[GlacierDragon]

I'm going to post the next chapter now because there's a chance that I'm going to be disconected from the internet due to the people sending us the wrong bills and then not doing anything about the problem. So if I don't post any more chapters for a while you know why. Anyway, this one goes back to Shrown and adds a couple of new charactors to the story.

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Chapter 4

A Flying Slig was killed yesterday. The fool thought he could escape through an open window. He didn’t realise there were motion detectors outside. He was killed by a collision with a flying mine.

I didn’t know him, of course. I just thought you would find that interesting.

Anyway, today is the day I’m to see Queen Skillya. Zevenk is nervous, I can tell. He keeps muttering to himself and stuff. If you want my opinion, I don’t give a damn about what Skillya says. If she sentences me to death then so be it. It will be better than living around Shrinks for the rest of my life.

Mostly we work for the day. Everything is pretty uneventful so I won’t bore you with the details. Zevenk keeps flinching whenever a guard walks past. I try and reassure him but it doesn’t work. Looking at him now, I wonder; how did he ever shoot his master?

It isn’t until evening when a Big Bro Slig approaches us.

“5-12-3-27? 14-9-1-27?”

“Yeh?” Zevenk and I answer at the same time.

Big Bro stares at us for a while. “You are to follow me to the train,” he finally says. (I can’t be sure, but I think I just heard Zevenk squeak.)

We stop our work half way through and follow him. I had a chance to be a Big Bro once, but I refused. Didn’t like the idea of being pumped full of chemicals, and I still don’t. Can’t be any good for you.

As we make our way to the other side of the jail (where the trains are) I bump into the Shrink from the other day. I silently scream with exasperation.

“5-12-3-27!” it exclaims. Honestly, why can’t people just call me Shrown? It would make things so much easier. The Shrink continues, “You’re heading for the trains, I take it?” It has a really cheerful voice for some reason or another.

I nod my head in answer.

“Well, I hope everything goes well for you. See you soon!”

Oh, I hope not!

Zevenk snickers as the Shrink goes. I look at him with exaggerated helplessness, and he laughs some more.

We finally reach the trains. The Big Bro Slig shoves us inside and we are handcuffed by a guard. I don’t see the point of us being handcuffed. It’s not as if any of us are going to be able to escape, even if we try. We’re not the only prisoners here. There are about a dozen others, all handcuffed. Most of them are walking Sligs, but I see a couple Flyers and even a Big Bro (at first I thought he was one of the guards, but then I realised his mask lacked the red stripe that defines the guards from the prisoners). We are herded into separate rooms, much like the prison cells only bigger and with seats. The window is also bigger, but I don’t know why. You wouldn’t think they want you to enjoy the view.

I get put in a room with Zevenk and two others that I haven’t seen before. The door closes behind us and I hear the key in the lock. I sit by the window; Zevenk sits just up from me in the corner. The other two sit opposite us. They look like they don’t know each other.

When everything is organised and the guards are in place I feel the train begin to rumble and move. It starts off slowly, but then I sense its speed increase. Everyone in the room is silent. To take my mind off things I look out the window. At first I just see the walls of the train station. But then when the train gets into the open I see the prison from the outside for the very first time. (I was unconscious when I was brought here.)

The place is surrounded by mine fields and electric fences. Security cameras, flying mines, motion detectors; they’re all here. I see a couple of Slogs messing around with each other far below. I used to have a Slog, but I guess she’s been given a new owner now.

Surrounding everything is a dense forest. I haven’t a clue where in Mudos we are. Possibly in the south? I know Queen Skillya is in the east, but not many know her exact location because she is too valuable to the Glukkons.

The prison rapidly shrinks behind us. The forest canopy is quite far below. The rumbling of the train has quietened a bit since it started up. The sun set a while ago and it’s a clear night, with hardly any clouds. You can see loads of stars and five moons, including that weird one with the hand-print on it. The forest looks all silvery in the moons’ light.

How nice.

I sigh and move my gaze from the window to the floor. Zevenk is huddled up to the wall. He is older than me by a couple of months, but sometimes he acts several years younger. He looks frightened now. He’s trying to hide it but he isn’t doing a very good job. I want to say something but my mind is blank.

The train rumbles onwards. No one in the room speaks for an hour (it feels like an hour, but there are no clocks) and it gets really boring. But then one of the Sligs opposite me breaks the silence.

“So what are you lot here for? I tried to escape from the factory I worked in. I got out, but then I was caught and taken to that lousy prison.”

Zevenk looks up. “What factory?” he inquires.

“A meat processing plant named RuptureFarms. Don’t know if you’ve ever heard of it. Anyway, I heard rumours that it was going to be attacked, so six of us decided to group together and make a run for it. Only four of us escaped, though. The others got shot. Next thing we know we’re surrounded by Sligs in the Stockyards and then we wake up in jail. But we were lucky, ‘cause I was told a couple of days later that RuptureFarms got blown up.”

“Where are the others that escaped?” I ask, intrigued.

“They’re in another room on this train. Our plan was to stick together but one of the guards separated us. But enough about me, you tell me why you’re here.”

Zevenk goes first. He explains how he used to work for a Glukkon who kept having him do really arduous tasks. Zevenk got fed up so he grabbed his gun one day and pulled the trigger at the Glukkon. Shot him right between the eyes. The Slig talking to us laughed his head off when he heard this (well, not literally). I couldn’t help but laugh a little, too.

He turns to me. “You look like you have a good story to tell.”

Why does everyone keep saying that?

I merely shake my head and say, “It doesn’t matter; it’s not that good.” He shrugs and turns to the last Slig in the room, the only one that hasn’t spoken a word.

“And you? You got anything to say?”

The Slig looks at him. “No,” he mutters angrily. “I haven’t got anything to say.”

“Oh come on,” Zevenk pleads. “We told you ours.”

“Well my one is more shameful than all yours put together. If I tell you I’ll never have a reputation again, let alone friends. If I live after seeing Skillya, that is.”

“It can’t be that bad,” I pipe in.

He shakes hid head and remains silent. We prod him with our words, trying to make him give up his secret. We must be really annoying him because in the end it works.

“Fine, I’ll tell you! The reason I am here is because I helped a group of four Mudokons escape from a fuel factory I worked in.”

Silence in the room. Even I feel repulsed. I mean sure; I didn’t kill the slave because it was defenceless. And when that one was beaten to death, again it was defenceless. But you don’t help Mudokons escape! They are lower beings, after all! I look over to Zevenk. He has a look of pure horror on his face. The Slig who started the conversation (he hasn’t told us his name yet, and we haven’t told him ours) is trying to hide his disgust.

“Oh, well. Umm, so, did they escape?”

“Yes, but I didn’t.”

The conversation dies there and an awkward silence follows. I think about how he must be hating himself for telling us. I also think about how cowardly I have been for not telling them about myself.

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I really hope my internet doesn't get cut off