The Lands of the Rising Sun

Measure Twice, Cut Once

I woke up in the same silence that put me to sleep. The sun beaming through the cell door, I did my stretches and went about my day. The apples had become brown and soft. The taste was gone. These apples were worse than the food balls.

I worked until sundown. I was thinking all day of the news Ta'koo had for me. As I passed the end of the cart tracks I looked at the carnage we had done. Slaves were picking up the wreckage and beginning to rebuild the wall. You could see the entire camp through the hole in the wall. Mur'ring was right however; with no one to work in the forge the slaves were forced to mine in the fields. An abundance of slaves grew in the fields, at least two hundred more. As I observed my fellow slaves I came to realize that freeing everyone might not be possible. Every man would have to act; everyone would have to rise up in arms. I looked at the men's faces walking next to me and found no ounce of hope in their eyes, no sense of wonder. These men had already given up.

I walked through camp toward the garage. I saw Ta'koo patrolling the balcony above me. He saw me and started to make his way to the ground level. I leaned against a metal support beam for the upper walkway as I waited on him. A group of guards passed by. "What the hell you think your doing scraggler?" said one overweight guard. "I'm just relaxing after a long day of work, your fat ass wouldn't know anything about that huh?" Mur'ring was starting to wear off on me. The guard smacked me across the face. "Watch your mouth motherfucker." He grabbed my neck and began choking me. I glared into his eyes as he straggled me. "Hey!" yelled Ta'koo as he approached us, "This slave is my responsibility let him go." The guard looked over to Ta'koo and said, "Ahh what's it to you anyway?" The guard released his grip and turned to Ta'koo. "You're a pussy of a Watchmen, I can't believe they even let you join us." The guard said to Ta'koo. "Scraggler..." he muttered to Ta'koo as he and the others walked away laughing.

Ta'koo grabbed my arm and stormed off around the corner. We walked along the wall until we came to a door. We entered the door that gave way to the garage. I had never been in the garage. Vehicles lined the room. They were all different sizes, some big, some small, some mounted end to end with weapons and some were just buggies. "Okay, slaves aren't allowed in here so we have to be quick," Ta'koo said; "First off holy shit I-I can't believe you blew up the damn forge... You got some balls man." I laughed, "Thanks," I said. "I talked to Mur'ring, they have him chained up under the arena."

"What'd he say?"

"I told him what you did, he said he was proud of you."

"Okay, but what's the next step?"

"He didn't really say much, he just said go without him."

"Without him? There is no without him!"

"Be quiet... He didn't say of any plan he just said that you can do it."

"I'm not leaving him here, he's coming with me... And Ra'dok too."

"Who's Ra'dok?"

"He was taken last night after the explosion."

"Oh that's Ra'dok."

"What do you mean that's Ra'dok?"

"Well, uh... I-it just doesn't look good for him." I was loosing my patience with Ta'koo. I grabbed him by the collar and said, "Stop playing around motherfucker, these are my friends, my family, you understand?" Ta'koo shook his head up and down, trembling. I continued, "Is Ra'dok good?"

"They've been questioning him, they suspect some sort of slave revolt, and also... also if there are any more disturbances then the slave execution will begin." I released my grip and thought for a second. "I need those bombs..." I looked around to all the vehicles. "Do you know how to work these things?" I asked. Ta'koo smiled, "Work these things? These things are my life." He turned to gaze upon them, "These things are what really persuaded me to join the Watchmen."