When the truck was empty, Adrian went to Chris, who was still waiting by the tailgate.
"You lose your men and boys to the Draft?"
The man nodded, dropping his eyes to the left. "Half our females too."
Adrian frowned. What else was he lying about?
"Thank you for taking us in. I'll make sure they behave."
"No, you won't. That's my job now."
Chris gave in quickly, meeting his eyes with relief, "And thank you for that too. I thought I wanted to be in charge, but I'm not enough, and I give it up with a grateful heart."
Chris on his heels, Adrian moved toward the fullest tent, glad the doctor wasn't being overwhelmed, and when Kenn appeared at his side, Adrian said nothing about his tardiness.
"We now have 28 new camp members. This is Chris. This is Kenn, my second in command. There's little he can't handle, so if you need something, he's the one to talk to. We'll need names, ages and occupations, and they'll need the medications John prescribes, lists of rules, clothing, and sleeping gear for tonight. Chris will go with you to get them settled. They'll also need porto-cans and some kids to run errands for them - your boy too, if you're all right with it."
Adrian paused to let him catch up and took in the messy hair, the corner of his shirt untucked. If Kenn found a woman here, all the better. "We'll work out tent arrangements first. Double the watch again and tell everyone inside to go back to what they were doing. Lights out at 1 a.m."
11
The tired leader was back in the office hours later, writing in his journal, and looked up at yet another creak of footsteps outside the open door - where over a hundred of his sheep were resting, finally calm enough to sleep.
"You busy?"
"Nope. What's up?"
Charlie hesitated, took a step inside, but only after looking up and down the dim hall first. "I heard something while I was shoveling…about the new people."
The question was there and Adrian nodded. "Tell me."
"It wasn't the Draft. They left to find help."
Adrian's sharp mind added up the clues. "They tried to stop them? Made them run?"
Charlie's voice was low. "Some of them escaped, and died. They chained them."
Angry, Adrian asked before he knew he was going to. "Should they be allowed to stay?" Once it was out, he didn't pull it back, waiting for this curious child's decision.