This Forsaken World

This Forsaken World Chapter 40

This Forsaken World Chapter 40

Six Months After Dreadnought Battle

(Former Captain) Victor Grimm (Slave)

I'd lost track of how much time had gone by. Day after day I worked in the pit, scrap metal being deposited in one corner and the mass of filthy human bodies working to flatten them into something useful.

The work felt pointless and the knowledge it would only strengthen the vampire's fighting force so they could enslave another planet would normally have brought rage...instead I felt nothing.

I'd been to the torture chamber so many time's my nerves felt numb to anything and pain no longer affected me. After my last trip to the table the female vampire who seemed to love her job a little too much decided it was pointless to continue with me. There objective had been accomplished however, I was more or less broken to subservience.

Jericho had continued to lead the slaves but his personality had taken a complete turn after his defeat at my hands and he was now kind and empathetic to those around him. It was amazing how one person besting him in combat could completely change his outlook.

I'd spent the last several month's keeping my head down as much as possible, going about my work like a mindless drone.

The food they fed us was worse than anything I'd ever tasted in my life and considering I had been living during an apocalypse, that was saying something. As far as I could tell it was ground up meat from human bodies and parts of the brain mixed with some sort of vegetable paste.

The first thing I'd come to noticed after being dropped into the pit was a rampant disease running through the slaves known as Kuru disease. The affliction was a rare, incurable and fatal neurodegenrative disorder that originated from transmittable infected Prions, or folded proteins. Cannibalism was the leading cause of this, primarily eating an infected human brain. The symptoms were shaking and loss of muscle coordination, random outbursts of laughter, emotional instability and depression and during the later stages the inability to walk. Luckily, the vampire's disposed of slaves at this point since they were useless but unfortunately, those slaves were now what our food dishes were filled with.

The disease normally took several years to take hold before showing symptoms but considering the state of Earth it was apparent cannibalism had taken place on a regular basis before we were captured, thus the state of things we found ourselves in.

It was obvious almost everyone in the pit was infected it was just a matter of time before it showed it's ugly face to claim another person. I'd been lucky so far but Jericho had begun to exhibit symptoms and he was fully aware of what it meant. To my surprise and respect, the man continued to help the slaves in any way he could and pushed himself to his limit every day.

Aside from the slop we were fed twice a day, the workers had been defecating and urinating anywhere they stood. After being tossed into the pit from my first torture session I'd taken charge and ordered a latrine to be built with makeshift scraps of metal in a corner. The pit master had watched with amusement as I coordinated everyone and he'd even allowed us to create a drop pan system that we could burn to get rid of the waste.

Next, I'd worked to make things as comfortable as possible by squaring off another corner for bunking, informing the fat vampire that slaves worked harder if they had a comfortable place to sleep. The logic must have stuck as he offered us some soft furs from an unknown creature as well as tanned human hide to create a barracks of sorts.

Sadly, the continued torture sessions broke my will to a point I stopped coming up with idea's and fell into a dormant quiet state. I knew there was more I could do for everyone but the thought of pain kept me docile. Despite keeping my head down the Nocturnal didn't let up, they had learned of my role in the siege of Earth and they wanted payback.