[Splat]

Sorry about the wait peeps. It's taken me like 3 hours to write this and it's pretty nasty. i can't think of anything else to say so I'll just get on with it:


Chapter 14, Pandemonium

Aaron jogged away from the building; crouching down low and ducking from bush to bush, keeping himself under cover as much as he could. He was barely a kilometre away from the walls of the factory when he first heard the alarm. Instinct immediately kicked in and he found himself legging it across the plain as fast as his legs would carry him – all attempts at subtlety gone. In an hour all but the top of the building had disappeared over the even horizon and he smiled to himself and slowed down to a gentle jog: he had a long way to go and would need to conserve energy along the way.

"Wuh? What’s going on?"
"Odd, man, the things been goin off for half an hour! How much sleep do ya want?"
"At least 4 hours; I had night shift, remember?" The slig pushed himself up onto his elbows, "What’s going on?" He asked again.
His friend gave a half-frightened, half exasperated sigh: "Someone’s nicked You-Know-What. Gone without a trace, no alarm, no sign of how he got it out of the room."
The other slig leapt off his mattress like it was stuffed with fleeches. "What? $h|+, I was guarding outside the room all night! If they don’t catch the guy they’ll kill me!"
"What? Man, you are dead!"
"But he won’t have escaped," He gave a rather forced laugh, "You’d have to be insane to even try to get out of this place alive."
"That’s just it, wall guard said they saw someone going over the back wall. There was a power-cut in the fence. They thought they’d picked him off but when they looked around next morning there was nothing, just a lot of blood in the ditch. One of the muds escaped in the night."
His friend swore loudly, "I gotta get out of here quick, later bud." He was out of the slig-bunks before the other slig could react.

Inside the factory all kind of order had gone. The overhead speakers were barking out orders so quickly that no one could tell what was actually being said. The alarm was still going off, louder now and more urgent. No one had thought to turn it off. Glukkons, vykkers and sligs were all running in and out of the room on corridor AC and around the boiler room and back yard. Sligs ran around madly trying to be where they were needed and always ending up somewhere else. No one had thought to call out the mudokons and they huddled in their cages, scared, hungry and confused, alarms sounding in their ears, the distant yells of sligs and roars of Glukkons drifting through the corridors into their bunks. Suddenly the doors opened. A pair of sligs stepped in, glanced around, caught site of an empty cage in sight of the door, pointed it out and left, leaving the mudokons feeling more confused and scared than ever.

Co-Director Findish paced his office nervously. After a few minutes the door slowly opened and a B-B slig and 2 juniors stepped through the door. "These 2 say they’ve spotted the escapee’s cell, in site of the door and all sir. Most nearby cages are empty they said."
Findish looked down at the sligs before him. "Is this true?"
"Aye sir," Answered one, "Only 2 muds nearby, one opposite and the one next to him."
Findish gave a cruel but serious smile, "Have them questioned, see if they know anything about his escape attempt." He turned to the B-B slig, "you know the procedures, let these two juniors stay and watch, they might learn a valuable lesson."
The B-B slig nodded, and half led-half shoved the other 2 out of the door.

The door to the bunks swung open again. The mudokons looked up as the same two sligs entered, this time closely followed by a Big-Bro. The sligs pointed to the empty cage and then to the two opposite it. Bill watched nervously as the B-B swaggered towards him as he lit a cigarette and put it in his mouth. Then, totally casually, he swung open his cage, pointed a handgun at Bill's head and told him to move.

Bill gasped for air in the few seconds he had. Then his head was shoved downwards again. He swallowed a mouthful of icy water and tried desperately to conserve the air in his lungs. The gun smashed into his back caught him by surprise and he yelped, allowing precious bubbles of air to escape into the water. Again and again he felt the gun smacked into his back as his lungs screamed desperately for oxygen. Just as he felt himself losing consciousness, he was hauled up again by his feathers. He gasped desperately for air and choked up water and vomit into the bucket. He heard a splash as Jeff was also yanked up out of his bucket.
He was thrown heavily onto the concrete floor and smacked in the back again and again and again till he lost count of how many whacks he was taking. His back screamed out in agony and he heard Jeff screaming for mercy beside him. Then finally the attacks stopped. For several seconds of blissful peace Bill prayed that it was over. He heard a loud thud and a clang of metal on metal and then a large heavy metal object was slammed onto his back. Several of his ribs cracked. Then the thing was shifted from his back and he yelled in agony as he was hauled upright by his feathers again, his bloody back bent painfully and cracked ribs tearing the skin of his chest.
His eyes cleared and focussed just in time to see a slig swing at his face. The punch collided with his jaw and he yelled in pain. The took several punches to his jaw and nose and then was hauled painfully to his feet, spun round, shoved forward and then his shins smashed into a low metal bar, he tripped over and crashed painfully to the floor of a cage. The floor was run across with metal bars like the walls, and his shattered ribs and face cracked against the uneven surface that he fell upon. He heard Jeff thrown down nearby. The key turned in the lock of the cage and the sligs left them alone. For several minutes Bill lay still, agony searing through his body like fire. Then slowly he turned his head to face his old neighbour.
Jeff was slumped against the side of his cage, eyes bloodshot, staring back at Bill; crimson blood was trickling steadily from his mouth and nose. A wide puddle of blood from his back already lay on the floor beneath the metal barred floor of his cage. His chest was marked with gashes where shattered bone showed through, pale yellow against the green of his chest and red of his blood. Neither of them spoke.

It seemed like hours later when Bill heard the door of the room open and sligs walk in, followed by the unforgettable noise of a glukkons feet tottering after them.
"Hello gentlemen," Came a purring voice that only a glukkon could simulate, "I hope you are both aware that The mudokon opposite you has escaped in the night and taken a rather valuable artefact with him. I was wondering if either of you could tell me about his escapade?"
"The guy’s insane," Bill began through the bubbles of blood that formed over his mouth, "Kept talking about getting out, I thought I heard someone pass my cage in the night but-"
Jeff suddenly blurted out, interrupting him, "There was an old mud who kept coming to see him in the night. I didn’t recognise him but they kept going on about something called the Orb! He said he was headed Southwest, towards some forest."
Bill nearly groaned aloud. Co-Director Findish grinned. "Have them taken back to their bunks. Let the others see what happens to their kind." Bill heard his cage opened and was once again hauled up by his feathers and kicked out of the room.
Findish and the Big-Bro slig remained in the room in silence for several seconds until Findish turned to face him and said quietly. "Leave them in there overnight. Let the others get a good look. Then kill them once the wakeup bells gone and the rest have gone to breakfast."


I expect your replies soon. Actually I kinda liked this chapter. There'll be more about Aaron in the next chapter, i promise.