Chapter 283 (1/2)

Book 3, Chapter 19 – Life of a Wastelander

As darkness took authority over the sky, dots of light sprang up throughout Miner's Bluff [1] Soldiers huddled by campfires to dispel the chill The cold and darkness made them lazy, and they filled their bellies with heated wine The slaves they were meant to watch over saw it as a fortuitous combination

Miner's Bluff was a wasteland slave ca nonstop in the bowels of the mountain It didn't serve the master to offer any safety equipment, so hardly a ent by without at least one death from exhaustion, illness or injury The black-hearted slave driver didn't want to waste any funds of keeping the slaves fed, so it was common practice to

Most of the slaves survived because of this forced cannibalism Despair and hopelessness had drained them of shame However, those who did not die harbored a secret seed of rebellion

For a amble their lives for a better future

A grizzled, white-haired slave turned back to look at a youngerlike his naest of the enslaved miners He'd been down here with the rest of them for two years, but never once in that ti his fellows He wasn't special, and eventually the ones who refused to eat becath, the slave-drivers felt he was more use to them alive than on someone's plate They kept hi and healthy

“Everyone, get ready” The old slave kept his voice to a haggard whisper “Sprout, we'll keep the guards busy I need you to break into the rooun Use it to kill the watchtower guards That's our only hope”

Sprout's simple, earnest face betrayed anxiety But thefor him, spurred him on Filled with resolve, he nodded

“Alright friends Live or die, it all gets decided right now Go!”

The group of slaves sprang up froh fence The guards, co near their fires, were taken by surprise As they groped for weapons, a hundred angry ht with fist and feat, and heavy rocks they carried up fro out as they were torn apart

Men up in the watchtowers heard the commotion Clearly it was a revolt, so they did not hesitate to level their weapons and start firing into the crowd Slaves began to fall, helpless as fish in a barrel

Sprout heard the whistle of an arrow pass centimeters from his ear Screams came from all around as his fellow slaves died He ran over the body of his closest friend, Brick Flea, who'd cared for him ht and didn't get back up

Fear gripped him

The slave-e was fading fast

Whoosh!+

Another arroas co his way

Before it could find purchase, a wrinkled and eround, clutching his chest “Don't stop, Sprout!” He cried “You have to live!”

Sprout's eyes were red froth he didn't know he had burst from him, and he juh the night he charged ahead Arrows peppered the ground he'd just vacated, and several narled hand outstretched toward Sprout's fleeing figure

Many nights in the cold and dark had been spent fantasizing about what the slave-h the door he couldn't help but stop dead in his tracks Pots of clean water were piled up in one corner, while the walls were hung with s woether, like frightened naked sheep Scarred, wounded, they curled in a shi+vering ball of clutching limbs

The slave master had been busy with one when Sprout forced open the door Bare-assed, he hurriedly climbed off the bed with a pair of trousers in one hand His ly toward the door, but shrank instantaneously when he saw the large slave who stood there The slave ly face was a ot a death wish!+”

It was kill or be killed

Sprout underestiy body It cost hied to wrap his hands around the fiend's throat With a satisfying pop the slave-driver's spine separated

Fuun and stuck his head back outside Crack! Crack! The guards raining arrows from their towers screamed as they tumbled from their posts The day on

By the ti to a very different scene

Those guards unfortunate enough to survive were tied up Slaves argued over whether to cut them up and eat them raw, or cook theed his wo The men pounced on them, one after the other, like a pack of ravenous wolves