Hundreds of thumps came from all around, followed by the clinking sounds of rocks hitting the ground. The sharp screeching of minecarts on rusty rails and the dull thuds of hammers to nails. all around there were men and women of all ages, chained by the ankles and forced to dig deeper and deeper into the ground.
All around this mine were guards, men of all heights, builds and ages. Each was equipped with a leather chestpiece, and leather bracers, the iron short swords on their belts were meant to maximise cutting down the ne'er do wells that tried sneaking into the mine, or, the slaves that wished to regain freedom.
A particular guard, an older man, had a nasty look on his face.
"Uh. Baba? you alright?"
Another younger guard looked at the old villain uneasily
"Don't talk to me boy."
The old guard harshley glared at the boy making him flinch and look away. Seething the old guard abandoned his post and walked up to a young slave boy.
"Hey, you, slave."
The young slave with his back to Baba didn't stop swinging his pickaxe, this blatant display of disobedience made Baba smile with a wicked thought, his yellow stained teeth on full display in the firelight.
"Ignoring me? boy?"
He chuckled. not waiting for the boy to even notice him he raised his fist and brought it down with a swift, but decisive blow to the frail boys ribs. the boy yelped and dropped to the floor like a sack of potatoes, the raised pickaxe falling dangerously close the boys foot.
"Ignoring me now?"
An even more warped smile on his deranged face. the boy shook and shivered on the cold and dusty ground, unable to grasp the pain that was given to him in that microsecond.
"Look at me... I said look at me!"
Baba loved the feeling of power, and to be able to use it so easily, oh how he loved his job. the boy very slowly looked at him, he twitched every now and then, maybe due to the pain or another problem.
Baba inspected the mess of a boy, the boy looked very young maybe 15 or 16, he was thin as a skeleton. His round face was twisted in pain and tears formed in his grey blue sunken eyes. there was no muscle on him and the fat was non existent, his dry cracked lips were red from the constant tearing, and his long dark brown hair contrasted very much from his coal smudged pale skin, no doubt from the lack of sunlight. and he looked to be shorter than average for his age.
"Why did you ignore me? huh? think you're in charge?"
"N-no I-"
The boy was cut off by a palm striking his face. A yelp escaped his throat and through is now bleeding lips, a large red mark forming where had been hit.
"Did I tell you that you were allowed to speak?"
Baba's smile never left his face.
"Identify yourself, what's your brand."
"....888"
The boy said after a long pause, his long matted and unkempt hair covering his eyes.
"Well, 888 get up."
888 hesitated then slowly went to push himself up. but before he could even rise halfway a foot embedded itself into his gut, 888 felt bile rise from his throat, and his back thumped loudly against the jagged stone, it cutting itself further into his back as he slid down.
"Get up 888"
The young man choked and spit, the only noise he made was dry heaving. the other slaves around him glanced at his situation in pity but continued to swing away, afraid they would be the guards next target.
Another palm struck at the boy face, but before it could hit it was grabbed.
"Baba, what are you doing?"
A smooth and calm voice asked the old clod
"Oh, duh, um. Sir, he was uh, Stealing"
the new comer a middle aged man looked at Baba with suspicion.
"oh? so all the slaves have just decided to go on a stealing spree is that it?"
the newcomer flatly said.
"uh, wel-"
"I don't want to hear it from you, you twisted bum, there have already been reports of you putting your hands on more than 20 slaves this week."
the newcomer grabs Baba's face and forces it to look at the young slave.
"You see that?"
The newcomer points at 888.
"That, is the masters property, not yours, and you don't touch what's not yours."
letting go of Baba's face he gives him a steely eyed glare.
"go back to your post."
Baba quickly salutes the newcomer and hastily moved back to his position. the newcomer looked down at 888, turned, and walked out of 888's vision.
as 888 layed there, shaking from the pain. he wanted nothing more than to leave and run away. But he had resigned himself to his fate, back when he was first brought in he had tried to run a few times but quickly learned that it was a useless ordeal. The spark of hope he had died little by little each day.
Inhaling and deciding that he didn't want to be beaten any further, he grabs on to the jagged wall and hoists himself up with much difficulty. Bending down he grabs the splintered wooden shaft of the pickaxe and resumes his mining. The malnutrition and lack of sleep already made swinging the pickaxe feel like swinging a bag of rocks, but with the new "gifts" that the old coot gave to him, swinging the damn thing now felt like swinging a horse.
888 felt a wriggling under his shackles, looking down he sees a maggot squeeze out of the shackle. it wasn't uncommon for slaves to succumb to infection, he winced and leaned down to pluck the wretched thing from his shackle. the small and squishy worm wriggled and bit to no avail.
he threw the maggot behind his back and continued to work. swinging his pickaxe at the stone, dreading to find the next vein of coal. bringing the pickaxe down with a grunt a large chunk of stone tumbled to the ground, bringing up dust that filled 888's lungs. while coughing his lungs out he heard footsteps from behind him.
"alright, group 39, yer all done for the day, head back to yer rooms."
A guard yelled out. 888 rested his pickaxe on his shoulder and shuffled his way over to dump his pickaxe on the pile. then moved into the line to be inspected for any stolen items. As he waited for the pat down to be finished, he thought of where he came from, it was a thought that had been eating away at him for a long while now. Every slave he had talked to seemed to have forgotten where they had come from, what their names were, and other personal information, 888 was no different.
"Alright ye useless meat bags, let's go"
The sound of scraping metal and clanking chains filled the air as the line of slaves started to move. walking through the mine was a bleak sight to many, the walls of jagged stone were painted yellow in the firelight of oil lanterns, with the occasional support beam here and there to make sure there wasn't a cave in.
there were minecart rails, rusted and never maintained, he passed ten's of other slaves, there was no telling how many there were down here. sighing 888 retreated into his mind. there was nothing to think about, everything he knew was mining, eating and sleep. this life of his was dull, there was no meaning to it.
"get in. Yer rations are on yer beds"
888 grimaced, this damn room, it was more dungeon than room, the doorway leading into a room that was carved out of the cave, the beds were just itchy burlap sacks cut in half with no padding, and a single candle for all the slaves to share which was almost never used due to the poor ventilation. As he walked in a thought popped into his head that caused 888 to smirk. This guard talked funny. it wasn't much but you gotta find amusement wherever you can down here.
"yer"
888 whispered, then quietly chuckled.
"funny"
walking over to his filthy cot he stared at the piece of hard tack and the bowl of mystery soup, his sore body made sitting a challenge, even then it brought little to no relief for his aching Body. grabbing the bowl of mystery liquid next to him he sipped it, the bland lukewarm liquid ran down his throat, grabbing the bread he grimaced, someone could have swapped his bread with a rock and he wouldn't be able to tell the difference.
sighing again he place the disk of solid bread into the soup to soften it up. as he waited for his bread to get done soaking up the soup he heard the shuffling of feet and a man's voice.
"Hey."
an older man whispered next to him
"if you want my food then go away"
888 had reflexively tucked his food behind his arm to guard it, many slaves here loved to pick on the little guy for an extra bite. the silhouette of a man raised his arms in defence.
"I'm not here to take kid, just wanted to talk."
He smiled at 888
"im 675, and you?"
"888"
he pointed at his shoulder as he answered. a skeptical look in his eye.
"if you're here to talk, then talk."
888 said. 675 then looked around as if to search for eavesdroppers then whispered in his ear.
"do you want to be free?"
888 looked perplexed at this question, of course he wanted to be free, who down here didn't? but everyone knew there was no chance of escaping, so he voiced his confusion.
"Of course I want to be free. Why are you asking me this?"
he stared with weary eyes at this deranged man, surely he had lost his mind, being down here for so long.
"Well kid, let's just say."
He looked around once again for anybody who may be listening in.
"I found a way to escape."
888's eyes widened in shock.
"how?!"
675 chuckled at his perplexed face then answered.
"it was around 2 days ago, as I was mining. I broke through into a cave,"
888 put a hand on his chin. a cave? to think that someone found a cave down here, and managed to hide it. 675 brought 888 out of his thoughts.
"that's not even the best part"
675 had an exited gleam in his eye, then he whispered with intensity.
"I saw sunlight."
888 froze, then he looked at 675 like he had completely lost his mind.
"you're lying, there's no way. you had to have mined into another mineshaft and mistook the firelight for sunlight. "
"Kid, i'm telling you, i"m not joking, there was a light coming from the other side, I swear."
888 slumped, and shook. if this was an actual cave to the outside that would mean... surely. one word came to his mind. Freedom. he threw a glance at the older man then looked back down at his feet.
"why are you telling me this?"
looking back up at 675, a rejuvenating energy had taken hold of him, his weak and frail body shaking with hope.
"I'm going around to everyone who works in our area, if we want to break out, we need man power."
675 inhaled deeply, and like a light switch his demeanor changed to serious.
"if you want to join you have to accept that you may not make it out. expect the worst outcome if we plan to do this kid."
888 looked down at his shackles and pondered. an expression of deep longing filled his gaze soon after.
"That's fine... if I don't try now, then I'll be stuck here until I die anyways."
675 smiled, then patted him on the shoulder.
"alright, I still need to talk to others, see if I can't get them to help."
675 walked got up and walked towards the others, leaving 888 on the ground. 888 looked back down to his bowl, lifting it to his mouth, he drank and ate the rest with fervor, was it just him or did the food taste better? a small smile painting his cracked lips. the echoing words of 675 was like fuel to his dying spark of hope. putting down his empty bowl he laid down on his bed, and stared at the ceiling, exhaling deeply he closed his eyes.