Colton stood as the bells rang. It was time for the regular prisoner's duty, and it was his shift. After killing Magruder in the mines Colton was arrested after a raid by the remaining men that were left working of Magruder, even after his death.
A new man was in charge and his name was Lance. He was young, powerful and had fooled the soldiers into believing that he wanted to avenge Magruder's murder by killing Cole.
Of course, six months had passed by quickly and Lance had forgotten all about Colton and Magruder.
He banished Cole from Empire City and all the other towns surrounding the capital and then sentenced him to a life-time of service at the prison mines.
Colton's life seemed to have gone from once hunting with his adopted father, Ned, to working in a prison mine all for nothing except to survive.
When the raid occurred Many Wounds and Clay managed to escape but Colton was so badly wounded that he could not carry on and simply surrendered himself to the soldiers, feeling that he had now served his purpose. He had sought his revenge on Magruder and it was now time to let go.
But this never happened. Colton still had to feel sorry of what he had done and still feel the emotions of the murder of both Ned and Jenny.
Life was no longer the slightest bit pleasant for Colton, not a single moment of it.
"Hurry up White! You're going to miss your shift!" A soldier shouted in authority as he strode towards Cole.
"Alright, alright. I'm getting' there," Colton replied. He folded up his sleeping bag which he rolled up and rests his head on at a night time as a pillow.
The prisoners had no beds or cells for that matter. They were forced to sleep by a camp fire just put side the guard's quarters where the soldiers slept in cabins that were heated with nice warmth.
Several soldiers would guard the prisoners though, as well as making sure that they were all asleep within an hour after what they referred to as "lights out", where the fire was extinguished and they were forced to sleep in the cold night frost.
"I said now, Colton. Don't underestimate me White because I will blow your brains out!" The soldier yelled. He shoved his finger into the chest of Colton and spun around on his heels and silently walked away.
Cole grinned and entered the underground mines in which he served his labor. Day after day Colton slaved by mining gold and assisting in the construction of the new rail-way that Mayor Lance Vogue was planning to build.
Trains would run along underground, transporting goods such as gold and food without any detection form unwanted attention, such as bandits and rogues. Even Apaches attacked any cargo transport they saw under the Magruder symbol which now belonged to Lance as well.
"You're late Colton," a soldier whispered into his ear as he jogged past. Eleven other prisoners, all condemned to this wretched place had begun their duty and were hacking at rocks with their picks, trying to discover some gold.
"Morning boys," Colton greeted as he grabbed his pickaxe from the guard and made his way over to a vacant area of rocks.
None of the prisoner's replied. They moaned and grunted from the stressful and back-breaking work.
"Quite a lovely morning wouldn't you say?" Again, no one replied. As always they were more concerned about perhaps impressing the guards so their sentence could perhaps be shortened. However, this had a very slim chance of happening considering Vogue's stubbornness and attitude.
"Colton! Shut up and get started before I kick your head in!" Colton stared up at a soldier through the thick steam that drifted in the air.
"Yes sir." Colton began swinging his pickaxe at the rocks, trying to avoid getting into trouble like he did the week earlier.
"Yes. I want the underground railway to be completely constructed hopefully by the end of the year which is gathering closer, my master." Lance Vogue, mayor of Empire reclined in comfort in his finely made leather chair.
Across a large round table made of hollow timber stood a regular looking man. Well, he appeared regular until you laid eyes on his face.
The man wore a crinkled blue coat over the top of a plain white shirt which revealed blood stains; he was also wearing grey pants also with crimson stains and black boots.
His face was twisted and scarred. A massive scar ran down the man's forehead, down his nose, through his lips all the way to the tip of his chin.
He required glasses for his slightly poor vision and he had grown brown facial hair running along the edge of his jaw line until the sideburns came to a stop around his chin.
His head was entirely bald and it shined in the early morning sun that blasted through the windows.
"Need I remind you that Colton White is still yet to be executed," the mysterious man replied.
"I will take care of White. Master, you need to worry about this Resistance army that ha been attacking Dodge the past few weeks with the allied assistance of the Apaches. That is what you need to focus on, master."
"The Apaches and the Resistance need to be stopped. This Clay guy is really getting on my nerves. He wants White to be freed and until then, he won't stop attacking Dodge City. We need to act fast Vogue and we can't do that without condemning Colton White to death!" The supposed commander retorted in anger.
Vogue stared at him awkwardly, never had his master spoken in that tone before, never.
"Yes sir. I will get right on it. I will request that Colton White be brought back to Empire City where we will hang him, if you wish."
"Yes in fact I do, Mayor Vogue, my young child, indeed I do wish for that to happen."
Lance Vogue nodded silently before attending the matters of paperwork filed on his desk across the room. He stood from his chair and walked over to his shiny gold desk made from replica gold.
"I will see you in the on-coming days, master."
The unknown man exited the room, leaving the doors wide open as he left.