Crosby was working in the tunnels on a jack hammer. He was miserable, body hurt and sweat pouring out of him. His feet and back were so sore, it was like when your feet are sore and your back you can’t do much of anything else. When he put his jackhammer down to clean the area up, he could barely walk. A guard yelled out while throwing his cigarette down “BREAK. 5 Minutes.” He was trying to walk over to the water buffalo, which he was allowed one drink when they told them to break. He couldn’t move very fast and the line had formed in front of him so quickly he didn’t have much of a chance at all of getting some water.
His vision faded, his tongue felt numb and he leaned against the wall. So very thirsty, he was so very tired... felt like he could. Just go to sleep right here. Crosby inched his way forward, hand against the wall. When he approached the back of a line there was a hand on his back. He turned around to face a guard with skeleton like features and a grim smile. He spoke very slow and had a mesmerizing tone “You useless piece of shit. Come with me.” Crosby followed the guard, who lead him past the line and water. He inched along as fast as he could, becoming so tired he thought he actually might just pass out while trying to complete this simple task. The guard was up ahead by the entrance, waiting for him. When Crosby finally approached the guard said “Shit bird, I have a task for you.” He pulled Crosby briskly by the arm out into the sunlight. His eyes had to adjust because they were so used to being in the dark tunnels all morning “See this hills?” Crosby noticed what he was talking about.
“I need these removed for new fence line.” Crosby nodded “You’re too fucking useless to use a fucking jackhammer, I’ll give you a chance at using a power cat to move this shit.” Crosby looked confused and replied “Power cat?” the guard tapped his foot “I’ll bring it to you, get your fucking water and have a fucking panic attack until I return. If you aren’t here, or you try something funny, I’ll put you in the fire” Crosby nodded “Understood.” Crosby went back inside the gigantic tunnel and the line for water was down to ten person. He hopped in behind them and the guard manning the water station looked up “Out. Go back to your posts.” Crosby was so tired, and very sore. When he breathed in or walked an area under his right rib cage hurt with immense pain.
He was starving too. He was occasionally slipping in and out of consciousness very quickly. It was like falling asleep standing up, and your thoughts wandered off into strange places. He crept towards the entrance without challenge, he wandered if the other guards assumed he was not doing anything wrong by being so ridiculous as to leave, or if they already knew what he was being tasked with. Dillon approached the edge wide tunnel and looked over at a nice patch of shade in the grass against the stone leading in to the tunnel. He sat down heavily and leaned back against the stone. It was cold against his back, which was so incredibly sore from working inside the hole all day. He let out a deep sigh, passing out upon the exhale as if it was his last breath and his life had escaped him just then. Crosby lost consciousness then, too tired to have any thoughts before passing out, just slumping over against a cold wall. Hungry, tired, broken, and sore. Never had he been through more struggles and tribulations. This was the pinnacle of hardships he had been through.
A silence just for a moment, and all of a sudden “WAKE UP SHIT BIRD” a very slow and special voice had spoken to him. Dillon jolted awake to see a pale faced and skeletor looking guard squatted down in front of him smiling from what seemed ear to ear. His mouth seemed to be as wide as his head was, with very thin bird like lips. What a strange looking man he thought to himself. If he had spoken his thoughts aloud he would surely be beaten. “I’m awake sir!” Crosby said as he stood up and brushed the dirt off his already dirty pants. The grim guard stared at him from his couched position and turned around, standing up simultaneously. “That. Is the Power Cat.” He said, his tone resembling that of a sloth. Crosby walked towards it, away from his solace in the shade.
It was a car sized modern bulldozer that used some technology unknown to him to move the dirt. All he knew is that the main way it moved dirt wasn’t by force and plow alone, there was some current or way of charging the dirt and repelling it away. .Something scientific about the way it efficiently moved dirt like it wasn’t even there. Power cats were seen only in big construction projects in cities and big companies. “Grim” spoke again “You will operate.” The way he spoke reminded Crosby of the ENT’s in lord of the rings, ancient movies he watched with his friends growing up. Crosby responded “I don’t know the controls, sir. If you could teach me I will do whatever you need.” Grim looked at him, turning his body in an odd manner without moving his feet to entirely face his direction, just his torso and head turned in unison, as if he moved like a rubicks cube.
“I will start. You just drive. Lasers. Mmmmmm. Mmmmhmmmmm.” He spoke broken, and matter – of –factly. He motioned for Crosby to get on the power cat and he did so. Climbing up a couple yellow steel stairs and hopping behind the cockpit. “Grim” jumped up and scanned his hand on the dash, revealing a console full of controls. “These hills, for a couple hours today. Shit biiiiiiiiiiiird. Don’t do anything…. Out of the rules...” “Grim” looked around out of the corner of both of his eyes while he spoke as If magically checking for people in his peripherals. Grim slapped the dash of the power cat as he stepped off it and took a few steps back. Crosby felt the rush of expectation hit him. He looked at a bunch of on screen gear and settings panels.
He found the most important thing though, there was a GPS layout of the area he was in with topography and layout. He held the gas handle on the left and the power cat took course to the nearest hill albeit slowly. The power cat went about 2 mph for as fancy as the technology was. The sun was already beating down on Crosby from above, and he could feel the heat pounding into him, beating him to exhaustion further. “So this is why that creepy guard didn’t want to do this himself. You can’t escape the sun. Your hand hurts from holding the gas handle.” He looked at the controls and seen AUTOMATIC THROTTLE, and tried pressing it. DENIED. On the screen, he noticed the machine was not going as fast as it could either, but didn’t attempt to raise the speed. If they wanted him doing this all day he would. Crosby observed the scene before him. He was in the middle of a large open fenced in section of the prison with fairly large hills here and there, preventing them from building buildings on flat ground. He could see how far down the fence line went, and he could see guard towers. His power cat was traveling slowly but didn’t even take any hint of struggle when it approached a hill, it pushed a fair amount of mass with it, and automatically chose where to drive. All Crosby did was hold the gas handle and get beaten down by the sun.
Crosby held his grip on the gas handle and tried to stay awake, he was staring at the hill in front of him with fresh green grass on it. The sun was making him so hot and comfortable, he dozed off while driving. Crosby’s thoughts were escaping him, as if they were being strung out in a sequential line in space. He could analyze each word and memory as a segment in his mind. Nothing in particular seemed to jump out at him “Lord” he sat out loud, not on purpose, but waking him back up.
He had noticed he was halfway up a hill, and actually wasn’t holding on to the gas anymore thought he didn’t know how long he hadn’t been holding on to it. His mouth was so dry, Crosby thought his tongue felt like a towel. So dry and parched, Dillon felt like he wasn’t even sweating anymore. The seat was soaked in sweat, the precious water he had inside of him that he wanted to keep. Crosby was crossing over a hill now, quite miserable from the loss of fluid. With his right hand he lifted up his shirt and bit into it as hard as he could, tearing it and he pulled with all the strength he had, for that’s what it took to tear a 6 inch piece of cloth off of his shirt. Crosby exhausted from this effort, held the gas handle tight and used his cloth to tie it closed. Surprisingly all this effort wasn’t just to get out of holding the handle. Crosby felt the need to pray and couldn’t rightfully do it with one hand stuck to a throttle.
It was amazing to him what inspired him to do things, and most times it seemed to be the Lord. His power cat was a significant distance from the tunnels, about 250/300 yards out, slowly but surely flattening hills and pushing dirt off, taking them down several inches at a time. He held his hands together and bent his head slightly. “Lord you have filled my cup over and dealt my portion as you see fit. Though I face this great challenge that has befallen me I will praise the Lords name, who counsels me; even at night my heart speaks to me. I have set the Lord always before me. Because you are my right hand and I will not be shaken. Lord, heavenly father, deliver me from weakness and bless me with your light so that I may succeed at this challenge you have placed onto me. In God’s name I pray, Amen.”
Dillon looked up from his prayer and noticed the sun had gone down considerably since he started. He noticed on the opposite end of him there was another power cat running with an inmate on it. At the rate they were going it might take a week to level all these hills. He felt better since speaking to the Lord. It always filled him with a strong sense of purpose, he knew the arguments people posed to him. He listened to their validity but still he knew he was right and that he felt the Lord’s presence, if he could but show the nay sayers the power and light of the Lord then they too would bask in the glory of eternal life. He looked out and tried to see if the guards were watching him and as far as he could tell, though far away, there was no one outside of the tunnels.
The guard towers however were fairly close now, and they were most certainly watching them on the Power Cat’s. Dillon decided to take the cloth off of the gas handle and deal with his penance the proper way, as to avoid any trouble. He was hot, still sweating though so it was a good thing. He still had some to give. Crosby thought back to when he was a child and his parents told him about the Lord and how he watched and kept his family safe. His dad was a minister and they had always been in church since he was a child, all of his friends were in church and it was the norm for him. He got so angry when people disagreed with him or tried to disprove the Lord’s existence. Now he could handle the criticism with a grain of salt, for the Lord teaches tolerance. He was home schooled until high school, he remembered how nervous he was his first day of school. It was a crazy place, so far away from the home life and church life he was used to. He seen fights and heard about people getting drunk, using drugs, having sex.
The blasphemy! All of them were so far out of touch with god it made him sick. Crosby generally tried to be a good man, and spread the word of the lord and live his life as close to holiness as he could. Crosby had a girlfriend once before high school, and he had one in high school. He remembered being so in love, thinking that that was the woman who he would be with for the rest of his life. One time at Christmas he was telling his grandfather about how in love he was and how he was going to marry this girl. His grandfather was a wise old man, silly and full of life. He tried to bet Crosby and told him if he was still dating her a year from now he would give him a hundred bucks. Turns out they broke up, it broke his little heart. He remembered crying and thought back to how torn up he was about it, how something so good could come to an end abruptly.
He didn’t have sex until he was married, and he didn’t taste any alcohol until he was 23 years old. Even then he only partake in a glass of wine from church or at a group of friends he was close with. He didn’t watch R rated movies or play R-rates games, even after high school. He didn’t like to watch violence or sex scenes. He didn’t even watch porn. He tried to be the truest Christian he knew how to be, and somehow he ended up in this situation following the Lord’s guidance. He sighed, the sun was closing down shop now. He started to worry about where the Power cat was taking him when he realized it was heading back toward the tunnels. Crosby took in the view on the way back, looking at the screen before him to confirm it. It looked like a hundred yards off into the area where they lived there was a storage area for power cats. He tried to zoom in on the screen but couldn’t. With the sun still lighting up the camp he could see what looked like a few power cats, but parts removed. Maybe it was a maintenance area? Interesting to know.
Crosby was shocked he had survived the heat of the day without any water for about an entire day. At least they would feed him, and hopefully Belle would bring him back some extra food. He desperately needed it. Oh! A filter! He needed to sneak back one of the bottles by the trash for the tunnel. They could make a filter for that disgusting toilet water they had to drink. He was about 150 yards away from the tunnels now, still plowing over and removing inches from the hills as he did so. It was quite different from how they used to level hills in the olden days.
These machines were autonomous in some places, and probably even here. For some unknown reason they stuck him on the power cat to suffer in the sun all day. A couple power cats could certainly level the gigantic, he guessed. 600 yards by 300 yards area that sat before him. The tunnels he thought, were similar to the ones used in the real world for cars. There was a large tunnel system freshly developing in the United States for car traffic, and it streamlined long distance routes. This could be something similar though he didn’t know for what, didn’t care for what. The only thing he cares about was surviving the days before him. One day at a time, one thing at a time. Tonight he was excited to lead prayer and talk with the members of his church. On his way back to the tunnel Crosby thought about how much some of them hated him for his decision to come here and that he was out of his mind.
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Some had died, some had renowned the lord, and some had stayed with him because they had known his word to be true. Crosby himself knew he would never lie about the lord and he genuinely tried to live a good life. He would never lie about something he believed in or even lie in general. Though it was often so hard to communicate those thoughts to someone else. Crosby had dreamed about a machine that he wanted to create though it would be impossible. The machine would allow someone to connect their brain to it and then you could have someone else connect their brain to it. What Crosby wanted to accomplish with this machine was to convey his thoughts and understanding. If he could just connect to the machine and convey his understanding to them they would understand everything ab out him and know that his intentions were true.
Sadly the machine did not exist nor would it ever. In addition, he was back at the tunnels. “Grim” was waiting for him. He was grinning from ear to ear and the sunlight was casting a rather menacing shadow on his face. He looked like a creature out of a video game. Grim was raising his hands oddly, shaking them in the late afternoon breeze. He spoke to Crosby when he was within earshot and said “Complete. You may leave.” And when the power cat stopped it shut off, lowering itself onto the ground. “Grim” was inspecting the power cats menus and looking over it just as the group inside of the tunnels was finishing up./ He had to admit it he felt bad for them to be working so hard inside of the hell hole the tunnels were all day. The tunnels had nearly killed him and he still was barely conscious. He was so thirsty and hungry he needed to get some nourishment in to him. He had never felt so hungry in all of his life.
Crosby blended in with the crowd of disheartened souls they all had frowns on their faces and were walking slow, limp, broken, beaten, and dying. They were so tired they didn’t even notice him blend in. All except one, Crosby joined in at the tail end and a young man with brown hair, blue eyes and fairly tan skin. He was a skinny man, with hollow looking cheeks and solemn but calm look about him. He had long hair down to his shoulders, and he stood out from the rest, for he was looking at Crosby. Crosby matched his stare and spoke “How was your day?” Crosby said quietly, not wanting to be overheard by any guards following them back in to the camp. Most of the guards would lead the pack at the front but occasionally some followed in the rear too, making him nervous they might all be boxed in and murdered. “Adequate, how was your time on the power cat?” Crosby was taken aback “Did you see them pull me out?” The man smiled “I knew, you were close to dying earlier. I had to see you off.” Crosby was a little weirded out by this, how did this young man know so much about what he had done today? They stepped into the gated area now, after they had been walking for about 15 minutes.
They were getting close to being in the area of the prison where Crosby lived. Crosby looked at him, and felt for some reason that he could trust him. “I’m glad the Lord looked out for me today. I probably would have died to be honest. I’m so thirsty, I’m seeing stars.” The young man reached from within his jumpsuit and looked around so no one could see. He pulled out a green plastic bottle with a small amount of water in the bottom. “Here.” Crosby looked at this man carefully, cautiously, and quickly took the bottle. Opening the cap faster than he had ever opened a bottle, and so carelessly he opened it dumping the tiny swig of water in to his mouth. He closed his eyes when it wet his lips.
He felt his body absorb the water before it even made it to his stomach. There was an instant surge of rejuvenation although small, throughout his body. “Ahhhh” a deep breath he let out as he felt the cool evening breeze pass over him. Crosby opened his eyes as they continued walking, and had the empty bottle in his hand. He was so grateful for this water, and so blessed to have met this young man. Crosby went to hand the bottle back to him, but he was no longer there. Crosby had fallen behind the crowd returning to his phase of the prison and quickly sped up to meet the ones in the rear, straggling towards their endless walk to the chow hall.
NOTE. IF THEY ARE WALKING WHEN DID THEY OR WHAT DID THEY USE THE BUSSES FOR WHEN THEY LEFT THE PRISON
Crosby sped through chow and arrived in his barracks in a blur, sitting down and recovering from the onslaught of work that had plagued them all as of late. Dillon and Belle were already there. He had mixed feelings about Dillon, he was secretive and cold. He could detect something emitting from Dillon that scarred people like himself. Belle on the other hand, she was a treasure, a lost soul and he hoped he could bring her closer to The Lord. He had noticed she was somewhat more interested in it than Dillon. He would have to let the Lord bring Dillon around. He thought of Belle as a beautiful woman, something he would love to keep in his life. He never thought about anything sexual, he had trained his mind to stray from it. Though he did respect her beautiful blonde hair and blue eyes, even when everyone hadn’t showered in days and worked constantly, she was still a shining gem in a shit hole such as this. Crosby was thinking about his evening prayer group as he spoke to Dillon and Belle “Evening friends. Good to see you are both still here” Dillon looked at him menacingly “Good to see you as well. What did you do today?” Crosby raised his eyebrows “Well, I was so dehydrated I almost passed out. I really was out of it. A guard, I call him “Grim”-“Dillon interrupted “Why do you call him grim?” Crosby made a face, sucking in his cheeks and opening his eyes all spooky like “He’s a very...” Belle spoke “Grim looking fellow, ha-ha” she laughed cutely grim looking fellow, ha-ha.
“Exactly.”
Crosby continued rambling on “Well Grim made me skip the water line and he put me on a power cat out in the sun for the rest of the day where I floated between life and death in dehydration land.” Dillon was nodding his head and interjected “a power cat... that’s very interesting. Was it a 1095 or a 1097?” Crosby made an inquisitive gesture with no response “you don’t know. Hmm. I need you to find out if you can.” Crosby continued, “So I was out there in this field all day, you have to keep your hand on the gas lever or it won’t go, which becomes horribly tiresome in the heat. I got to flatten some amount of these hills and towards the end of the day I noticed another power cat out there but I never saw who drove it.
There was nothing but dirt out there, the power cat just effortlessly scraped off inches at a time.” Dillon scowled “could you interact with the HUD?” Crosby looked at him blankly “the screen with a map on it. Surely it had one.” Crosby nodded “there was a screen with a layout of the area” Dillon urged him to keep going with a hand gesture “but I couldn’t move anything everything was locked. The speed was on low also” Dillon looked lost in his own head and mumbled “to keep them from... yes that makes sense...”Crosby continued, looking at an amused belle. “So after the day was over the power cat returned and the strangest man was at the back of our group returning in to prison. He had long brown hair, tattered clothes and he seemed to know everything I had done that day.
I told him how thirsty I was and how hard it was for me to talk and he pulled out this bottle from his jumpsuit and gave it to me. Next thing I know I go to thank the man and he was gone! Must have run off somewhere. I truly wish to thank this man. I scanned the barracks but I don’t see him anywhere.” Dillon made an amused expression “good luck on finding someone generous. Still got the bottle? I have some rocks and cloth.” Belle spoke “You’re going to make a filter?”
NOTE DIDNT HE SAY HE WAS EARILER?
Dillon smiles “if you’re okay with it, it’ll make our toilet water a little less volatile. If only by a smidge. “Crosby didn’t object “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Luke 36:8.” Dillon closed eyes for a second and Crosby sensed his annoyance.
He replied “I can say, you know your scripture.” Dillon brought out a handful of different sized rocks and a price of cloth. As he began to mess with the bottle he muttered out “And how was your day darling, you seem distant. Are you tired?” Belle took in a choppy deep breath. “I’m not sure. I don’t feel so safe at my job anymore.” Crosby concerned “why is that? I thought you delivered trays and the inmates were behind closed doors” belle eyebrows looked frustrated “well the guard made me give my underwear to him, but one change for some boxers that fit. He put them in his pocket instead of throwing them away. Then he let me switch out shirts too. He said he hid it from the others.”
Crosby could tell Dillon was slightly angered by this “how did he see your underwear?” Dillon said. Belle replied “oh. I never mentioned. Every day when I go in there they search me for weapons, I have to get naked and they go through my clothes.” Dillon’s face reddened “bloody hell”... belle sighed “anyway I’m worried because he is sort of creepy, I don’t want him to force me into anything. I never see any other guards around either.” Dillon was thinking as he finished placing the rocks and cloth strategically into the water bottle. He turned to face Crosby “before I forget, I need you to make it a point to learn everything you can about the power cat. Tomorrow I’ll bring you a shirt for the information” belle chimed in “I brought some food again.” At this they both abandoned their sluggish thoughts and moved closer to belle positioning themselves so that they could eat the handful of food as fast as the received it.
Belle looked around nervously and removed her socks from around her neck, opening them up. “Eat.” She banded each of them a sock. Dillon scarfed his portion down immediately. However Crosby stared at his food “I should share this with those less fortunate.” Dillon stopped in the middle of choking his food down “you can’t” As he finished chewing and swallowing it he said “if you give them food they’ll wonder where it came from. We must protect belle.” Crosby sighed “forgive me.” He looked up to the sky and then reached into the sock pulling out a cold and unappetizing mess of prison goulash. Dillon took the filter and went off, leaving Crosby and belle alone. “I like that you are so thoughtful.”
Belle said to him. “I just believe in being a good Christian. I wish you two would join me for evening prayer.” Belle smiles softly “I’ve been back and forth with religion. My father was very godly, like you. Well, the man I call father anyway.” Crosby returned a concerned gaze “what happened to him?” Belle frowned quickly, letting it disappear from her face as fast as it formed “which one? My real dad or the one who raised me?” Crosby didn’t know what to say “I didn’t mean to invade your privacy, I apologize.”
Belle replied “no it’s fine, I don’t seek pity or anything. I’m fine about it.” Crosby let her continue, with a small pause she said “well long story short, my mother let our church minister rape me and she slept with him. My real father killed them both in cold blood, and he was coming to take me out of the house..” she paused breathing in deeply “to take me out of the house but, he had a knife in his hands and the police killed him.” Crosby covered his mouth “I’m so-“belle interrupted “the man who killed my father adopted me. He was a kind hearted man. He felt responsible for me after that and he never let himself let the incident go. I forgave him. But I know my daddy wasn’t going to hurt me.”
She looked at him with crystal blue eyes. Crosby could see the honesty and kind hearted soul inside of her. He saw pain and wanted to care for her. “That’s such a difficult situation. I know you don’t want pity, but I am sorry you went through that. It shouldn’t happen to anyone.” Belle smiles and shifted her eyes “that was the beginning of my rough life. But it’s okay. It made me strong.” She smiles but Crosby could tell this one was fake. “Won’t you join me for a quick prayer tonight?” Belle looked at him hesitantly “not tonight... but maybe some time.”
Just then Dillon returned, sitting down and pulling out the bottle. “Had to act like I was taking a shit to fill the bottle without people seeing. Whores the lot of them. It should work rather okay. Hold out your hand and I’ll pour you some drinks.” He motioned towards belle first “oh lovely, toilet water is the best way to end a hard day of hell.” She laughed, Dillon filling her hands up with water, giving Crosby and her a few drinks each. Crosby finished his last sip “thank you so much, food and water. I’m so grateful to have met you both. I pray we all survive this. With that I must go to my group and go to bed.” Crosby waved and stood up, gathering his few followers over to one of the pillars they decided to gather at.
Crosby shook each of their hands “I trust the lord is keeping you within his hands. “His follower Grant replied “I hope he is keeping you within his heart.” And the other one spoke too, “I pray we all survive this trial. Let us pray and go to bed.” Crosby spoke “First, I have something to share with you.” Crosby looked around and made sure no one was watching him. He felt particularly guilty about this, and had a feeling of dishonesty creep over him. “Here.” From his pocket, Crosby withdrew a handful of food and made eye contact with both of his followers. They in turn paused a moment, before snatching the food out of his hands in two equal portions. Scarfing it down just as quickly as it was presented. Crosby composed himself, he was sweating.
He told Belle he wouldn’t share the food because she said it could create a problem if anyone knew she could get extra food. But he was supposed to share and if he could help keep the Lord’s followers alive he was truly doing god’s work. In his mind he was torn, this was the first lie he had intentionally told. He felt so bad about it, yet was he doing the right thing? Crosby continued “right. Dear Heavenly Father, we pray tonight in forgiveness of those who trespass against us and pray you reliever them from their sins. Armageddon is closer than ever before and Heavenly Father we pray you lead us through these dark pastures with your brilliant light. We humbly entrust our lives and our spirits to your careful hands, we are thankful for the small blessings you provide us and pray you grant us another day on this world. When you so choose to take us into eternal heaven we pray that you take us and our brethren with open arms, in god’s name we pray. Amen”
