Chapter seven: The Stockyards...

(As Abe and Luna slowly descended down the elevator, the spare time gave them a brief opportunity to talk.)

Luna watched twiddling her thumbs as Abe kicked at the floor awkwardly, he'd spent most of past few minutes staring at his own feet. She couldn't believe he had so little self confidence, given the fact he'd already done away with several slig guards in one night and rescued countless slaves, she thought Abe might've developed a big head.

But nevertheless he stayed humble, despite his recent accomplishments, that is just one of Abe's noble feats. Luna cleared her throat in an effort to break the awkward silence, "Ahem, thanks for you know...Saving me back there." She said quietly forcing a smile, still a little freaked out by all violence that occurred just minutes ago, her ears still rung from the sound of slig gunshots from earlier.

Abe merely looked up at her and smiled shyly, "You uh...Never leave a friend behind." He answered quietly, his comment made Luna smile for a moment, she then frowned in thought and turned away.

Abe looked at her confused, "What's wrong?" Luna sighed and turned to face him, Abe just eyed her curiously as he waited for an answer. "Did it, you know, hurt...When you took control of that slig?" She couldn't shake away her own curiosity on the subject.

He shook his head, "No, but I could feel its mind fighting back the whole time..." He stopped in mid sentence and shuddered for a moment, "It wanted to shoot us both, I could hear every sick and twisted thought in that sligs mind." He frowned gripping his head at the thought, Luna tilted her head curiously in an effort to try and understand the concept of mind control.

Abe glanced at the metal roof above them for a moment before continuing, "By the end of it, I could feel my soul trying to escape...But it couldn't break free, I had to force my way out." He ended the sentence with a sigh, "That's why you blew him up." Luna said out loud and merely nodded.

Taking another moment to let it all sink in, Luna knew this must've been difficult for Abe. Almost all modokons were gentle pacifists by nature, and loathed any form of violence.

Those disturbing thoughts were soon shaken from their minds when the gentle shake and thump of the elevator was felt under their feet as it stopped at the ground floor.

"Imp, Sid and rest can't be far from here." Abe said stepping off the platform and glancing around, Luna watched as Abe scouted ahead. She then felt some movement in her back pouch, smiling she pulled out Nova, who gratefully shook its fur happy to be free from her pocket, the fuzzle shook itself till its fur resembled something like a piece of fluffed up dryer lint.

Putting the fuzzle on her shoulder, Luna listened to the odd little "meep" sounds it made, the chirps coming from its mouth almost sounded like dialect. Giggling for a moment, Luna scratched Nova's head, "You're cute...But I have no idea what your saying." Hearing the fuzzle purr and nuzzle her neck as a response, Abe returned from what looked like a hole in the wall, leading to the stockyards outside.

"They've gotta be outside..." Abe started but stopped in mid sentence to watch Luna play with the fuzzle on her shoulder, "You still have that thing?" He asked pointing at Nova, she shrugged, "Abe, meet Nova." She said simply, smirking. Abe rolled his blood-shot eyes, "You can give it a name Luna, but that doesn't make it cute." He turned around and gestured for her to follow, folding back the thin metal sheet that made the wall making the hole bigger, Abe lead her outside and into the stockyards.

It was still dark, most likely in the early hours of the morning, Abe stopped to inspect the chain link fence to see if it was sturdy and hopefully not electrified. He tested the fences strength with his paws, a little rusted, they would break with some effort.

There was literally no grass, the ground was mostly dirt with pieces of garbage scattered everywhere, old slashed tires and bones mostly. Their attention was soon drawn to some voices that could be heard nearby, not sligs, their voices were far too bubbly.

"Sid over here!" Abe called out through the chain link fence, Sid, Imp and about a dozen or so other slaves were standing in the empty enclosure next to them. "Oh thank Odd..." Luna breathed a sigh of relief as she walked over to the fence standing next to Abe.

Sid pressed his wrinkled face against the fence, "Abe be careful, there's a..." They were startled by hissing coming from behind them, Abe and Luna gasped in unison and pressed themselves against the fence in fear. Standing before them was a young and curious paramite, young but intimidating nonetheless.

Having a small body with large forearms, little back legs paramites were fast and agile, but their most impressive feature was the powerful, finger-like mandibles covering its mouth. Being eyeless, like many creatures in Mudos, they sensed prey though electro-reception and have an acute sense of smell. Paramites weren't usually dangerous on their own either, but Abe and the others didn't know that yet.

They watched terrified as the paramite clicked its mandibles at them in a curious matter, Luna gasped, gripping the fence and wildly shaking it, "Let us out!" She called out hopelessly to Sid, whom gripped the other end of the fence with a number of others, trying to break it as well.

Abe raised a paw in their direction, "Stop." He then looked at the paramite taking a step towards it, the creature hissed backing away. "I think we're ok..." He said quietly, Luna and the others stopped and starting watching the young paramite with interest.

A number of muds gasped behind, "What's he doing?" One young modokon whispered as Imp looked at the paramite trembling, "Abe are you nuts!" Imp called out, "He's dead..." Another modokon mumbled quietly.

Luna raised a brow curiously, "Its...Not attacking..." She said moving towards Abe, all while Nova sat on her shoulder growling and bearing its sharp teeth. They continued to move towards the paramite cautiously until the creature was backed against the fence, its started hissing louder, flaring its mandibles in an attempt to make itself look bigger.

Abe flinched back, not taking his eyes off the paramite he whispered, "Luna...Slowly back away..." He said trying not to move too much, Luna did as she was instructed, she backed away slowly with Abe close behind.

The creature relaxed but still followed them, still hissing a little, they both stopped at the other end of the fence. Abe and Luna braced themselves as the paramite lunged towards them, but they didn't feel any pain as they felt themselves suddenly lifted upwards, looking down and seeing them leave the angry paramite trying to climb up the fence with no luck.

Abe turned his head around and smiled, "Thanks guys." He said gratefully as some of the modokons had managed to climb to the top of the fence, hanging onto the chain links for balance and support, they hoisted them both over the top of the fence, they then fell on the ground on the other side with a loud thud and some frustrated grunts from the other modokons.

They smiled and exchanged grateful nods and pats on their backs amongst themselves until Imp spoke to Abe, "We found some of the birds you were talking about." Luna tilted her head confused, "What birds?" She asked looking at Abe sceptically, the blue modokon shrugged half-smirking through his stitched-lips, "You'll see..." He said as they followed Imp and Sid to an old run down shed.

Sure enough, there were some small birds pecking at the ground outside the shed, picking up bits of scraps from the ground and eating some small beetle like insects.

Not waiting around for a que, Abe immediately began chanting as he did before, it was slowly becoming easier and his headache had gone away. Once again seeing the vision of the old temple amongst the jungle foliage was seen like a glass window, the muds wasted no time in sprinting towards the portal and jumping through it, some yelling, "Thank you!" as they did so.

Only Imp, Sid and Luna remained standing there looking dumbfounded, the old mud rubbed his eyes in disbelief, "Well I'll be a sligs uncle.." He said looking at Abe still surprised as he stopped chanting, Abe turned around and gave them a sceptical look, "Why didn't you go with them?" He frowned a little, Abe would've thought they would've taken the first chance they got to leave this horrible place.

Luna smiled, "We not letting go alone Abe." She said kindly, Imp pouted at her words, "What do you mean We" But stopped and grunted in pain as Sid elbowed him in the gut, "Ok fine, we.." Imp choked out grasping his stomach with discomfort.

"I don't even know where I'm going..." Abe argued, then Luna shrugged, "Doesn't matter, your not going anywhere by yourself." She mused and the blue modokon half-smiled, grateful he'll have at least have some company.

Sid then climbed on top of the some "Rupture Farms" labelled barrels and looked ahead, "If we can get past those motion sensors and guards, we can head straight into the forest." Sid said climbing down, Abe nodded "Check the shed for anything useful." He said prying open the rusted doors, Abe coughed as the shed was full of dust, Luna walked past him and grabbed an empty old earl-green satchel, gently placing Nova and her book inside it, then hanging the bag over her shoulder.

Imp grabbed some curled up rope off the wall and hung it over his shoulder, he also grabbed a small dagger with a wooden handle and stashed it in his back pouch. Sid merely grabbed an old bamboo stick and swung it around, "Yeah, this'll do..." Sid smiled satisfied with his choice, Abe shook his head, finding nothing else but old guns and rusted bear traps he went back outside, modokons never were comfortable using firearms anyway and he was no warrior.

They then exited the shed, following Abe up an old metal ladder to one of the metal platforms above them. Tip-toeing they quietly walked past a few sleeping guards, Abe put his paws outwards to make the others stop as they felt a red beam pass by them.

The beams themselves came out of metal watch towers made to resemble a glukkons head some distance away, "Don't move when the light touches you." Sid instructed and Abe nodded in understanding, it took a lot of patience and careful timing, but all four of them eventually made their way to the last fence, guarded by some sleeping slogs in their kennels...

(Meanwhile back on the ground floor, Cal and Bud were ordered to help patrol the stockyards for any sign of the modokon escapee known as Abe...)

-Cal's POV

"And then we when find them?..." Bud asked from behind him still seemingly a little hung-over, Cal sighed in frustration, "We shoot him, what else!" He resisted the urge to punch him, but decided there was no point to it, this was the fifth time Bud had asked the same question, and Cal had a feeling this wasn't going to be the last time either.

"But Molluck said the females gone too..." Bud stopped in mid sentence to scratch his head, "How do we tell which ones the girl again?" Cal didn't answer, he merely rolled his eyes in annoyance.

Cal then thought about that particular modokon, number ninety three was half the reason he got his scar over his left eye, Bud said he might be a little obsessed, saying it was pointless for a slig to hold a grudge against just one modokon slave.

Another Cal Flashback:

(Five years ago at the slig sleeping quarters...)

Cal walked through the hallways and past some sleeping pant-less sligs, they snored in their little round huts on the floor, he sighed in content, inside these little huts were soft and moist, perfect for a sligs sensitive skin.

Metal pants were kept in a dispenser machine at the end of the room, some pants were hung on the wall along with some rifles and guns. He stopped when he heard obnoxious cackling in his direction, Cal frowned in annoyance, Grum was playfully elbowing another slig and pointing in his direction.

"Hey wuss, still letting that scrawny modokon talk-back to you?!" Grum teased still laughing, Cal rolled his eyes, he was often mocked for being too patient with the modokon slaves, this made some sligs view him as weak.

Grum looked like the slig equivalent of a body builder, he wasn't quite a big-bro slig yet, but was on the fast lane to becoming one, his oversized forearms were teaming with muscles as a result from the steroids he was given.

Cal had run into ninety three again earlier trying to sneak off, and again Cal had shown the slave mercy, because in a way, he pitied them, sligs didn't really have anything against modokons, the glukkons were strictly the ones that hated them, but that wasn't to say that he his kind didn't enjoying beating people who didn't fight back.

Only today a few other guards had noticed when Cal let the slave off with just a warning, they reported Cal's weakness to Molluck, who had given him a chew-out and a warning. He had then been the centre for the other sligs bullying all day, Cal was know viewed as a softie or a weakling for showing mercy to a slave.

Cal shook his head and made his way to his own bed, but stopped and turned around as he felt sharp pain across the side of his face across his left eye, he turned and glared at Grum who was laughing obnoxiously with a few other sligs, Grum had thrown one of his empty glass bottles of steroids he kept and hurled it at Cal's face.

Feeling uncontrollable anger, Cal launched himself at Grum, attempting to push him against the wall, Grum chuckled and smirked some more at him, pulling the rifle of Cal's waist and knocking him to the floor.

Cal glared daggers up at Grum from the floor all while rubbing the side of his face, "Maybe next time wimp." Grum snorted tossing the rifle onto Cal's stomach, knocking the breath out of him, Grum strutted off leaving Cal lying on the floor. When they left Cal righted himself and stomped over to the zulag where he last saw ninety three and the three others.

He finally came to the metal walkway overlooking the stockyards bellow them, he huffed to himself as he saw the four modokons make their way back to the wash bucket, resuming their cleaning like nothing happened.

The oldest modokon stood over them on lookout, the youngest scrubbed the floor at his feet easily distinguishable from the kids stitched lips. The other two were half grown, one with blue skin and blood shot eyes, stitched lips and poor posture. He finally spotted ninety three, he hurled himself at the slave pushing the modokon against the wall by its neck.

"It..Its you..." The teenage modokon choked out, Cal leaned in close to inspect the cloth around its chest, raising a mandible to inspect it, "What are you doing, leave Luna alone!" The blue one tried to stop him, but Cal easily threw the half-grown modokon off him.

Cal then turned again to the slave that had caused him so much trouble, glaring at the modokon who closed its eyes, "The names Cal, don't forget it!" He shouted, the next few minutes were then followed with him beating the four slaves with the butt of his rifle...

Flashback End:

-Nobodies POV

Putting all bitter feelings aside for now, Cal pushed onwards, only taking a moment or two every hour or so to make sure his mechanical pants didn't run out of gas, staring out the red visors in his mask for any sign of trouble.

(For those who didn't get it, Cal's flashback in this chapter ties in with the end of chapter three where had Abe had implied that he, Luna, Imp and Sid had received an extra beating for climbing onto the top of Rupture Farms roof. Cal was just one of the guards Luna and Abe had ran into that day.

This was all because Luna wanted to see the stars again, hence why Sid had chosen her name...)