The Others

Chapter 6: Welcome to Garrenbuck

We arrived at GarrenBuck in the middle of the night.

The G.S. soldiers threw open the door and began barking orders. Two soldiers jumped into the back of the truck, they fiddled with a small remote which unlocked our shackles and then proceeded to push us out into the cold. Snowflakes drifted from the black sky and melted in the gnarled knots of my hair. I stood on my tiptoes, afraid to get my flats wet from the slush covering the road and wrapped my arms around my waist.

"Two lines! Girls on the left, boys on the right," shouted a man in a black polyester uniform- it was the uniform of a Commander. He paced back and forth while smacking a baton in his hand.

We ran as the lights flickered on, illuminating the courtyard with a blinding white light. After spending several hours crammed in that truck, with my arms and legs cuffed, I found it strange to use my limbs. I stumbled over to the line on the left with the grace of a baby giraffe. Glancing behind me, I tried to find the girl with the short black hair and orange bangs but she was swallowed by the mass of people. There were two other trucks that followed behind ours, dropping off their supply of teenagers. My hands curled into fists by my sides as I watched the gated entrance close.

I was trapped.

"Welcome to GarrenBuck," said the Commander in a tone that was not unkind, just apathetic.

"You are now and henceforth property of the United States Government until we can rejoin you with your people."

He made it sound like we were sick animals and they were nursing us back to health before releasing into the wild. As if they were doing us a favor by stealing us from our homes and locking us up in this concrete hell. Perhaps, I was a little spoiled but I didn't see the appeal. Twenty G.S. soldiers stood on the flanks of the Commander, ten on one side and ten on the other. They were dressed in matching silver polyester uniforms, with the eagle crest sewn above their hearts. They stood absolutely still with their hands sanctioned on the guns at their hips.

"The United States Government has a treaty with your people, an agreement, of sorts." My teeth began to chatter. I wanted him to shut up so I could get out of the cold but he continued. "We will feed you, we will house you and we will help you find out who you truly are but in return you will follow our rules."

It sounded so simple. Like we were little orphan kids who had lost our way and he was going to help us. He was even chivalrous enough to add in a nice bed and warm food. Really when it's put like that, it sounded too good to be true but, he wasn't telling the complete truth. He would provide us with everything he offered, all we had to do was give up our freedoms and humanity. They don't like to put that last part in the brochure because then they would look like the bad guys.

And they weren't the bad guys.

At least they didn't think they were doing anything wrong. If anything they probably thought they were being quite nice for sparing our lives. Heck, I would have thought they were being too nice if I was at home, watching the whole thing from the comfort of my living room and not experiencing it for myself. But I was experiencing it for myself. I stood in line, shaking, partly due to fear and partly due to the cold. Behind me, I could hear the unease of several kids become vocal. To the right, in the boy's line, two boys began to shove at each other until one of the boys gave up. He threw his hands in the air and walked to the middle. To no man's land.

"Step back in line." The Commander clutched his baton tightly, his knuckles turning as white as the snow falling from the sky.

"No." The boy said quietly. He didn't look very confident in his decision. His hands were twitching by his sides and he refused to look up from the scuff mark his on brand new high-top sneakers. But still, he didn't return to the line.