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Chapter 4: Prison Break
Jack was roused by the activity of the other prisoners. They completed their morning constitutionals and were fed their morning meal. Jack made sure to drink extra water. When they were all finished, they made sure to make Ian sit and wait for his hammer for work.
Tools in hand they started to work. They quickly told Ian what the rules of the mine were. They showed him a sample of the ore they were mining. Their small pile of ore was still small by the end of the day. The small group all ate, drank, and washed up after dinner. They all knew that Ian was going to be the focus of tonight's special treatment.
Like clockwork, the guards showed up and ordered Ian to the table. They trussed him up and began to rape him. Unlike the night before, they were far more brutal. Not only did they rape his ass, they beat his back and sides while one of them shoved his cock in Ian's mouth. Ian had passed out from lack of air twice and had to be slapped back awake by the guards. The third time, Ian didn't wake up. The guards didn't seem to care. They continued raping his ass until all of them were done. Then they threw Ian on the ground and told the chain group to clean him up. If he lived, he worked tomorrow.
Jack and Shaw carried Ian back to his bedding and tended to his wounds. They made him comfortable on his bedding and hoped he lived the night.
Jack was seething when he went on his scouting trip that night. He tracked down both of the other tunnels to see if there was anything of note down them. There was nothing. He still had scouting time. He decided to check out the entrance to the mine again.
Jack crept past the recreation room and noticed that just like last night, there was only one guard on duty. He made note of it and moved past the room to the outside. None of the guards were patrolling the buildings. The overhang area was exactly what he first thought, a storage area for naquadah. The little building was a crematorium. Out behind the crematorium was the true horror. A huge pile of sodden ash and bone chips.
Bodies. A mound of cremated bodies. Holy fucking hell.
Jack examined the last building. It was a barracks building. It was all one level. The main floor was mostly open with one room closed. By looking in the windows, the guards slept in the main room. The closed room was an office and communication room. No bed. The building had two doors.
Jack's findings at the crematorium had finalize his plans for this hell hole. He could just escape. But this kind of evil needed to be ended. There is no way he could just walk out of here and allow those men to continue suffering. He had to help. He was even sure he could do it without endangering himself or committing to help this planet. Well, Teàrlagh did say he was a catalyst. Tomorrow night it was time to start this fire.
Jack returned to his chain group and reattached his shackles. He would need his rest for tomorrow.
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Ian died in the night. The guards took him away before they handed out breakfast. No one in their chain group made any comments.
The next day passed like the previous day. The guards were alert during the day, but Jack wasn't about to try anything while they were awake. He didn't mine with all of his heart. But he was saving his energy.
That night, the guards took the table to the second chain group. Another man suffered horrible rapes and being gagged unconscious. But he wasn't beaten as badly as Ian had been. The guards parted with the same words to that chain gang as they had Ian's, "If he lives, he works tomorrow."
When the last of the guards had left, Jack went to work. He quickly picked his shackles and departed down the tunnel.
"Jack? What are you doing? The guards…" Shaw asked.
"Are lazy and stuck in a routine," Jack said as he gave them hammers. He then disappeared for more and handed them to the next chain group and the next. When everyone was armed, Jack went to work on the shackles.
Jack started at the lowest level chain bolt and worked his way up. He only asked that they all wait at the first chain bolt so they could attack in force. When Jack finally reached his own chain bolt, he freed Teàrlagh and Shaw.
Jack turned to the assembled group. "To those who do not know me, I am Jack. I am an outlander. These people have PISSED me off. I refuse to leave without freeing the rest of you. BUT you will have to fight for your own freedom. This is YOUR planet. TAKE IT BACK. I will help you get out of here, but the rest is up to you. Your government sent you here to DIE. You have to CHOOSE to LIVE. I choose to live. I choose to survive."
"I choose to survive," Shaw echoed quietly. "I have seen too many groups of new men brought into this place. It must end. I choose to survive."
"I choose to survive," Teàrlagh said quietly. "I will kill them if I have to… to survive."
"I choose to survive. The Slaugh-lùl sent me here to keep me quiet. I WILL NOT BE QUIET," Fionlagh said forcefully.
More people echoed the sentiment. Jack nodded. "I spent the last two night scouting the area. There is only one guard in the room at the mouth of the tunnel. I can take him out silently. The rest of you will have to take out the guards in the barracks where they sleep. I would recommend that each of you silently enter the barracks one per bed. Then at a signal you all swing your hammers at the guard's sleeping head. Any that survive, you attack in mass. Ready?"
Several nods followed. Jack was the only man without a hammer. As the group of former prisoners made their way up the tunnel, Jack pulled off his belt. He removed the garrot he had embedded in the material. He double checked the loop supports and then stuffed the belt into his cargo pocket. He would need it to store his garrot back in it after he was done.
Once the group was about ten meters from the recreation room, Jack stopped the large group and moved forward by himself. He noticed that a few people followed him. They were not silent, but they were quieter than the whole group.
As Jack peeked into the recreation room, he noticed the solitary guard half dozing as he watched some program on the screen. Jack placed the garrot to loop in an X. He crept up behind the guard.
"Nazi," Jack whispered to the guard, just at the garrot slipped past his eyes and over his throat.
The man startled. Jack smiled and yanked both hands apart strangling the man with the filament wire. The wire quickly dug into the skin and throat, slicing the first few centimeters. He fell dead far sooner than it would take to strangle a man, thanks to cutting the nerves to his heart and lungs at the front of his throat. That was one of the reasons Jack liked this garrot. It was fast and deadly. No room for mistakes.
Jack turned to his watchers, "One down. The rest to go…"
The other men followed Jack out of the room. He waved to the remaining men to join them. The whole group of ex-prisoners marched towards the mouth of the mine. Once at the entrance, Jack pointed out the buildings.
"That is the barracks. That is where all the guards are located. It has two doors," Jack pointed over to the side. "That is the crematorium. There is a hill of ash and bone dust behind it. That is where your millions of missing citizens are. Clan you call them? Over there is where they keep the ore you have dug up. As you can see, there is no fence," Jack said to them.
"We will have to take care of the guards first," Fionlagh said. "Two groups, front and back. I need someone to call a signal."
"I'll do it," Tam said. "I'll call seo when to strike."
The group quickly split into two and headed for the barracks. Jack stayed outside enjoying the fresh air and the stars. He was sitting and watching the stars when he noticed a man approaching.
"Hello," Jack said casually.
"Good eve," the man said. "I am Alistair. I have been inside… a long time."
"I'm Jack. What are you going to do now?" Jack asked.
"I don't know. But I think you are right… We will have to fight for our freedom. We have to choose to live," Alistair said.
"It is a harder choice than you realize," Jack said. "But I am glad you are willing to try it."
"I think I have always chosen to live. I just didn't realize that is what I was doing," Alistair said.
"I get it. You were sent here to die. It is easy to just want to die. It is hard to choose to live in a place like this," Jack said.
"Yes, but now I might get to see my wife again. That thought brings joy to my heart," Alistair said.
"I'm glad. Fight for her too. Who knows, maybe she has been fighting for you this whole time too," Jack said.
"I can only hope," Alistair said. "What of you?"
"Now, I try to get home. It's a process. First rest, second city, third forest… process," Jack said with grin.
"When you say it like that, it sounds simple," Alistair said. "Just go home."
"Alistair, it is simple. You have the same goal. Don't try to do more than you can RIGHT NOW. The best way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time," Jack said.
"What is an elephant?" Alistair asked.
"Huge animal on my planet. Size of a large transport vehicle," Jack said with a sigh of exasperation.
"Your people eat these large animals?" Alistair asked alarmed.
"No, actually they don't. But the point is to take a huge task and break it into bite size pieces. You can accomplish the huge task by completing the smaller ones," Jack said. Explaining things to aliens was tiring. "I need some rest. I'm going to get my bedding and sleep under the stars."
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