been a LONG time.
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Joe’s mind was made up, he was going to escape from Rupture Farms. He’d tell his friends in the hole later, and see if they wanted to come also. Joe would still leave even if they were not. There must be more to life than this?
The buzzer sounded, and Joe emptied his bucket onto the floor, letting the water wash away the pool of blood surrounding the dead mudokon. The red tinted water splashed up Joe’s shins and ran off the edge of the walkway, wetting the factory floor far below. Joe had taken his time clearing up this disgusting mess on purpose, so he could stay clear of sligs.
Joe stopped off at the canteen before going to the hole, seeing as he hadn’t eaten all day. The mudokons were slaves for Rupture Farms, but they still needed to be fed, and were given the rejected pieces of meat from the processing section of the factory. The food was free, and the sligs also ate here, often meeting up with friends and going back to their post to play cards and drink booze.
Joe waited in line with other mudokons as sligs pushed into the cue and took the best food first. Their wasn’t many sligs, as it was the end of the day, but there was still enough to cause a hierarchy clash. Then, Joe smelt an awful stench, and someone tapped him on the shoulder. Joe turned around to see Relb standing behind him.
“Oh! Alright Relb! What you been doing today?” Joe asked.
“Crap, that’s what.” Relb replied, looking fed up.
“It couldn’t of been worse than what I was doing.” Joe said, reminding himself of the murder scene.
“No, I was mucking out crap, literally. Cleaning out the barrels for reuse. There was loads of shitty, rottin’ meat at the bottom of ‘em. Fucking horrible. Stunk as well.” Relb answered tiresomely.
“I can tell.” Joe said jokingly.
“Hey! Get to the back! I was here!” A mudokon behind Relb said as he put his hand on Relb’s shoulder, spinning him around.
“Get the fuck off!” Relb yelled at the mudokon.
“Jeez! You fucking stink!” The mudokon answered, taking his hand off Relb’s shoulder as if he was contagious.
Relb had obviously had a terrible day, and so there was no warning when he swung for the mudokon and smashed him across the jaw.
“Fuck you!” Relb shouted angrily as the mudokon hit the tiled floor of the canteen.
Joe took a few steps back so he was out of the way of any further attacks.
“You fucker! Get away from ‘im!” A hefty mudokon behind the downed mudokon shouted.
“You want some as well you fat piece of shit!” Relb yelled at him, fists clenched.
The downed mudokon got back up and punched Relb in the stomach as he did so. Relb doubled over and shouted.
“Help me, Joe!!”
Joe took a few more steps back. There was no way his cowardly form was going to get involved in this.
The mudokons in the cue had all scattered and formed a circle around the fighting mudokons, jeering and shouting, forgetting their troubles in the momentary violence that was on display before them.
Two sligs that were sat eating at a metal table in the corner of the canteen did nothing, and continued to talk to each other as if there was nothing going on. One of the mudokon kitchen staff behind the serving hatch began to run out to stop the fight.
Relb moved his head to the side avoiding an uppercut from the hefty mudokon, and kneed him in the groin. He fell to the floor, in agony, as the other mudokon punched Relb in the eye socket. Relb groaned in pain, and stood there, wobbling for a moment, seeing stars.
Then, Joe’s intelligence overrode his cowardice and he ran and jumped onto the mudokon’s back. The mudokon stumbled backwards into a trolley full of empty, steel platters with a clatter. Joe kicked his legs out against the wall and pushed the mudokon he was straddling towards Relb, who had shook off the stars and was alert once more.
Relb socked the mudokon in the nose with one powerful swing and knocked him out. The mudokon fell forwards onto his face, and Joe climbed off him, heart beating at an unnaturally high rate. It was the first brave thing he’d done in his life.
The member of the mudokon kitchen staff then got between the fighting mudokons and tried to diffuse the situation as the hefty mudokon skulked off to wait for the pain to pass.
“Ok, everyone get back to what you were doing. This fights over.” A mudokon with a white, bloodstained apron shouted to everyone.
Then, one of the sligs in the corner intervened.
“Who the hell do you think you are?” The slig said, standing up from his seat as his friend carried on eating.
“Sorry sir. I was just stopping the fight.” The mudokon said.
Relb indicated to Joe to leave, at which point Joe grabbed a couple of chunks of cooked scrab meat from the hatch. The both of them then left quietly.
All Joe heard as he left was the slig shouting in the silence. Then a shot was fired. The mudokons poured out of the canteen like ants. Another life wasted so a point could be made. Thus was life in Rupture Farms.
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