It seemed the camp was broken in half by the mess hall which had a chain link fence hooked to each of its sides. Both sections of fencing had razor wire on top to keep anyone from climbing over. Once inside there were two doors one on the male side and one on the female side. Both had armed guards stationed at them to prevent someone from entering the wrong side.
During the next few weeks, they rotated the women between the kitchen, the farm, and the infirmary. At least the male doctors in the infirmary showed us some kindness and compassion. Unlike the guards who generally spoke to us like slaves and thought it their right to use verbal and sexual harassment.
Being strong, both mentally and physically, I was able to thwart such advances on myself and my group. They watched and listened carefully. I proudly watched them react calmly and strongly. The guards got tired of our fighting and turned elsewhere for their fun. I was glad for us, but sorry for the next victims. I thought maybe it'd be worse for them.
After about a month, the guards realized my two best work locales were the farm and the kitchen. While on the farm, they saw I knew what I was doing and was able to teach my friends and the men working with us how to be more efficient. it was rumored that I was in the kitchen because another inmate had told someone he recognized me and raved about my pies and jams. It seemed I was not the only one that was in here because of one of Gunthar's vendettas.
So, my schedule came out to be three days on the farm and four days in the kitchen. Most other cabinmates, I found out were separated, but I and my roommates were always kept together. That was one of the few positive things about being imprisoned here.
It was in the kitchen that I first met Daniel. He was one of the camp's handymen and its only professional electrician. It seemed we had Gunthar in common. He said Gunthar had shipped him here because Daniel had put Gunthar's uncle out of work. Daniel had told the head of their guild that one of Gunthar's projects had ended up in a kitchen fire.
For about two weeks we had been having intermittent electrical outages in the kitchen. It took him two days to diagnose the problem and two more days to fix it. It would have taken less time if he didn't get called away a couple of times by camp leadership on some more important job. I couldn't see anything more important than the kitchen being safe to work and eat in. When he wasn't acting as an electrician, he was a mechanic for the farm equipment. So, we ended up seeing each other often. And we became friends. When he saw how the guards treated the other women, he insisted on working with us when he was on the farm, even though I said we could take care of ourselves. I thanked him for his gallantry.
On the day Daniel came to finish the job in the kitchen, he told me that he had heard in the commandant's office that the camp was closing down in six months. Without thinking, I said that I was planning on getting out before that now that I knew my girls were safe from the guards.
One day, unexpectedly, one of the guards Daniel was watching tried his tawdry actions on me. I batted his hand away and kicked his knee. But he still tried again. This time I kneed him in the groin and said I was going to tell the commandant. He just laughed at me and said, I shouldn't make threats I wouldn't keep. At the end of my shift, I asked I guard I knew I could trust to escort me to the commandant's office.
Once there I reported the guard and the commandant said he was surprised because he had never witnessed such behavior.
I said that they always knew when he was coming so they acted respectfully. He decided to make a surprise inspection where the offending guard was stationed tomorrow. I found out later the next day that the guard was caught read handed and was summarily dismissed. So now the guards would be careful not to make any of the women uncomfortable for fear of losing their jobs too.
Now, I could get to work on my plan of escape.