The sky was gray with swollen clouds that threatened to rain. The ground was hard and cold, rubble and rocks crunching under many pairs of feet. Feet that belonged to frightened civilians, victims of the war. The war that was raging as they walked.
A small boy was visible among the crowd of people, as well as a few other children that had suffered from the effects of war. The boy's name was Yu and he had lost his mother in an enemy raid two weeks ago. The VAMP Empire had attacked a small town to replenish their food and weapons. The residents who didn't quietly surrender were killed and the ones who did, were taken as prisoners.
Yu knew what would happen and where he was going when he had been captured. Everyone knew.
The group reached a heavy iron gate that had to be cranked open by an enemy soldier. Once the gate was three quarters of the way, they were shuffled inside and their freedom they had known vanished as the gate slammed back into place behind them. Concentration camp. This would be Yu's home now. Everything to the cement walls, the barb wire fences, the lookout towers, the fortified buildings, the piles of debris and every rock and stick in sight was his home.
The Lieutenant that had lead the raid and escorted the group to the camp came forward and yelled in a loud voice, "I want two groups, men on the right and women and children on the left! Boys twelve years or older join the men!"
Everyone did as the Lieutenant instructed and separated into two.
"On behalf of the VAMP Empire, we have generously spared your lives and have brought you to one of our most fortified and safest camp sites. In return for our protection and leniency, you all are expected to assist our military." The Lieutenant continued talking while he paced back and forth in front of the two groups. "Make no mistake, we do not care for your lives and we will end them if you do not obey the rules. Your only purpose in life now, is to serve the VAMP Empire from this facility." He stopped pacing and gave a long pause. "Is that understood?"
No one answered. They stood quietly in fear, not daring to say anything.
"Good. Soldiers will escort you to the buildings you will be sleeping in. Tomorrow, we will assign you work." He then gestured to the soldiers and walked off towards a building with small windows.
Yu was 10 years of age and accompanied the women and children to one of the run down looking structures they would be spending their nights in from now on. It was dark inside the concrete building and smelled of mold. The floors were creaky and dirt was scattered all around. He lifted the collar of his shirt over his nose to filter the musty air but, it proved useless as his eyes watered from the oder. The only source of light, that wasn't coming from the door he had come in from, were a few dim overhead light bulbs. He inspected the bunks beds that were crammed up against the walls. They were hard as a plank of wood and adorned with a thin sheet for a blanket. After the last of the prisoners were inside, the soldier closed the door from the outside. There were sounds of a few clicks and then fading footsteps. Locked in. With no way out and nothing to do, Yu climbed into one of the low beds and curled up in the sheet. Some kids were crying and some were stupidly unaware of the situation they were in. Mothers hugged their children and whispered calming words into their ears, promising them everything was going to be fine. Lies. Everything wasn't fine. Anything but fine. Yu envied the ignorance of the other children and the words of comfort from their parent. He pulled the thin cover over his head and felt his eyes sting with grief. Grief for his mother that had been brutally killed by the Empire in front of his eyes. As he remembered the last moments of her, he could not hold back his tears. He let them escape and drip over his nose, making no sound. Quietly drifting off to sleep in sorrow.
Yu awoke from his sleep, shivering under his covers. The rock-hard bed and blanket hadn't trapped in any of his body heat during the night. This is absolutely dreadful. If Mother was here with me, we would have slept together to keep warm. He felt a pang of sadness in his chest as he thought of her. To keep from crying again, Yu thought it would be best to explore the building further to distract himself. He lifted his sheet off and was met by the sting of the cold air. It was tempting to scrunch back up into the covers. Actually, it was very tempting. He debated whether to get up or stay down for a few seconds but, decided to brave the cold.
Once he was out of bed, he took a look around himself. Most of the others were still asleep, except for a few kids that were goofing around on the top bunks. Yu walked over to the door he had entered through yesterday. Knowing it was probably locked, he tried pulling open the door. No use. It was still tightly shut. He moved along the walls that weren't occupied by beds. The walls were cold to the touch and there seemed to be a draft coming in from somewhere. He continued to the other side of the room and found a couple more doors. These doors were wooden, unlike the locked one. They looked old and rotted. Although the smell of the rotten wood and who-knows-what disgusted Yu, his curiosity was too great to let that stop him from attempting to open them. The first three he tried were stuck shut. The fourth one's handle broke off as he pulled it. He was a little disappointed at the lack of adventure this was turning out to be and tried to place the knob back in the hole it left. It wasn't fitting so, he leaned his head to the hole and peered through it. Inside, it looked like a closet with some boxes and garbage littering the floor. Dust had settled on every surface and not to mention, it stunk. He adjusted his position to get a better angle. Being able to see more to the right, Yu saw an opening in the wall blocked by a smaller box and some rotten wood. So that's where the draft was coming from. It's leaking in from that hole. Yu couldn't help but smile to himself for solving that mystery. After his moment of victory, he pulled and pushed at the door but not to his surprise, it didn't budge. Feeling somewhat satisfied with his efforts, he set the disconnected door knob down and made his way back over to the beds.
The noise he had been making woke some other people up but, he decided not to feel bad about it. He felt more comfortable with the grown-ups now awake. But not for long. The locks on the door started to click and a few soldiers, as well as the Lieutenant from yesterday, entered the building.
"I trust you all slept soundly and comfortably." The Lieutenant said as he entered. He glanced at the beds with a hard expression. "The fact that some of you are still ASLEEP proves I'm right!"
The sound of his powerful voice echoed through the room, startling awake the few that were still resting. He glared at each of them before speaking again.
"The Captain has approved of these rules and regulations I am about to read to you. Listen well." He lifted his clipboard and papers to his face and cleared his throat. "You must obey all VAMP Empire soldiers and officers without question or hesitation, you are to carry out all duties assigned to you without any complaints, never talk to a soldier or officer unless spoken to or commanded to do so, your meals will be provided at certain times and you will not be allowed to eat at any other time of day, any form of violence from any of you is not tolerated, keep your head down when in the presence of a soldier or officer unless you are told otherwise, raising your voice to a soldier or officer is not tolerated, touching a soldier or officer is not tolerated, you will be escorted to and from your place of rest by soldiers with no exceptions, any attempt at escape is also not tolerated. These next set of rules are in relation to children. Girls at the age of twelve or older are expected to work with the women, children under that age are to stay in the building at all times, boys will be placed with the men after turning twelve years old with no exceptions. Do I make myself clear?"
The room went completely silent. Silence was the only answer anyone dared to give. The Lieutenant looked over the terrified faces of the women and children, pleased by their fearful obedience.
"Good. All women and girls over eleven, come. Your first assignment will be tending to the laundry."
The few soldiers he brought along ushered the women out of the building to begin their work. The Lieutenant stayed behind with one other soldier and took the piece of paper, containing the regulations, from his clipboard and began nailing it to the door.
The soldier spoke in a hushed tone, "Lieutenant Vilhelm, sir. Is it even worth keeping a bunch of useless brats here? It really is a waste to feed them when they don't provide anything."
Vilhelm turned his attention to the soldier. "As much as I would like to be rid of them myself, once they reach the age of twelve, we will have more hands to put to work. That is all."
They both looked at the still frightened children and snickered to themselves. They were right. The only reason Yu and the others had been kept alive was that very reason. They would compensate for the food with their own lives.