Chapter three: A slaves life...
(Several years into the future, an young adult modokon frantically searched the metal gangway for any signs of the three trainees he was responsible for...)
"Dammit where are those young muds?!" Sid whispered harshly to himself looking behind some discarded old waste barrels, shaking his head he found nothing. Sid quietly tip-toed past the sleeping sligs and continued to search the area.
Even taking a moment to look over the side of the gangway Sid gulped, it was a long way down, and even if you were lucky enough to survive the fall, you'd probably land in a scrabs pen.
He shuddered and moved on, "Oh they'll use me for target practice if I don't find them...!" He stopped his quiet ranting and eyed some old cardboard boxes in the corner, (achoo!) Sid smirked and raised a brow upon hearing the child-like sneeze and reached behind the boxes, "Ow, quit it!" Sid looked remarkably pleased with himself as he pulled the youngster out by the arm and watched him dangle in the air for a moment before putting back down on the floor.
It was none other than Imp, the other trainee he took in on the a years back, being the typical green colour of modokens with a singular head feather, he was half grown and about as tall as Sid's waist. The only thing you needed to know about Imp is that he almost never stayed out of trouble and irritated the hell out of everyone with his childish antics.
The youngster looked up at the taller and gulped through his stitched lips as Sid glared daggers down at him, "Where are the others?" Crossing his arms, he held back an amused grin as Imp started to stutter, he nervously tapped his fingers together, "Well, that would be telling..." Imp started but jumped as a small explosion was heard a short distance away, fire and smoke was seeping out the buildings small window.
The sligs were already on their feet (or pants, whatever you want), "What the hell was that?!" One of the sligs said clasping his gun tightly in his tiny hands, the other was frantically glancing around, "Doesn't matter, Molluck won't be happy if we don't investigate!" He muttered heading for the metal door at the end of the gangway leading into one of the Zulags leading inside the factory.
The other slig paused for a moment and turned to the two slaves, "Stay put, or I'll be skinning you both alive later!" He warned heading for the door, Imp shrugged, "You don't have to tell us twice!" He called out after the guard as he left, and Sid hit the youngster on the back of the head with his paw.
Sid rolled his eyes as Imp muttered something indistinct and rubbed his now sore head with his paws. "Um, found them." Imp squeaked out pointing at the smoke coming out of the window, Sid eyed him again, grabbing the youngster and hoisting him under his left arm, they made their way to the source of the explosion to find the other two trouble-makers.
(Minutes earlier inside zulag one, two young modokens tip-toed down the dark hallways...)
Abe cautiously glanced around the corner, there was a sleeping slig right in their path, he turned to the other with a sceptical look on his face, "Um Luna, are you sure about this?" He looked at the other modoken he'd known for as long as he could remember, "Luna" was an oddly feminine name for a mud, but Abe had never been one question Sid's reason for giving them their names.
The said modoken played with their head feathers nervously, Luna sported three shoulder length head feathers instead of the normal singular feather like the rest of them, Luna was also scrawnier than the rest of the modokens, having no muscles at all unlike himself.
Taking a moment to readjust the cloth tied around her flat chest like a shirt Luna then shrugged, "Better than being bored I guess." And with that she continued to tip-toe forward ignoring Abe's frustrated mumbles behind her, "I was afraid you'd say that..." He whispered behind Luna, but stopped dead in his tracks before the sleeping slig just near his feet, it was snoring loudly.
Luna was already ahead and going through the sligs satchel, finding only a few cigars and a half-eaten scrab cake, she took the food and put it in the pouch on the back of her loincloth, throwing the bag over the side of the railway satisfied she'd found nothing of interest.
Meanwhile Abe was holding his breath with worried eyes as he slowly stepped over the sleeping slig, Luna looked over to read the label on a nearby barrel, "Abe hurry up!" She whispered not looking back, Abe grimaced as he lost his balance and tripped over the sligs metal leg.
"Hm, what does TNT mean?" She wondered out loud with a paw on her chin, Luna was quickly shaken from those thoughts as she heard her friend cry out in distress, "Look out!" Abe shouted stumbling towards her, Luna shrieked and jumped out of the way as Abe collided with the barrel, it rolled over the side of the platform.
Luna grunted as she layed on the floor, she lifted her head up just in time to hear biggest "Boom!" she'd heard in ages, "Freeze!" The slig had woken up, and was pointing the gun at her face, Abe was looking over the railway hearing the distressed cries of sleeping pant-less sligs bellow them, as a massive blow of fire opened up a small hole in the wall as smoke seeped out a nearby open window.
"That's not good..." He said timidly, but spun around and gasped just noticing the slig pointing a gun at his friend, thinking quickly Abe got up and ran at the slig, bracing himself using his shoulder to knock the unsuspecting slig down.
Pulling Luna to her feet, "Follow me!" He shouted running past the slig who was trying to get up and they climbed up a nearby ladder leading to the upper levels and dodging a few stray gun-shots, fully knowing the slig couldn't climb up after them with those heavy metal pants.
(Back to the present...)
Sid knew exactly where those two teens were, they'd run off several times before only to go to the exact same place every single time. Imp was piggy-back riding on him as he climbed up the ladders, he finally reached their destination and was greeted by the starry night sky above them.
For only at the highest point of Rupture Farms were you able to see past the pollutants and view the stars, putting Imp down and glancing around for a moment, Sid finally spotted the two of them laughing and leaning against one of the exhaust pipes coming out of the roof.
"You should've seen the look on your face!" Abe pointed and laughed at her, she gestured to herself with her paws, "Me?, Who trips over a sleeping slig?" Luna giggled back as Abe blushed embarrassed.
Holding up her paw at the sky, "Hey look you can see it." She pointed at the largest star, Sid then came up behind them, "That's called the modokon moon." He said quietly making the two jump in surprise, he was holding up his paw to the moon, where it had a modokons paw-print on its face.
Abe turned around and smiled sheepishly, "Um, hi Sid..." He said timidly, Sid glared down at the knuckle-head and Abe sighed, "We're in trouble aren't we?" Sid merely nodded, but turned to Luna when she spoke up, "Oh I nearly forgot, here guys!" She said cheerily taking out the treat and breaking the half scrab cake into four small pieces and handing them each their share.
Imp smiled with glee, "Ooh, I've never tried these before!" The youngster was just happy to eat something other than the stale bread the sligs tossed at them during meal times. Sid shot the youngest a look, "That's cause you're not supposed to, modokons are forbidden to eat the profits." Sid said tossing what was left of his share into his open mouth.
The others just exchanged glances as they watched Sid walk back towards the ladder, "Come on, we need to get back before they've noticed we're missing." He stated as Imp enthusiastically ran towards in and he scooped the youngster onto his shoulders, leading his little trainees back down the ladder...
(Later that night...)
-Abe's POV
As the young modokon pushed the floor-waxer down the hallway he hummed to himself thinking about earlier events. Sure they'd all received an extra beating from the slig guards that afternoon, but on the bright side he got to try a scrab-cake for the first time thanks to Luna, it had been worth it, the very thought of it made his mouth water.
In his opinion he had a pretty good job, only after working his first month had Abe been appointed first-class floor-waxer, it was weird giving a name like that to job that involved scrubbing floors. It was like when they'd call a janitor a "maintenance technician" or "custodian" to make it sound important, or make the worker feel more valued, honestly he didn't know the glukkons cared, chuckling at the very thought to himself.
Abe remembered when he first started this job, at first he was too short to even reach the handles of the machine, having to push it along having no way of seeing where he was going he'd often bump into sligs or workers by accident, he chuckled to himself remembering little mishaps like that.
Of course he'd grown since then, he and Luna were now eight years old and nearly fully grown by modoken standards, he'd grown significantly in height and had a slight muscular build as well.
Even though they now worked separately, Sid was still responsible for him for the time being. But lately the aging modoken was kept on his toes as the mischievous young Imp ran circles around him and drove the poor old mud nuts.
Still every night, they'd all meet by the showers with the rest of the workers, waiting for the sligs to finish their turn so they could finally cleanse themselves of sweat and dirt.
He mentally reminded himself to always remain optimistic, sure they were beaten, they weren't paid at all and were undernourished. "Got to stay happy." He thought to himself sighing and slumping his shoulders forward in defeat.
He shook the thoughts away as he got in line with the rest of the modokons at the end of the line was Luna, Sid and Imp waiting patiently. He smiled and waved at Luna who returned the gesture, Abe then made his way over and stood at the very back of the line.
-Nobodies POV
The group of modokons couldn't help but stare as the legless sligs crawled past them and out of the showers, scurrying along the floor dragging their tails behind them, they just seemed so helpless that way, they all watched as the slig barracks gathered and put on their mechanical pants and made their way back to their own quarters.
Each Modokon made their way into the large bathroom, it was the only room in Rupture Farms that was completely white with the bathroom tiles. There was about more or less fifty showers, each separated by a short wall about waist hight for dignities sake.
Nevertheless all one hundred workers made their way into the huge bathroom, some even shared the one shower. It was true modokons could be modest, but lets face it, they were all siblings and they had nothing to hide, well except of course for Luna who hung near the entrance shyly.
-Luna's POV
Shyly averting her eyes from the scene, she listened as the other workers began to chat casually.
She was nervous, the only modokon who knew about her true gender was Sid, not even Abe or Imp knew about her being female, heck they probably didn't even know what a female even is.
To Luna this was her most dreaded part of the day, not because she hated being clean but because she felt exposed, Luna would often wait until the other modokons were done, even if that meant she would have to wait awhile.
She leaned her head against the entryway and rolled her eyes as the other modokons began chasing each other playfully around the bathroom with rolled up towels, not in a sexual way of course, they were all siblings after all. Who could blame them really?, they worked a sixteen hour shift every day, and any little chance they got they tried to have a little fun.
Ignoring the splashing and laughing she watched as the youngest, Imp tried to play with older modokons chasing them and trying to keep up, that is until he slipped on a bar of soap and landed face first in a puddle, the other modokons laughed and soon Imp joined them, it was truly an odd sight to see a modokon covered head to toe in soap bubbles.
Did I mention there's like only one or two bars of soap between them all, gross right. I mean a hundred modokons and god knows how many sligs all sharing a few measly bars of soap, Luna had never touched any of them in fear of where they might've been.
Why was she worried, none of them had ever seen her. To the other modokons Luna was simply a strange looking mud with a oddly feminine name for a male, "If only they knew..." She whispered to herself, maybe it would've been easier if they knew, but Odd knows what the glukkons would do to her if they find out, like Sid had said when they first met and he took her in as a trainee.
-Nobodies POV
Eyeing one of his first trainees with concern, Sid wrapped a towel around his waist and approached Luna, she had shyly turned her gaze away from the scene. The older modokon sighed, it didn't feel like was fair that she had to wait.
"Come on." He gestured for her to follow him, most of the modokons had already left and were heading back to their quarters, very few remained. Nonetheless Sid kept guard, he kept his back to her as Luna showered keeping a look out, she was grateful that Sid at least did this so the slig guards wouldn't catch her sneaking to bed late.
After she dressed, Luna turned to Sid with a grateful smile, "Thanks." She said simply, there wasn't much else to way, "Don't mention it." He shrugged heading for the door, she watched as he left, he stopped at the doorway, "Are you commin' or what, or do you want to get caught by the sligs again?" Shaking her head she reluctantly followed her old friend down the hallway and to the sleeping quarters.
When they finally made it to the sleeping quarters, the two slig guards on either side of the doors glared at them gripping their guns tightly in their grasps, after all they weren't here to protect the slaves, just to make sure none escaped during the night.
Following Sid, Luna stopped at the doorway and sighed. It wasn't exactly perfect, at least the sligs sleeping quarters had bunk-beds, those would've been a luxury right now.
The room was medium sized the four walls were windowless. There were no beds, just some old cloths were scattered all other the floor, many of the modokons were already asleep, they all slept in a heap in the middle of the room in an effort to keep each other warm.
Aside from that there was a bucket in the corner of the room if nature called, there was about fifty modokons in total here, the second sleeping quarters for the other half of the slaves was down the hallway.
She spied Abe and Imp in the corner of the room, Abe was trying to rest in the corner but Imp kept poking him in numerous places, the older modoken grunted and stirred in his sleep as Imp's pestering continued. Sid chuckled, "Wanna bet Abe loses his temper and slaps Imp?" He asked her playfully elbowing Luna and walking over to the two.
She sighed and smiled in their direction, "Abe's not like that..." She then made her way taking a seat next to the said modokon and tried to fall asleep.
Putting the pesky youngster in a firm head-lock, Sid kept an eye out until his little group had all fallen into a peaceful doze. Preparing themselves for another mindless and tiring day of slavery tomorrow.
(Sorry never been great at writing cliff-hangers, so far we've met Sid, Imp and Luna. They're my little group of modokons and they'll be seen frequently throughout the story.
BTW, "trainee" is just the word I use for when older modokons take younger ones under their care and show them the ropes of Rupture Farms (or slavery), it really helps make Sid seem like the big brotherly type figure. That was what I was going for anyway, happy reading and please let me know what you think :)