Chapter 27
Jess was ten. It was almost a year since he’d been separated from his mother, as best he could count, a year of loneliness and fear. Slowly he had become tougher, better able to hide his feelings, but inside it still hurt just as much. For months he had dreamt of finding her again, of being reunited with her, but that dream had long since faded.
Guards herded Jess and the other prisoners towards a set of large prisoner transports. Many pairs of prisoners held each other closely, trying to ensure they ended up on the same transport – and so at the same destination. Others stayed close but didn’t touch, knowing the guards sometimes took pleasure in splitting up obvious couples. Jess just tramped slowly on, head down. He had no one close he wanted to stay near. The other
