Chapter 227
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Two of the loyalist soldiers marched Eve to the camp. They asked her questions like "Who is the president?" That seemed to be subjective, Eve said "George Mason and Freddy Douglas." Another question was "What day is it?" Eve said "Febuary 11th 2035." They informed her it was actually Febuary 12th. Somehow she'd lost an entire day. Easy to do alone in the woods. Eve then did the math, 524 days until impact. When they got to the camp Eve was immediately checked out by a doctor. It was dr Weber. Apparently he'd been captured too, now he seemed in a position of authority among the prisoners. Weber said Eve needed food and a shower, but would be okay. Eve also heard that colonel Sadler was in charge here. If it was the same colonel Sadler from Pennsylvania, Eve was hopeful. He'd been nice, good to the workers. But here the other prisoners seemed afraid of him. Maybe he'd changed since then, but so had Eve.
After her shower Eve was brought to the mess hall for dinner. The guards gave her a brief orientation. Until the doctors cleared her to work in the mine she'd be assigned to the kitchen for breakfst and lunch preperation, five days a week, starting tomorrow. Prisoners were confined to barracks between sunset and sunrise unless specifically authorized to be out for work. Eve was expected to be at the kitchen by 6am for work. The camp had approximately 3,000 male and female prisoners. Some prisoners were married and allowed to cohabitate. Other tha that the barracks were segregated by sex but during daylight male and females were free to mingle. They elected five council members once a month on the first, to serve as go-betweens with colonel Sadler and the guards. The council lobbied for conditions for prisoners. Despite beig a prisoner it did seem comforting to see a semblance of order, even democracy, in this place.
At dinner Eve took notice of the other prisoners. Mostly young people. Between the plague, school shutting down, no jobs available, the collective army had probably seemed like the only option. This camp involved hard labor, but at least the fight was over for them. Eve got her stew, she wasn't sure exactly what it was. One of the other girls, Tara, said if it moved, it was a rat. If it didn't move, it was a cooked rat. Tara and Eve began talking, told each other their stories. Tara was seventeen. Back in 2032, at the age of fifthteen, Tara had been foolish enough to help her friends steal a car. She was sent to juveile hall, let out after 2/4 to help build a Ark. Tara bounced around after that, joined the collective army during the plague. But Tara panicked in battle, ran away, and surrendered to the first loyalist patrol that she found. She had heard of others desserting, just giving their commanding officers a letter saying thet refused to do their duty. But they were often executed. At least here the eagles had reason to keep them alive, they needed the coal. Tara feared being returned to the collective army even more than this place. Eve could definitely relate. After dinner Eve was assigned to the same barrack as Tara. She was grateful to be near her new friend. There were thirty other girls in this barrack alone. Rumor was Sadler made them build more barracks just to keep everyone busy. Except for the sick, everyone was expected to contribute in one way or another. Sadler was feared, but he wanted them alive as workers, and eventually to trade for loyalists. Despite all the excitement of the day Eve fell asleep fairly quickly. It must've been from exhaustion, because Eve knew she would have a busy day tomorrow, starting before sunrise.