Enslavement Isn't THAT Bad

I awoke from the daze and my world was incredibly fuzzy. I wasn't entirely sure what day it was, but as my vision slowly came back to me, I realized I was lying in a dimly lit cave. My vision focused and I didn't have any of my clothing from the night I came into town. I was wearing dirty overalls, work boots, and nothing else. Then, my vision cleared, and I saw my "friend" standing over me.

I asked Slimm who stood there with a big grin, "Wha-what happened?"

The scruffy looking miner said almost sarcastically, "You volunteered to work in the mine, remember?"

I replied, still getting my bearing, "I don't remember anything, what did you do to me?"

He then said very angrily, "Doesn't matter, now get up! We got work in 15 minutes, fucker! Welcome to the Mine!"

I struggled to say something, but I felt myself about to vomit. Suddenly, Slimm gave me another swift kick in the thigh and walked off. I puked, laid there on a bed roll, and drifted slightly into sleep. Seconds later, I awoke to the sound of a different voice right next to me.

The man gave an awakening stretch and said, "Haha, Slimm got another one?"

I opened my eyes to see a man somewhat cleaner than I would have thought sitting on the mattress next to mine. The guy was a fairly young man, maybe mid 20s with greased over blonde hair, clean face, and wore the same miner's outfit as Slimm.

I laid there next to my vomit and responded, "I guess so."

The clean man said, "You might wanna get ahold of yourself pretty quick. You don't wanna know what they do to guys who don't or can't work."

I was going to respond, but he tossed me something that bounced off my limp arm. He said, "Usually I don't encourage the use of this stuff, but in your case, you might wanna take a hit."

I noticed the object; it was a partially filled "Jet" inhaler. Desperate for some kind of relief, I took the man's advice and took a hit. I felt the toxic chemicals crystallize in my lungs and weakly responded, "Thanks."

I felt the drug take me over and the man helped me to my feet. Standing up, I started to feel very euphoric and happy. My morning misery from the night before was quickly disappearing and he said, "Name's Richard, they call me 'Rickety Richard' here for some reason, Haha!"

Soon enough, "Richard" didn't need to help me along anymore and I started to walk with the guy feeling completely fine. I walked with the guy in a drugged state marveling at the beautiful cave I was in. The two of us joined other miners as they were getting up to walk the same direction we were going. Before long, I joined a crowd of miners in a large cavern where all the miners congregated. Everyone talked amongst themselves and I lost track of Rickety Richard. I looked around taking in the sights and then saw Slimm jump onto a step in the rocks above the crowd. As Slimm started to talk to the crowd, I noticed Richard standing idly by with some men in dirtied suits.

I didn't notice or really care what Slimm was saying to all the miners, I just felt too good. But then, I noticed all the miners start to take out Jet inhalers and they all began to hit up. I stood there counting all the stalagmites and stalactites when I saw several beams of light working their way through the crowd. I focused on one and saw the lights being held by other miners marked with a large white "S" on their caps. Each "S" miner walked through the crowd shining lights into the eyes of other miners. I focused on one of them until I saw a guy staring me down and mumbling something. When I focused on the guy, it was Slimm. I wanted to punch Slimm in the face so badly for what he did to me, but I felt Way too happy to do that. I just stared at Slimm as he shined a flashlight straight into my eyes with a grin on my face.

I caught the words, "Good, wasn't thinking you'd make it here… and you took your Jet too!?... Good Job Buddy!"

Slimm slapped something into my hand and walked off to shine the light in other miners' eyes. When I looked down at my hands, there was a full inhaler of Jet sitting in my palm. Slimm had been gone for a few minutes by this point, but I shouted, "Thank You!"

Then, the crowd began walking and I joined them feeling happy as could be. I followed them as more men with the "S" caps led the herd to several chests full of tools. I waited in line and soon, an "S" man handed me a heavy pickaxe and I followed the crowd again. It was hard to feel for a sense of time, but I studied the steel pickaxe after each swing into the rocks. I looked to my left and right and happily noticed all the miners hammering away at the rocks. I began whistling a good working tune and the others joined me. The cave echoed with the whistling of miners and the constant banging of steel against rock. When I looked back at my pickaxe, I was sitting in the cavern with a steel plate full of food and another light in my eyes.

Slimm stood over me and said, "Take another puff, buddy! It's good for you." I smiled and took another long hit on my inhaler.

Next thing I knew, I stood there sorting through crates full of dust. I wasn't sure how I knew which specks of dust were gold, but I strained the dust from the gold and placed the dust in a separate crate marked simply, "Dust." I smiled widely as I carted wheelbarrows full of cave dust to the surface where I saw sunlight that seared my retinas. When I returned, I was then sitting in the cavern again with another plate full of food.

Slimm shined the light in my face again and said, "Just another hit, buddy. A little one this time; it's almost time for beddy bye."

I nodded in agreement and thought, "What a great guy."

I whistled another work tune as I hammered the wall, and then I was sitting on my bedroll. I began slowly feeling my actual mind take over and thought, "What the Fuck just happened!?"

I must've said that out loud because I heard the voice of Rickety Richard say, "Your first day on the job, that's what happened."

I rubbed my eyes and looked at Richard who tossed another object at my head. It was a bottle of water. I looked at the thing, knew what it was, but asked, "What's thi…"

He said, "Drink up. You'll feel better."

I laughed. That was pretty funny because I felt amazing. I didn't need to "Feel Better?" I drank the water and somehow felt the cool liquid bring back my consciousness a bit faster. I then noticed the cap next to Richard's bedroll had one of those "S" markings on it.

I wiped the water from my mouth with a dirty and sweaty arm and asked, "What does the 'S' mean?"

He said, "It stands for 'Supervisor.'"

When I asked what that meant, he said, "It means we run the mine."

I sat there still happy but confused. I looked at the man who had a smile on his face and asked him, "Where were you all day?"

He said still with a tremendous grin, "I was right next to you all day, knucklehead."

I laughed at his funny smiling face, "You're the 'knucklehead', You!- Hahaha!"

As I adjusted on my bedroll, I winced at the new pain I was experiencing, and he looked at me with a face of worry.

He said, "I never called you a knucklehead?..."

He followed with a concerned question, "You starting to come down off of the Jet?"

I felt pain; the kind of pain like I just did backbreaking work in a mine all day. I rubbed my back and said, "I guess?"

He tossed me another bottle of water and said, "Drink up, the water will dilute the Jet in your system."

I poured more water down my throat and then took a break to ask, "Wh- Why are you… helping me?"

He sat there and simply said, "Don't want you dying of dehydration… They don't like sober miners."

As my normal mind trickled its way back into me, I had more and more questions. I asked, "Why do You like sober miners?"

He never answered. Instead, he asked me a question, "Did Slimm mention who exactly is supplying him with Jet? Anything about the families, the night he got you?"

I sat there still puzzled but slightly high and responded, "I don't remember anything from that night, I just woke up here this morning… I think it was morning? Hard to tell in this cave, place…"

He said, "Figures; anyway, I'll see you in the morning. Get ready for another day of work."

With that, he laid his head down and rolled over to go to sleep. I laid my head down and closed my eyes thinking, "Is this going to be the rest of my life?" Then a foreign thought from somewhere not my own said, "I don't care, as long as I get more Jet!"

My real mind was terrified for my fate and my intoxicated mind didn't give two shits. Regardless, as the drugs wore off, the pain arrived, and I fell asleep from exhaustion. I was too sore and tired from that day at the mine to care about anything but rest. I drifted in from dreamland to Slimm shouting at me. I noticed the "Supervisor" emblem on his cap, and he gave me a swift kick that woke me up instantly. I saw the guy storm off, and Rickety Richard tossed me a bottle of water without saying a word. I chugged the water and tossed the empty bottle onto his mattress after briefly remembering his words, "They don't like sober miners."

I got up and joined the crowd walking to the large cavern. I was completely sober this time unlike the day before. I glanced into the eyes of the other miners to notice that there was no white in any of them. Each miner had dark red or bright pink eyes that stared straight ahead and all of them had a large grin on their faces. Reaching the cavern, I saw a repeat of the day before, this time with a bit more clarity.

Supervisor Slimm stood in the same spot above the crowd and said, "Time for another day of work you sorry sacks of shit!"

That was all.

Then I saw the other miners start to hit their Jet inhalers. My sober mind told me not to, but there was a feeling deep inside me that made my entire body itch badly. I stood there in the crowd and without even thinking about it, reached into my overalls, pulled out the Jet inhaler, and raised it to my lips.

I reasoned, "If I'm stuck working this mine, I might as well do it high." Then, I took a deep puff and started to feel the effects while the itch subsided. The Supervisors entered the crowd with their flashlights, and I started feeling… happy.

I don't know if it was the water from Rickety Richard or not, but as I started feeling high, I retained a tiny bit of consciousness. The drug was too powerful though. Despite my ounce of consciousness, I knew for an absolute fact that I liked working the mine (even though I didn't).

Just like the previous day, I followed the crowd and grabbed my pickaxe. After hammering away at the rocks and whistling happily, I ate my lunch and was soon sorting through cave dust. After the next meal, I hammered at the rocks again, sharpened tools, and ended the day with sleep next to "Supervisor Rickety Richard." That second night, we didn't talk, but I woke up the next day with a bottle of water under my dirt covered pillow. All the while, I thought two things at the same time;

"Being enslaved isn't THAT bad." and "SOMEONE GET ME OUT OF HERE!"