The hot sun radiated high above me. I glanced up at the sun, our only way to tell time. A whip dealt a heavy blow on my back, causing we to wince in pain.
"We don't have all day!" snapped. has the worst attitude! His full name is Hector A. Day. No one knows what the A stands for, but myth has it that it's All.
"Done staring?" he cried, the whip coming down again. I scrambled to keep hoeing. "That's better. Keep working!" he barked over his shoulder.
We started hoeing in the middle of the night, but the fields weren't half hoed yet. It was Sun-high and we should be getting our break right now.
"Hoe faster, Rez. I don't want a beating for dinner!" said Scrawny. Scrawny was scrawny. Each Hoer had a Seeder behind them to plant seeds in the hoed soil. Behind the Seeders were the Fertilizers. They carried bone meal, and were instructed to bone meal each plant once. Behind them were the Waters, they watered the plants.
"I'm trying, okay?" I said. I slammed my hoe into the ground. Each strike sent a spasm of pain up my right arm. I was one of the faster Hoers in this quarter.
A quarter of a field is a hundred blocks by a hundred blocks. The hoeing was slow going since we were only given wooden hoes to work with.
Wooden hoes broke constantly and we were forced to walk all the way back to the beginning to get a new hoe. Many Hoers brought more than one hoe with them so they wouldn't have to make the tedious walk too many times.
I hefted the hoe up and slammed it down into the dirt. My back screamed from all the hours I spent on the field. Everyone led a better life than us Field Workers, with the exception of the Testers.
The days seemed to last forever. Each laboring moment full of agony. There was no escape.
There was no relief in death since we would just respawn for more agony. All of the workers now, envy the past workers since they could die. Ever since the "Great" King created a way for respawn, there was revolts more than ever, almost annually.
I hoed another patch of dirt, then another. Repetitive and back breaking. I glanced up at the sun, it was just past Sun-High. My parched throat yearned for some water, but I had none from yesterday's refill.
"Break time!" howled , standing at the Relax Cart. I carefully made my way to the cart, making sure not to trample any plants.
I was the second one there. I grabbed my bucket from my inventory. Carl, the boy in front of me fumbled around and water spilled onto the ground. He finally pulled out his bucket, but his time was up and his bucket was only half filled.
called out for the next person. I held out my bucket, just under the hose so no water would spill out. My bucket was just barely filled to the rim when called my twenty second time.
I went over under a big oak tree and sipped the precious water. Carl looked gloomily at his bucket, then greedily at mine. I pretended I didn't notice and continued to sip my water. When my throat wasn't totally parched, I put the water away.
"Hey," Carl said as he walked over to me.
"Hi," I replied.
"You saw how he didn't give me water?" Carl asked.
"Yup," I replied.
"Isn't it unfair, you think?" he asked.
"Yup," I replied again, starting to head back to my lane.
"Could you spare some of your water?" he asked in a pleading tone. One glance at his bucket and I knew he could survive.
"You have enough to live, so get with it," I said, and I walked away. I could hear him growl in frustration. There was no way he was getting my water.
A rough hand jerked on my shoulder. I whirled around and slapped Carl in the face. He looked surprised for a moment, then lunged. I ducked out of the way and ran to my lane.
Careful not to trample the plants, I grabbed my hoe out and went back to work. I heard Scrawny start planting again behind me. I sighed, this was gonna be a long day.
As darkness fell, ordered us to finish up and get into the huts. Hostile mobs spawned during the night, and it was no fun getting killed that way.
I scurried to the Hoer's Den. I opened the door, a single torch lit up the small cabin. I walked over to my bunk, flopping myself down on it. I was in the middle of all the bunks, just like my lane was.
"Hey Rez," a familiar voice called. I rolled over to face Carl.
"Whats up?" I asked. Carl was surrounded by a group of gruff boys.
"Remember at filling time, and you wouldn't…"
"Couldn't!" I said, cutting him off.
"Anyway, you wouldn't give me some water, not even a drop," he said in a whiny voice.
"If I gave you a drop of water you would complain that I just gave you one drop," I replied. This wasn't going to end well.
"So, you should give me some now that you can."
"Nope."
"Why?"
"Cause it's mine."
"Why are you so mean?"
"I'm not."
"Then what are you doing?" he asked. I stared straight into his face and glared.
"I'm surviving," I said under my breath.
"Last time I heard someone say that was your father, Jake," Carl said. I flinched at the name.
"I have no father," I replied, but Carl knew he hit my weak spot.
"Jake killed his friend for survival," he said.
"Indeed he did."
"You're like him, you know."
"Sure. Whatever you say," I replied, turning away.
"Guys, we should teach Rez here a lesson," Carl said, turning to his gruff friends.
"Yay! He deserves a lesson," the boy on his right said, probably Gruff.
"Rez! You need to behave around Carl!" cried the boy on his left. Gruff's twin, Grim.
I heard footsteps approaching. I quickly switched into the knife in my inventory. Before I could react, Grim had yanked the knife out of my hand. I threw a punch, but Gruff came and lifted me off my feet.
I kicked someone in the knee as Grim put a sack over my head. I felt ropes tightening around my ankles and wrists. I grimaced as someone tightened them painfully.
I tried to slizer away, but someone grabbed my feet. I lost my hopping balance, face smashing into the ground. BLack spots danced before my vision.
I was hauled upside down for a while. Then I struggled to get upright, but I just earned myself a conk on the head. I grimaced as more spots danced before me. I kept still from then on.
"We're here," I heard Carl say, and I was dropped onto the ground.
"Oofmmmh…" I cried as I got a kick in the stomach. Pain spread through my body. I sat up, but someone just knocked me back down.
"Sir?" I heard Carl ask. I wondered who it was. ? Another official? I got my answer as I heard someone talk.
"Captain is back at base, he sent me to come get you," said a voice of a girl. The voice was familiar, but I couldn't quite figure out who it was.
"Okay, Smoke," I heard Carl answer. Then the sack was lifted off my head. My jaw dropped. In front of me was a girl my age, but she didn't have the smug look of one of the Castle Workers. She also didn't have the gruff look of a Field Worker. She wore hunting clothes, but the government didn't allow hunting anymore. Who was this person?
"Who are…" I started to ask.
"Name's Smokescreen. Second in command at the revolt base," the girl answered. Smokescreen! A wonderful name to me.
Suddenly, the sound of hoofs were visibly heard. Carl looked panicked, but Smokescreen kept her composure.
"Let's start heading out," Smokescreen said. Her hunting jacket flying in the air as she rode off on her white steed. Carl and the others also jumped onto horses, leaving me there alone.
"Hey! What about me?" I shouted. I was suddenly lifted into the air. I looked up and Smokescreen was there.
"Get up, Rez!" she said as she rode on, one handed. I didn't have time to ponder how she knew my name, because at that moment a single dog burst into the clearing.
"Go!" Smokescreen cried, and we took off into the woods.