The Lands of the Rising Sun

Out of the Frying Pan

I woke up in the same ditch I had crawled into. I tried to stand which sent a wave of pain up my leg into my neck and I fell on the incline of the pit. The sun had set and only a tiny bit of light was left. I pushed myself up onto the flat land of the mining pits, which was now a battlefield. Blood stained the entire area. Rifles and pickaxes lay scattered along with limbs, organs and dead bodies. The smell was rancid and all was silent except for the buzzing of flies and the consternating sound of coyotes tearing through flesh. Flashes of light were coming from the camp. Waving back and forth closing in on me I realized they were flashlights, probably some guards looking for survivors. "Fuck," I said to myself. I began crawling away from the lights but with no way to outrun them. I crawled to a pile of bodies near me, burrowed myself under them and waited for the lights to pass.

The men were right over me. I wiggled a finger through a shirt to see them poking at bodies. They didn't look like guards, though they had a similar uniform. Through each passing of the lights I caught more and more glimpses of them. Rifles hung from shoulder straps harnessed to body armor with multiple gadgets and bags lining their waists and legs. They walked around the pits occasionally firing off a round, laughing at the last attempts of people begging for lives. They walked back my way talking on a radio. "No sign of them sir."

'Them?' I thought to myself.

The men passed on toward camp. Silence hugged me as my eyes adjusted to the moonlight. The wind echoed carrying cries of coyotes toward me; however I wasn't worried, they had plenty to eat. I couldn't wait here for daybreak, so I started crawling. I crawled through the mining pits over and around piles of bodies. Every Coyote in the Wasteland must have been there, each with a week's supply of food. I kept crawling following near a set of tire tracks. If someone did escape, they had to have stolen a car. I crawled until the sun was pushing beams of a new day over the mountains in front of me. In the valley wedged between two rocks was a truck. I made my way to it. It was the same truck from the mining pits the other day, with the dead guard still inside. I opened the passenger door and managed to drag myself on to the floor. Using the guard's boot for a pillow I fell asleep in the first glimpses of morning light.

I woke up in a puddle of blood leaking from my eye. My goggles had cracks in them from the shrapnel. I pulled myself up in the seat when I noticed someone ruffling through the engine bay. I grabbed the dead guard's rifle, slowly opened the door and stepped one foot out. The dog barked, jumping at my leg; I pulled the trigger on the rifle but had forgot to pull the slide back. The dog ripped me out of the car and onto the ground. A loud whistle came from behind it. It backed off growling at me. I cocked the rifle and before I could aim, I had a boot on my face. "Don't even try it," said the stranger. I could tell it was a female's voice but she was wearing a facemask and goggles with a hooded poncho covering a rifle at her side she held a pistol in one hand. "Who are you?" she asked sternly, "Are you part of the Pensington army?" I wasn't sure how to answer her. "Well?" she asked as she repositioned herself, staring through the pistol's barrel. "No, I'm just lost and slept here last night," I said. "Oh yeah? then why are you injured? Seems like your buddy in the car wasn't so lucky," she replied. "That's not my buddy I swear, I'm just lost and-"

"You're a slave aren't you?"

"... Yeah," I said hesitantly. She reached her arm out and helped me to my feet. I almost fell back down but she caught me.

"You're really hurt, sit down... I heard about the slave revolt on the radio this morning, but..." She paused. "But what?" I asked. "But the radio said all the slaves died except for a few that escaped... and bounties are out on them." Extreme discomfort shot down my spine. "They're all dead?" I asked disgustedly. "I'm sorry... and don't worry I'm no bounty hunter." I felt sick. Those deaths were on my hands. "Rest for a second while I look through the truck... I'll take you to my town we can help you," she aggressively studied my eye throwing my head back and forth until I jerked away from her. She seemed annoyed by my action. I laid back in the seat. "Thank you," I said. "Don't mention it... but consider yourself lucky if anyone else finds you they'll turn you in to the Pensingtons," She said, "What's your name by the way?"