“So it would appear. Oh, except for one thing.”
“Really? Please, what would that be?”
“Detainees 266 and 801 say they have seen him taking food and hiding it.”
“No. That is not the truth. They are just saying that to get the extra rations. They don’t like me and are making that up,” he whimpered.
“I’ll tell you what. I’ll go talk to both of the men and see what they have to say. If I feel they are just making it up, I will let you return to your duties. If not…well, you don’t want to know that part just yet.”
The commander and his assistant went into the room next door. Both men were hanging by their wrists. The commander could see that they had been flogged.
“266 and 801, my assistant tells me that you have actually seen the food being stolen. It that true?”
“Yes sir,” they more or less said in unison.
“And how did you come to see this take place?”
Neither spoke up until the commander slammed his fist into 266’s stomach.
“Sir,” he wheezed, “When the trucks come in, sometimes he takes a box and places it behind the dumpsters out back where we break down the cardboard boxes. Later he comes back and gets it.”
“And you?” he said to the other man.
“Yes sir. I’ve seen it too. Not all the time, just every once in a while. Usually it is things like the pressed chicken we use to make soup.”
“Then tell me this. Why are you just now coming forward? Why not when I first asked someone to? You do realize there will be no reward at this point.”
“Please sir. That doesn’t matter. He is making the whole camp suffer because he is hording food.”
“But you are complicit as well. No food has been given out for forth-eight hours. The men and women are starving. You could have prevented their suffering and you chose to remain silent.”
“We didn’t want to get him in trouble. We were hoping he would just come forward himself and end this,” 801 said.
“Why should he? He had food,” the commander commented as he went out the door.
****
Day 20 Journal Entry
Everyone was very slow getting ready this morning. Most made it out the door just in time. We walked slowly over to the work shed and got our tools. I was actually handed the transit and tripod that it sits on. I was more than ready to set it down by the time we got to the work site. Every day was taking us further from the main gate so the walk to and from took longer.
The morning was pretty routine. We worked until the break. We still had nothing to eat and even water didn’t seem that important. I noticed that even the guards seemed a little less exuberant and watchful. I wondered if they were being forced to go without rations as well.
I was told by one of the men that they still got to eat but they were on half rations until this was all cleared up. I almost smiled. It was good to know that they were at least feeling some of our pain.
Everyone was exhausted by the time we marched back to the compound. I felt a little guilty because I had the lightest workload with the exception of the sight stick holder. The posthole diggers were barely able to carry their diggers. Many just dragged them along after them. One guy dropped his and I picked it up and carried it for him. I almost forgot to give it to him when we checked the tools back in. Fortunately for him I remembered at the last second.
Everyone was sprawled out on the ground by the barracks when we were once again told we had to head to the assembly area. Everyone pretty much groaned. It would be the same old thing, threats, offers of rewards, and once again no food. We were surprised to see three men standing at the foot of the raised platform. The commander wasted little time in coming to the platform.
We were reminded that he had magnanimously offered to be lenient if the person responsible for the stolen food came forth. He also reminded us that anyone who turned the person in would be rewarded. We were all pretty much thinking that one of those poor guys was going to be in big trouble.
He went on to tell us that not only had that person failed to come forward but that others knew about it and didn’t report it. Suddenly this took on an entire new meaning. The three were taken to a crossbeam, a rope was tossed over it and within minutes the three were dangling, gasping, and kicking until all three finally succumbed. It was ugly to watch. Their faces turned red, then blue, and finally purple. Their eyes bulged and their tongues were hanging out. I doubt that a person there was unaffected by the display.
We were then allowed to go to eat. It was the first meal in almost sixty hours. We were all starved but many of us could still see the three men trying to gasp their last breath. The most memorable thing about the meal was we were given a double portion of bread. That meant we didn’t have to save any of our regular portion for tomorrow.
It was difficult sleeping. I kept seeing the faces of the three men as they finally died.
CHAPTER TEN
Day 21 Journal Entry
One of the first things I noticed when we went to the tool shed was the large increase in the number of workers. I wondered if other barracks were going to help us or if we were just getting more detainees. You could easily tell the new ones. They looked around constantly trying to figure out how they had gotten here and what they were supposed to be doing. Many of them looked like they were in shock.
As curious as I was, I decided I would wait and try to talk to one of them when the morning break came. The first day’s work is hard on many people. I still remember my first day with the pick. Fortunately my work was acceptable on the transit and I continued to work that area. I had been trying to keep track of our progress and figured we had covered slightly more than two miles.
When the morning break came I made sure I was near one of the new people. His number was 20070. A pretty good jump in numbers, I figured. I pulled out my bread and started tearing of chunks to eat. I could see him eying me. I told him he needed to save some from the night meal. I tore off a chunk and gave him some of mine.
I ask him where he was from and he told me Alabama. I nodded at the patch and said political prisoner. What did you do? He said he had no idea. He was just a small businessman and they came and took him away.
I asked him what kind of business and he told me he owned a pawn shop. I asked if he sold guns. He said sure, that was where most of his business came from. Then he told me something that made my blood run cold. Evidently the President made a speech and threatened every citizen that failure to comply with government regulations could land them in these camps. It was no longer a secret.
She had also dismissed Congress. All citizens were to be indoors by 10:00 p.m. unless they had a special permit. People found outside after 10:00 p.m. without proper credentials would be detained and if they tried to escape, would be shot.
I know I must have just looked at him for a while because he finally said he wasn’t making it up. My mind was reeling. Was this America or did a time warp suddenly put us into the middle of Germany in 1939?
I don’t remember anything about the work after the break. I was just going through the motions trying to figure out what all this meant. Would people actually stand for this? I knew the media was controlled, but the entire nation? People would surely not stand by and let this happen.
***
Day 22 Journal Entry
It appears that arrests have increased. More and more people are filling the camp. Our G barracks is filled to capacity. Work lines are longer and the real telling sign is when we go to the mess hall. It used to take us on average an hour waiting our turn. Now it is closer to two hours. We don’t even go back to the barracks like before.
As soon as we turn in our tools we head to the mess hall and get in line. What I haven’t figured out is how so many others beat us no matter how fast we hurry.
The other development is the cold. When we went outside this morning there was a slight dusting of snow on the ground. This is the first snow I have seen since I have
been here. The ground is harder as well. People have to work even harder. I’m starting to feel somewhat guilty that I have such an easy job.
The highlight of my day was when the guard who had attacked me accidently shot himself in the foot. It was all I could do not to laugh. Maybe that is terrible of me but then he did practically kill me so I don’t have any remorse for feeling this way.
Tonight’s supper was one of the worst I have had since I landed in this garden spot. It was some kind of mystery meat and a slimy green thing which was supposedly a vegetable of some kind. Even the bread chunk was stale and not as big as usual.
One of the things I have noticed is that I can now pretty much sleep through anything. The first few weeks I had a hard time sleeping; now when my head hits the pillow I’m gone. I don’t even hear the snoring any longer.
***
Day 23 Journal Entry
I was shocked at the number of people. They must be bringing them in at a hell of a pace. The yard was full when I stepped outside. One thing for sure, if they have enough tools, the road to the airport shouldn’t take much longer. I figured we had just passed the three mile mark yesterday. With all these workers we should be able to do a half mile a day or maybe a little more.
I was given a shovel along with everyone else. I can’t say I was too happy about that. It meant hard physical labor. When we got to the work site, huge trucks loaded with gravel were stationed every hundred yards or so. We were appointed a truck and told that when the load was dropped we were to spread it out. It needed to be three inches thick. When we got our section done we were to notify the work force leader.
Once the gravel was down we started shoveling it and tossing it onto the hard packed road. Almost immediately, I felt my ribs and shoulder burning but I wasn’t going to stop. I darn sure didn’t want to get beaten now that I was just starting to heal. I was extremely happy when the last shovel of gravel was put down.
The work force commander came and checked our work. He made us spread some areas more but evidently it wasn’t too bad. Some groups had to do a lot more work. I heard him call out my number and at first I thought, ‘oh, no, this is not good. Fortunately, I found out he wanted me to shoot the section we had just done. I was to point out high and low spots. I honestly didn’t know how to do that but figured what the heck, he probably didn’t either, so I just faked it. I had men shovel some gravel in this area and take some out in another. Basically just moving it around so it looked like I knew what I was doing.
Finally, I pretended to be satisfied and he seemed okay with it as well. We were told that tomorrow, part would start on the fences and the rest would continue with the road to the airfield. That meant I would probably get to go back to the transit.
Everyone was pretty tired by the time we got back to the complex but we all took off for the mess hall. I stopped in my tracks when I cleared the building. The line was humongous. This was all going to break down at some point if they didn’t do something about it.
I waited in line for two and a half hours before I finally had a chance to sit down and eat. The food was slightly better and the chunk of bread was a definite improvement over last night.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
What Mark had heard was exactly what had happened. President Clemons had done those things. Her first move was to banish Congress when they took their break. She immediately went on the offensive by ordering a curfew all across America.
While a huge outcry swept the land there wasn’t much that could be done about. Any attempt to protest was immediately met with force. The ISS would break up any group that it believed was subversive, regardless of the real purpose of the meeting. AMVets, VFW’s and even DAV groups were shut down and the members locked out.
Anyone attempting a confrontation was immediately whisked off and not heard from again. In an attempt to justify her actions President Clemons held a special televised broadcast.
***
SPECIAL NEWS ANNOUNCEMENT:
President Clemons will be addressing the American public to announce a special initiative by the White House. Here is President Clemons.
“Good evening fellow American Citizens. I have worked hard to make our streets safer, but a few dissidents have criticized the administration’s methods. I fully understand that change is often hard to accept at first until the program is fully in operation and the results can be clearly demonstrated.
The camera panned to a large graph beside the President.
This is the amount of money that was being spent by Congress up until a few days ago. Our current national debt was fifteen trillion dollars. Fifteen TRILLION dollars. That is a number that few of us can even imagine. I am sure that the average American is unaware that Congress approved a bill that called for 15 million dollars for the study of ‘butterflies’. Yes, I said butterflies. A further 12 million dollars was allocated for the study of the mating habits of Brown Recluse Spiders. I could go on and on about the ridiculous programs they fund as part of the pork barrel projects and gravy train they ride. One program they are funding is a study to determine the furthest distance a 60 watt equivalent LED bulb can be seen at night. Not just that, but they allocated 10 million dollars for the study. No wonder we have the appalling national debt that we have. I am not going to stand by and let our military men and women get substandard pay, or wounded veterans get substandard treatment while we fund the study of butterflies. We are going to allocate that money to give back to those who sacrificed for us. I intend to increase the benefits and pay of our military personal within a very short time.
Congress didn’t like it when I created the ISS but we have eliminated gangs in the cities and towns across America. Violent crime is down a staggering 38%. It is down 46% in New York City alone. We can feel safer going about our daily lives. None of this could have been done under the auspices of the Congress we currently have.
There has been talk of Concentration Camps or Gulags in America. Those terms are meant to conjure up grave images of Germany during World War Two. Nothing could be further from the truth. Yes, we do have internment camps located in various places but those are for the criminal element that has preyed on innocent people for far too long. You should expect to go out from your homes and be safe. Those who want to make you a victim will be arrested and sent to internment camps until such a time that they can rejoin society and be useful and productive. These are not prisons. They are clean, well maintained facilities with medical personnel in the complex to care for those who become ill.
Anything else that you hear about these camps is simply a prevarication. Let me ask you something,” she said.
She stood there for several seconds, just looking into the camera.
“America has two choices. We can embrace the changes that my administration has implemented or we can continue doing business the way we have always done it, going deeper into debt, harboring gang’s that become more brazen and violent by the day, and allowing unemployment to continue to rise.
These programs we have implemented have reduced our national debt by five trillion dollars.. Unemployment has fallen 2.9% in the last quarter alone. Gangs have been eliminated.
You have to ask yourself this. What is really better for America? If you choose gangs, unemployment, and an out of control national debt, then you are certainly not going to agree with our direction. If you agree that a safer, more secure, less dependent America, is the best future for the country, then I welcome your support.
Thank you and God bless you.
The program cut to two announcers who were standing by at the end of the President’s speech.
“Well that was certainly interesting.”
“It was indeed. What do you think?”
“I think she pretty much hit the nail right on the head. She is saying you can’t have your cake and eat it too. One way is going to reduce the deficit, drop crime, and reduce unemployment. The other way is to continue along the same path we have been on.”
“I
think you’re right. Those were some pretty impressive numbers she showed us. I think the biggest thing that the American people want to know more about is the internment camps. She did say they were not like what people saw in World War Two but people still have a mental image of those and it is hard to shake.”
“Well one thing is certain. If you keep out of trouble, you won’t have to worry about it,” he replied.
“There is that,” the other said.
***
“What do you think?” the President asked.
“I think it went over very well. It is hard to argue with numbers like that,” Taylor said.
“It’s too bad we made them up. I wish the gangs were eliminated and we really had cut five trillion from the budget.”
“So you exaggerated a tad. Three trillion is still a heck of a lot of slashing.”
“Well it’s done. We will have to shift some of the budget to increase the military’s pay and benefits. We need them on our side. The last thing I want to do is alienate them. That would certainly put a monkey wrench in the works.”
“We already have that part figured out. They will get their pay raise,” Taylor said.
“What about the rogue officers? Are we making any headway on them?”
“Not much. We grab one every once in a while but most are way underground.”
“Well keep digging. I want them in the fold or eliminated.”
“We’ll keep on it,” Taylor told her.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Day 24 Journal Entry
What an ugly surprise this morning. We had three inches of snow overnight. Making it even worse, the wind was blowing right in our faces as we walked to the work site. We were issued coats and that was a help but a hat and gloves would have helped a lot too. I guess they didn’t think we needed them.
We were all shivering and half frozen by the time we got to the work point. I set up the transit and started shooting. It didn’t look right at first and then I realized it was the snow making it look weird. I went and made sure the stick man had it down on the dirt. After that, it seemed as good as I could get it. A couple of planes came in very low over us while we worked so we knew we were cutting the distance.
PROJECT BlueBolt - BOOK II - THE GULAG JOURNAL: BOOK II - The Gulag Journal Page 5