39

Keeping watch was of the essence. Inquisitive eyes spread out everywhere and their task was to see everything. Whenever the prisoners would leave through the main prison gate, these eagle eyes would be present. At every bend in the road, there would be tens of such watchful eyes. Over each and every prisoner, and over each and every guard, a watchful eye would be hovering. Where would these prisoners actually go for work? Watchful eyes would know it all. Would the road lead through woods? These watchful eyes would be familiar with each and every tree on the way. Greedy as they were, these watchful eyes wouldn’t miss a thing.

They couldn’t afford to waste time. Kidnapping a prisoner and exchanging him with an escapee wasn’t easy. After all, there were guards on the beat. There were also weapons. And there were the prisoners themselves. There was the open field where nothing could be attempted. The formation of prisoners would make their way in perfect order, and the workplaces would be under constant surveillance.

Not to mention that the prisoners themselves had turned into brutes. No one wanted to be exchanged during the winter. In recent years a certain resistance to being kidnapped in adverse weather conditions had been observed among prisoners. They wouldn’t want to allow being kidnapped in bad weather. They would barely understand anything. They’d care about nothing. They’d organize themselves into groups to ensure mutual surveillance. There had even been embarrassing situations where some people basically would refuse to be released. They were like beasts who had been battling it out until their last breath.

By this point, the watchful eyes had started to clock the times for departure and arrival, for work and for breaks. They’d note all the times second by second, together with their relevant activities. Soon fortune decided to smile on the good. The woods near the town had almost entirely been cut down, and the prisoners were loading the wood into cargo carriers. All the timber depots were to be opened, and there were tens of such depots along the railway tracks. Thus the prisoners would spread out over a relatively large area. Consequently, the watchful eyes had spread out, too.

Night after night, the most lucid minds would make plans. The minds on the brink of madness would invariably say, ‘It’s great.’ The lucid minds would come up with new plans all the time, mooting ingenious twists, real gems of the imagination and cunning. ‘Let’s get started once and for all,’ the minds on the brink of madness would yell. The most lucid minds would give the minds on the brink of madness something very precise to do. This role, given to every mind on the brink of madness, was sabotage. The guards would essentially be shivering with cold all the time. They would also get bored easily. They’d blow hot air on their hands while stamping their feet. Some guards would carry small flasks with them, from which they’d take occasional sips of alcohol. It was easy to string along the guards. All the minds on the brink of madness had learnt what they needed to do to perfection.

The most lucid minds had prepared ropes and gags for those prisoners who were about to be released. One of the abandoned cellars was prepared in advance for their reception. A rota, covering at least a week of guarding duties, was put together, as the most lucid minds estimated that it would take about this long to assimilate the newcomers.

The watchful eyes had become increasingly impatient. Their minds would be thinking faster and faster, and the voices would turn more and more vicious. ‘They are so fat,’ the voices pointed out as the watchful eyes were checking out the prisoners taken out for work. ‘Look at their cheeks,’ the voices said. ‘Look at their jaws, their chubby pink hands, their boots and jackets,’ the voices continued to whisper. ‘See how calm and quiet they are! They need to keep working really hard, following the orders of their guards,’ the voices growled. ‘They are basically animals, asleep on their feet. They seem to be ignorant of everything,’ the voices continued. The most lucid voices added, ‘It won’t be easy with them—they won’t accept freedom so lightly because they won’t understand what it is.’ They also noted that ‘They are all brainwashed, so are basically a herd of cattle and a bunch of bread-eating machines. We have to be merciless with them.’

The first one to fall was a slim prisoner, with a high forehead. ‘Oh no,’ he thought when he found himself tied up, gagged and stripped of his jacket and boots.

‘Pig,’ the second said to himself.

‘For heaven’s sake, not again,’ the third mused.

‘What’s this, what’s this, what’s this,’ the fourth kept repeating for almost an hour.

‘This isn’t fair,’ the fifth thought.

The sixth simply roared with laughter, even when he was being tied up, and continued laughing well after this job had been completed.

The seventh didn’t think of anything because he had been knocked out by the blow he received on his neck.

‘Finally,’ the eight mused.

‘They want to kill me,’ the ninth thought to himself.

While the tenth did indeed die, choked by fear and the gag, only a few minutes after being thrown into the cellar where his mind was meant to be finally freed.