Treblinka, Poland

December, 1942

    No longer was the countryside a picturesque view of an endless untouched nature left for a lucky wanderer to gaze upon. The forested hills had been stripped bare to make way for the rail lines that connected the major extermination and work camps spread across Eastern Europe.

    Early in the war, before the camps had become the primary choice for killing prisoners, German soldiers had swarmed the jade landscape in search of their prey. They served as the executioners to those deemed the undesired of society.

    Some had escaped into the Polish forests, thinking it to be their safe haven during the war, only to be slaughtered when they were discovered. There had been rare cases throughout some escaping the Nazis net to freedom. But this was never without consequence.

    Those that had been left behind suffered for the escapees' transgressions. One escape meant a dozen punished.