" He shouted. "One!" The log floated closer. Winnie could hear the German's approaching. "Two!" Winnie braced herself, and as soon as Miles shouted, "Three!" They both lept into the freezing water.

At first, Winnie felt herself sink into the water, and she began to panic. Suddenly, she felt a sharp tug on her arm, and she was pulled to the surface gasping for air. Miles had managed to grab hold of the log, and he pulled Winnie to his side untill she was safely holding on as well. She wrapped her arms around the log, and Miles did the same on the other side. They faced each other as the river was quickly pushing them downstream.

Winnie looked back to where they had jumped, and saw five soldiers burst through the bushes with their menacing dogs close at hand. Winnie almost smiled as she saw them standing at the waters edge, looking on as they floated away. The soldiers then clicked their heels together and saluted as their commanding officer strolled past them to the edge of the river. It was the man whom Winnie had seen earlier, with the ugly scar across his face. He wore a long black coat with a red swastica band on his arm.

He pulled a black luger from inside of his coat, and slowly pointed at Miles. Winnie's heart skipped a beat. "No!" she screamed, but the officer shot Miles in the back. Miles was surprised, and almost let go of the log, but he still held on. Then the officer aimed at Winnie. They locked eyes for a moment before he pulled the trigger.

The bullet hit Winnie on her right shoulder, and caused her to let go of the log. She sank under, and started to float away, but Miles grabbed her by the collar of her dress, and pulled her back up. They both held onto the log as it carried them far away from the soldiers.

As Miles and Winnie were carried downstream, back on shore the German officer lowered his luger. "How interesting." he said in German. He put his gun back in it's holder, and spun on his heel to head back up the hill.

"Von Kliest!" One of his men asked. "Aren't you going after them?" 

He turned to face him. "I know exactly where they are going." he replied. He pulled a cigarette from his jacket and placed it between his lips as he continued walking.