[scipionyx]

Chapter 2: Information

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The next day Kiaw overslept. A Slig came in and beat him up and he missed breakfast.
“Clean that up!” The Slig ordered and pointed at a dried puddle of blood on the floor.
Kiaw stared wide eyed at it –wasn’t it the one from yesterday night’s dream? –Immediately he remembered it again.
”When I come back and it’s still dirty I will show you what real pain is!”The Slig hissed and went away.
Struggling to block out the pain from the beats he already had received, Kiaw knew he would be in even bigger trouble later on, for skipping work to find his friends.

He waited. The big clock on the wall made the minutes pass even slower than usual.
His dream – the memories he had… they were tangled and made less and less sense the more he tried to figure out their order.


A menacing calmness seemed to linger in the air around him. It was time to get going.

Ducking down hesitatingly he sneaked to the door and held his breath as he looked around the corner.
No Sligs where in sight.
Relieved he stood up and walked along the cages until he reached the huge metal door, where he spotted a mop and a bucket leaning against the wall next to it.
Feeling reassured he took them to prevent the Sligs from becoming suspicious and walked down to the corridor to the production hall. He needed to check whether someone of the others knew something.

The first Scrub he met was very old and Kiaw didn’t know him.
“H-Hey…” he waved to him with the mop, worried that the loud noises of the machines might drown out his words completely …and at the same time worried to be noticed by a Slig guard if he spoke up: “Are you from this Section?”
The old Mudokon glanced down to where Kiaw was standing and nodded slightly.
“Do you know Rycko and Unaî ?” Kiaw wanted to know.
The old one shook his head and shrugged. But then he pointed to a group of younger Mudokons who were standing between two giant pipes a bit farther away.
“Thank you!” Kiaw replied and hurried to them, careful not to touch the hot pipes that narrowed his path. But these Mudokons also weren’t of any help.
After a few hours he had asked nearly everyone in the section but not a single one seemed to even know his friends.
If nobody knew anything he had to leave the section. The sole thought of how much trouble he might get into made his guts turn. He turned around frustrated and desperate.
But suddenly someone called out his name, crystal clear and yet almost inaudible the voice reached his ears through the clattering and hissing sounds of the machines.

Kiaw froze and turned around nearly mechanically.
Someone was standing in the deep shadows of the corner. “Where are you?” Kiaw whispered.

“Hey you! What are you doing there?!” A Slig appeared around the corner behind him.

Kiaw winced slightly turning halfway around to the Slig, looking to the ground. “Uhm …I’m sorry.” he replied quickly, seesawing slightly, glancing at the shadows.
“Work!” the Slig exclaimed and swung his baton.
Kiaw immediately did as he was told and scrubbed the greasy floor, never leaving the shadows out of view.
After a while the Slig left for a smoke.
“Are you still there?” Kiaw whispered relieved that the Slig had lost interrest.

“I have seen them yesterday night. They have taken them before the others came back. I’m from 62…. Got beaten up and was sent back to the cage.” The Mudokon began with hesitation.
Kiaw looked around nervously but the Slig was still out of sight. “Where did they take them? … Where?”
“I don’t know”, The other one replied, ”… but you’re lucky, the bstrds were mean, especially the Mudokon with the scar over his chest.”
“What? -A Mudokon? A Mudokon with a scar over his chest? Are you sure?” this couldn’t be, Kiaw thought, there must’ve been a misunderstanding… -“Haven’t they said anything?” Kiaw added, trying to make out the silhouette of the Mudokon in the shadows.
“First I didn’t notice them because of my headache, but they shot and one of them fell down... I almost jumped out of my skin I tell you… there was nobody in the hall except them and me.”

The Mudokon slowly came out of the shadows. His skin was covered with wounds and bruises so badly that Kiaw slightly cringed at the horrible sight not able to say anything.
“I could get away somehow after they noticed me… better don’t ask how.”-
“Hey what’s so interesting there?!” -the Slig had returned. Kiaw quickly pushed the other Mudokon back into the shadows not having the time to ask any more questions.
His mind was racing as he mumbled out a stupid excuse for what he was doing. His knees felt weak.
-This couldn’t be! Sam surely was different than the other Mudokons, as a Mudokon supervisor he had to be. Mudokon supervisors were Mudokons with chips implanted in their heads that made them controllable at all times, they were used to balance out the situation among the Sligs and the Mudokons. The method had been turning popular about 2 years ago on the small continent, since Mudokons were less expensive than Sligs, even with the chip-implants, and still had a longer life span. They started to slowly replace even Sligs guards in some areas.
Sam was different from all the other Mudokons, but he wouldn’t… just betray them like that… maybe the others but not them... they were friends!

or would he?

“Ey Mud!”

Startled Kiaw snapped out of his thoughts expecting his punishment. “Take those two with you and go to Zulag 4!” The Slig tapped impatiently with his food on the ground.
“Uh.. what?” Kiaw turned to the Slig with surprise.

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sorry about mistakes too tired to properly proof read please feel free to correct me ...i don't like this chapter at all... i mostly left it as i wrote it long ago... my writing doesn't match with my old writing anymore xD i thought it might've been a mistake to upload this story but then ...