Some time passed - it appeared to be like hours for Vera. But Johnson stayed true to his word. And Vera realized that one of the figures running around the campfire was a person she hadn't met yet. It was this person that came to her with a blanket and a metal bowl with some slightly steaming content. It was a boy, not much older than she was. He approached her with shy movements, and as he could see her up close his mouth stayed open and his eyes stared at her unswervingly.

Vera wondered what he was seeing. She could hardly be a pretty sight right now, with her clothes torn up and filthy after her long march through the wilderness, her face full of dirty spots, her hair in a complete mess, her hands and feet tied up with rope... She felt uncomfortable under his stares and cleared her throat explicitly to let him out of his freeze. "I brought you some food" he declared coyly, presenting her the bowl.

Her stomach growled. Vera looked at the contents of the bowl and sniffed it. It didn't smell of anything, but it was hot and hopefully edible. She focused on the boy. "Now what?" she asked impertinently. "Shall I sit here and watch it until it dissolves?"

"Eh..." The boy dropped the blanket and sat down next to her. It was apparent that he felt as uncomfortable as she did. "I did have a spoon somewhere..."

Again Vera cleaned her throat, getting his attention. She glanced at him with her eyebrows raised. "You know, this whole thing could be a lot easier and far less embarassing for both of us if you just untied me."

"Oh no!" the boy replied in terror, looking around if anyone had heard that. "I mustn't. No way!"

Vera sighed. "So, what now?" There was but only one way. And if he did that, her day would have reached an ultimate low. Then another way out came to her mind, and it was called starving.

The boy had already brought forth the spoon and put it into the bowl. He then raised the filled-up spoon right up to her mouth. She stared at it and hesitated. It wasn't the food that bothered her, on the contrary - the steaming stew was downright tempting. It was the humiliation connected to it that troubled her so much. "If you dare to do the Little Starship routine with me I will hurl it right back into your face" she threatened.

The boy wasn't to be irritated by this and pushed the spoon into her open mouth. Vera gasped. Dang, this was hot! "Sorry!" the boy only said as she complained to him. He blew softly on the second helping to cool it down a little. Vera also swallowed the second portion. It tasted like it smelled, of a little salt and artificial flavours, but nothing else. At the moment this was of secondary concern. At least she got something in her stomach. For a while she let the boy spoonfeed her although she would have given anything to have her hands free and be able to eat without any help.

But after some time her hunger was satisfied for the most part, and her pride took over. She turned away from the spoon in disgust. "What's that stuff anyway?" she asked grimacing. As soon has her stomach got filled up she had lost the taste for it.

Indifferently the boy shrugged. "Marching rations" he answered. "Cooked from corn, soy, tomnuts and some food supplements."

Again she had a bad feeling about this. "Is there any meat in it?" She remembered having felt something solid on her tongue, but she hadn't been sure of what it actually was.

"No, no meat" the boy comforted her. "Only goldfish."

It took her enormous effort to not eject her dinner instantly. But as she saw the boy's face she was convinced that he just tried to pull her leg. Preferably she would have made her threat from before come true - he deserved no less for this beastliness. But even if it was true - after all the stew hadn't been that bad.

The boy presented her the spoon again, but she declined by shaking her head and leaning back a little, showing him that she had had enough. Since none of the grown-ups at the campfire paid any attention to them the time had probably come for her to gather some information herself. Maybe he was more of the talkative type. Or at least naive enough to fall for her charm. First step would be to gain his trust. "I am Vera" she finally said to him.

He looked at her in amazement, but then he smiled. "I am Jesper" he answered, slightly less coy than before.

"Pleased to meet you, Jesper." The first step was taken. Vera nodded towards her backpack that stood on the ground next to her bound feet. "I've got something in my bag we could have for dessert."

Jesper looked out for the adults again, but they ignored the two of them completely. Unobtrusively he pulled over the backpack. "Did you really run away?" he asked. Judging by the sound of his voice he seemed to admire her for that.

And it was tough for her to lie to him. Tougher than lying to Johnson who had lurked for a lie from her like a predator. "That's what I said, or not?" she replied without actually answering his question.

"Wow!" Jesper uttered impressed. "You must be really brave." He went through the backpack until he found the box with sugar bars. He showed it to Vera, and she nodded in agreement.

"There was no bravery to it" she then reacted to his statement. "Only foolishness. And boredom."

Jesper had already managed to pull one bar out of the box and unwrapped it. As he took a bite, his facial expression changed visibly - he was almost aglow with happiness. Must have been a long time, Vera thought, that he got to eat something sweet. "What about you?" she asked eventually. "What are you doing out here with these people? Are you their prisoner, too?"

Jesper stared at her in shock. "No!" he shot out. But then he tuned down a little. "Ah, gee..." he mumbled. "It's not that I chose that, either. My uncle..."

"Hey!" came an angry shout from the campfire. "You're supposed to feed the girl, not talk her ear off, you twat!" It was Whitmore yelling like that, who now rose to his full size. "Now back to the tent, or I'll thrash you up." Sykes had risen as well and raised one of her knives in a threatening way.

That yell had a devastating effect on Jesper. He looked at Vera like he had just been showered in ice cold water. "Your uncle?" she asked quietly, pointing with head movement towards Whitmore. Jesper only nodded silently. With the sugar bar concealed in his hand he went back to the campfire without another word. As he was passing by Whitmore he got a kick in the butt for his troubles. It was just mean, and Vera felt for him. But Sykes had already directed her attention towards her.

"And you, you little bitch!" she snapped. "Unless you wanna spend the rest of the night with a gag in your mouth, you'll better shut the hell up!"

That didn't appeal to Vera in the least, so she wisely kept quiet. But as the woman turned her back on her, the girl just put a crushing gaze on her. Just you wait, she thought. One day I will be free and prepared. Then we will have a talk about who's the little one. After all she was certain of one thing: As mean and hateful as Sykes presented herself, and as much she liked to utter threats in Vera's direction, she didn't have the faintest clue who she was up against.

The image of what would happen then managed to cheer Vera up a little, even in this hopeless situation.