It's late April, 1945, me and my father huddled in the corner of a Jewish refugee center somewhere in Germany.  We had just escaped a refugee camp and was on the run. And the only thing I have to remember my Mom by is her journal. The same one I am writing in as we speak. No one can be trusted anymore and we just got word that the nazis have won World War II over the United States. Most people in the refugee center have already fled or they have been captured. Some of them were teenagers, like me, and little kids. Everyone is scared and if we don’t have a plan soon We will end up like the others.

-Derrick

I put down the journal, looked up to my Dad, Frank, and started developing a plan. At first we thought about meeting up with one of his friends that owns a light aircraft that only seats a couple of people. We would have to South America where supposedly there's a big refugee camp filled with beds and fresh resources to stay alive for a couple of months. So, that's what we decided to do.

We cracked the exit door of the refugee center we looked for any soldiers inspecting houses nearby, there were none. We quickly squeezed through the jammed door and and made our way into the woods. Frank thought about this plan everyday in his head and he knew what we need to do and where we have to go in order to stay alive. As the day grew and the sun started to set we knew we had to anchor down and stay the night in the words. The only things we had were a bottle of water, the radio and the cloths we had on our back. Frank gathered twigs and branches, he piled them up over a couple of dried leaves and began to spin a stick on the leaves to try to create a fire so we won't freeze from Germany’s harsh winter weather. After a couple minutes, and some layers of skin of his hands, he got a flame. As the fire started to get going we discussed how we were going to navigate our way to Frank's friend, David.

The sun came up, we stamped out the fire, and we went on our way. After about twenty minutes of walking we came to a stop. The woods ended and there we see a little town with the population of about four or five thousand people. Car to car we made our way through the small town. Every house that we came across had a flag, but one. It was a smaller house, we snuck into the house not knowing if it was safe. We would do anything for a little food, we haven't eaten in days. The owner was asleep on his couch with the tv on. We tiptoed through the house and all of the sudden I stepped in the wrong place and there was a giant cracking sound. The guy woke up and spotted us. We quickly ran out with some bananas and apples. We got out of the town before the soldiers, that the guy called over, could get to us. We knew that they were after us and were still on our tails. We stopped to catch our breath at a street corner. Frank threw the flashlight across the street to distract the soldiers. We had just enough time to get in one of the cars and hot wire it to get away. Frank stepped on the gas and we took off without hesitation. The soldiers did the same and were not far behind us. I pulled the map to see where we would go next. We were way off track and after about three miles we realized that we were going in the opposite direct and needed to turn

around. We turned on a side road and waited a few minutes. The flashing cars passed and we pulled out and got back on the road going straight for David.

After about two days we stopped to rest and get gas from an abandoned gas station that still had some gas left in the machine. We filled the car up and drove down the street and came across a giant concentration camp. With a road stop to pass through. We both got out of the car and made our way into the wood to try to walk around the camp. Little did we know they had Nazis circling the area to see if there were any jews trying to escape. We spotted them and ducked under a fallen tree. There were many jewish men and women in the camp and even more of them lying dead in the yard. We both knew that we would do whatever it takes to not end up dead or even worse in one of the camps. We got spotted and we started to sprint. We got through the woods and made it to the spot where David keeps his plane, he had it running waiting for us. We ran into the open field taking fire from the soldiers. As bullets whizzed passed me it gave me time to think about life and how I would never stop running. We jumped in the plane, sitting there were a Mother and her small baby. The Mother looked frightened and scared as the baby cried and cried throughout the whole plane ride.

Its early May, 1945. Me and Frank found david and are headed towards South America where there is supposably a refugee center fit to sustain several hundred people for a couple of months. The last words my Mother said to me were to keep running and never look back. So that's what me and my dad, Frank, have been doing for the last year. We bounced around to different houses that were willing to hide us for some money. After the money was gone we knew we had to go to David. So, here we are. And as we start to decent and see the refugee camp I start to dubble

guess if the rumors about this place were true. As we get closer and closer the picture is clear. This isn’t a refugee camp at all anymore, it was over run by soldiers.

-Derrick