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CHAPTER FIVE

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Caliko found herself pregnant and in a prision camp of The Chosen. It was horrible living. 50-60 kids housed in a metal barn that couldn't have housed more than a dozen or two cows. She slept on a mat on the floor surrounded by others and she stole what she could from the large containers of bread that arrived each day to nourish her body and the child growing inside her.

She guessed she was nearly five months along and she feared giving birth in this place. Her nightmares of the casino were replaced by nightmares of protecting her child.

Ocasionally, members of the Chosen took rounds of the building, taking away people. Some were rumored to have been sent to mines to work or farms. They always took away the pregnant mothers. And what was rumored to happen to them were unthinkable. Mothers giving birth only to have their babies ripped from them and never to be seen again. Stories of sacrifices to Zoot of newly-born infants.

Caliko knew she could no longer able hide her secret, and when The Chosen came next, she would go with them.

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The Chosen opened the locked doors and entered the barn. A cool breeze blew from outside. It felt great to Caliko, who was sitting on her mat, her shirt pulled up exposing her belly, sweat streaming down her face. Even though it was late fall, the barn was stiflingly hot.

Caliko rolled to her side, knowing her time had come. They would take her.

But perhaps she could hide it own more time. Quickly, she grabbed for the thin blankets piled under her head and rolling to her side, she packed them over and around her belly. She closed her eyes and pretended to be asleep, keeping watch on the Chosen through her eyelashes.

Caliko watched as they started on the far side of the barn. She could see the sweat start to form on their foreheads as they walked the first row. At the end, a man, who was obviously in charge as he carried no gun or scythe as his companions did, pointed to a girl leaning against the wall. "You!" He jabbed his finger in her face, then pointed towards the door. The girl didn't put up a fight as some of the others had. She just pushed herself up from the wall and headed for the door.

The group carried on, the leader picking kids and sending them out the door. Closer and closer they came towards Caliko. At last, they started up her row, her heart quickened and the sweat poured down her face.

"You!" The man nudged her side with his boot. "Stand up!."

Caliko knew she had been caught. Slowly, she pulled herself up.

"When is your child due?" The man asked.

"In a few months." Caliko replied, pulling her shirt down, leaving her hand resting on her belly.

"Go!" He pointed towards the door. Caliko, looked at the faces around her. She had not befriended any of them, but she suddenly felt sad at leaving. She felt an over-whelming urge to fight to stay.

The leader was starting to get impatient. "Go!" He replied.

Caliko turned and took a trembling step. Her other foot followed and she found herself walking towards the door. What was to become of her? She walked down the row and out the door into the cool, afternoon air.

A Chosen guard quickly grabbed her arm as she crossed the threshhold and escorted her to a covered amry truck, and helped into the back. "Sit down and be quiet." He instructed.

Caliko did as she was told and sat down on a rough bench to the right. She looked around and saw that there were two other girls. She assumed they were from the the other buildings that housed the Chosen's prisioners in the camp. The girl across from her, a petite, red-head was crying silent tears.

After a few minutes, the tarp was dropped over the back of a truck, casting the girls into semi-darkness. The truck shook as it engine turned-over and it pulled away. To Caliko's surprise the girls were left unguarded. She looked behind her and out through a gap in the tarping to the road below. She knew they were going too fast for her child or possibly herself to survive a jump over the side.

"Are you hoping for a boy or a girl?" A blonde haired, very pregnant girl asked.

"A boy." The red-head shuddered as her cried became more audible.

"Boys, are nice, but I am hoping for a girl. Her daddy wanted a girl. What are you hoping for?" The blonde looked at Caliko.

Caliko glanced at the girl and looked away. "What does it matter? I'll never see my child anyway."

"You don't think the rumors are true do you?" The red-head asked, anxiously holding her belly. Her fear had stopped her tears for a moment. Both girls stared at Caliko, as if looking for reassurence that the horrors they had heard were nothing more than scary stories whispered in the night.

"How am I to know?" Caliko replied harshly.

This time the blonde threw her hands over her face and sobbed. The red-head joined her. Caliko listened in silence, watching the road fly past her through the tarping.

Eventually, the girls' crying died to nothing more tham an occasional shudder and snifle.With each bump, Caliko's hips ached with protest. She hoped they would stop soon, she was hungry, as they had not yet been given their daily food at the camp before being ushered into the truck.

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It was well after sunset when the truck finally did come to a stop. In less than a mintute after stopping, all three girls were ushered out of the truck. It looked to Caliko as if they were in some sort of small village. They were led to a small, white house.

In the house they were given food and a bed to sleep on. The food wasn't much, just some thin, plain oatmeal and some sort of powdered lemonade and the mattresses were hard and smelled. But that didn't matter to Caliko, nor did the fear of what would come in the morning, she was just to tired. Her eyes were heavy and it felt good to lay in a real bed. She would have been asleep the moment her head hit the pillow, but the other girls started whispering as soon as the Chosen closed and locked the door to their room.

"Do you think this is where we were headed?" One asked, Caliko was unsure as it was too dark to see their faces.

"Do you think we'll have to get back into that truck?" The other asked.

Caliko realized they were talking to her. She ignored them. She wished she wouldn't have to get back into that truck in the morning, she hoped this was the end of their journey. But Caliko knew it wasn't