“What kind of person would order planes to bomb innocent civilians?” Lucette asked.
“A monster.” Anger surged through Ruth. She honked the vehicle’s horn and weaved her way through the throngs of people.
Forty minutes later, they approached the village of Liart. To the southeast, clouds of smoke filled the horizon and explosions echoed like thunder over the rolling, rural terrain.
Ruth tightened her grip on the steering wheel. “They’re much closer than before.”
Lucette rolled down the passenger window and leaned her head to listen.
“How far away do you think they are?” Ruth asked.
“Six kilometers. Maybe less.”
Tank cannons boomed in the distance. Lucette rolled up the window and clenched the hem of her wool skirt.
“Are you okay?”
“It’s the tank guns,” Lucette said, her voice quavering. “I’m worried about Paul.”
Ruth’s heart ached. For the past several days, they’d inquired often about the whereabouts of the 503rd Combat Tank Regiment, in which Paul served as a commander. His battalion would likely have been deployed to the Ardennes to defend against the German Panzers, but none of the medics, soldiers, or army hospital staff could provide them with any news.
“We must have hope that he’s safe.” Ruth clasped Lucette’s hand. “He’s going to be all right.”
She squeezed her fingers and blinked away tears. “Oui, he will.”
The village of Liart was deserted, save for a woman who was loading three young children into a horse-drawn wagon that was lined with a mattress and blankets. Ruth turned onto a cobblestone street and parked the ambulance in front of a large stone convent that was partially covered in thick, green ivy. They jumped out of their vehicle to the sound of tank gunfire, louder and closer than before. Hairs rose on the back of Ruth’s neck as she and Lucette ran to the entrance and rapped on the door.
A lock clicked and the door opened to reveal Sister Odette, a hazel-eyed nun of no more than eighteen or nineteen years of age.
“I’m sorry it took us so long,” Ruth said. “How are the soldiers?”
Sister Odette cupped her hands. “The soldiers are in stable condition, but we moved them. The sound of explosions has gotten much closer. We were worried that you might not get here in time.”
“Where are they?” Lucette asked.
“Sister Céline enlisted the help of a farmer with a truck. It was the last remaining fueled vehicle in the area. They left thirty minutes ago to take the soldiers to the hospital in Hirson. I pray we did the right thing.”
“You did,” Ruth said. “They’ll get there before us, and before the hospital is evacuated.”
“Thank you for caring for them,” Lucette said.
Sister Odette nodded.
Cannon fire boomed a few kilometers away.
Odette raised her head toward an arched ceiling of the entrance hall.
“The sisters of the convent need to evacuate,” Ruth said.
“We’re servants of God,” she said. “No harm will come to us.”
“We’ve seen firsthand what the Germans are doing,” Ruth said. “They’re bombing villages. Civilians are being injured and killed.”
“We must stay,” Sister Odette said. “There will likely be others who will seek sanctuary with the church.”
Ruth and Lucette attempted to persuade Odette to flee, but she held firm with her decision to remain at the convent.
Odette clasped a wooden cross, worn on a string around her neck. “May God support you in danger.”
“Merci,” Ruth said.
Ruth and Lucette exited the convent, got into their ambulance, and drove away. Leaving Liart, Ruth turned onto an unmarked, narrow back road that bordered an open field.
“Is this a faster route?”
“I don’t know,” Ruth said. “But, according to our map, it travels in the right direction.”
“At least, for now, there are no crowds on the road,” Lucette said. “We might make better time.”
“I hope so.”
“How is our fuel?”
Ruth glanced at the gauge. “It’s getting low. We’ll need to refuel before we get to Hirson.”
They had two fuel cans, one of which was empty, in the rear of the ambulance. The mass exodus of civilians generated a hoarding of petrol. Now, most of the service stations were abandoned or out of fuel, and the only means of getting more petrol was through the French military.
The roar of airplane engines grew.
