The continued story

The man got out of the car, and cursed as his lame leg hit the ground with considerable force. He opened the side door and grabbed Kitty, pushing her roughly out of the car, then he took me by the arm, and jerked me out of my seat. He leaned over, shoving his face into my vision. His breath smelled of beer, Tui, I guessed, the cheap beer that these guards got drunk on.

'So, is this what you were expecting?' He hissed at me, his hands making a sweeping gesture that encircled the whole camp. I looked around. Beyond the flimsy chicken wire fence, lined up in narrow rows, were things that looked like chicken coops. They were small, wooden, based on a box like structure, and had pointed roofs. They are where we are going to stay, I thought. Huddled around in little groups were women. They had faces that showed no emotion, their shoulders bent over, their clothes shapeless rags.

The stink of the place was like nothing on this earth. The man had stopped gripping my arm and was talking to the guard at the entrance of the camp. Kitty was standing by herself, arms folded. She looked angry and disgusted. I tried to walk over to her, but the other man stopped me.

'You're not alowed to talk to her.'

He sounded like he was reciting.

'But she's my sister. She's coming with me.'

'She is not going with you. She is going into the women's camp.'

Again, the droning voice.

'She's not in there yet. Let me talk to her.'

The man spat neatly through the chicken wire. He did not stop me.

'We'll get out of here soon, Kitty.' I lied.

Kitty looked at me.

'Will we. I can't see them just opening the gate and letting us escape.'

'Well obviously they won't do that. I'm gonna have to plan our escape.' I whispered.

'I won't be much help. Look at this disgusting place. It's the women's camp, and the men's will probably be worse. You're gonna have to try and get more than just us outa here Andy, figure for as many as you can.'

I shoved my hands in my pockets. Kitty's brain went too fast sometimes.

'It's gonna be bad enough trying to get just us outa here.' I said.

At this point, the guard came over and grabbed Kitty's arm. He walked away with her to the 'registration office.' In reality, this was a poorly constructed shack, where a man 'registered' the women.

This included taking any valuables they had on them, burning their clothes and giving them a grey dress, and giving them a number which would be their name. It also involved handing out the three loaves of bread which was the weekly quota of food for each woman. By the end of the week any bread that had lasted that long would have maggots in it, partly due to the hygeine problems, partly to the stinking heat.

'You, get over here.' The guard adressing me had a cigarette in his mouth, and as he spoke he took it out, threw it on the ground and stamped on it. He shoved me into the van and hopped in himself. He got comfortable, put his feet up on the dashboard and opened a can of Tui from a couple of boxes underneath the seat, apparently put there for the purpose. The heat in the van began to build up, but the guard in the front seemed oblivious to it. The back of my neck started to sweat first, and then my forehead. I looked out at the camp for the other guy who was supposed to be coming with us. He wasn't around. Maybe he's gone to have drink with his mates, I thought. This could be my opportunity to escape. What about Kitty, how will I rescue her? I'll have to gather up some guys to come and take as many people as we can. The guard in the front began to snore on account of the heat and the beer. I opened the sliding door as quietly as I could, and crept out.