Outnumbered (Book 6) by Robert Schobernd

a.m.
    We reached the edge of the enemy camp at three-forty. The previous morning's routine was repeated as the captured women were rousted early to cook breakfast. Later, the bell rang to announce food was ready.
    At eight, children played in the clearing. The kidnapped children from our dead friends’ camp held back in a separate, close group and appeared numb and dejected by what was happening around them. Once again only two men were seen. After breakfast, the captive women came and went, always under the scrutiny of their armed captors. As the sun climbed furtively over the tree tops, several captive young women were directed to an iron kettle twenty feet from the nearest building. Each carried an armful of clothing and bedding. Two other captives carried water in plastic buckets from a well to the smoke-blackened pot. A large rank of split firewood stood a short distance away.
    A short, fat woman hit Merriam across the buttocks with a stout stick and yelled, "Get your worthless ass over to the woods and haul kindling to start a fire. And if you try to run off again, Charlie and Norell will beat you and screw you till you can't walk; it'll be even worse than the last time. Now get, you lazy heifer." She swung the stick again, but Merriam evaded the blow and scurried across the open ground toward us.
    Merriam entered the woods twenty feet to the right of where Richard and I lay. Cautiously we inched across the ground toward her. She heard or saw us and flinched noticeably; I whispered, "Merriam, it's Tom Jacobs. Keep working and don't stop to look at me."  She was startled and stared at me. Then she saw Richard and lunged toward us.
    "Stop!" I put both palms up and whispered loudly, "We're here to get all of you, but not right now. How many men and women are there?" She stopped five feet from us.
    Her grin of jubilation faded when I said not right now. "There's two men and five women and two female teenagers here plus eight of their children."
    "How many are gone."
    She thought for a few seconds. "Nine men, two women and two male teenagers."
    "Don't stop working, keep gathering sticks. How long have they been gone?"
    A voice yelled from the clearing. "Where the hell's that kindling? Hurry up, Bitch or you'll get another ass whipping."
    Merriam grabbed more sticks as she spoke, "Three days, they're expected back soon, tonight or tomorrow I hear. One man left by himself and hasn't returned, but they don't seem too worried because he's done that before."
    "How many prisoners are there?"
    "Us and two other women. The men force us to have sex with them every night. Please, get us out of here. The women are as brutal as the men, and those damn teenagers are the worst. One of them is queer."
    Shouting erupted behind Merriam. Two of the guard women pushed and kicked Molly and another young woman, then laughed and congratulated each other for the harsh treatment.
    I said, "We'll come for you after the others return. Don't warn the others now, but you'll all have to escape to the far woods when the shooting starts. We'll be back, I promise."
    The fat woman yelled again for Merriam to bring the kindling. She started our way in a huff. Merriam stood with an armful of sticks and hurried back to the clearing. She tried to evade the mean bitch but got whacked anyway. When all eyes were off the edge of the woods, Richard and I crawled away until we could stand.
    Instead of going back to our camp, we circled to the west staying far enough back to avoid detection by the enemy. Ninety degrees over from where we'd been, we found a suitable site where the enemy could be watched twenty-four-seven. On the way back to our camp, we discovered an area where old, rusty farm equipment had been abandoned over the years. That would be the spot where sentries could meet to relieve each other instead of stumbling around near the enemy camp looking for their spot. We headed back.
     
    We got back at ten-thirty and explained the situation at the enemy