The Slave Game

Chapter Five: (Hell)Haven

Chapter Five: (Hell) Haven

We drove through the day and set camp for the night to avoid the Bogs. Then we set out again. We drove through the vast, dirt and death covered wasteland. I finally asked Asher about where we were going and how we were helping my dad.
"Your dad is held in a city... er, part of a city. It's called Haven. The place is controlled by an army of slavers and raiders. They're led by a man named Butch. The population of the city cut is into two categories. There are slaves and slavers. The city holds around two hundred slaves or something." Asher explained. "Your father being one of them."
"If there are so many then why don't they just revolt and take over?" I asked, feeling that would be the obvious solution.
"Because the slavers have all the guns and weapons, and enough ammo to mow them all down. The slaves don't exactly have access to the armory." He rebutted.
I nodded, realizing that that probably made sense.
"But, your father is leading the slaves into a potential resistance. I've been working with him for three years." He continued.
I suddenly spotted something fishy. Something I should have noticed sooner. "How do you get in touch with my father if you aren't a slave?"
"... you caught on to that, huh?" He paused. "I've come across some tunnels on the city's old sewer system that haven't been collapsed. I use those to get in touch with your father. The slavers have no idea because they think all of the sewers are useless since they caved in any leading outside the walls of their precious city."
"So they have no idea about these few remaining sewers?" I frowned.
"Not a clue." He confirmed.
I then noticed something else. "If none of them lead out of the city, then how do you get into them?"
He sighed, exasperated. "I sneak into them. How else? Would you trust me already?"
I couldn't put my finger on Asher. He hadn't done anything to show that I shouldn't trust him. I just couldn't shake the feeling that he was hiding something. I wanted to trust him, he was my only chance at seeing my dad again. I just didn't want my trust to be misplaced. But if I couldn't trust him, how could he trust me? If what he said was true, then we'd need to work together to free my father.
"How do you plan on getting my dad out?" I asked.
"With that resistance I told you about before." Asher said. "We're getting all the slaves out."
"What? That wasn't the deal! I thought we were just getting my dad!" I protested.
"Do you honestly think your father will abandon those who have believed in him for years? Because if you do, then you never knew him." Asher snapped.
I felt anger at that last comment. Who was he to tell me I didn't know my father? I knew he was right though. My dad wouldn't just leave all these people if he truly was their leader. That meant I was going to take part in a fight most likely.
"Can you just trust me on this? We're on the same side. I know what I'm doing. Your dad is my friend as much as he is your father. I want to help him as well as the other slaves." Asher said.
I sighed. "Yeah. I'll trust you."
I looked down into the blade of my knife which I held over my lap. I could see myself returning to how I'd been ten years ago. I was happy. Now the years of being in hell had come started to come back. I could see the faded scars on my cheek more clearly. The pain and fight in my eyes. The look on my face as it decided between fight or flight. I was reverting back to my survivor mindset. I was back in hell...
I shook it off. It didn't matter. I'd get through this. I get my dad out and bring him home. We'd live a good life. I'd return to see Jed, Sunny, Pete... and Mira. I'd make it back. Then I'd never have to return to this hell.
"Good. Because we're here." Asher pointed out the windshield.
I looked up and my heart stopped. The first thing you see of Haven is the walls. These walls were huge. They stood about as tall as buildings long collapsed after the world ended. They were made from all different sorts of mixed metals. About twenty feet up or so there were railings for guards to stand watch. The walls cast a foreboding shadow miles out, saying one thing very clearly.
Stay the hell out.
The sky over Haven seemed darker. As if the sun itself was reluctant to shine on it. Only feelings of pain and despair came from it. At the very tops of the walls I could make out the silhouettes of people working on them, welding metal to metal, just adding more and more. I froze in my seat as I watched the figure of a person fall and plummet toward the ground near the front gate. I winced and looked away as they made contact with the earth. I thought I had witnessed hell before...
I had just walked up to its front door.
"Welcome to Hellhaven."