Morrigan felt antsy as half the guard waited for the warden with her while the others repelled down into mine 16. She giggled as she thought about the looks on their faces when they discover all the bodies as well as the giant dead worm.
“Hey! Anyone got a smoke?” she asked loudly, causing a few of the guards to jump. That sent her into a short fit of giggles until she realized they had gone back to ignoring her. “Awe come on, don’t leave a girl hanging.”
One of the guards relented and pulled out a pack of cigarettes and pulled one out, handing it to her.
Morrigan placed the cigarette in her mouth and waited. Her patience quickly faded when she realized that no one was going to light it.
Her gaze shifted to the guard who gave it to her and scoffed, “come on, don’t be shy.”
The guard rolled his eyes with a sigh and pulled out a lighter, reaching farther than necessary to light her cigarette.
“Thank you,” she said nonchalantly before taking a deep drag of her smoke. She closed her eyes as she felt her nerves relax.
She did not see the guards move apart. When she opened her eyes, she found an older, slightly taller man in a casual business suit standing surprisingly close as if unafraid of her. His graying salt and pepper hair and the onset aging of his complexion put him in the realm of his mid to late 50s. His presence was non-threatening however, by the way he held himself, Morrigan could see that this man was both a business man as well as a strict leader.
She raised her eyes enough to look him in the face as she let the puff of smoke escape the side of her mouth. “You must be the warden I keep hearing about,” she said casually.
The man smiled. It was not sinister nor a false smile but a smile that told her he was familiar with the concept of escapees nor the danger they represented.
“Indeed I am, and you must be the fabled Morrigan Clarke.”
Her eye twitched at his tone. It held the same arrogant “I’m three steps ahead of you” level of arrogance but it also held a confusing note of curiosity.
“Yeah, she would be me,” she snorted before refocusing on her surroundings. “I hear there are interesting things to be said about me,” she noted coolly.
The warden took a step back and chuckled, “indeed so. We can explore those rumors momentarily, for now I would like to ask how it is you managed to make your way to the surface of my prison,” his words spoken in a sly demand.
Before Morrigan could shift her gaze back at the man, one of the guards tapped him on the arm, “sir, the team that rappelled down into 16 are saying everyone is dead.”
Morrigan smirked before taking another drag off her cigarette as the look of surprise came over the warden briefly before resetting his authoritative demeanor.
“So, Miss Clarke, care to explain?” he asked.
Morrigan smiled before lifting her arms to take the cigarette from her mouth. “Well, I suppose on which part you’re asking about,” she said, flicking the ash.
“Let’s start from the beginning shall we?” he said crossing his arms expectantly.
Morrigan sighed with a roll of her eyes, “we were about to load the Viridian when this giant worm thing attacked us. I got knocked out and when I came to everyone was dead…including the worm.”
“A Castile worm huh?” the warden asked incredulously. His glare at her held the suspicion that she was lying.
The guard behind the warden demanded the report of any signs of a Castile worm which immediate came back with a detailed description of how she left the creature.
That caused her to smirk as she took another drag of her cigarette. The warden cleared his throat at this detail and Morrigan straightened her face as she looked him back in the eyes, daring him to think she was still lying.
“How did you get out then?”
Morrigan shrugged, “I climbed out,” not committing to a description.
He scoffed, “you’re telling me you climbed 40 stories up the mine shaft and took out three guards and five drones before being caught?”
Morrigan snorted in response at how ridiculous her actions sounded when spoken aloud. “Well, working in the mine does build muscle,” she said sarcastically with a hint of venom as she continued to smoke.
His eyebrow twitched in irritation as he took a closer look at her. At a glance she looked like she didn't weigh more than 120 pounds soaking went, but at a closer look at what muscle that could be seen, they were firm and defined.
“What about the drones?” he asked with a passive aggressive tone.
One of the guards piped up, “sir, we found her with a rifle and she also had a small stock pile of magazines in the bag she carried. “
Morrigan grinned and shifted to raise her hand, pointing a finger gun at the guard. “Indeed, point to you,” she said with amusement, thankful the guard covered her explanation especially since she knew that some of the drones did not look like they were taken out with bullets.
The warden hummed thoughtfully before taking another step back, which she found odd.
“You know, we received an after report from Lieutenant Colonel Amaranthe, he pointed out the very curious fact that you are extremely hard to kill. More so, he believes without a doubt you are some new breed of mage.” The words came from him filled with ire. She had a guess that he hated mages, which she could definitely relate.
She shrugged again, “dude is crazy, but I'm no damned mage that's for sure.”
With a quirked eyebrow, the warden rubbed his hand over his lips to hide his scowl. He let an amused laugh break through his hand before shoving his hands in his pockets, a charming smile on his face.
“Well the footage from the security tower says otherwise, which I reviewed before coming out here,” his tone triumphantly smug. Every guard raised their weapons at her again as the rest of the guard that went into the mine rejoined the party.
Morrigan’s eyes looked over towards the tower and just underneath the lip of the roof sat several cameras, which she assumed was a camera for every gate to each mine. “Shit…” she swore under her breath before trying to take another drag off the cigarette.
She lifted her hands and grabbed the cigarette from her lips to find that it was completely used up and cold. “Shit! God damn it,” she scowled before flicking the butt at the guard who had been feeding the warden information, pinging the cotton and plastic off his helmet.
The reaction she got was a single shot to the shoulder by the guard. “Fuck!” she yelled as she straightened herself out, hearing Apollyon groan in annoyance as it fixed the bleeding hole in her shoulder.
What happened to behaving?
Morrigan ground her teeth through the pain as she felt it slowly dissipate. Her jaw was still taut by the aggravation of being toyed with.
“May I kill that one? That was rather uncalled for,” she asked.
The warden tapped his chin in exaggerated thought before looking at the guard, “well, while I do believe that may have been a little unwarranted,” he said before looking back at her. His gaze holding the sort of darkness one would find in their largest enemy, “and I may have even been inclined to oblige in your request, however, seeing as you have such remarkable resilience as well as having lied to me, the answer is no.”
Morrigan scoffed and rolled her eyes again, trying to cross her arms remembering the solid shackles that kept her arms apart. She let out a low growl as her situation slowly began to deteriorate.
“Now it all makes sense you see, Atlas had mentioned that one of his prisoners had single handedly wiped out a nest of bugs not too long ago.”
Morrigan felt her heart tighten at the mention of Atlas. It caused her to think back to the mine leader as well as the two friendly old men she grew to befriend.
“Said the girl may have been a bit loose in the head, but was respectful and a hard worker when she wasn’t toying with the task masters,” he said in curious amusement.
Morrigan let a small sad smile grow on her stoic face as she blinked away the tears she felt coming on. Atlas knew her so well.
The warden watched her in speculation as she let her thoughts drift for the moment. “After witnessing your…powers, I’m quite certain you were the girl he spoke of. Even as he seemed inclined to never reveal which prisoner it was.”
Morrigan couldn’t bring herself to verbally reply, so she just bobbed her head in confirmation. The desire to wipe her eyes getting to her.
“Well, I suppose I should thank you for saving the inmates at that time, though I notice they weren’t this lucky a second time,” he said in passive aggressive respect.
She paid no attention to him as she considered the events in the mine. “He’s not really wrong, if it wasn’t for whatever the hell is going on with my head… some of them may have survived…” she thought to herself as she thought about the three men again as well as the tunnel burrowing terror that attacked them.
Come on kid, I mean it may be crazier than a bag filled with coked up ferrets in here but what happened isn’t your fault, Apollyon said to her in a sincere tone.
“It is my fault, you said it yourself earlier… is there nothing you can do to get whatever my mind is going through fixed?” she pleaded with it.
Hmmm, sorry Mori, but I’m kinda limited to physical trauma. What you got going on rattling around your brain is purely psychological. Trust me I’ve been trying figure something out.
The despair of knowing that she let her friends die because she was no longer in control of her own mind scared her, infuriated her and made her hate her situation all the more.
She could feel tears rolling down her cheeks, which only agitated her growing turmoil of emotions. “What happened to the good man, Atlas?” the warden asked.
She sniffled and growled as the blocky design of the cuffs kept her from properly rubbing her face. With furious, emotional groan as she sent a wave of energy into her arms and legs as she stuck her knee against the pivotal joint of the shackles and shattered the bolt that held her hands together. Her breath laboring under the threatening emotions she was feeling.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Every guard jumped and readied to fire as the warden raised his hand, signaling them to stop as he watched with focused curiosity. He watched as her crimson claws tore the locking mechanisms that kept the steel blocks attached to her wrists.
“Sorry…” she sniffled as she wiped her eyes aggressively as she tried to steady her breathing and calm her nerves.
She did her best to compose herself, “I just… my guess is he got eaten… I couldn’t find his body,” her words were leaden with remorse and sadness.
She brushed her disheveled, faded hair out of her face as she stood back up straight, her emotions teetering between breaking down crying, or murdering as many of them as she could.
The warden scrutinized her warily before letting out a heavy sigh, “well, he will definitely be missed…” he mentioned before fixing her with a nearly reluctant look.
“I guess this just leaves what to do with you…” he said.
Morrigan’s eyes widened as she stared down every barrel she could see, one by one. “I suppose letting me go is out of the question?”
The warden pursed his lips and nodded, not finding the humor in the question. He looked to his guards, “take her to 4.”
The guards did not hesitate as two guards grabbed her by the arms and a third guard drove the barrel of his rifle against the base of her skull.
“Oh, come on!” she complained as she struggled to keep pace with the guards. She heard the rest of the guards follow her as well.
“What should we do with her stuff?” asked the guard who had her bag.
“Let her have it…” the warden said loud enough for the guard to hear. “Heaven knows she’ll need it,” he muttered to himself quietly before turning and heading back the way he came.
The guards all but dragged Morrigan across the space towards the gate for Mine 4. She wanted to struggle and fight. Her anger at being stuffed down into another deep dark pit of despair sent her rage soaring but she knew her secret was out and the guards would be more inclined to shoot her in the head now.
Well, this is probably going to suck…
“Yeah, no shit. I have a bad feeling about this. Please tell me you saw something I didn't?” she pleaded to Apollyon.
Sadly no. This courtyard definitely hides everything despite how simple it is. I guess we go for round two in the dirt huh?
“God damn it…” she groaned as a guard punched the call button for the elevator.
The guards stopped her in front of the gate as they waited for the elevator. Morrigan wanted to look around but at that point, she realized all of the guards were jumpy and trigger happy, meaning that she did not want to risk taking a bullet in the back of the head.
When the elevator arrived, the guards shoved her into the elevator with enough force to throw her against the opposing wall. Her bag landed against her and before she could even stand, the gate closed as the elevator descended.
Morrigan felt her panic rise as she sought a way to stop the elevator and get back to the surface, only to find nothing that would help her. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath as she sat up trying to settle her nerves.
Her eyes snapped open when she realized the elevator was taking longer than she expected.
We’re descending into the abyss… woah, haha, I scared myself hahaha Apollyon cackled in amusement.
Morrigan grunted, “glad you're enjoying being thrown into an even deeper pit of who knows what waiting for us.”
Meh, gotta see the lighter side of things right? Enjoy what you can.
Morrigan glared at the steel wall of the elevator, “you know, it's a bit hypocritical that you get to enjoy yourself but when I do it bad shit happens…”
Maybe a little, pardon me for trying to make you laugh, I ain’t the comedian here, I mainly just help you kill things, Apollyon snipped.
She let out another heavy sigh and nodded. She began to ponder the predicament of her mind, how she can fix what is obviously wrong with her, “any ideas how I can keep myself sane? What ever is going on with me is really dangerous…”
Psychology isn’t really my thing,
Morrigan furrowed her brows in confusion, “I thought emotions were the key to everything? Your entire perception of existence?”
Sure, like rage, hate, bloodlust; but what you got going on in your brain isn’t basic emotion. Sort of like a, your daddy didn’t hug you enough as a kid sort of thing haha.
“Seriously?!” she growled.
What too soon?
“Now you’re just being an asshole!”
Sorry… Look all I’m saying is your pieces are there they’re just not in the right order. I just have…not a fucking clue how you would go about that.
Morrigan growled as she crossed her arms, she was not fond of her newly calculated odds of surviving long enough to escape.
Do you feel that? Apollyon asked in sudden interest.
Morrigan focused on the elevator, trying to feel any changes in the vibrations. She did feel something though, it was like a soft pressure building up in her chest right below her sternum. It wasn't uncomfortable, in fact it was strangely pleasant.
That, that is a lot of pent up rage… Apollyon pointed out with a sense of dream-like nostalgia.
A moment passed before the elevator reached the final stretch of its descent. Open to her more was a massive warren, three times the size of the space she recently called home.
In the space of the massive warren were hundreds of volatile prisoners; men, women, human, Eskarii and Saurian all grouped together as they waited impatiently for food to be distributed, some of the prisoners even breaking into fights.
Morrigan’s eyes widened at the surprisingly packed mine, trying to take in as much information as possible. The sight however, unnerved her a bit. She realized that little bit of pressure in her chest was the ambient rage coming from the mass of prisoners.
She watched as task masters mercilessly beat prisoners who instigated fights or joined in them for a bit of tension relief.
Her attention was pulled by the ten guard who spun on their heels and raised their weapons at her. Her eyes narrowed, “really getting sick of having guns pointed at me.”
“This is her,” said one of the guards. Morrigan felt it was safe to assume that they had been warned ahead of time while she descended.
Morrigan looked up to see an endless darkness, even with her enhanced eyes. That did not bode well to how deep her new home currently was.
“Come with me inmate,” one of the other guards demanded, not moving to make a grab for her, but instead, waiting for her to follow.
Morrigan looked at the guard then to the various barrels pointing at her. “How likely do you think another worm attacks?” she questioned in her head.
Apollyon sniggered, well the guards seemed to have recognized it enough for it to be relatively common of a creature. So, its entirely possible.
Morrigan’s face scrunched in disappointment before stepping off the elevator to follow the guard.
She was led to the far left up an incline to a higher level of the warren. She was surprised to see a second level of the place and the more she looked around, the more she saw how different the mine was from mine 16.
Built into the walls was a hive of dugouts where inmates housed themselves as well as tunnels that branched out in different directions. She also saw handmade cranes and ladders all over the warren leading to each level of the three-tier colony of prisoners.
To say she was impressed by the ingenuity of the prisoners would have been an understatement, but also with so many prisoners packed into one mine, was also a recipe for disaster if something were to happen. Which probably explained why there were so many guards guarding the elevator.
She was led to an overlook on the second level, where there was a crude canopy that sat over a rickety large chair.
A man sat in the chair. He was large even by Taylor or her father’s standards, as if he had been taking performance enhancing drugs his whole life. His body was heavily scarred and which included a scar that cut through his square jaw up to his cropped, short hair. One thing she noticed was that a metal foot stuck out from his prisoner’s pants as he lounged back in the chair sipping amber liquid from a glass as he watched the dinner time progress with obvious boredom.
Everything about the guy screamed danger and was the obvious opposite to her old warren leader Atlas.
“Tyrus! You have a new one…” the guard called out stopping at the edge of where the slope peaked, eyeing the three men than surrounded Tyrus.
Tyrus, who turned from his glass, eyed the guard in disinterest. As soon as his eyes landed on Morrigan, his whole demeanor changed. As if his whole day had been made.
Alarms and bells went off in her nerves as she saw the wild eyes of the warren leader. The twisted conflicting feelings of whether or not mine 4 would be as welcoming as mine 16 was, was immediately wiped away into utter certainty that being there was going to be a miserable experience.
The guard used the butt of his rifle to shove Morrigan forward before turning around and heading back to the elevator.
“What have we here?!” Tyrus asked excitedly. The level of happiness in his voice spoke of a deep set level of crazy that caused Morrigan to lock up, gripping the strap of her bag tightly as her body went rigid.
His voice was also lighter than she expected giving his size, standing at six foot eight as he stood in a surprising rush and quickly strode over to her.
Morrigan struggled to not shrink underneath the amount of danger that exuded from him as he leaned over her.
“Such a delicate little flower to be dropped so casually in my lap, what are you in for?” he asked leaning in closer to her face. She grimaced as the stench of his breath hit her nose, the smell of whiskey mixed with something absolutely foul. By the smell of him, he had also not bathed in a much longer time than necessary.
Don’t let this fuck intimidate you girl, you’re far more dangerous than he is, Apollyon said sinisterly, almost with a touch of possessiveness.
She knew Apollyon was right though, she highly doubted anyone in any of the mines was as dangerous as she was.
Steeling her resolve she looked up at Tyrus, “Terrorism, murder, and everything in between.” She hadn’t necessarily lied, she was there because the Federation labeled her a terrorist, as well as a murderer, though they were the true terrorists.
Tyrus laughed and clapped loudly gaining the attention of what she assumed were his bodyguards. “You hear that? She's going to fit in just fine here!”
That was a handy piece of information to her, that the inmates in Mine 4 were more the violent type. When she was living in Mine 16, she had come to find out that most of the inmates there were either lesser prone to violence or had softer offenses than she did, like extortion, aiding and abetting the enemy.
Oh, this will definitely be a fun time! Apollyon chirped.
“Now there is a toll coming through here to my little slice of heaven,” he said as matter of fact, “what are you going to offer as tribute?” he asked in a sadistic tone, his eyes hovering over her body.
Her hand gripped the handle of her bag even tighter as her face twisted in disgust, refusing to answer as she glared back at him.
“Oh, don’t be shy, if you have nothing to offer,” he raised his hand and brushed part of her rat’s nest of hair out of her face, “I’m sure we can work something out.” His voice was dark, which reflected the hopeful twisted look in his eyes as he leered over her body once more.
Morrigan snapped her face away from his hand and shoved the entire bag into his chest with enough force to surprise him. Her face scrunched in irritation. “Take it, and never touch me again!” she growled.
He looked down at the bag then back at her before standing straight up. He sniggered as he walked back to his chair and took his place in it as if it were a throne.
Morrigan followed at a distance but stayed far enough away that if any of the four guys in the area made a move, she could react properly.
“Let’s see what we have here,” he mused as he eyed her while opening the bag. He hummed repeatedly as he took stock of what she had scavenged as if impressed. “Oh! What have we here?” he asked rhetorically as he pulled the bottle of alcohol from the bag that she had taken from Atlas's chamber. She did notice that the guards had confiscated the ammunition she had looted but surprisingly left everything else.
He cracked the seal of the bottle and inhaled deeply of its content. “Damn… been a long time since I smelled brandy,” he said nostalgically. He set the bottle aside and place the bag between his feet with a smug expression, “Not a bad tribute."
She glared at him as she took a moment to glance at where her bag was. She was unsure whether he expected her to make a grab for the bag or if he was stating that the entirety of the bag was being taken. By the triumphant look he was giving her, it did not matter because she would not be going anywhere near him.
He leaned his head to his closest bodyguard, he called out, “show her where she'll be staying and make sure she's put to work tomorrow.”
Morrigan scowled, “I’ll find my own place to sleep,” she said with a snarl before turning sharply towards the slope that led off of his dwelling. That only caused him to cackle with excited amusement.
“See you later little miss terrorist,” he sang with a wiggle of his fingers. Morrigan’s hands clenched into fists as she didn't stop. The only thing she was thankful for in that moment was that she had enough of her personal effects hidden under her ragged clothes.
Well that one is a few screws short of a full erector set, Apollyon mused.
“If that asshole comes anywhere near me, I'm going to rip his throat out… may end up having to do that anyways,” she said angrily in her head.
Before she even fully made it into the central warren, a scrawny guy slightly taller than her who was covered in tattoos blocked her path, arms crossed and proceeded to look down at her.
This made anyone within the vicinity stop what they were doing and watch. Morrigan had seen plenty of prison movies to recognize the situation. The guy before her was sizing her up, seeing if she was a pushover to be taken advantage of.
It was perfect. Morrigan needed the outlet for some of her frustration. “When in doubt, give them what they ask for right?” she thought.
Ooo hehe hehe, rip his spine out! Apollyon chattered in sadistic glee which caused Morrigan to snort and smile with a shake of her head.
Before she could finish shaking her head, she struck out with her left hand and punched the guy right in the solar plexus.
The guy dropped to his knees as her enhanced punch took the air out of his lungs, and was knocked to the side with a right hook.
Morrigan didn’t stop there as she grabbed his forearm, forcing his arm up as he tried to keep himself in the fetal position. With a soft smile, Morrigan channeled enough energy through the muscle in her arm and hand, causing the briefest pulse of crackling energy, and squeezed. The result was both bones in the man’s forearm snapping with a quite audible pop and brief spray of blood as she wretched half of his forearm to the side.
Most of the captive audience laughed and chuckled at the poor man’s disposition as she simply and proudly stepped over him. Most then went back to what ever they were doing, forgetting that the display ever even happened despite the whimpering coming from the injured party. Others traced Morrigan with oppressive yet fleeting curiosity as to who the new respectively small and deadly girl was.
The thing Morrigan was unaware of, was that Tyrus watched the spectacle, from start to finish, with a sick grin on his face; following her every movement and every interaction until she disappeared into the bowels of Mine 4.