Cowards die many times before their deaths;
the valiant never taste of death but once.
William Shakespeare
The moon loomed over the Thirteenth Century Castle.
The ominous sight appeared surreal to Sergeant Johnson,
like something from a horror movie complete with a
drawbridge and a mad scientist. Kapp kept his head low
as he quietly made his way across the bridge and crouched
down behind some bushes in the open courtyard where a
huge campfire blazed in the center. Nazis were camped
out across the grounds, at least thirty if not more. A small
convoy of jeeps and foot soldiers went right by him. Kapp
realized they were probably searching for him. He didn’t
breathe until they all crossed the bridge and disappeared
into the woods.
Kapp’s head told him that there were too many Jerries
for him to take alone and he needed to find a way to sneak
into the castle without being seen. But he couldn’t wait. Every bone in his body felt like a lightning bolt transmitting power 137
J o y c e Y v e t t e D a v i s
and energy to his soul. Overwhelmed by the sensation, Kapp
felt compelled and wanted to attack. Somehow he knew he
could kill them all. Without making a sound, he slowly rose
from behind the bushes. Twenty feet away, three Jerries stood
laughing and smoking cigarettes. Kapp rushed them, armed
with nothing more than his tightly clenched fists. He landed
the first blow to the back of a Jerries’ head before the other Jerries noticed him. The soldier was dead before his body hit
the ground.
German officers blew their whistles. “Schwarze soldat!
Get him! Kill him!”
Every Jerry rushed toward Kapp with rifles drawn,
encircling him. Kapp heard the sound of a bullet whisk past
his ear. He turned to his right and spotted a shooter standing on the hood of a jeep. The shooter fired off another shot.
Kapp immediately felt the bullet penetrate the center of his
forehead. As soon as the bullet entered, the blood in his head began to percolate in his veins. The bullet popped out and
dropped on the ground next to his bare feet. The Germans
surrounding him were stunned and backed away. Some ran
away. Others became frantic and began shooting off their
rifles at Kapp in rapid succession. But hit or miss, Kapp didn’t die. He fought them all like a raging bull, ramming and
goring his fists into their guts with such ferocity that clumps of blood spurted out of their nose and mouth. The Jerries fell one by one until Kapp Ulysses Johnson was the only soldier
left standing.
The Sergeant looked around at the bodies lying on the
ground. The number of dead Nazis was too many to count
and he didn’t try. Instead, he rubbed his hands over his chest, arms and legs. His shirt was full of bullet holes. He ripped
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it off and flung it on the ground. Amazingly, his body was
wound free—no marks, no scars. The impact of the bullets
puncturing his flesh caused a faint stinging and nothing
more. Kapp gently touched the place on his forehead where
the first bullet entered. He didn’t understand how it was
possible for him to still be alive. But he knew something
inside him had changed. He could feel the difference. An
exhilarating tingling sensation surged through his body and
it made him feel invincible. He liked the feeling.
Kapp entered the castle through a huge oak door and
walked into an expansive room dimly lit by candlelight. Off
the great hall were rooms and doors and a series of arched
hallways. Kapp hesitated, unsure of where to go. He started
toward one door, and then spotted a small entryway tucked
in a corner. He took it.
The tunnel-like hallway was dark and narrow. Kapp
could barely see as he walked, but he soon heard footsteps
coming his way. He stopped. It was the sound of running
feet directly ahead of him. Kapp kept listening. The sound
wasn’t getting louder but weaker. Kapp hurried down the
hall. When he heard voices, he slowed down.
“Come along, Adok. We must hurry,” said the voice of
an old man.
“No! I don’t want to! I want to go home!” cried the child.
“Pick him up and carry him if you must!”
Kapp reacted to the voice giving the order and stopped.
He recognized it as the voice of the Nazi colonel in the tower.
Kapp started running. He was determined to catch up to
them and kill the colonel and all the soldiers with him.
“What do you hear, Hans?” asked Dr. Weiss. “Is someone
coming?”
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J o y c e Y v e t t e D a v i s
Suddenly Kapp saw a light shining in the distance.
“I can’t see anyone,” said another voice.
“Don’t point that flashlight in that direction, you fool!
Keep moving,” ordered the colonel.
Kapp continued at a steady clip until he tripped and
tumbled down a long flight of stone steps. He landed on his
back on the hard dirt floor. Kapp looked up and saw the
moon glowing through an elongated slit at the top of the
outer wall. It was a view he had seen before. Kapp realized
this was the place he and his brother Pauli had been held.
He stood up.
They couldn’t have gotten out by climbing up there, he told himself.
Kapp began feeling along the walls for another exit. He
stepped on something and lifted his foot. It was a silver chain.
Kapp picked up the chain and held it up to the moonlight.
The tiny ball-link chain was like the one he wore around
his neck. Only it was missing the identification tags. Kapp
scanned the dirt floor in search of what had been hanging
from the chain. It was difficult to see with the moon as the
only source of light. He continued anyway, desperate to find
what he believed was his stepbrother’s dog tags.
Finally Kapp came to a raised area in the dirt. He
immediately got down on his knees and ran his hands over
the small mound. He estimated the mound to be around five
feet, nine inches long, about the height of his baby brother.
Kapp became frantic and began digging with his bare hands.
He found one of his brother’s dog tags and dug even faster
until the head and torso of Pauli were exposed. Staring at
the corpse, Kapp was unable to contain his grief. Fire had
disfigured the body. The pungent odor of burnt flesh was still 140
T h e L e b e n s b o r n E x p e r i m e n t
smoldering from the carcass. Tearing up, Kapp drew back
his head and screamed. The roar of his cries was so loud they
echoed through the halls of the castle and traveled far beyond its ancient stone walls, penetrating even the dense woods of
the Black Forest.
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