Hell Mine - evening

We were walking down the halls. We've been avoiding guards and workers all alike. He was able to get me through the higher security part of this place with access points he knows about. In the end, it seemed like we were by ourselves again.

"So, how did a lanky guy like you become second in command of this hellhole?" I asked as I was walking with my sword resting on the back of my neck.

"Well, I don't mean to brag, but I too was a common miner for a time."

"My ass you didn't mean to brag."

"...But doing all that work for days on end it was a nightmare." His face contorted into a disturbing smile. "That's when I had an idea to end my days of slaving away in this place. I used to know this guy who would try to lift the spirits of the other workers by telling us that eventually, we would get out of this place. But I knew he was full of it. If we waited. We would die down here waiting. So one night, when he was having a private meeting with some of his highly trusted comrades, he made a plan that would get us out of this place. So instead of letting him senselessly die, I used him for my ‌benefit. I reported his plan to break out to the warden. And while he was working, the guards came up to him and attempted him away. Unfortunately, he was to fight them off for about four hours. I heard he fought like a wild animal. But in the end, after many casualties, he was captured and taken out. That was the day I became the warden's second; he told me ‌I was quite a useful man. It was the day when I could get out of that sweat-inducing, starving-nights hell hole!"

Something snaps in me. I grab the right hand and I slam him to the floor.

"I've seen cowards in my time fighting, but you take the whole god damn cake!"

"Wha- Let go of me!"

"You'd be lucky if I didn't kick your ass here and now for all that shit." I want to hit this son of a bitch, but I need him conscious.

"As much as I wanna deck the shit out of you, you're useless to me knocked out. So after I kick that warden's ass, you'll get your dues!"

"Unhand me or you'll regret this!"

"Trust me, I won't regret a thing after I'm done with you!" I lift him up from the ground with force. I throw him forward. "Get moving before I just kick your ass here and now."

Half an hour of walking later, we hit the end of the hallway. It's a gigantic metal door. I don't see any way to open the door.

"This is it," the right-hand says.

"Open it," I command him.

"I can't open the door. Only--"

"Only I can." A voice echoes throughout the mine. I don't see anyone on the other end of the hall. It's deep and rugged with a southerner accent. Suddenly, the gigantic metal door slides upward. The area inside is empty, but it is the biggest area I seen in the mine. My math sucks but I assume that the room is 200 yards wide, give or take. There is also this rectangular white thing that was poking out from high on the wall. Its clean design sticks out like a sore thumb, and it's big enough to be considered a room of its own...

"I brought him, warden sir," the right-hand yells.

"What do you mean by that?" I ask him as I grab him by the collar.

"What do ya think it means, squirt?"

The voice sounds like it's coming from an intercom. My eyes zone up at the white rectangle. There's a person standing there. I push the second hand away from me.

"Are you the big man on campus?"

"Depends on who's askin'."

"The guy who came to throw down with the Warden."

"Haha, funny kid. I like yer gumption. Why did ya come here, kid?"

"Ain't that obvious: for a certain item you dug up."

"A certain item...? Oh, ya don't mean this little thin’, do ya?" He presented a giant case. It is well around 5'11.

"Maybe. Why don't you hand it over to me and let me see if it's what I need?"

"Nah, how about I make ya a deal?"

"A deal,?"

"How 'bout ya work for me, and I'll even give ya that useless sack of crap's job." I'm guessing he was referencing his right-hand's job. Seeing how the right is twitching and stuttering, I don’t think I’m off mark.

"Thanks, but no thanks. You, this guy, and this mine can go to hell. So keep your deal. I'll just rip that case from your arms!"

I point the tip of my sword at the warden.

"I don't think ya have the right to tell me no," the warden says, sounding more condescending.

"Why not?"

"Here's why?" A large, square piece of stone slides up, revealing a large wide-screen TV. The screen embedded into the wall turns on, showing Richard and a little girl next to him. It shows other images of him and her in different locations. It even showed Richard and me entering the mine.

"We have somethin' called cameras all over this mine, nothin' goes on without me knowin’,"

This guy knew I was coming from the getgo...

"Why didn't you do anything if--"

"You boys were puttin’ up such an interestin’ challenge that I wanted to see how far ya two would come."

"...then you must know about the-"

"Worker's little paradise? Yeah,"

"Then why didn't you flush them out yet?"

"It's more of a privilege to let them have that place, and I don't need to deal with them anyway. Wanna know why?"

"Because most of them are supposed to be taken out?"

"Exactly! That's the idea for that place, and they know if they leave, they'll die. They stay there out of fear. Besides, most of them are sick, I can't allow them to infect the ones that are eligible to work. And those who are sick are better off dead."

"That sounds pretty stupid. To let your workers die, who's gonna replace them?"

He chuckles to himself. No, not to himself, but at me.

"I'll just get some more. There are plenty of more criminals to go around."

Criminals for what? No, that's not the question I want answered right now.

"So what? Why do this? What's the endgame?"

"It's not that I'm doing it for the fun of it, I'm doing it to protect everyday life."

"Protect everyday life? What the hell does that mean? You're ruining it more so than you are protecting it!"

"I won't deny that, but what the king and I are doing is to protect the people of the kingdom's everyday way of life."

"From what?"

He yawns loudly, so loud it echoes from the intercom. "...I'm tired of all these questions."

"Well, I have one more!"

The Warden growls, irritation mixed in it. "What!?"

"What do you gain from this, making people slave away their lives in here? I'm gonna guess luxury?"

"Ya can say luxury, but this mine is important because of the rare materials that come from this mine. These rare materials‌ help in making powerful weapons, vehicles, and even further advancements in technology."

"That doesn't justify what you're doing here!"

"Maybe to you, but to me and the king, that's a different story. It's for the good of everyday life for the kingdom"

"That's such horseshit, and you know it."

"I'm gettin’ tired of yer voice. I think I should just end this thin’."

"Fine then, come down here so I can whoop your ass, old man!"

I get into my fighting stance, anticipating for him to come down here. But he didn't move an inch.

"Nah, I'm finishin’ this a different way."

Multiple doors on the edge of the room opened. Workers, about nearly a hundred of them, went to the center of the room. Most of them scared of the Warden's presence as they were trying to avoid eye contact.

"Welcome everyone," the Warden greets them. "Today, I got a special announcement. We got two intruders who wormed their way into the mine: the boy on screen and the boy right here. Now, instead of havin’ a guard take care of it, I had a win-win situation in mind. One of ya will bring them to me here."

The crowd questions his proposal while casting suspicious glares at me. I don't like where this is going.

"...I’ll also mention a reward for bringing them here." Oh shit. "One of ya will be allowed to serve me personally, or maybe two of you."

The crowd went eerily silent. The look in their expressions changed, filled with a malicious feeling behind them.

"I want them alive and unharmed. Other than that, happy hunting." The workers walk over to me, trying to corner me like some animal.

"Guys, let's talk about this," I suggest to them with a stupid smile on my face. They aren't responding, they just keep edging toward me.

"All right, don't say I didn't try to resolve this peacefully."

I grab the right hand by the shirt. I spin him around to build momentum. After a second or two, I let him go, launching him towards the crowd. He hits the middle of the workers, knocking down at least some of them. There's no better time to run than now! I can hear them chasing right after my ass.

"Shit, shit, shit! Gotta find Richard!"

You’d think the picture on that screen would’ve helped give me an idea where he is, but it looked like the same hallway I was walking down a few minutes ago, so a shit load of help it did there. The folks from behind me getting closer. They're pretty damn quick. Working in this mine for most of their lives helped me develop muscle for them, but I'm no slouch myself; I ran from faculty from the school, and police officers many times before.

I run through the way I got here. Everyone in the room turns to face me, shocked by my sudden arrival to see me. I climb up the sloop that the mine carts come down from. I heard voices coming from the hallway, so I pick up the pace to crawl through the little tunnel. Luckily, there were no carts in my way.

This isn't as easy as I thought it would be; the guards I could handle, but now the workers. I could handle them easily, but I didn't want to hurt them. They aren't involved between me and the Warden. This is a bitch move he pulled. But despite that feeling, this is... So thrilling, I felt like a kid who entered a toy store for the first time in his life. It's weird, sure, but it makes me feel a bit giddy on the inside.

"Okay, now you gotta calm down, Proxy. Gotta find Richard... But how?" If Lauren were here, she could use one of her trackers. Well, no use thinking about things I don't have, gonna have to take an educated guess…

When I left the shelter, I saw some blood on the ground. That was where Richard fought the guard. From there, I went to the main working area. Now that I think about it, there was a higher platform in the work area near the shelter. Nobody was working there or would they be able to see anyone go through there; Richard and that little girl must've gone through there.

Even if they didn’t, I'll go with that for now. Now, since they were caught on a monitor, that means there are probably cameras around this place like the Warden said. But that means jack to me right now. I just need to find Richard. Then I'll spitball ideas on what to do about the cameras.

I slide on my goggles and I crawl over toward the exit of this tunnel. "Let's get to work..."

...

The Warden sits back, watching the security TV of Richard and the little girl continuing their adventure through the mine. Two figures stand in his room. One was wearing a burlap bag over their head. His long, dirty gray hair stretched out to the upper half of his back. His body was gangly, his arms lacking muscle. He has several sharp knives, daggers, and cutlets on his waist. The other is wearing a black coat that resembles a trench coat. It comes with a hood, obscuring his skin and face. He is much taller and bulkier than the lanky individual.

"Ripper," the Warden calls the lanky man named Ripper. "I want ya to go after this boy." He shows him an image of Proxy. "Bring him in alive, if you can."

With a low moan, Ripper leaves the roam, with its shoulders slumped.

"Enforcer, go after this boy." The Warden shows an image of Richard and Racheal. "Just the boy, got it. If the girl gets in the way, kill her. Ya get me?"

Enforcer doesn't move a muscle, nor make a sound. He's focused on the little girl in the image. He ignores Richard, the Warden, focusing on Racheal solely. A quick spark of an electrical current brings Enforcer back to grips.

"What are you doin’!? Get yer ass out there and get em', understand!?" Enforcer again says nothing. He just leaves the room, ducking its head to go through the door.

"Honestly, that thin’ is a moron! Now then..." The Warden strolls over the chrome case, touching its cool exterior. "Let's see if we can open you up now..."