The Leaves are Silent

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

My gawking at the camp was disrupted by being dragged, once again. Except this time they were separating Ian and I. I felt my eyes widen in alarm. So far Ian had been the only thing there keeping me calm. I wasn't sure what I'd do on my own. I saw reluctance pass through Ian's features as he began to struggle in the arms of the guards.

"Where are you taking her?" he asked the guards, anger etched in his voice.

They replied how they usually do. With silence.

Ian saw his futile attempt at getting away from the guards, so as he was being dragged away further and further he shouted across to me,

"Lily, I'll find you later I promise, we'll be ok."

A small tear ran down my face as his figure disappeared from sight. I felt alone. I was in a strange place without anyone I knew and people that wouldn't even bat an eyelash at killing me.

The guards continued to drag me forward. I studied all the faces we passed. I was right on my first assessment, all of them looked to be under the age of eighteen. I was confused for a minute before it clicked into the place. This was why he broke into the schools. He was stealing every kid that was in secondary school. This place was full of kids from the age of twelve to eighteen. That also meant that everyone from my own school was here. I felt a pang in my heart for my friends who had been dragged into this awful mess.

Before long I was brought into one of the many tents. Inside were three other girls. I didn't get a chance to look at each of them before the guards began droning in my ear.

"This is your tent. You will sleep here. The rules are as followed: if you in any way manage to possess harmful substances such as alcohol you shall be terminated. If the opposite gender is in your tent past 20:00 you shall be terminated. If you harm another component of this tent or of this camp in any way you shall be terminated. Do you understand these messages?"

These guys were beginning to creep me out. I was seriously considering that they were robots.

" Oh I perfectly understand," I replied " If I breathe too much oxygen should I be terminated too?"

"No that is not one of the rules would you like for me to repeat them."

These guys also didn't understand sarcasm it seemed.

"No, I get the message."

They then left, leaving me alone with the three girls. There were four beds in the tent. Two of the girls were sitting on one whispering to each other and pointing at me at me in a way they thought was inconspicuous but was painfully obvious.

Across the way the third girl sat. Her blonde hair covered her face as she was clearly invested in a book. She seemed quiet and uninterested in the gossip of the other two girls so I walked toward the bed beside hers.

I saw a uniform laid out on the bed with a few other items such as a toothbrush and soap. There was a bedside drawer for the items as well. I began to place all the items away into the drawers. I quickly changed into the clean uniform and sat down on the bed. I glanced at the girl who laid in the bed beside mine. She was still fully invested in the book she was reading.

She must have felt my eyes on her cause she soon lifted her light blue eyes to meet mine. She smiled softly at me before she marked a page on her book and put it down seemingly turning all her attention to me.

" My name's Alena." she spoke lightly.

"Mine's Lily." I replied giving her a small smile.

She seemed to study me for a moment as if to make sure I was trustworthy before she smiled shyly,