STRANDED 001

Black, blue.... That's how I felt. That's how we felt.

The skies that led us here has left us and we are alone. Maybe not the only ones in the pit we've been thrown into but in the dilemma of our own.

The skies that led us here have indeed left us here to die. We are going to die. We won't survive. This was the end.

The beginning of the end.

***

"Wake up!" The cold water stung my skin. I should be used to it by now but every time it touches my skin, everything seems to start to play again from the beginning like it was all brand new. How I got here was still a nightmare I couldn't wake up from.

My eyes fluttered weakly. As I used my hands to lift myself from the cold dirt I had fallen in. It should have just stayed closed, never to open again but it won't listen. It never listens.

"I said wake up!" I heard the crackling sound of the whip and I heard a cry. Jumping to my feet, I looked to my left and she was up but shaking from the cold, trembling from the fear that coursed through her mind. We all were.

It was two in the morning and that was just the beginning of the beginning. We slept twelve thirty every morning and we woke up as early as two; hundred of us that are now reduced to forty-five.

I looked at the huge man who had a long whip in his right hand and a long spreadsheet in the other.

"One!" He called and sharply, a voice shot through the air in response.

"Awake!"

Two to six were dead so, the next number "Seven!" And another voice thundered the response. Slowly, every number played in my head until the one that rang a bell sounded "twenty two!"

"Awake!" I yelled at the top of my lungs and he moved on.

Yes, I don't have a name. Maybe I had but I don't know what it sounded like. We all didn't have name, instead, we had numbers.

"Follow me" his coarse voice sounded again and sheepishly, we followed. Out into the freezing night, he led us to the workshop "assume positions" and like he yelled, we separated into categories.

The diggers, the Pilers and the carriers.

The diggers with the letter D were taken to the mine to work. Sometimes, they stayed there for days and returned with blisters or dead people.

The Pilers were farmers; anything that had to do with field work with the letter P. While the Carriers with the letter C were transporters.

We weren't born into this. We were great people once. Children of great gladiators who fought and conquered wars, we were taken from our homes and we were put in this place. In this dome with no escape.

In my position, I stood under the letter C waiting to go on with the normal day to day routine but he didn't give the next command, he shouted something different this time.

"Twenty, twenty one, twenty two! Fall out!"

I blinked. Did he just call me? "Now!" And quickly, almost jumping out of my skin, I took two solid steps forward. "You three! You have been chosen to go on the next tour" he said sternly. "Come with me, others, get to work!" He turned around and headed out and we skipped after him briskly.

The tour. I mulled.

It was a journey to outside the territory. Nobody ever goes there. I have heard stories of how great domites went but never returned. The journey outside the dome happened once in every twelve years. I have been here for only ten.

That was all I remembered of my past- that's if I had any. I was brought here when I was ten and I have survived long enough to go on a killer mission.

Thoughts ran through my mind that I didn't pay attention to the person pulling at my grey vest that was almost black due to the dirt and sweat I got from sleeping in the mud.

"Twenty two!" The whisper brought me to the now. Looking above my shoulder, twenty was tugging at my shirt.

"Do yo think they are taking us to kill us?" There was fraught in his voice but I had no idea. Like him I was puzzled. I rolled my eyes and looked back at where I was going. I had no idea and if that was it, it would be a blessing after all.

We soon got to a farm house at the end of the large field and we were asked to wait for sometime before a smartly dressed lady about the same height as me emerged from the inner room. She had thick make up and she wore a red lips. She looked glamorous, nothing compared to me. Nothing compared to my dirty hands, the fact that I reeked of cow dung. My flat chest and the shaggy hair that fell to my shoulders.

"You creatures have been chosen" she said softly. "Good for you" she drew a chair to sit and stared us directly in the face. "You know what this is, don't you?" She raised a brow but we had no idea and no one dared to speak. "This is your life. You are tools and we need you. Before sunrise, pack your stuffs and meet us at the dome. Say your goodbyes because this is the last time you'd be coming back here" she wasn't smiling. She never smiled.

"You will be filled in on what to do when you get there. Are we clear?"

"Yes" we said in unison then she stood to her feet to assess us. She started from twenty; he was strongly built and tall and his chest was firm. She slapped his chest and he still stood upright like a tree. She nodded in content and went over to twenty one. Unlike twenty, he wasn't that tall but he was also strongly built and was firm. She ran a finger across his lips and dipped it in her mouth then leaned over to kiss him lightly but he didn't flinch. She nodded in content and moved over to me.

There was this sudden frown on her face and she turned to our commander "a girl?" She growled

"It is a tough one" the commander replied.

"I like tough" she said in a brawl and leaned over to kiss me lightly on the lips. I felt exasperated but she smelt of something pleasant and her lips were soft against my touch. She withdrew and ran a finger across my cheek down to my chin. Her finger nails were sharp but didn't pierce me. She finally withdrew and nodded as well.

"Good" she said brightly "see you before sunrise" she turned around and headed back into the inner room.

I returned to the dumpster where we rested after every day's work to retrieve my necklace. It was the only property I had and fifteen had given it to me. He was quite a charmer.

Tall, handsome and silent. He barely talks because he was almost deaf. When we were young, we worked in the mine and there was a blast. A lot of children died back then but Fifteen and I sort of survived. I lost a finger and fifteen lost an eardrum though the other one was almost damaged.

I referred to him as Teen most of the time because he was F deaf. He couldn't hear the letter F at all.

I wore it around my neck and went straight to the mine. Teen was a digger so, that was where I could find him. I strolled down the tunnels till I got to his position. He was busy striking a mallet on a chisel, he seemed fine. I shouldn't tell him goodbye because I knew I would see him again - at least, that was how I felt. So an impulse pulled me back and I headed back out.

Teen would be fine. We all bared our crosses.

I had barely reached the exit when a hand tugged me sharply and pulled me into a warm embrace "so, you...go... Me, alone" I didn't have to look at the face to know who the voice belonged to. I just patted his back and after a while, I withdrew.

"Me, go outside. You move on"

"No, me and you... Runaway"

I chuckled lightly but here at dome-city, there was no such thing as runaway.

"And die?" I raised a brow

"And be together" he added.

I shook my head and took a step away from him he was just being immature."You go, you die" he pointed out but it wasn't like I had a choice or something. I heaved a sigh and took his hand.

"Me go, you live. Watch after others." I let go of his hand and headed on.