CHAPTER 14
PACKING
Eventually, Nox served his due, and the time came to pack up and leave. It hadn’t come a day too soon, and Nox had avoided being sent to the chain gang. He said his farewells to his pals, and wished them all the best in the rest of their sentences.
“Your last day today?” Glon asked at dinner.
“Yep. They said I’m goin’ in about half an hour.” Nox replied.
“Really?” Rowl said, surprised. “I never even thought about yeh leaving…its all gone so fast!”
“Don’t start crying on me now!” Nox joked, attempting to lift his mood.
“Hey Billy! What yeh doin’?” Glon questioned, turning to his side to face Billy.
He had his head bowed and was sniveling something. Glon leaned in closer to him.
“What did yeh say buddy?” He asked soothingly, then repeating his words. “He said he’s gonna’ miss yeh.” He informed Nox.
“I ‘aint done shit here, Billy. What you gonna’ miss?” Nox asked, confused by Billy’s actions.
“Company.” Glon translated.
“Don’t worry about me, Billy!” Nox attempted to comfort.
“Yeah,” Rowl started, “Nothings changing for you! Everythings still the same! You got me and Glon still! Eh?”
“I spose your right.” Billy said, lifting his head slightly and rubbing his eyes.
It was the first time he’d seen Billy at the brink of tears.
Nox shook Glon, Rowl and Billy’s hands, and made his way to his cell on the second floor, where a cloth sack had been dumped on his bunk to put his accumulated belongings in. at this point he realized he had not experienced the joy of sharing a cell, and removed his prisoner shirt. It was one thing he was glad about. As for the cloth sack? He knew exactly what to do…
He was frog marched once again to the train station, and boarded the train with wary looks from the same driver as last time, still wearing his pinstriped flat cap. The slogans on the walls; exactly the same. The life of prison inmates; unchanged and still violent. The immoral way of CO’s; un-defied.
I’ve not changed a fucking thing here…jack shit…
There goes the best days of your life, eh Nox’y! Fightin’, brawlin’, fucking MURDERIN’!!
No one bothered checking his things, and Nox managed to smuggle something on board.
The shutter doors rattled shut, and on flickered the light.
The cloth sack convulsed, and out crawled the mudokon child.
“We’ve done it, little one…we’ve done it…”
Nox knew where he would hide the kid at Slig Barracks too. There was an old, derelict warehouse not far from Nox’s bunker. The kid could stay there until he managed to get the mud into the forests with some native mudokons. It was going to be easier, Nox thought, than it was in prison.
“Where are we going again?” The kid asked.
“Somewhere better than here. You’ll have more space and can wonder about. Just don’t leave the place though, not without me.”
“How big is it?” The mudokon child quizzed, then giving a length of arm as a measurement. “This big?”
“Whoa no! Bigger than that!”
The child outstretched its arms to maximum, and said, straining, “This big?!”
“Even bigger than that!”
“Even bigger than that?!” Lage said, dropping its arms to its sides.
“Yup.”
Time passed, and the child eventually fell asleep, leaving Nox alone with his thoughts for the remainder of the journey. Not the best company.
The train finally reached a smoking stop, and the shutter doors rattled open, startling Nox and waking the child.
“Quick! In yeh go!” Nox said to Lage, opening the sack for it to crawl into, than standing and swinging it onto his shoulder.
He walked out onto the platform to see the train driver once again. This time he said nothing, seemingly learning his lesson from last time. Nox noticed a golden plaque screwed into the brick wall of the station with ‘Slig Barracks’ engraved onto it, amongst posters of different military scenes, one depicting group of sligs in a trench having a fierce fire-fight with a group of renegade mudokons, the sligs looking victorious. The heading; NO ONE STANDS A CHANCE AGAINST THE MILLITARY MIGHT OF SLIG BARRACKS! Another poster showed a highly decorated slig standing to attention with the heading; PUT YOUR OWN LIFE BEFORE OTHERS AND REAP THE REWARDS!
They’ve bought me straight to Slig Barracks instead of the courthouse…
Home, sweet home…
The train blew its horn, and began its long journey back to Sronti’s prison.
Better him than me…
Once the train had left the station, Nox was bathed in glorious, glorious silence, and he took it in, readily.
“Well,” Nox said to himself, “Spose I’d best report in.”
Nox knew his way around Slig Barracks, having spent his whole career there, and so, signed himself in, and immediately set off for the warehouse, leaving the post he’d been assigned to at the mercy of the elements.
The warehouse was situated about one mile of walkway from Nox’s bunker, and was currently derelict, say for the bit of ammunition storage every now and then. If there was ammo in there now, he’d have to tell Lage not to touch anything.
Don’t wanna’ blow the kid up, do yeh Nox? Heh heh…
The sky began to grow dark and the stars came into view as Nox made his way over to the warehouse. When he reached it, he was happy to discover that it was not in use, save for a few unloaded pallets here and there. Once inside, he let the child out of the sack, feeling slightly guilty for the way that it had been treated; like a chunk of gold being hidden from the greedy eyes of Clakkers.
Nox slumped himself against the bare, concrete wall and looked on at the empty ground of the warehouse. Lage sat next to him as the lights flickered on automatically. The outside world grew darker.
“Is this the new place uncle?” Lage asked.
“Yep, this is it. Plenty of room for you to play when I’m not here. But don’t leave the place!”
“I wont Nox. You worry too much!” The kid remarked.
Nox laughed, “Yeah, maybe your right…I worry too much…” He said as he continued to look on at the emptiness of the place.
He glanced at his watch; 9:31 pm. He had another half an hour until the end of his shift. He hoped that he hadn’t been uncovered as not at his post, or as the glukkons liked to call it, AWOL.
“Uncle?” Lage interrupted.
“Yeah kiddo?”
“I asked Frally what a meech was once, but he didn’t tell me. Do you know what one is?”
There extinct, kid. No longer around.
“Well…I dunno, I think they’re on holiday or somethin’.” Nox lied.
“What? Like uncle Frally?” Lage looked at Nox hopefully.
You asked for that, Nox.
Shit…
“Yeah…” Nox hesitated. “Sorta’ kid. Why? You miss ‘im?”
“Yeah…is he coming back?” The kid asked, voice wavering slightly.
Nox looked at the child, to see that it was beginning to well up.
Its just a child…
“Oh, come ‘ere.” Nox comforted as he put his right arm around the poor soul. “You gotta’ keep yer chin up!”
“But is he coming back?” Lage sniveled.
“I’ll be honest with yeh…I don’t think so.”
Nox’s hand felt wet, he looked at it to see tears from the mudokon child’s face falling onto it. He hugged the kid tighter with one arm.
“Don’t worry…things will get better.”
Nox sat with the kid in silence for a while, until the tears stopped flowing and their time was up. Nox peered at his watch; 9:58 pm. Drinking time.
“Sorry kid.” Nox said as he lifted his arm from around the child and stood up. Then he noticed it was asleep. Nox felt slightly callous for his sudden departure so that he could consume beer. That was his addiction, and it had to keep coming, whilst he was still in Slig Barracks anyway.
He grabbed the cloth sack he had been given at Sronti’s prison, and placed it over the child, like a blanket. He then exited the warehouse and started for ‘The Rotten Barrel’ pub.
Hope no one’s noticed me missing…
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its a coincidence you said that AlexFili, seeing as this is the chapter he gets sent back to Slig Barracks.
bit of a boring one, i know.
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