Leon stood next to his bunkmates. He tried his best to imitate their perfect stance. A mean looking sergeant entered the large sweaty tent and began to pace down the row of the stolen soldiers.  "Good morning ladies. Did you sleep well last night?"

No one answered. Leon supposed it was a rhetorical question. Involuntarily his vocabulary schoolwork flooded his mind. Rhetorical question: question requiring no answer: a question asked for effect that neither expects nor requires an answer. Habitually he started biting his nails.

Sergeant Bad Breath crossed to Leon and screamed into his face. "You hungry soldier?"

Leon thought this too must be a rhetorical question. He opted to remove his hand from his mouth, to hold his breath and stand taller.

Sergeant Pock Face grabbed Leon's backpack and pulled out the can of peaches. "If you're hungry why don't you eat these?" He slammed the can into Leon's mouth causing him to fall back crossways onto the cots. Leon's split lip bled as he lay askew on the cots. Officer Pock Face crossed over to him and spat on his face.  "We don't put up with defectors in this army. You understand scum?"

Miraculously Leon did understand! As he spit out a a piece of of his front tooth his mind grew sharper. Defector: somebody who rejects his or her native government in favor of another, usually for political or moral reasons. Suddenly he remembered everything he'd ever read. He considered the meaning of defector and yes he indeed was one. He belonged to the invisible Author's army and he was willing to give his very life for it.

"Stand up you puss filled sack!"  The sergeant spit as he spoke.

His bunk mate Spite impulsively grabbed Leon's arm and pulled him upright. He wasn't sure why.

"Oh Mr. Jones I see we have ourselves a new girlfriend. How sweet. Well since you two girls are so tight I'm gonna send you two on a special date."

Spite didn't like what was coming next.

Leon felt his lip swell.

"The rest of you ladies are free to go eat some grub. (By grub he could mean actual grubs.) These two jokers will be more than happy to clean the barracks this morning.  Won't you gals?"

Spite knew what to say, "Sir, yes, sir!"

Leon half-heartedly said the last "sir."

"Good and while you're busy cleaning out the piss pots I'm counting on you Jones to teach this loser the ropes." He grabbed Leon by the collar and twisted it until he could barely breathe. "If Puke Sack here steps outta line I'm coming after the both of you. Understand me Jones?"

"Sir, yes, sir!" Spite did not like Puke Sack one bit.

As Sergeant Bad Breath was leaving the quarters he stopped in the doorway. Slowly he turned his meaty head that sat upon an even meatier neck. "Oh and Puke Sack about those books we found your bag.  When you're finished with your "date" you'll have the honor and privilege of burning them. Afterwards you can pour the ashes into your bunkmates stew at dinner. Sounds delish."

The sergeant departed laughing his brains out. He was amazed how he continually invented new ways of inflicting evil on Camp Unity's slaves.

---

Tommy was growing weary. He had three-year-old Bucks on his shoulders. Bucks was unable to walk due to his missing feet.  His mouth worked perfectly fine however and he chatted constantly as his ride trudged along. In Tommy's arms was an adorable baby girl named Lacey who had a congenital defect called a cleft lip and pallet. Her upper lip was split wide open creating a spacious gap revealing two new teeth.  It made drinking and eating very difficult for this precious child. Still her disposition was cheery and every so often Lacey would reach up and pat Tommy's tired face.

"Yes Lacey I'm still here," Tommy cooed.

"Tommy, Tommy, Tommy," Bucks patted his head.

"Yes Bucks I know you're still here too."  Despite his sore feet he loved his new calling in life.

"Tommy, Tommy, Tommy... I hungy."

"I know Bucks... me too."

"Me want cake. Peese?" Bucks held out his little paw to Tommy.

"I'm sorry little man. I don't have anymore. We need to find Izzy and Bell."

Bucks said,"Bell pretty. You like Bell."

How does this little bugger know that? "Bell's my friend."

"Tommy you my friend." The little bugger squeezed Tommy's neck tightly.

"Okay, okay you're choking your friend here." It occurred to Tommy his little passenger could pee on his neck at any moment.  "Hey Bucks you need to go potty?"

"Nope, no potty." Bucks clapped his hand and sang, "Potty, potty do the potty dance. Potty potty, don't go in your pants." He squealed with delight. "Bell teach me dat. I like Bell."

Tommy thought how strange it was for a three year old to hold it so long. He took a whiff of Lacey in his arms. She wasn't wet or soiled either. That's odd. It occurred to him he hadn't seen anyone relieve themselves in days. He looked around for Panney but his twisted ten-year-old little buddy was gone. He hoped maybe he'd ran off in Alfred's direction. He hadn't seen the boy in hours.

—-

"Get moving jerk face. If you think I'm cleaning out those piss pots you got another thing coming." Spite pushed Leon hard in the chest causing himself to flop backwards on his squeaky cot. Since he was already laying down he casually put his hands behind his head and stared up at the ceiling.

"But you're supposed to help me." Leon was lost. His only thought was retrieving the books before he had to burn them. I'd rather die than burn those books!

Spite sat up on his elbows. "How 'bout I help you making you drink what's in the buckets?" At the far end of the tent were three 5 gallon bucket's. Each contained urine and feces of various colors and sizes. Flies buzzed around the filthy buckets.

Leon tucked his fave inside his tee shirt. "Man, just tell me what do you. You just lay there and supervise."

"You got that right. It's all your fault I'm missing breakfast." Spite didn't look like he'd missed too many meals.

"Look I'm sorry. I'll make it up to you somehow..." Leon pleaded with his big green eyes. It had worked with Nana but for some reason Spite wasn't into it.

"Fine... all you do is follow the stink then get rid of it." Spite slowly rolled over reminding Leon of an extinct manatee."

Leon looked around the dark musty room. It all stank like sweat and dirty socks. Using his keen sense of smell it didn't take him long to locate 3 large buckets almost filled to the brim. This wasn't something new to him. He had a makeshift port o' potty in his underground hideout but Nana was in charge of dumping it.  What goes around comes around I guess...  Picking up the first bucket caused him to dry heave. He remembered a fun fact. Smiling represses the gagging reflex. He smiled and did his best not to vomit into the mix.

Spite turned over and noticed Leon's stupid grin. "What's wrong with you boy? You psycho or something?"

Still fake smiling Leon asked, "What do I do with it now?"

"You have two options either you can A) eat it or B) take it out side,; dig a hole and bury it."

Leon thought "B" sounded the most sensible. He went out into the hazy April sun. There leaning against the barracks was a shovel. He had no idea where to dig the hole but it occurred to him the further away the better. Being on pooper scooper duty had afforded him the perfect opportunity to get the lay of the land. He would need this blueprint in order to plan his escape.

Slowly he walked towards the twelve-foot blockade. It was topped off with the meanest looking barbed wire Leon had ever seen. He tossed a rock at the fence to see if it was electrically powered. It was. Just touching this fence could kill me!  A sleepy guard up in the lookout tower turned his gaze towards Leon. When he saw what he was burying he went back to snoozing.  As Leon began to shovel he wondered how long it would take to dig a hole deep enough to crawl under.  He was thinking like his Nana. She was the best escape artist he had ever known. Before digging his way out he first had to rescue those books.

WWND? What would Nana do?

-End of Chapter 4-

Author's note: I will upload a new chapter every Tuesday and Thursday before midnight. (Or I'll turn into a pumpkin!) If you enjoyed this chapter please vote, comment (even edits are more than welcome!) If you have something you'd like me to read please message me. Be blessed!