Truths

Werner knocked on the door to Dr. Zieglers office, nobody answered. He knocked again, this time more loudly. After a minute of weighing his choices he slowly opened the door. Dr. Ziegler wasn't in the room. Unsure wether to leave or to wait, Werner closed the door again and paced up and down in front of it. It was 10am, so Dr. Ziegler was surely already at work. Maybe he was in the lab? Werner headed for the lab. He didn't want to get caught doing nothing, that would look terrible, especially since he'd gotten his Christmas wish granted. He had to smile as he thought of Marie. 

He cracked the door to the lab open and peered inside. There they were! Dr. Ziegler didn't hear the door but Wojciechowski turned around. Werner opened it further and stepped inside. "Guten Morgen." He greeted them both. Dr. Ziegler gave him a curt nodd and Wojciechowski returned his greeting. 

"I was able to convince Dr. Ziegler here to ask the Lagerführer if there were any other doctors, chemists or biologists under the prisoners-."

"Workers." Ziegler interrupted. 

"And there turned out to be a handfull that could prove usefull. Ziegler obviously said they were for experimenting on and not with, but they'll join us tomorrow."

"Are they polish?"

"Oh yes, two of them are and one is a russian." 

"Can they speak German?" Werner asked.

"Nope, none." Wojciechowski added almost delightfully. "But I speak both languages, so it won't be a problem."

"Do they at least speak english?" Werner asked. 

"Of course, and so do I, but Dr. Ziegler doesn't."

"You don't?" Werner asked in surprise. Dr. Ziegler didn't answer, he pretended to be busy with his inspection of some lab instrument Werner couldn't name. 

"No, French was a more commen language to learn, and he can write Latin of course, he's a doctor."

"Will we speak english or are you going to speak russian with the other doctors?" Werner asked. He posed the question out of more than just curiosity, he wanted to know wether he'd understand them or not.

"English I think. Most of us can understand it." Wojciechowski decided. "And you can translate for Dr. Ziegler, or maybe I will, you don't understand medecine like we do." 

"I'm not going to help you much anyway." Dr. Ziegler said, suddenly speaking to them. He'd been listening the whole time, and he'd gotten quite annoyed. It was embarrassing that everyone else could speak english fluently. "I'll only be here to supervise or I'll be in my office working on my ideas." 

"Well am I going to be working with you then or with Wojchiechowski?" Werner asked in confusion. 

"I don't need your help." Dr. Ziegler said with a shrug. "Now that I'm not doing lab work I don't really need an assistant; at least, not at the moment. You can help him, and keep an eye on them."

"You're welcome to help me out. Cancer is a hard subject...but if you know somebody who had it you're a step closer than us." Wojchiechowski said with a smile. "It's going to be hard, but I got some of my journals and I think I'm pretty close..."

Werner nodded along, but he was lost in thought. He was going to help Wojciechowski and nobody was going to be there to supervise them most of the time! There couldn't be a better time or place to figure out a plan to bust the doctor (and his team, if they proved usefull) out of Auschwitz. And if he saw no chance in being able to flee, they might have a chance of finding the cure here. 

But Wojchiechowskis next words brought Werner back down to earth and to the harsh reality of medecine. "We're going to need a lot of mice." 

"Mice?" 

"We need to put the tumors in somewhere." Wojciechowski said with a shrug. Werner realized, for the first time, that they were still in a time where animals were test subjects, regardless of the pain they might feel.

"Where do you get the tumors?" 

"Other animals." Wojciechowski replied. Dr. Ziegler was amused and overjoyed by the horror in Werner's expression. Wojciechowski isn't a hero either, Killian, he's a monster just like me. 

"We'll kill them before it gets too painfull, right?" 

"We need to watch how they die, Werner. We need to learn what little things could save them." Wojciechowski could tell that Werner was disgusted and hurt by the idea of doing this to the little critters, so he spoke very softly. But his polish accent made it less soft than it could have been. 

"Okay." He said quietly. He hadn't expected it to be so gruesome and unfair for the little beasts. "Anything else I should know?"

"If a cure seems to work well we'll test it on rabbits, then on swine and at the very end, people." 

"You might plant a tumor in someone just to maybe cure him afterwards?" Werner spit in horror. Wojciechowski eyed Dr. Ziegeler with a confused expression. 

"Your assistant seems like he isn't cut out to be a doctor."

"I could be a doctor alright, I couldn't be a fucking researcher." Werner answered coldly. He was angry with the both of them, especially with Wojciechowski because he had assumed that the polish doctor was a good man. He'd never guessed that he was so keen on doing experiments with animals, and so oblivious to their pain and suffering. "Neither of you know what it's like to have cancer, I DO, and the thought of planting that fucking illness into another fucking human being is just FUCKED up." Werner lost his head. He spoke angrily and with a tornado's wrath. Wojciechowski watched him with empathy and Dr. Ziegler watched him in surprise. Werner hadn't seemed like the type of boy to lose his head. "They should plant a fucking bullet in your fucking head you fucking mistake of a doctor!" 

"Where is this anger coming from?" Wojciechowski asked confusedly. 

"There's a fucking tumor in my head right now, eating up my brain as we speak, and no matter what happens in Auschwitz I am going to die eventually because of it! It's eating my brain, Wojciechowski." Werner's eyes sparked with anger. His gaze could have lit a fire, had they had any burnable substances around. "And you're going to do that to somebody else, without guarantee that you can save them after. You're a fucking-." But Werner's words turned to a scream of anger. He lunged forwards and grabbed Wojciechowski by the collar, shaking him down like a Mafia's Godfather. "You disgrace of a doctor! How could you be so noncholant about this? This is life we're talking about, the very thing you want to save with you're fucking cure!" 

"Killian," the swarthy pole said tiredly, "please let me go." And Werner did as if the ghost of the past which had possessed him had suddenly dissappeared, he dropped the collar and stepped back, still breathing heavily. Wojciechowski glanced over at Dr. Ziegler who remained expressionless. "If you're so against planting a tumor into somebody elses head, then we can use you as a test subject." Wojciechowski words were strict. His goal was to get Werner to calm down and realize there was no other way possible than using the animals and later a few humans. He did not expect Werner to shrug and nodd his head. 

"Alright then, use me. I should be dead by now anyway."