The System

After the Civil War of 2029, the Government of National Unity set up the Special Security Group, SSG, who had almost unlimited powers and were permanently armed. There was no right of appeal against anything they did and any discussion of them was banned under the National Security Act of 2030. Because of their dull green uniforms and vehicles, they soon came to be called The Olives. Anyone taken by the Olives ended up in one of the huge camps behind barbed wire. Sentences were unstated or open ended and, technically, were “Until such time as the offender has been re-educated sufficiently as to be integrated back into society”. There were camps on the Yorkshire Moors, in Cumbria and in the New Forest; there were almost certainly others but, of course, they were a state secret.

Melissa was sharing a house with two other girls from the university when the banging on the door came at 6am. All the girls struggled to wake up and get dressed and Jenny was the one to open the front door. About six Olives came crashing in and Melissa found herself pushed up against a wall to have her wrists zip tied behind her back.

All three of them were taken out to the van and some of the Olives stayed behind to search the house and confiscate any phones and computers for analysis. Anyone in their contacts lists would immediately come under suspicion.

The local Reception Centre was in an abandoned theatre and it was a model of efficiency. There were three “channels” inside the front foyer just like the ones in an airport and the girls were each put down a separate channel. Melissa never saw the others again.

Firstly, she was made to pass through a scanner which took pictures of her both inside and outside so there was no need for the old-fashioned body search and then a guard snapped white plastic bracelets around both wrists and one ankle. The bracelets were marked with a long number and a barcode. Any further gathering of information about her could now be done without her being present because all her details would be downloaded from the National Database and anything else could be typed in manually. Anyone could scan her barcode and see everything about her on their screen.

Next stop was a small enclosure where two guards stood on duty with the usual pepper spray to discourage any disobedience. Her zip ties were cut off.

Now the channel led into a large holding cage which had a row of six stainless steel toilets along the back wall. Women of all ages were sitting on the floor and Melissa found a place to sit down. There would be a separate part of the building for the men.

They must have been sitting there for some hours when a door at the end of the room opened and a group of guards began shouting at them to stand up. They were herded out of the door and into the cool air of evening. The light was just fading so they must have been in the holding area for all day. Three Olive trucks were parked outside the door and the women were made to climb the wooden steps placed at each truck and sit on the floor in the rear of the vehicle.

This was the drive to the camp. Melissa assumed they were going to the one in the New Forest but, of course, she was never told where she was going or, when she arrived, where she was.