Free In the Sewers of Lvov by Robert Marshall Page A

the damp wall and with the rushing noise of the water and the total darkness – it left a terrible impression on me.’
    Kuba, Chiger’s brother, felt terrible about losing the bags, but there was nothing he could do. He stood close by, helping to protect the children from injury. Chiger stood a little way apart, trying to orientate himself. He was hoping in vain that they might make contact with Socha. From behind came an apparently endless stream of people emerging from the shaft. Everything seemed lost, on the verge of disaster. ‘We moved slowly along the ledge. My husband and Kuba leading the way,’ recalled Paulina.
    Like everyone else they were pushed forward by the force of the crowd. Fear had become infectious. Chiger had never imagined the panic would have been so great. He became convinced they would be forced towards their certain death. Kuba moved in front of them, trying to maintain some purpose in their flight. He barrelled his way forward, glancing back over his shoulder to the others, then his face was gone. He had slipped, his foot went over the ledge and he was quickly up to his shoulders in water. Chiger lunged forward to grab him and found Kuba’s flailing arm. In his move to reach his brother, the knapsack filled with provisions heaved up over his head and into the water. It was gone. Meanwhile, Kuba was clawed out of the water. ‘As our provisions floated away, we stood there, pushed and jostled by screaming people, all trying, fighting for first place in the rush – to where?’ Chiger wrote.
    Chiger, Kuba, Paulina and the children then continued wrestling their way along the ledge. Kristina was on her father’s back, clinging tightly round his neck. Pawel was in Paulina’s arms.
    ‘How long must we go here, how long, Daddy?’ Kristina cried again and again, while her father tried to keep up his gentle reassurances. They approached the familiar stone bridge that led across to the other ledge. It was the only way to the shelter they had spent weeks preparing. But now they were surrounded by a sea of terrified people and Chiger realized that if they tried to cross it would probably encourage everyone else to follow. All their work to create somewhere secret would be lost. All theirhopes seemed to plunge to nothing as they were carried relentlessly on past the bridge, past their sanctuary.
    Meanwhile, the other group was much further ahead. Halina had clung tenaciously to Berestycki’s hand once she had descended on to the ledge. Old Mrs Weiss stood her ground, while the tide of people passed by. Her son joined them a little later, without his wife and daughter. With Weiss clinging to his mother and Halina clutching Berestycki, they edged along in search of a familiar face, buffeting their way along. Occasionally they would come to the entrance of a tunnel. Down these tunnels there might be the faintest beam of light from an opened manhole above, dimly illuminating some wretched group huddled together, or struggling along against water flowing knee-deep. Suddenly, Berestycki was blinded by the fierce beam of a carbide lamp. For an instant they had no idea whether it meant death or rescue. It was rescue. It was Socha.
    ‘Where are the others?’ he shouted.
    They looked around them and shrugged. Socha led them along the ledge and eventually to a shelter on the other side of the river. There he bade them wait as he and the light disappeared again.
    Margulies and Klara struggled along, someway behind the Chigers. They saw no sign of Jacob, Weiss or any of the others. When they eventually got to the bridge, they made their way across to the other side and towards the entrance to the shelter. When they got there, it was filled with people. A doctor, one of Weiss’s neighbours, had led a group of people to the tunnel and established themselves there. There was no one they recognized, so Margulies moved on.
    Eventually, the Chigers were able to come to a halt some way further down. The crowd seemed