The Resistance

Chapter 2

The giant of a man led Ben down a complicated series of halls and stairways, then paused before some double doors. The man turned to look down at Ben. "You're what? Fifteen? Good. We'll put you to work on the North end." He moved to open the doors, but stopped when Ben spoke up. "Wait. Can't you tell me why I'm here first? And where here...is?"

The man turned to look Ben over with his dark eyes. "Your here," He began slowly, "because I brought you here. And I didn't bring you here to ask useless questions!" He threw the doors open with a frightening WHAM! Then strode out into 'the yard', as he'd called it. If Ben's memories and common sense were right, this was a sorry excuse for a yard.

There wasn't a blade of grass to be seen anywhere. The ground was hard and bare, in some areas dirt and others cement. The only plant life was sparsely growing weeds, but they were dry and brown. It was a huge open space, with hundreds of teens about Ben's age working in it. But the most striking things, we're the mountains of rocks and stone that covered the space. Each was spaced several feet away from the next, each built up with a different type of rock. The nearest one was huge chunks of broken cement that a line of teens chained together passed chunk after chunk up to the person nearest the top of the pile who stacked it on. Much of the others in the yard did the same.

Their clothes were greasy, colorless rags, tattered on the ends and covered in dust and dirt. Their skin glistened with sweat, streaked with grime. Their hair was long and ragged and hung in their faces, all but obscuring the dull, lifeless looks in their eyes. The only emotions Ben could see were pain, fatigue, fear, and despair. The rest, were expressionless.

The man led him down a narrow cobblestone path that wound through the different mountains and around the slaving teens. They passed a mound of dirt, and beside it was a large hole where five of the filthiest kids he'd ever seen were digging with short, worn shovels. He spotted a few finer looking men standing over several teens, watching them like hawks, with whips by their sides. Before he could ask a question, the man started talking again.

"Welcome to the yard! It is the very center of our operations here. Meet your new colleagues my boy, they'll need a fresh pair of hands. The men you'll see are the tasks masters. They'll make sure you meet the quota and don't get off task." He steered Ben toward a massive wall. "Those," He said pointing, "are our walls. You are not to be on top of them without special permission. Lucky for you, I am headed that way. You'll come with me."

He approached a large set of stairs that lined the wall. The steps were roughly hewn and a bit crooked, but they provided a direct route to the top of the wall. Once they reached the top, the man shoved him towards the edge. "Take a look at your new home." Ben was horrified.

He had a complete view of the entire yard and everything going on in it. He could see a group of kids being whipped in a far corner. One kid falling off a pile of stone, while another dropped a large rock on his foot. Some kids were in a fight, and the task master just sat by and watched them beat the juice out of each other. Everything was grey and bleak and aweful. The man pointed to the barracks, and Ben cringed. It was no more than a low lying building, two floors at most, the roof made of canvas and the stone walls full of holes. He could tell from here it would be filthy.

Then he turned around and walked to the other side of the walls, the man following close behind him. "As you can see here, to stay, is the safest choice." Ben wasn't too sure he was wrong about that.

The world beyond was dark and grey as well, the sky hung with dark clouds heavy with rain. A thick, lodgepole pine forest sprawled out beyond him, filled with mist and fog. He got the feeling there were plenty of mountains beyond, but they were just mere silhouettes in the mist. It looked completely wild and foreboding. There was a bit of a clear barren space between the walls and the forest, about 20 feet of it. But the drop from the walls was at least a hundred feet. "There's no way to escape, and no better option than to stay." The man's deep voice rumbled. Ben swallowed thickly. He had to admit, he was right.

After a moment, the man led him back down into the yard, still explaining things to him about his "wonderful new life", but Ben didn't hear a word. He kept glancing back at those walls, the image of the dark forest burning into his memory. The man went on and on about how Ben would absolutely "love" life here and how he had so much potential. But with each word, Ben's desicion was final. He couldn't live here. He couldn't survive here as a tool, a slave for an organization he knew nothing about. Or did he?

The more he thought about it, the more he realized he did remember something about an organization. Something bad...it had to do with why he was here and teenagers and...world...world domination? He glanced at the man. Yeah, Ben could see him going after world domination.

The man dropped him off near the barracks and rattled on a long list of instructions to a plump man in charge of the housing. The man did a lot of staring and nodding, but Ben wasn't sure he was really listening. Once the man finished, he promised to check back in on him the following morning and see how he was getting along. Ben nodded dazedly, but he only had one thought.

The thought rolled around and around in his mind, over and over as he took the little supplies from the plump man and found his tiny room. The same thought repeated itself as all the other kids came back from the yard, exhausted and worn from the days work. He kept him awake long into the night, and it was in the dark that he decided, and the thought turned into a vow.

He wouldn't act tonight, but tomorrow, he promised himself. Tomorrow night. That would be it. He would survive one day of it and then tomorrow night...yes. Tomorrow night, he would escape.