James Axler – Gaia’s Demise

“We can’t take much more of this,” Scarface said to the rest of his chained crew. “They feed us crap and work us like dogs. Couple more days of this, and we’ll be too weak to even try and escape.”

“Good thing about the accident,” Snake growled.

Bo shivered, but Scarface agreed. A slave had fallen between a moving stone block and the wall, getting crushed to death. The overseers wanted nothing to do with cleaning the mess, any more than the slaves did. However, Scarface and his crew walked to the front of the line and offered to do it if they could have bigger water rations. Laughing contemptuously, the overseers whipped them to the task, which was exactly what the cannies wanted in the first place. The dead slave was in such bad shape, nobody noticed the body was missing an arm and a leg when he was buried.

Cooler and Mad Dog wanted to cook the limbs, but the smell would have tipped off the guards, so they were forced to eat the flesh raw. The food fueled them with new strength, but they wisely continued to drag their feet like all the other starving slaves, and struggled to do work that was easy for them. Even Bo had eaten the forbidden food. He got horribly ill afterward, but ate again next time and kept it down.

“Only the leg remaining,” Cooler said, watching the movement of the armed people outside the hole. “We need a plan. And to choose just the right moment.” Snake nodded. “Aye, we won’t get a second chance.”

“We fail, we die,” Digger agreed, licking the sweat off his arms. He made a face, but kept at it. The salt kept you strong during such hard work. That was all that mattered. Only strength would give them a chance for freedom.

“So how about now?” Scarface said. “Right fucking now.”

Sitting on the ground, Bo perked up his head. “In broad daylight?”

“Say the word and we follow,” Mad Dog stated simply.

Scarface grunted. “You know what I gotta do,” he said, hoisting the sledgehammer.

Mad Dog nodded. “I’ll pay the price to get us outta here. Just do it fast!”

Digger and Snake took the man’s arms, holding him motionless, while Cooler stuffed the man’s mouth with a shirt. Scarface swung the sledgehammer. The lump of steel slammed onto Mad Dog’s foot, crushing it flat, the bones completely pulverized. His eyes wide with pain, the cannie wildly fought to get loose, then Bo slammed a rock onto his head and the man went still. Snake slid the shackles off Mad Dog’s soft foot.

“You’re free!” Bo gushed in excitement. “But how does that help the rest of us?”

“Don’t help you at all,” Scarface said, and the sledgehammer swung again, caving in the whitehair’s head. The decapitated corpse trembled and fell to the ground. Scarface then crushed the dead man’s foot, and he was free.

Swinging the length of iron chain, Scarface gauged its weight and reach. When satisfied, the two men walked from the hole side by side, as if shackled together.

Moving across the cutting floor, the men shuffled along like good slaves to the sentry shack at the foot of the spiraling ramp. The one-room shack was located on a ledge above the floor, the only access a ladder the overseers drew inside.

Snake leaned against one of the support posts, and Scarface climbed up to the man. Cresting the deck, Scarface looked about to make sure the coast was clear, then wiggled onto the platform. On the ground, Snake went behind the latrine and waited.

Sliding behind the shack where he was out of sight from the rest of the quarry, Scarface put an ear to the wall of the shack and listened. Muffled sounds could be heard, but those might be anything. Ten sec men talking business, two just telling jokes.

Going to the window, he peeked inside and smiled. A naked slave was facedown on a table, one sec men pumping at her face, the other thrusting between her legs. Easing to the door, Scarface wrapped the iron chains around his right fist and quietly entered.