I joined Emily and Jack in the cafeteria where rations were being handed out. The camp was crowded, but there seemed to be enough small portions to go around. A couple of men started to get rowdy, talking about the current situation.

“With our military it should only be a few weeks.” A larger man boasted. “Yeah right, if you want something done you gotta’ do it yourself.” Another man retorted. I rolled my eyes and scoffed.

“Where's John?” Jack asked, sounding worried. Jack seemed very nervous. He was already an anxious boy, but something seemed to be setting him off. His eyes darted from person to person. Every time someone coughed he would stare them down until he moved on to a new person. He flinched when I reached across the table and put a hand on his shoulder.

“You okay?” I asked, concern painted on my face. “People are sick.” He spoke in a hushed voice. “It's okay people get sick.” I tried to reassure him. “No, they're sick.” He looked me in the eye. “Jack, They check everyone when they come in, I doubt anyone is turning in here.” I tried reassure him. I immediately perfectly understood why Jack was freaking out. If people started turning in this overflowing camp, we would have little to no chance of surviving.

Just as I started to get up John arrived to our table, handing me a knife. He leaned in and spoke loud enough for the three of us to hear over the noise in the room.

“Our parents aren’t here,” He said, but before I could ask how he knew, he continued. “I checked the list of people in here, It seems like there’s another camp along the state border of West Virginia.”

I cursed under my breath and stashed the knife under my pant line. I didn’t bother asking where he got it and how many more he had. I figured he must have stolen it and left it at that. Not long after that, everyone was herded into another building. It was one giant room filled to the brim with bunk beds. Shitty prison bunk beds. There was only about half a foot, if not less, of space separating each bunk bed. Most of the bunks were taken, and some were trying to fit two people in each bunk. I could tell everyone was worried about being separated, so I took the time to scout out two free bunk beds next to each other. Once again luck seemed to be in our favor. Two bunk beds right across from each other. All this luck gave me the feeling that something bad was about to happen soon. If anyone were to turn in this room, while everyone was asleep, with all these people crammed together? Yup, you guessed it. We’d be dead meat. Literally.