Chapter 361: Get In Line
The darkness seemed to be breathing, a slow, low and measured breath. If Laz was forced to describe it, he would say that it seemed like it was breathing while sleeping. If you’ve ever listened to the breathing of another while they sleep, you can understand the comparison. Whatever this thing was.. Laz knew, without a doubt, that it would be a bad idea to wake it.
But then again, considering it was slumbering, Laz wasn’t overly worried. Whatever it was, it was large, like very large. So if something like that had ever gotten loose or been awake, there was no way it could have been hidden. People would have known and talked. There would have been rumors. And while Laz might not have heard about them considering he had just gotten here, they probably wouldn’t have been searching this area for rocks if it was known that some crazy beast was underneath here.
’Hmm... or maybe they do know and that’s why they make us do this stuff?’
Laz didn’t know, but now that the thought was in his head, he decided didn’t care either. Instead, he focused for the rest of the day, finding these energy stones and storing them away in his pouch as he also placed some in his basket while keeping an eye on the others.
What Laz really wanted to do was to compare these stones to the batteries he only just remembered having from that strange world the gate led him to. After losing his memory and everything else that had happened since then, he never had a chance to grab them and see if they could be used the same way these could. After all, those things were like charged pieces of metal while these stones were far more natural. But if they both could be absorbed, then there was no telling how strong he could get.
Of course, he had to be super careful while mining the stones. While he could have a bit of privacy to himself in this large, opened area covered in holes, there was a limit to that. If he was seen grabbing dozens of stones but there was only twenty in his basket by the end of the day, then that would alert others to the facts that he would best like to leave hidden. Thankfully, with some fast hands and the pouch still at his waist, he was able to collect just as many stones as he ended up putting in his basket.
Lunch was served outside, from a cart and the prisoners had to wait in line to get it. Coming as no surprise to Laz, the cocky group of assholes were the first to get served, walking away to ’speak’ with the guards minutes before the cart even showed up. While the guards couldn’t act openly favorable while the lunch crew was there, no one really cared much as to who got served first as long as there was food and water for everyone.
The twenty or so guards had their own cart full of food which they were able to eat at a pavilion overlooking the dig site. As for the almost sixty prisoners, the were only able to sit in the sun, on the ground, to enjoy their food. While the special prisoners were able to sit close enough to the pavilion to be in the shade, they couldn’t sit next to the guards as long as the lunch staff was there. And they weren’t going to leave until all the trash had been collected after everyone finished.
So as it was, Laz sat down with his peanut butter and jelly sandwich, bag of chips, protein bar and bottle of water and ate one of the least tasty meals he had ever had. Still though, he couldn’t complain since at least it was food.
After lunch, with the trash collected and the serving team moving away, most of the prisoners got back to work while the special group, all ten of them, stayed around the pavilion and chatted and flirted with the guards.
While many of the new guys were mashing their teeth in frustration, one of the older hands who had seen a thing or two spoke up in a rare moment of pity.
"Let it go. The cost to join their group is far too high for most of you to pay. And believe me when I say that getting on the bad side of either the guards or those useless fuckers will make your life hell. Best to keep your head down in times like this, It’s the only way you’re going to live long enough to one day see freedom. When the government finally hears about what’s happening, you can bet they will send a whole army and then these foot lickers will once again be left with nothing. Mark my words boys," The old timer said before leaving them alone with their thoughts.
"Old man, what do you know?"
"This world isn’t one where you can trust the government."
"But how do we get in good?"
"How about we just... you know... knock off some of those smug bastards. Long as we knock them down a few pegs, we can get in good too and be the ones in control?" The one who suggested this had a long scar the ran from his ear down his chest and arm. Tattoos covered his body and the grin he gave while talking to others was enough to make children cry. And even then, he wasn’t the most disgusting bastard who had been drafted to this hell hole. While these trashes of society couldn’t do anything about their captures, many of them having been taught a painful lesson to learn that fact, that didn’t mean they were going to let these other guys walk all over them.
Laz just heard this and got up without saying a world. He grabbed his gear and quickly went back to work, not bothering with them anymore. If these guys thought the other guys were pushovers, then they had another thing coming. Since Laz wasn’t bound by the shackle of the collar, he could tell with a simple look just what group appeared to be stronger and it wasn’t scar face’s side. If you thought about it though, it made sense. These guys were able to grasp power at least once already an had a good relationship with the guards. Guys like this couldn’t be brought down easily.
And more importantly, Laz wasn’t going to get involved in their games. Instead, Laz just went about his business like some of the other, weather beaten and down trodden prisoners. In a way, it was blending in. In another way, it was keeping himself out of the limelight. He had a feeling that he didn’t want people to know who he actually was.
Or, at least, he tried to do this.
As it turns out, no matter what a person wants, sometimes it isn’t meant to be.
At the end of the day, Laz lined up to hand in his rocks, just like all the others. The problem here was that the ones at the front of the line were the ones who knew what time to be there, otherwise known collectively as the dicks. The part that caught Laz’s attention was that some of these guys gave stones to the others, ones that seemed higher up in the pecking order. As such, those guys were able to get through the line quickly and get going back to their rooms, a few of them under guard. After having done this with only about half of the guards remaining, the rest of this group of dicks started walking over to the newbies and started taking stones from them. When they protested, the dicks pushed them out of line while distributing the stones for themselves. When the ones who had been robbed tried to protest and fight their way back, a few guards would come up and beat them a bit to get them to go into the back of the line. As such, they had no choice but to comply, now without enough stones to turn in and therefore needing to increase the amount they collected the next day.
It’s worth mentioning at this point that one of the first ones to get enough stones and leave was the one who had assaulted Laz earlier in the day. His knee had been healed and he was brought back, but the guards allowed him to sit out for the rest of the day’s mining. It seemed like he was the defacto leader of this group.
The reason why this was important, at least to Laz’s mind, was because since Laz had been robbed without putting up a fight, he was now a target and a group of three came up to him. What is also important to know is that the guys who were looking to cause trouble with this group earlier were huddled close around each other, obviously intent on protecting each other and themselves. Seeing this, the dick group didn’t approach them, content to handle it another day.
"Give me all your stones," A blonde haired guy with a bit of facial stubble demanded, pointing at Laz’s basket.
"Fuck off." Laz said, his voice low but without emotion.
Having not expected this meek kid to resist, the robbers were at first taken aback, but then laughed.
"Kid, you don’t have a choice. Either hand them over or I’ll come take them myself and you can go que back up at the end of the line. At least this way, your failure won’t require you to wait longer," stubble beard said with another laugh.
Laz didn’t respond with words, but just looked at the group with a non caring look. He wanted to remain inconspicuous, but that was obviously not going to happen and now, he was a bit annoyed.
"Fine. Have it your way." The man reach back and swung his fist, intent on hitting Laz right in the face while the slightly shorter man next to him reach out to grab Laz’s basket. For Laz, this punch was no different that a toddler attacking an adult.
Laz didn’t even bother to block, he jest leaned back slightly. Because of stubble man’s lack of experience in throwing a punch, he had put his full weight into to, expecting it to connect with Laz’s face. Due to him missing though, his body swung around slightly as he lost his footing and ended up colliding with the bag grabber. Both of them fell into a heap on the other side of the line, having tripped right past Laz.
The third man, watching this, frowned as he came forward to try to wrap his arms around Laz’s waist and drag him out of line and tackle him to the ground. Laz quickly countered by dropping down low, so low it was like he was sitting on the ground. The taller man wasn’t able to drop low enough to compensate and ended up knocking into Laz who then stood up quickly, taking the taller and heavier man with him. Laz brought his right shoulder up without even trying and the man flipped over, landing on top of the pile that was his two buddies who had been trying to get back up.
No one said anything as this happened, instead watching on with interest. The guards, noticing the disturbance came to investigate. Originally, they were turning a blind eye to this, but at the risk of things escalating and they themselves getting in trouble, they decided to break it up. Apparently stubble man was rather popular as the lady guards helped him up first before the others. They also tried to encourage the man not to make any more moves on Laz, fearing that things would get out of hand. If people got hurt and ended up in the infirmary, then there would be questions and someone would say something.
Unfortunately for them, stubble man had gotten too angry and had forgotten where exactly and what exactly he was.
"Fuck off... I’m going to fucking kill that kid," he said as he charged at Laz, having grabbed an assault baton from one of the guards who didn’t react quickly enough.
Watching this unfold, Laz suddenly felt something prickle his brain, like someone’s spiritual sense had touched his own and he understood he was being watched by someone far stronger than these guards. Instead of fighting back at that probe, he just let it be and turned to face his attacker without even bothering to set down his basket.
In an almost scripted like scene, the man swung the baton at Laz again and again while Laz used the least amount of energy and movement to dodge. Down swung, side swipe, cross slash. Again and again he swung while Laz just seemed bored moving from side to side, his feet never leaving their original positions.
"Fucking hold his ass down," stubble man yelled, as his two helpers were joined by two more who surrounded Laz and grabbed his arms and shoulders.
"Dodge this cock sucker," Stubble yelled and swung down again, this time aiming for the top of Laz’s head. If Laz was an ordinary guy and this swung connected, it would have smashed his skull in. Maybe it wouldn’t be enough to kill him outright, but it could cause a lot of complications.
Luckily for Laz, he had four meat shields who had made the stupid mistake of trying to hold him in place. As the blow swung down, Laz leaned forward quickly, causing one of the goons behind him to fall forward, his head ending up right where Laz’s had been.
The blow caused the man to go limp and buckle, falling to the ground. Laz’s attacker, seeing this didn’t make the smart move and let the shock cause him to back off, instead swinging again like a mad man.
Four swings in quick order, four knocked out goons as Laz stood there unharmed.
"You fucking piece of shit... give me a god damn knife so I can cut his head off," Stubbled man yelled at the guards who were standing right behind him.
Just as they all backed off, now more terrified than anything, the man turned back around to Laz, but only had enough time to see a flash of tan skin and dark hair that smashed into his face. Stubble man now crumpled to the ground as Laz brought his head back and used a hand to wipe a bit of blood from his forehead.
"Asshole," Laz said, before stepping back into line as though nothing happened.
The silence was like a blanket as no one moved. One of the guards whispered to the only senior guard of the area,
"What do we do?"
"Uh... arrest this kid and get a med team out here to take care of our babies. We can blame the whole thing on him for assaulting them first. If any of these useless cocks says something, then they can forget about getting any stones for the rest of their miserable lives.
"Hoh... did you hear that? A full disregard of the laws along with a fully plotted cover up? How low can someone get eh?" A voice came from affair as a group of three walked over slowly but with light steps.
"I guess maybe putting these wastes out here by themselves all day isn’t such a good thing. They seem to learn bad habits from each other," came another voice.
"Joan, Gia! What the fuck are you two doing out here. This is my department to manage and you both have no say in the things I do!" The senior guard yelled out at them as they made their way over.
The way they were walking, the person who was behind them was hidden by the two Amazonian like figures of Joan and Gia. But once she spoke, the guards all hit the ground at once. and bowed.
"What about my qualifications for judgement?" That sweet and yet low voice sounded, like the voice of a dark seductress inviting you into her bed to which to will never leave.
"Mam... we... we didn’t know you were coming out here today..." The senior guard said, her head almost buried in the hard dirt.
"I can tell. It seems I’ve let you all have a bit too much freedom out here. You prisoners, on the ground now unless you want to be put on the ground," that sweet voice said, telling all the men to get on their knees.
The seasoned prisoners complied, even stubble man hit the ground in no time. Of the newer prisoners, only Laz and a few others still stood, not understanding. Before a question could even come to their lips, Joan and Gia were next to them, knocking them out cold.
In the end, the only one still standing was Laz, facing this woman and her icy glare.
"I told you to kneel," she said, her voice several degrees stronger.
Laz, annoyed to no end and tired of playing along with this, simply said,
"Try me."
