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Category: Book 2 Crossroads and Choices

Book 2 Journal Entry 3

Book 2 Journal Entry 3

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Journal 3

I want to go home. It has been a long, awful day. This is not the new life I was promised. I keep pinching myself hoping I will wake up from this nightmare. I can’t sleep even though I am exhausted. I am finding it difficult to get comfortable at night because everything aches and it is difficult to sleep on a cold dirt floor. The guards get enjoyment in disturbing our rest period. They walk over us and deliberately kick someone. The guards kicked me in the shoulder, yelled at me and hit me with a stick because I was in the way. I looked at the guard in protest and he beat me for my rudeness. The guards made me kneel for the rest of the night.

I am so hungry. The guards eat continuously throughout the day. They walk among us and brag about how full they are. If my thoughts could kill all the guards would be dead. We are teased with food; I have seen several of the other slaves walk away with a guard and come back later with a piece of fruit or bread. They are surviving the best they can. I am not going down that road. I think I would prefer to die.

I spent the first part of the day digging up rocks. After my midday stale biscuit, the guards transferred me to work on the wall.

Book 2 Journal Entry 2

Book 2 Journal Entry 2

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Journal 2

If Yates is here, I have not seen him. The guards don’t allow us to speak. They watch over us like vultures. Any deviation in the rules and punishment is swift and painful. I know because I quit digging up rocks long enough to catch a moment’s breath and had a rod come down across my shoulders.

Rule number three don’t stop working until a guard tells you to quit. I gave the guard a look and he smacked me again. I forgot about the keep your head down rule. I recognize a couple of soldiers from Ft Shasta also here as slaves, but I don’t know their names. I never had personal contact with them at Bear Country. I think they are just as confused and disoriented as I am. I wish Yates were here. He would know what to do to get us out of this mess. I have been praying that Yates escaped the ambush.

The guards forced me to work the entire day with no food at all, and only two ladles of water. Every muscle in my body hurts. After digging up the rocks, we transport them to be washed. I have bruises all over my back. I have dirt so far under my fingernails that several of my fingers are sore. I stink and I have a headache. Someone pinch me so that I can wake up from this nightmare.

Book 2, Journal Entry 1

Book 2, Journal Entry 1

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Journal 1

I was resting when our convoy came to a sudden stop. Yates told me to stay put as he jumped out of the truck. He ordered a couple of his soldiers to run to the front of the convoy and find out what was happening. I have never been good at waiting. I hate it when others tell me what to do. I prefer to give the orders.

I stayed put for three seconds and then I jumped out of the truck. Yates gave me the “I told you to stay put look.” and in return I gave him the “I’m just stretching my legs look.” It only took the soldiers a couple of moments to figure out what the problems were at the front of the convoy. Someone had dug a ditch across the entire width of the road. There was no way to get across and we couldn’t drive around it because both sides of the road sloped down a hillside.

 Yates started giving orders. His soldiers were going to have to build a bridge to get us across. This was going to take a little while, so I started to get back in the truck. I vaguely remember the dart hitting me and seeing a couple of soldiers fall. I think I remember hearing gunfire and someone yelling to take cover. I don’t know where everyone went. I think fate hates me.