Valiant Crimes

Wilhelm and Ross continued scouting out the area not speaking as they headed back to the abandoned house just as night fell. A part of Wilhelm wanted to take care of Ross, ask her if the kiss was real but he knew it was foolish. Ross didn’t think about anything of the sort. Her thoughts revolving around the past, the golden eyes of hers glazed over no longer paying attention to the world around her. She kept telling herself to go to a happy place, to remember the good times for if her mind wandered back to the dark corners of the past she would surely lose her mind.

Thoughts of home entered her mind, when home was actually home to her, her childhood before her mother died. The time she was thirteen and Johnny was six, days when their father would take them and their mother to their quaint summer home in the Poconos. Ross wanted so badly to go back to those days when her pop stayed up with her to look at the stars on nights she couldn’t sleep, the times when her mother would use English curses in her thick Hispanic accent that would make me laugh.

She thought about how at this moment she could have been in the penitentiary and that if she survives this place she’d be going straight to trial where she may be sentenced to death or life in prison. A soft laughter escaped Ross’s lips as she sat in the house with the rest of the Basterds. Everyone stopped to look at her, wondering what was making her laugh.
“What’s so funny?” Hirschberg inquires first.
“Just thinking about something,” Ross replies trying to compose herself and walked off to avoid anymore questions. Somehow she found the hopeless situation utterly hilarious but deep down she knew why she was truly laughing. It wasn’t because it was funny to her; it was because she couldn’t bring herself to cry about it, it was completely senseless and insane.

Aldo sensed something was off about that laughter, and got up to make sure Ross was alright upstairs. He found her in the room she had gotten ready in earlier in the day sitting on the bed screaming into pillow. The screams were muffled yet each one lasted longer than the last making Aldo think she’d actually pass out. Ross felt as though someone was watching her and she peeked over the edge of the pillow as she brought it down slowly to see Aldo standing there.
“What in the hell are ya doin’? Yer gonna give yerself an aneurysm or something,” Aldo questions sounding concerned.
“Don’t question my methods of insanity Aldo, its better than me beating up Donny, wait did you say I was going to give myself an aneurysm?” Ross replies looking at him trying not to laugh.
“Yes, I know damn well screamin’ for that long without breathin’ ain’t good for ya,” he counters giving Ross a serious look. Ross looked up at Aldo from the bed and the pair engaged in an intense staring contest.
“Fine, I’ll stop,” Ross states unable to bear it any longer and got up to leave the room. The draw was pulling at her again and she needed to get out of there before she did something about it. Aldo grabbed Ross’s hand for some reason not wanting her to go. Ross looked at Aldo a little taken back and she bit her bottom lip somewhat nervously not knowing what he was about to do. After they stared at one another for a little while, Aldo let out a sigh then let Ross’s hand drop out of his.

Neither one said anything and Aldo stalked off looking defeated. Ross decided to remain in the room for a little while longer to collect herself. The tension between the both of them was intense. Luckily they would release some of that tension when they were going to storm the Nazis at their small base just a little ways out of town. At least that’s what both of them hoped would happen because neither of them knew what to do about the strange feeling stirring inside them whenever they were alone together.

The Basterds marched onwards and assailed the Nazi base guns blazing. Ross took out an impressive amount of soldiers with her accurate aim but when she got to the one she had recognized the day before she made sure to make him suffer. The man cursed in German, calling her every name imaginable after Ross had shot him in both kneecaps and shoulders. Ross stood above him looking down at him with an intense fury in her eyes as she prodded his wounds with the end of a rifle. Everyone else was busy scalping and Ross pinned the man’s arms down with her knees using her leg strength to help keep them down then took out her knife from its sheath. His eyes grew wide with fear.

“Why so scared darling? You said it yourself that you liked women on top, I’m only giving you what you want,” Ross says with a devilish smirk as she delicately ran the blade of the knife along his throat without breaking the skin. The man didn’t move for fear the blade would pierce the skin.
“Please, I’m sorry, please just don’t kill me, I have a family, please,” the man pleads.
“You disgusting excuse for a man, your apologies mean nothing to me,” she growls angrily as she bought the blade up and grabbed a handful of the man’s hair. The shiny clean blade cut into the skin as if it were butter. Screams of pain erupted from the man’s mouth and Ross continued scalping the man alive making sure to take her time. All eyes were on Ross as she took it to the next level as she ripped the remaining flap of skin off and tossed it towards Aldo’s feet not breaking eye contact with the man that withered in pain beneath her. She stood up and looked down at him. Deciding that letting him bleed to death would suffice enough pain for him before he died Ross wanted to say one last thing.
“You’re family will be much better off without you and your grotesque set of beliefs,” she says in a low dangerous tone.
“You fucking bitch, I enjoyed every minute of torturing you, every thrust inside your American cunt, and watching the others do the same,” he exclaims spitting at Ross’s feet. At this point not only had Ross heard his words but everyone in the room. Ross’s eyes narrowed and her upper lip curled upward into a snarl as she lost all control of her actions.

“You son of a bitch,” Ross snarls jabbed her knife into his stomach making sure to twist it as she pulled it back out. He howled in pain as Ross began stabbing him repeatedly. The man was dead but she kept on mutilating his body blinded by fury and the tears that threatened to escape the confines of her eyes. Hugo took it upon himself to pull Ross off the grotesque bloody mush that was left of the man’s body to which Ross responded by breaking free of his grip and walked out of the room overwhelmed with emotion. He followed her and saw that she was collapse at the foot of the wall covered in blood. Taking a seat next her she looked at him, her golden eyes more noticeable with the excess of red that coated her skin.

“Not once did I react, not once did I scream or cry, not once, could I give that satisfaction to them,” she says as her voice wavered. Hugo didn’t say anything, he knew there was nothing to say that could make her feel better so he wrapped his arms around her and just held her shaking petite frame close to his body. Ross buried her face in the crook of his neck her hand resting on his shoulder as she closed her eyes wanting to feel clean again. Gently rubbing her arm Hugo was trying his best to calm Ross down.

Aldo watched from afar, distraught with the amount of pain and emotion that her eyes had shown, secretly he wished he was the one comforting her at the moment. A part of Aldo wished they had gotten to Ross sooner to rescue her than they had, maybe then those Nazi fucks wouldn’t have done what they had done to her. If only they had come sooner, but that was a lot of maybes and ifs. Even Donny was upset, no woman, hell no human being deserved what Ross went through. Everyone seemed to have obtained a newfound reason to hate the Nazis; something to fuel the animosity the burned within them.

Letting out a heavy sigh Ross composed herself and kissed Hugo on the cheek to show her thanks. She made sure no tears fell, not wanting to give those Nazis the satisfaction of getting to her. The pair stood up and Ross picked up her knife to go claim her scalps. Ross and Hugo walked back into the room where the corpses were strewn about the room.

“Oy Hirschberg see that bullet between that ones eyes? Yeah I know you sure as hell didn’t kill him, he’s mine,” Ross states giving Hirschberg a look as he was about to scalp one of her kills. Hirschberg groaned but walked away nonetheless. Ross smiled at him then went to work. She had killed twelve in all setting her up with about fifty kills, half of the quota Aldo gave his men and in half the time. After the bout of slaughtering the large group of Nazis, Aldo decided it was best they all started trekking through the forest again and they began their journey to elsewhere once more.

The hours passed trudging through the forest and Aldo was sure to keep an eye on Ross for a majority of the time being sure no one saw him as he did so. But Hugo noticed Aldo stealing glances at Ross when she wasn’t looking at her feet to make sure she didn’t trip over anything. A few more miles and Aldo decided to set up camp. Everyone was exhausted and Ross wanted nothing more than to wash the blood off her skin. Remembering that about ¼ of a mile before the camp that there was a creek, Ross stood up quietly and walked off still armed with her weapons to go clean up a little bit. It wasn’t until after she was gone that the men noticed she was no longer there.

“Where’d Ross go off to?” Donny questions first. Aldo had an idea where she was but couldn’t be too sure so he got up wordlessly to go find her. The Basterds watched at their leader walked off without a word to get Ross and some of them wondered why he’d go himself when he could send one of them to do it themselves.