The Survivors

Chapter 2

I have no idea how long we've been driving. I've lost all track of time. My eyes felt heavy, but I could not fall asleep no matter how much I wanted to. After some time it also started to rain. Somehow it suited my mood. I also felt like crying, like heaven. When I was little, I used to draw a pattern on the windshield of my parents car. Now my hands were tied behind my back. 

Since I was sitting at the window I could see a little of the landscape outside as soon as the rain subsided a little. Everything looked the same to me. Dense trees, green fields. The only thing I did know was that we weren't in Indiana anymore.

The boy who sat next to me seemed to get more nervous with every kilometer we drove on. But I couldn't ask him if everything was ok, because there was a strict rule on this bus and it was called: SILENCE! A girl has has just asked one of the soliders when she can go to the toilet and got a slap in the face for that. 

On the bus it was so quiet that you could hear every breath, just like the growling stomachs. Sometimes the soliders radios or the younger children's  soft whimpering could be heard. When I was twelve, I was one of the oldest here. Most of them were no older than ten.

My wrists slowly fell asleep, so I tried to stretch them but it didn't do much good, except for the cable ties pressing themselves even deeper into my skin.

Psi Special Force!  This is what these soliders called themselves, or as I abbreviated it: PSF.

Suddenly we drove off the country road onto a narrow dirt road. Everyone was startled by the shaking and so my tiredness was gone. First I discovered the high barbed wire fence. It was about five meters high and glowed silver. When we drove through the gate I noticed a sign saying  Black Rock. Inside, I discovered many people wearing exactly the same uniform as the soliders in the bus.

And then I saw it. We weren't the first to be brought in here. Everywhere were children in different uniforms. I saw the colors green, blue, yellow, orange and...red. The greens and blues were running free. The yellow ones wore gloves and shackles, while the orange and red ones wore a gag in addition to the shackles. 

When the bus came to a halt, we were all pulled out rudely. We should line up outside and stand still. We were all furious when the gate slammed shut like thunder. One thing was already clear to me. We won't be the last to arrive here. 

Then one of the soliders, possibly the leader, came towards us all. This man was fromidable, perhaps one who, if life were different, would play a villian in a good movie. He was the only one without a hood on. He was bald and had a wider body than the others. There was something like hate in his eyes, but also disgust when he looked at us. When he raised his voice he did not speak only for himself. He spoke for the whole camp. 

"Now, listen to me carefully! No escape attempts! No talking! You do only what we tell you to do, understand? If you violate these instructions, you will be punished! Do you understand?"

All the children nodded because nobody dared to say a word. What struck me, however, was that some did so only reluctantly or preferred to rebel. But fear triumphed over courage. 

They divided us into groups according to gender and age. There were ten childern in each group. We were all driven into a building one after the other. The wing we were in was filled with stuffy air and the light was so bright that I had to blink a few times. The torn sign hanging at the entrance made it clear that this is the infirmary.