Hey everybody! We (my friends and I) wanted to do this, but we also wanted everybody to know that we don't want to offend anybody! The holocaust was a horrible, horrible thing and we don't like how it killed so many people. Just wanted to let everybody know that if we offend them, we're very sorry, and we don't want anybody to feel this way. So if you don't like this, just stop reading –and we apologize again.
Disclaimer: none of us own the Cirque Du Freak saga
Silent tears rolled down Darren's cheeks as the countryside flew past the window. He couldn't remember how he got here –his memories were blurred– and he didn't care. All he knew right now that he was on the train ride to hell. Larten sat next to him, just as silent -but there were no tears. He was trying to stay strong, for his assistant's sake.
Larten looked down at his assistant. He wasn't really his assistant, but he worked for him. They were neighbors, and Darren had worked for him so much that he started to think of the young boy as his assistant. They had come for them during the night. When Larten had found out that the young boy was taken, he tried to figure out a way that he could escape. But nobody ever comes back. Not from the Camps of Hell.
Because that's where they were going –to the place of no return, the place of hopelessness and death. Larten knew there was no hope for the boy, but he felt it was his job to try and keep him as happy as possible. Darren's parents would have been there –if they hadn't been killed before they even had the chance to board the train. They had been killed -that's why Darren was so upset. He was young and naive, and knew nothing of the camps. Nothing of his future.
Darren's sister was with them. Young Annie Shan was placed on the opposite side of the cabin. They had been separated, but if they shouted, they could just barely manage to hear each other. About sixty people were on that train, when it was made to carry less than twenty.
Larten sighed. Darren was a very small boy and had trouble doing some of the work Larten set for him. If they didn't like him, he would be taken to the chambers, with all the old men, the weaker women, and the scraggly children.
He couldn't let that happen to Darren –or to Annie for that matter. It would be like losing his family –the family that he didn't have. His family had all died long ago, and now he couldn't bear to lose the two Shan children. And, now-sitting here –he was doing everything he could to stop the tears that were burning in his eyes.
He knew that Annie wouldn't make it. She would either die, or she would have to go through the trauma of being raped every day. He heard the tales. He knew that–
Before he could finish his thoughts, the train stopped. Everybody stopped what they were doing –which wasn't much– and listened. A rally of shouts in German and some screams from a few victims broke through the air. Once or twice there were a few gun shots.
No one on the train dared move. All was still in the Cabin in which Larten, Darren, and Annie sat. The silence was so thick, that the sound of a pin dropping could have been heard. Silence reigned until the voice of a woman rang out
"AHHHHH!" A woman screamed from the door at the front. That was when panic started; people were squirming and trying to move, but to no avail!
It was Annie. She was being taken first. The soldier shouted something in German. Darren had no idea what was going on. The cabin they were in was too small for everybody already, so it should have been a relief when people left the cramped room. But when they began pulling people out, Darren grew afraid.
The soldier was impatient, so he shot his gun, aiming into the air. Everybody stopped what they were doing and listened. The soldier started to shout something in German. Darren had no idea what was going on, but Larten knew German. He was saying for everybody to get off and get into a line.
Larten repeated the instruction to everyone in English –and they obeyed without hesitation. They knew that the soldiers probably wouldn't hesitate to shoot them, and they didn't want to take any chances. Larten clutched Darren's shoulder tightly as he lined up behind him –for both support and comfort, because the young boy's crying had increased at the sight of his sister being dragged off of the floor and into the line.
There were two people at the beginning of the line. One was dressed in black pants, and a black leather jacket. He was holding a leather whip and was griping it tightly with calloused hands. He had a brown belt across his waist and leather black boots. He was wearing a black -shocking- hat and had a long scar stretching across his face.
The other man was dressed in white and had rubber gloves on. He had a bushy mustache and smiled wickedly. He looked almost like a doctor.
The man with the whip told everybody in English, with a heavy German accent, to get into two lines; the children and women in one line, and men in the other. Then they would separate them into two lines; one the left and one on the right.
Larten didn't want to leave Darren, but he had no choice. If he didn't, he might get the both of them killed. He reluctantly went into the line with all the men and waited to be sorted into a new line.
Darren's wide, fearful eyes scanned his surroundings for Annie. He could feel his knees buckling under him; he was delirious with terror. The whimpers of small children, the sobs of young women, the screams of despair, coming from men all around as they were detached from the rest of their family, filled Darren's ears. He clamped his hands over his ears - a meager attempt to block out the terrible sounds around him.
A stern looking soldier passed by the young boy. What stood out most was his arm band - it was red, with a white circle and a black sign in the middle.
What does that sign mean? he wondered. Then he noticed that the line was getting smaller and smaller, as people were filed around either to the left or to the right. People that went to the right looked somewhat relieved. On the other hand... the people going to the left...
Soon enough Darren was first in line. He looked around for Larten, the one person he could trust in this wretched place, but he was nowhere to be seen. The man with the leather whip surveyed him.
"Links!" he barked.
What? What were links? Darren thought, confused.
Before he knew it he was shoved to the left to face his fate... or his end.
"Nein, nein!" the man with the bushy mustache protested. He shouted something else in German, and then Darren was shoved to the right.
"I'm going to live," he sighed, slightly relieved.
He was guessed he was going to live… For now. Judging by the faces of everybody that was on the right, he should be glad to be here. The doctor kept glancing back at Darren though, which made him very nervous.
He kept looking for Larten. Where was he? He had found Annie; she was in the left line with most of the women, kids, and old people. She was crying and kept begging for Darren to come over to her and comfort her. But every time he tried to respond, a gun was fired, effectively shutting everyone up.
Darren's line began to move towards a house, while everybody on the left line was told to take off all of their clothes; they were going to take a shower. Darren nodded his approval; Annie was in need of a warm shower. That usually made her very happy for the rest of the day back home.
When they got to the house, they were told to line up and wait. Darren was one of the first. He was dragged out of line by the doctor and was taken to a different room than everybody else, besides those who were also chosen by the doctor.
"Now, listen," said the doctor in a very thick German ancient. "I am going to run some experiments on you. If you do not want to do this, too bad. If you try to fight, things will get worse for you. Now take your clothes off. I want to see my canvases." As soon as Darren's clothes were off, he went over to him first and ran a hand over his small belly. "Lovely...you'll be my physical tester, Block Ten. Yes..." He scribbled something on his clipboard and went to the next person. After everybody was done he told them to go outside with the other men, even though they weren't wearing anything.
When they got outside, they saw that all of the men's clothes were collected and they were now wearing striped clothes. Most of them were wearing black and white, while others were wearing blue and white. The one thing that stood out was that they were shaved! Almost all of them were bald, if not close enough. A soldier handed them some clothes and started to shave their heads while another tattooed numbers on them. Must be so they won't lose track of us, Darren thought.
At nightfall, they served everyone a green mixture that tasted bitter and made Darren want to gag. Nevertheless, it was the first meal he had gotten since he had arrived, and he was starving. So he shoved the disgusting meal down his throat and tried to keep it in his stomach. He decided to look for Annie, but a soldier caught him roaming around and shoved him to the ground. As a warning, he whipped him across the stomach.
"Where do you think you're going?" he sneered. "Doctor Mengele wanted you in Block Ten!"
He brought his whip down again. It struck his delicate skin and Darren winced at the immense pain. In fear of getting whipped again, he trudged to where he though Block Ten was located. His dinner –If you can call a meal that small a dinner- was threatening to make a reappearance.
Darren was felt as if he going to die when he entered block ten. There were people with missing limbs, eyes, fingers, swells on their heads, even one guy with nothing but a head and torso!
A guy with only one eye looked up and noticed Darren. He went over to him and placed his hand out for Darren to shake, which he hesitantly accepted.
The guy shook his head and said, "Now they're giving the doc children? Evil bastards. Anyway, my name is Vanez. Vanez Blaze. Yours?"
"Darren Shan. Hey, do you know what's going on?" Darren asked, with sincerity in his voice.
Vanez looked down and nodded.
"Here is what's going to happen every day -until you die here. You wake up at 4:30 every morning, and then you go outside for roll call. If you aren't there, you will get killed. If somebody isn't there, you have to wait for them. Yesterday a guy died in his sleep and nobody noticed, so it took about 4 hours to find the man. We had to stand outside for 4 hours. It was horrible. Anyway, then you go to the doctor -I'll show you where that is- and he does his evil experiments on you. On other days, if you're what he calls 'Physical Experiments' you work with block 11. They're really nice. I have a few friends in there. Then afterwards, you go and eat dinner. After that, you go and sleep. Every day."
Darren nodded and tried to take all the new information in.
"Wait, are you one of those? Physical–"
" –Experiments? Yeah. Are you the new one? The last one died. He was a good man." Suddenly, a bell rang a few times. "Oh, come on. You can bunk with me for a few nights, until you can find one on your own."
Darren looked at the 'beds' and looked shocked when five full grown men lay down together on one bed.
Back at home, Darren had a bed and a blanket all to himself. Here, the grown men shivered uncontrollably as they huddled together; trying to gather all the extra warmth they could muster.
But this wasn't the time to whine. He smiled up at Vanez gratefully and took the offer. A shared bed is better than no bed... he lay himself down in a fetal position and slowly, very slowly, fell into the abyss of sleep.
Trumpets blared.
Huh? Where... what? Darren thought, still half asleep.
The memories of yesterday started flooding back. Block 10. He was in Block Ten. All the men shuffled to their feet and filed into orderly lines.
"Four AM!" Darren grumbled. "It's four AM!"
Vanez chuckled. "Better get used to it kiddo."
"But the sun isn't up!" he exclaimed.
It was true - the sky was still dark and the stars were still shimmering.
"QUIET!" a soldier shouted.
Everyone fell silent. Darren grumbled under his breath and walked alongside everybody. They were to stand in a field with the rest of their cabin, only spread out. Darren was one of the shortest ones there, so he was kind of hard to see. After a while, a guy came out with a clipboard and started to call out names. Darren listened closely, anxious to hear "Larten Crepsley" being called out.
At the last possible moment, right before Darren was going to give up hope, he heard the name.
"LARTEN CREPSLEY!"
"Here."
Darren turned to see the tall man, who Darren had started to believe was the only person in the world he had left, standing there in front of him, by about two rows.
Darren was about to shout for his neighbor to turn, but before he could the doctor came out, shouting for his canvases.
He started to talk to the person up there, with the clipboard, in German and Darren was confused and scared. Before he could think of what to do, the guy with the clipboard shouted that he was going to call the names of those who the doctor was going to experiment on, then for us to get the hell out of his sight.
"MORRIS TOPHNAT!"
"Here."
"KASNET JOHSTON!"
"Here."
"VANEZ BLAZE!"
"Here."
"DARREN SHAN!"
"Here."
When Larten heard his reply, he spun around to see the young boy walking up the rows of people to the evil doctor. Larten wished that Darren was working, not going through various experiments. He had seen the pictures of the people who came back from the doctor's. He made a silent prayer to God that Darren would be safe. He knew what happened to Annie, and would do anything to help Darren.
Darren had the worst luck of the three. Annie was the luckiest –she didn't have to deal with this- him being the second; he could easily work, but Darren...
Darren came face to face with the doctor and sighed with fear as the doctor purred. The doctor took his experiments to the small house, which was over on the other side of the camp. He purred every time that somebody cried out in fear.
This guy is a loon, Darren thought as he walked through the door that was being held open by a nurse dressed in white.
"Why are you guys so afraid? He's only a doctor." Darren whispered to Vanez.
"Because he does evil things. If he takes you first, that means he's going to work on you the longest. My eye is gone because he tried to replace it. Then he worked on the hole around it. He finally got bored and stitched my eyelids shut." Vanez whispered back.
Darren's eyes widened in fear as his mouth gaped. Was he going to be blind in one eye like Vanez? More terrifying thoughts went through Darren's mind before the doctor went in front of the four.
The doctor smiled at the four prisoners he got to "work" with today. He was going to have so much fun. He smiled at each and wondered who he should work on today. His eyes rested on Darren and his smile expanded. He took the terrified Darren by the hand and led him through some more doors. Darren looked back to see the saddened faces of the other three. Darren felt like he was going to cry and be sick. Or maybe it was that he would be sick and then cry. Either way, Darren didn't want to be here. He would rather work.
Inside the room, the doctor led Darren to what looked like hospital bed, surrounded by lots of medical equipment, mostly stuff for surgery and operations. But,those didn't comfort Darren any more than Vanez's eye lying in a glass jar nearby.
"I've been thinking on what I should do to you. I always wanted a small young boy like you to experiment on."
Darren was shaking now. The doctor began preparing his needles for whatever foul things he was planning to do to the boy.
Okay guys, so you know that poll I put up on my profile? Well, the results are in! I'll post the results blow from most voted to least voted.
de la mort (Camp of Death)
2. The River's Flow
10 of the DSS with LC
12 of the DSS with LC
Legend of the Vampwolves
11 of the DSS with LC
7.3 minds think a like
But since I couldn't do books 11 or 12 until I had done book 10, I thought long and hard about what I'm going to do first, and what I'm going to do last. So I had finally decided at last!
Since Camp of Death won the vote, I'll do that first. So it's gonna be something like this:
Camp of Death/ The Legend of the Vampwolves.
Book 10/The River's flow
Book 11/ 3 minds think a like
book 12
Okay, so you noticed the slashes? I'm going to do two stories at once to try and make things go a little faster and so I can get them out of the way and work on the next one ;) My goal is to finish all of them by the end of the summer.
Anyway, keep an eye out for those! I hope that you like them!