![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Once a sanctuary for playful children, the park was now a military zone, with hardened men stacking sandbags. They walked for blocks, passing more destruction and a park where antiaircraft artillery guns were placed between a swing set and a playground merry-go-round. “There’s nothing you can do,” the lieutenant said, nudging her. A library across the street had been converted to a makeshift hospital stretchers of wounded were being hauled inside by medics. The scent of burnt wood and petrol made Susan want to hold her breath. They stepped off the train to the wail of ambulance, police, and fire sirens. The train stopped several blocks before reaching their station due to a bomb that had taken out the tracks, leaving a crater the size of a bus. Susan noticed the absence of parents and wiped tears from her eyes. Susan saw two children sitting on the steps of a row house in ruins, the oldest girl consoling her baby brother by rocking him on her lap. Parades of Londoners who had spent the night in underground shelters were returning to their homes, or what was left of them. ![]() Her breathing turned shallow, her chest filled with a fusion of shock and outrage. The radio reports and newspapers had done little to prepare her for seeing this scorched, hellish ruin. The London she’d grown up with was nothing like this marred metropolis. Susan stared out the train window in disbelief. ![]()
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