070527

04:31

D A Y 2 6 8 5 S.P

D A Y 1 0 9 5 S.A

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'No.'

'What?'

'I'm not taking the vaccine. Sorry.'

'Don't be silly, take off your jumper please.'

'What if I don't?'

'Come on Tia, stop giving them a hard time we can leave after this okay?'

'Fine.'

'Hey there! Sorry I couldn't pick up the phone! I'm probably asleep or something haha. Call me back later?'

'T-TIA... Listen... s- stay inside okay! There are... people... burning! Screaming! Tia do you see this?? There are people itching and- uh- scratching? Tia stay inside, lock your door I don't think it's -'

'WAIT NO! Ugh, bloody alarms are useless. Dammit, missed another call. Sorry Rosé I'll call you back now... Hm? sirens?... Come one Rosé pick up man, you're freaking me out again. Pick up!'

"Pick up the pace Princess! Or you'll go hungry tonight! Stop day dreaming and get your ass inside before Bullet gets here. We don't want slaves to ruin our presentation do we?"

"You racist mother f-"

The floor, something I've been familiar with for a while. Good friends? Not that close I guess but with the way life is right now, I might just consider the concrete as family. "Now get inside, you rat!" I haven't seen the sky in days, and for once I wish I could get a taste of the light from the sun, if it didn't kill me, of course. The view of this two story mansion doesn't differ from shit on a plate. What makes the all-mighty Bullet so fond of this place? The safety and refuge from daylight, the dark forest surrounding it or the mountain that blocks all light from pouring down on us all every day, no. It's the tunnels and passages that run beneath the lot. The mansion has access to storm drain tunnels that spread across the entire estate of forest, no one knows where or if it ends, and how to find the entrance to it to escape. We all know it exists, the guards posted around with their plastic guns and blunt knives brag about them all the time, almost trying to tease us into getting desperate to find these tunnels. I think it's all fake. Something to give the workers indoors hope of actually escaping one day, all who have tried to have obviously died there's no secret there. So here we all work within the white walls of this mansion, observing the wallpaper and beams become overtaken by dying nature that lacks sunlight due to the surrounding mountain. All large canvas frames of the old owners, are whittled away into splotches of black, grey and brown, hammered into the walls. One tug and the corridor would turn into ashes. The floor used to be made up of wooden boards but now have been covered in concrete the soldiers were too lazy to smooth out, so standing twenty hours a day wasn't favorable.

"You ever considered kicking the bucket?" A low and horse voice for such a light-hearted man.

"That's cruel, Rocky," I gaze down at the bucket half full on the ground, the water used to hydrate the dogs that barely come around anymore, probably trained so brutally that they wouldn't need water anymore to keep them alive.

"I meant for the dogs," his old-man smile hides away the soul taken away within his eyes. Too old to be living in such a broken world anymore, but he still insists to keep living through the storm.

"I know," I nod, pinching my lips together. I hand him the metal box full of tools I'm done using, and stare down painfully at the weapon I've repaired for them to kill another worker with. Everyday I send one away to be fired again, I pray to be at the other end of that bullet. A common feeling amongst the workers here at the Barricade, but not so strong to actually act on those feelings. We all have a little Rocky in us all, wanting to keep living through this hell a little longer just to see what happens in the end.

"Done already? Well done, child."

"Thanks, Rocky."

"Start giving away more of those, okay?"

"What do you mean?"

"Some times a little thankfulness can go far. You can meet people who stick with you for the years to come, with a positive attitude."

"Now Rocky, I don't need a lecture right now. And plus, I'll be fine with you around," he grins and takes the metal box away towards the shelves by the door frame that leads to the corridor. His feet softly hit the ground each time as he makes his way there and I watch lovingly, for the first time in a while. I shift all my weight onto one leg and lean onto the work bench, a five second break couldn't hurt anyone.

Footsteps approach from the corridor, Rocky could hear their heavy booted feet from a mile away but he still decided to move from his station. Why did I give him the bloody box. I should've done it! I would've gotten back quicker.

"Rocky! Get back here!" I whisper a bit loudly so he could hear me, I'm stood at the very edge of the painted square I've been given the right to wander around in, waving my hands at the old man's back. He can hear me, I know he can but he keeps on walking! "Rocky!" I move out a couple of steps and try to reach out my arm to grab the back of his blue sweater, but the guards who enter dive right into action for the fun of it. Almost as if they knew we were out of our stations. They laugh and chuckle as they grab harshly onto the back of Rocky's neatly tucked in collar, he chokes a bit but doesn't fight back. Two other men covered in stab proof vests and long sleeved navy jackets latch onto my shoulders and back, one man crouches down and hooks onto my ankles and they raise me into the air obnoxiously chanting and cursing. The second I rise off of the ground the anger within me rises and I start to kick.

"Get off of me! Get off!"

"Don't engage child!" Rocky calls over the two men holding him in place in front of me.

"Put me down! I can walk! Put me down!"

One of the guard's voices call out above the laughing from the others we pass in the corridor, the workers don't bother gazing out of their room and continue with there work, "Not after that last act you pulled yesterday, princess. Destroyed two of my men's noses, you consider yourself lucky to still be in this block. After this Bullet will definitely feed you to the sun." At the end of the corridor we take a turn I've never seen before, in the entire two years I've been in this hell-hole.

"W-wait!" I jolt my head up towards Rocky, his calm expression fades away and I start to memorize the way we came in. "Wait, sir. How many are we on? Surely we haven't passed the-"

"You old-man are only on your fifth, the princess over here is on her tenth," on man with a huskier voice than Rocky's states, I could feel the smirk he carried on his face behind the mask.

"Ten?!" I shout. You get a streak for every time you break the rules of the Barricade, Bullet's rules. "N-no way, I'm not on ten you're lying! Yesterday was my eighth!"

"Either way kidlet, as of today we are getting a new shipment of survivors, so we have to knuckle down on the trouble here in the barricade." I move my head around the other figures to try and get another glimpse of Rocky's expression again. What was he feeling? Does he know where we are going? Are we going to die?

"Rocky! Why is Rocky here then?! He's only on his fifth, he shouldn't be here!" I start to kick again but their hold is even stronger then before.

"As I said, princess. We are coming down hard on the trouble-makers. The old geezer was caught with you so you both get puni- Well. You both die together." The turn takes us away from the candle lit corridor and the room is dark, I can hear from the guard's feet that the ground has gotten softer. Grass, we are going outside. Are they going to turn us? I try to listen out for anymore chatter but the men have finally gone silent as they approach a large safe-like door, we are still now and I manage to land on my feet as they loosen their grip. I shuffle next to Rocky who now has a more serious look on his face. He was just as unsure as I am.

"Rocky," I say but he shushes me, and grins, knowing I'm watching now. One of the men quietly speak over their radio and shortly after the door cranks open with a loud metal sound going with it. On the inside my eyes widen at the sight of a dome like structure we are about to enter. My back is harshly pushed into the metal dome and in the center there is a beam of light from the sky outside striking down at a single spot highlighted in the dirt. There's enough space in here to fit all of the workers. The ground is covered in dirt and there are only a few dried up patches of grass surrounding the sides of the dome. There are two men with guns posted on either side of the metal door behind us, and the ones who brought us here left without a sound. In front of us there are four men. One with his nose drowned into a computer screen at a foldable table sitting on a creaky stool, all I could see on him was a dirty yellow lab coat and spikey brown hair. There's a crazy scientist kind of vibe coming from him. Next to him is another man dressed in a vest and blue jacket with a black cap on his head, I can't see his face because of the mask he has but he is staring directly into my eyes, probably another guard, same as the man next to him but he's chatting away with the one and only Brax Davidson, Bullet.

BANG! I flinch the hardest I've ever flinched in my life. My ears ring and I wait for the familiar sharp pain to rise somewhere in my body. But the loud thud to the ground brings me to a realization that I wasn't the one the guard behind us was aiming for. He lowers his gun and my body erupts into a fit of shaking and my breathing grows uneven. "R-rocky..." I painfully crane my head slowly over to my right and his face isn't there to meet my own. I gaze down in terror. "Permission to move Bullet! Please!" I cry, my eyes fill up with tears that burn my cheeks and he grunts in approval.

What kind of shit person has this place made me into, asking for permission to tend to the injured, shameful.

I fall to my knees and my hands clutch onto his blue sweater, on his back he draws his last breath and stares up at the metal ceiling. All he's ever seen for his whole life, an unescapable metal fortress. "No! Rocky come on! Wake up!" I jolt my head towards the guard who fired, "Why the fuck did you do it! What the fuck is wrong with you!" He didn't respond, why would he? I move my head slowly back towards Bullet who stands next to the ray of light beaming down at the ground and the crazy scientist guy and guard standing next to him didn't even move a muscle. The guard with the cap either, he hasn't stopped staring me down since I've gotten in here. I go to stare at Bullet to see if my end is next, but instead I notice something behind him I'd never thought to ever see in my life. A dark never ending hole, the escape.