Oscar Read Free

her skin.
    ‘Turn around.’ the guard grunted.
    She turned around gingerly, her back now facing the guard. She placed her hands on either side of the cubicle, bracing herself for the next freezing gush. As the water hit her, she arched her back. A little while after, the guard turned off the hose and tossed it aside. He then picked up a bag of white powder he had dragged over—scooped some into a metal spoon, and threw it over her.
    ‘Turn around.’ he squealed again.
    She turned round and closed her eyes tight to avoid getting the powder in them. Once the delousing procedure was complete, the guard pulled her out of the shower block and cuffed her hands behind her back again for the journey to the dispensary. She had never been so vulnerable. Naked and unable to defend herself, she was at the mercy of the guard until they reached their destination.
    A few more yards separated her and her escort from the dispensary, and the clothes that she so desperately needed. The guard stood behind her, pressing his body up against hers, squaring her up on the white line, three feet away from the counter—she could feel his member throbbing against her frozen skin, making her cringe.
    ‘Do not move from this spot, is that understood.’ he growled in her ear. ‘See what you get if you do.’
    He moved away from her, taking her clothes around the back for storage. Again, she found herself waiting far too long. Freezing and petrified, she could barely contain her emotions—but for her own sake, she had to.
    The guard came back with the overalls and slip-ons, which he tossed next to her on the floor. He then strode over and took her restraints off for a second time.
    ‘Put them on, and be quick about it.’ he grouched.
    Janna said nothing to make her situation worse. She had already felt the guard’s spite, almost freezing to death as a consequence of her defiance.
    No sooner was she dressed than the guard placed the cuffs back on. Where he thought she was going to go was anyone’s guess. She had nowhere to run or hide, so what was the point of putting the cuffs on time and time again? Maybe he liked to revel in her vulnerable state and wanted to make her feel helpless in every way. It had reached the point where she felt the need to speak out, and sod the consequences.
    ‘Where the hell do you think I’m going to go, you stupid idiot?’ she shrieked.
    The guard’s response was so quick, she almost didn’t believe it happened until her face was in the dirt. He had pushed her to the ground and placed his foot on her face.
    ‘Keep it up, bitch.’ he replied with menace. ‘And see if I don’t kick your pretty little head in.’
    She gritted her teeth as the weight of the guard’s foot was lifted from her face. She was then pulled to her knees and stood up forcefully.
    ‘You’d best pray for a quick death, because I’ll see to it that you suffer in every way possible.’ he hissed. ‘In fact, I have something to show you before I take you to the huts.’
    He led her to what was known as ‘the infirmary’, which was in fact, a slaughterhouse. David had been laid out on a steel table belly-down, with his head placed on a wooden block. It was a crude sort of chopping block, still covered in the last victim’s blood. She was taken into the room where he lay in his semi-conscious state, helpless and unable to escape his impending doom. The guard stood behind her and held her head in position to make sure that she saw what was about to happen to her beloved husband.
    ‘If you dare scream or close your eyes, you’ll be next.’
    All she could do was watch as the camp’s doctor approached his hapless victim with a crude, almost blunt axe. She tried to struggle, but as soon as she did, the guard’s hands squeezed her head tighter. She let out an almighty scream, and resigned herself to the fact that she was going to watch her husband being murdered in front of her.
    Stroke after stroke, the axe fell on David’s neck,