Chapter 2

"Are you awake?" Asks one the other male. As he notices that I was moving a bit. I open my eyes to look around. He could tell I was still in the trance. "I brought food for you, it will help to get rid of some the effects of the elixirs."Said the same male as he helps me to eat. After I was done he help me to drink some water which help to take the dryness out of my mouth. "Who are you?" I asked once I am able to talk. "I am Alex, you will meet the others later, they are working and the guards wanted someone to stay with you until you woke up. You had been unconscious for awhile. The zombie elixir takes a toll on you."Said Alex. "It felt weird going into that state everything went fuzzy and I don't remember anything else." I said to Alex. "It will happen again, they use it when they want to check us out or do other stuff."Said Alex. I was in shock to hear this. "I am Baxter, what are we suppose to do here?"I asked Alex. He explained what are we suppose to do and what to look for. "Wow, how long has this been going on?"I asked Alex. He shrugged his shoulders. "I wouldn't even try to find out either or there will be punishment for you or others. Let's try to stand then walk."Said Alex. "OK, I sure don't want to feel that lightning again. But I have a feeling I will."I said as Alex helps me to stand.

 

I was a bit wobbly on my feet; Alex kept me from falling and he helps me to walk until I was able to walk on my own without being aided. Suddenly an alarm went off in the area; I look at Alex to see what I should do. "Stand still and don't talk."Alex said to me. I nodded my head yes as I see some guards enter the room. They see that I was awake and standing. "How long was he awake and standing?" The guard asks Alex; he tells them. "OK, tomorrow you are going to work."Said the guard as he checks the living area after he was done they leave. I look at Alex he just shakes his head no. After awhile I hear a cry out from a male then silence. Then there was another alarm going off then silence. I notice the guards carry an unconscious male away. "He never learns."Said Alex as he notices my confused look. "That is escaping Valin. He tries to escape every month. I am surprised they didn't take him away to different area or something else."Alex said. "What do the alarms do?"I asked him, he explains what the alarms do. "When the first one goes off you need to stand still and no talking, if you are caught moving or talking you will be punished. When the second one goes off you can go back to work."Said Alex.

 

"How long do we work for in each day?" I asked Alex. "Ten hours with one break and that is lunch, if you stop you will get a whip. We are not supposed to talk as well until break time. After work we get a shower and brought back here. We can take it easy for awhile and then head to bed at the same time, what time is that I have no idea we can't tell if it is day time or night time. Or what time we get up as well. If you don't get up when they wake you there will be trouble, unless you had been taken for exam and has to sleep to get rid of the elixirs."Said Alex. "They also said something about practicing their shooting on us? When I was going inside the main part a guy tried to escape and they knock him out, plus another guy when we got the chains as well." I said to Alex. "Wow, some do try to escape when the trance elixirs wear off. They will keep them under a bit longer than the others that follow the intrusions. They want to keep up their skills up. Sometimes they will put the elixirs in the food or water. If there is a male already in an elixir state they won't do it. It might conflict with that elixir. Sometime we sleep for a month depends on what elixir they use."Said Alex. "We all asleep for a month or one of us?"I asked Alex. "No, only one. We have to take care of the male when he is out cold. Or sometimes we are in a deep trance from an elixir that takes a couple of days to leave our system."Said Alex as he keeps telling me what they do to us. "When it is time to go to sleep they use a sleeping gas; it works real fast, once we are asleep they come a check us to make sure we are asleep if not they use the needles. When we start feeling dizzy and sleepily and we sleep where we fall." Said Alex.

 

I notice other males entering the room. They notice I am awake and talking. "These are Yakov, Cyan, Deon and Xuan. This is Baxter."Said Alex. "Nice to meet you."They said to me. "Same here."I replied. We talk about what is going on. They told us about Valin escape. "We heard the alarms going off. My guess they caught him near our area."Said Alex. "Do you think he will get free?"I ask them. "No, this place is heavy guard; you will see when you go to work tomorrow."Said Yakov. I notice a guard to bring us some food. We went to get the food and sat down to eat the food; I say it isn't tasty but we are getting fed. After we are done we put the plates back where we got them and the guard takes the plates away. "They will start the gas soon I wouldn't stand near each other in case we fall into each other."Said Deon to me. "Good idea."As I stand up and walk to a different area. "It is easier if you keep standing to get, if you sit or lay down they will use the needles in which we all hate."Said Cyan as I look around and noticing the others are starting to sway a bit. I am starting to feel a bit sleepy as well. I notices the others fallen already. I guess after awhile I must have fallen asleep as well.

 

Some of the guards came into the room and check over the males to make sure they are sleeping with no problems. "They are all asleep; we can go and check the others."Said of the guards as they leave. Next thing I knew I was shaken to wake up, I had to force to open my eyes and I notices Xuan shaking me. "Time to get up, it will take awhile for the sleeping elixirs."Said Xuan to me. "OK." I said as I stand up also did a stretch as well to get the kinks outs out of my body, I am not used to sleeping on the hard ground. Once I start walking I start to feel wide awake, I notice Alex and the others are awake and eating. I grab my plate and start to eat. "It sure works fast, I saw you and the others go out before I did. I didn't even hear anything at all."I said to them. "Once you get used to the gas it works pretty fast, sometimes they use a stronger one as well but that doesn't happen that much."Said Cyan as he puts his plate back same the others I did as well. A guard comes to collect the plates and another one to bring us to the work area. "Alex you can show the new one what do."Said the guard to Alex. Alex nods as he leads me away. I kept quiet I didn't want to get into trouble as I follow Alex to the work area. I had to duck under the door. Alex grabs my arm and drags me to where we work. He hands me a shovel and points where we are suppose to clear away the rubble while he uses the pick ax to break up the rocks. He points to a shiny one and shows me where to put it once I find them. I nodded my head to him that I understand, as I continue to work.

 

After five hours I hear a bell. I look at Alex as I notice he put his tool down; I did the same thing as I follow him to where we eat. I notice the others as well. Alex tells me about the jewels that we find or the gold. "Once we can't find or locate any more we move to a new area. They full the old tunnels once we are done. Try not to hide any jewels as well, which is why we have showers to see if we took some."Said Alex as he eating. "OK, does anyone tries?"I ask him. "Yes, sometimes they swallow them as well."Said Alex as he tells me what has been done. "I will tell you more later. It is time to work again."Alex said as he puts his plate down; I did the same thing and follow Alex. Once we are back there I pick up the pick ax, Alex looks at me, I showed him that I can swing the ax as well. We started to work again; we found more jewels and a diamond. After awhile there was another bell. We all put down the tools and head out of the tunnels. The guards take us to the shower area; they hose us down to make sure there we didn't take any jewels. Once done they bring us to our living area.

 

"I didn't realize that you can work with tools like that."Said Alex. "I used to work on a farm."I said to them. "After awhile you will forget what you did and what your mom look like. Don't even try or you will go nuts or crazy." Said Xuan. "I am starting to forget something's, but not the skills I learn."I said. I won't go in too many details what we did each day. Until one day after work while eating supper I notice Cyan going into a trance. We all watch and I notice it is the zombie trance that he went into. After awhile Cyan is totally in the trance when the guards enter the room and notices Cyan is in the zombie state. They help him to walk out of the living area as they all leave. "What will they do to him?"I ask Alex. "Hard to say, we don't know what they do to us when we go into that state. Or how long they will keep him."Said Yakov.

 

"Do they take more than one male?" I asked them. "Sometimes, it happens at the same time. We better stand up and get into our positions; they probably started the sleeping gas." Said Deon as we stand up and went to different spots. I guess everyone fallen asleep at the same time. During the night they brought Cyan back they help him near the wall and made him sit down before they gave him the knock out elixir, once he was unconscious, they left. I woke up first and notice Cyan is back. After awhile the others are awake. They see Cyan is back but unconscious. "I guess they brought him back during the night."Said Alex as he checks him over. "How long will he be like this?"I asked them. "Hard to say, I know one of us has to stay with him."Said Xuan. "Do the guards pick who stays?"I asked them. "Yes, they pick different ones each time."Said Alex. I notice Cyan eyes were still open."I am surprised his eyes are still open."I said. "You did as well. That is one of the side effects of the zombie elixir, once that wears off the eyes will close on their own."Said Deon. After a few minutes the guards arrive. "Baxter you stay with him."Said the guard to me. I nod my head that I understand as the others leave. I made Cyan as comfortable as I could. They guards brought me food and I ate in silence as I kept my eye on Cyan. After awhile I notice Cyan's eyes are closed. I heard the guard to take my plate away while I was watching Cyan. Four hours later Alex and the others are back. "How is Cyan?"Yakov ask me. "He is still unconscious; the zombie elixir just left his system."I said. "Good, it might be tomorrow he will be awake. The sleeping elixir won't harm him. If he wakes up during the night he will go back to sleep he will still feel the elixir."Said Alex. "Will they take another one when one is in the state?"I asked Alex. "Yes, you never know or they might take two."Said Alex. The guards told Xuan to stay with Cyan while we work.

 

During the first five hours I notice Valin is back, Alex notices this as well. We went back to work until lunch time, the guards takes us to the lunch area where we get our lunch. Valin came and join us. "This is Baxter, before you even try to ask him to help you he won't."Said Alex. "OK, not going to happen."Said Valin as he leaves. "What was that about?"I asked Alex. "Every time there is a new male Valin tries to con them to escape with him. It doesn't work at all."Said Alex. "I could tell by all the guards around the place."I said as we put out plates back where we got them. The guards came back to take us back to work. After awhile both Alex and I notice Valin hiding in the dumpster. I look at Alex to see what I should do. He shakes his head and points back where we are working. I pointed at the dumpster to tell Alex it is full and Alex pushes a button so we can get an empty dumpster. We went back to work until end of our shift. The guards came to bring us to the shower area. On the way two of the guards stopped Alex and me. "We want a word with you after you have your showers."One of the guards said us. We both nod our heads as we were allowed to have a shower. After our shower the same guards takes us to a room.

 

"Before I use any elixirs on you both, I want some answers."Said the guard to us. As we nod our heads to him. "Where is Valin?"The guard asks us. Alex told him what he saw and what Valin tried to do at lunch time. I got the hint that I need to tell the truth to them. "Is that true?" The guard asks me as I nodded my head. "Do you know where he was hiding in the work area?"The guard asks us. Alex told him that we saw him in a dumpster. "Did Valin notice you there?" The guard asks us. Alex told him that Valin didn't see him or Baxter. The guard leaves for awhile; I had a quick look at Alex to see how he is holding up. I wanted to ask him questions but I knew this isn't the correct time to ask them. Suddenly I felt some lightning bolts from the circuit I have injected me. It made me jump out of my chair in pain. After awhile it stopped, the same guard came back and sat down. "I am going to go over this again, each time I don't get a correct answer Baxter will get the volts. I am going to give Alex the elixir to see if he is telling the truth."Said the guard as he gives Alex the needle. After awhile I notice Alex is in the trance. "Tell me where Valin is. If you slow down Baxter will get the volt again, each time will be a higher one than the last one."Said the guard Alex. "I understand."He said as he tells the guard everything what happen during the work. I was hoping Alex won't slow down I don't want to feel the volts at all. "Why did Valin come to sit near you when he is supposed to stay near his area?" The guard asked Alex. "I don't know, I don't talk to him only to try to stop him for asking the new males to joining him to escaping."Said Alex. "Is that true Baxter?"The guard asks me. I nodded my head yes."Do you know where did Valin enter the dumpster?"The guard asks Alex. "No, he was already inside when it came to us."Said Alex. The guards kept asking questions until Alex hesitated and I felt the volts inside my body, I almost past out from the pain, I know the next time I will as the volts die down. They kept asking questions until Alex couldn't answer them, they turn on the volt the last time, and I knew I screamed out before I black out from the pain.