Land

Chapter 2

With a harsh screech, the van shuddered to a halt outside the factory. Its towering grey spires and thick black plumes of smoke casting a huge shadow over Lyra and Roe. They followed the ambling line of workers back out into the cold and across the concrete square.

 Lyra's eyes flitted from left to right. Sensing that there were no guards within earshot she leant backwards to whisper to Roe.

"I need to talk to you and Freya in private. Meet me at lunch under the bridge". As expected, he did not react. His intense blue eyes continued to stare dead ahead, yet the faintest of glimmers in his pupils was enough to let Lyra know he had taken in what she'd said. Roe had a sharp-wit about him, he knew not to draw any attention to either of them.

That was it. Within that one action, Lyra had taken her first step towards truly rebelling against the Land Faction, and it excited her. The fire in her belly growled as she made her way through the giant iron doors and into the factory.

She hated the relief that she felt as her skin met a welcoming warmth. The factory was not a place where she wanted to be enjoying herself. Yet it's reassuring glow slowly pulled in the workers like moths to a flame.

A loud slam followed by the cranking of a wheel snapped her out of the trance the warmth had induced and informed Lyra that the guards had locked the iron doors. She was trapped once again in this hellhole. She turned around to see if Roe was still with her, but she saw him and four others already being escorted by two guards to their workstation. It was at this time that Lyra herself was approached by a Land Faction guard, his face covered by a black visor.

"Follow me, worker". His steely voice vibrating in Lyra's ears as she walked behind him, intentionally at a slow pace.

As she did every day, Lyra tried to block out the endless drone of the industrial plant. If there was one thing she hated most it was the racket that reverberated around the factory. It never ceased, with its creaking pipes and steaming vents creating a symphony from hell, and each worker was forced to contribute to the concoction of noise.

The factory in Mort manufactured weapons. Every day the citizens had to work to provide the Land Faction with tools of destruction that had bloodied the battlefields of countless wars. A variety of guns, grenades and melee weapons were churned up every month and transported to numerous areas around the Faction's territory in order to "aid" the war effort.

Lyra worked on repairs where faulty products were sent to be fixed. The guard pointed to her work post for the day, a small square no bigger than 12x12 feet with a chair, a desk and a toolbox. Lyra watched as a conveyor belt winded its way through a small maze of workers. It carried various weapon parts such as knife handles, gun sights, grenade springs and numerous other intricate weapon installments. It was Lyra's job to sit at her desk, pick up parts from the conveyor belt and modify them so that they were back in working condition. It was this job that had been giving Lyra the hope that she needed to invent an escape plan. Every other day or so she would take a small part, be it a screw, spring or piece of casing and smuggle it to her home, where she hid the parts underneath a loose floorboard. She would ensure she wasn't caught by simply writing in her evaluation report that the specific parts she had taken were missing before she had even started repairing it.

 Over the past year she had managed to gather enough parts to make the skeletons of three rifles. However she needed many other parts such as cartridges and bullets before she could make them fully functioning. It was a gruelling process, and she needed Roe's wit and Freya's cunning to make the final push and gain enough resources to complete her makeshift weapons.

--------------------------------------------- 5 Hours Later ---------------------------------

That morning crept by just like any other. The constant humming of the factory coupled with the sounds of hammers shaping metal and guards' boots marching along the floor made Lyra want to scream. She constantly found herself having to peel her gaze from the clock on the wall to the work in front of her. Just one hour until lunch, and then she could see Freya and Roe. She decided the quickest way to distract herself was to focus all of her attention towards fixing the rifle she had picked up from the conveyor belt. She hated repairing these the most as she knew they were the same weapons the guards used, and she was indirectly aiding them. But today was important, and her meeting with Freya and Roe couldn't come sooner.

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THANK YOU FOR READING AND I HOPE YOU'VE ENJOYED THE STORY THUS FAR. 

Sorry this chapter is so short, school is really strenuous at the moment but I'll try and make longer chapters in the future.

I know it's only been two chapters but I'd REALLY appreciate any feedback or comments you may have as I hope to update this story on a weekly basis. Thanks!!