Nakoma is sitting on the floor in the back of a trailer in a semi-truck. Other people are with her as well, other prisoners. Some look as if they are people who had done crimes. Others look as if they had just stolen a harmless bag of food. Another sad reality is that they were also children in chains as well. The trailer was dark and very hard to see. Every twist and turn had people sliding back and forth off the ground. People were crying not knowing their fate on what lies ahead of them. She huddled up scared on where her friends are. The truck comes to a complete stop making everyone slide across the floor.

The hissing of the trailer as the brakes are being place. Laughter from the guards can be heard as the doors slowly become unlocked. The door swung open as they bright light fills the trailer. Everyone shields their eyes from how bright it was.

"Get out everyone! Move your asses!"

The guard with his baton lifts everyone up and pushes them forward towards the door. They all form a single file line as they exited the trailer. The sky was grey filled with smoke and smog. Other trailers parked next to theirs as other prisoners flood out of them as well. They were in the thousands. One person in line decides to make a run for it. One guard yells him to halt as another nonchalantly aims his pistol at him. He fires and the man tumbles to the ground as he made a headshot. The two men cheered as they high fived each other as if they broke some kind of record. She follows the line and sees another guard holding a small child as her mother tries to take back her child.

"Please not my baby, not my baby please!"

"Shut the fuck up and back in line!"

He kicks her in her knee as she tumbles to the floor crawling towards her child.

"Mommy!!!"

The child screams for her mom as she was placed into a truck and drove away. The mother cried and screamed; her wails fill the smog sky. People around her did not care and continue to follow the line as if they were voided of all life.

"I said back in line!!" The man kicks her face like he was kicking a soccer ball. She falls backwards as she lies bleeding in the black tar sand. Her heart was racing and was nervous on imagining what her fate was. The thousand masses of prisoners all looked as though they have accepted their fate. The fence stretched far and wide with gate checkpoints allowing the thousands of prisoners to come in at once. The watch tower looms over them as bodies hung from the rails by their captors. A little arch was above the gate that read "Camp Vorkuta". A small scribbled makeshift sign was also place that read, " Abandon all hope ye who enter here" in a red substance. She gulped in fear. The shuffling of everyone's feet kicked up so much dust it choked and blinded Nakoma. She passed by the ruined buildings where people were being interrogated and held for information.

A loud ungodly war horn sound went off as everyone covered their ears. They stopped as a giant enormous tank track rolled into their view. It was a giant machine, a bagger 293, With its monstrous size towering over them like a walking building. Its crane extended out as it lowered next to them and began to dig. The wheel bucket began to unearth the dirt. The massively loud churning of wheels and gears tear through the air. She can see people aboard the massive tower of steel operating the machine. It was like seeing a beast burrow into the ground, Nakoma was terrified of the raw power they held. And soon more machines of the same design where deep in a large pit excavating for minerals. Thousands upon thousands of workers can be seen walking down the trail leading into the pit.

They began to separate the lines into small groups as they forcefully pulled them out of line. They grabbed Nakoma and few others and brought them into a concreate building with no roof above their heads. The guards came in and pulled a small knife out and began to cut open the clothes of them all. She was startled and tried to resist but the guard backhands Nakoma's face and grabbed her by the face. The guards tore off all their clothes until they were fully naked. They covered themselves confused on what was going on. A man in a latex apron and face shield came out with a very large firehose. He turned the large nozzle and began to spray them with freezing ice cold water. They covered their faces and bodies by instinct as the high pressure wash of the hose pounded them aggressively. Nakoma tried to block the water but was no use. The water pushed the back against the jagged concrete wall.

They stop the dowsing of the water and several other prisoners came in with giant towels that were moldy and damp. They grabbed her and the others and forcefully dried them off. After a couple of moments of drying they brought in new clothing. A padded overalls with a wool sweater and sweats. They told them to hurry up and get changed as they did so quickly. Freshly clean with their whole body stinging from the intense pressure they make their way deeper into the mining quarry. With each passing movement into the site the more horrid the conditions have become.

"Ready!"

She looks to her side and sees a line of people against the wall.

"Aim!"

She looks in horror as the guards lift their weapons at the line up prisoners.

"Fire!"

They began to open fire and unload their magazine into the line prisoners. They all stumbled back as the bullets pierce effortlessly into them like butter. One guard reached out his pistol and began to go to each one of the prisoners and began to execute them with headshots. Nakoma is at a loss for words. She needs to find her friends. She needs to get out of this place as fast as she can. Escaping this place will be no easy task. It could also land her being killed like that firing squad she just saw. She reaches the end of the camp as she sees many wood shack buildings all huddle together as a makeshift town. People out in the muddy roads clearing the way for small carts. Some sit on the porches leaning against a wood beam as they look extremely exhausted. One person seemed to have passed away as she laid in the mud unresponsive as people stepped over her.

The guards dismissed everyone into their shacks for them to find a place to sleep. Nakoma slowly walks through the town anxiously. She almost trips a few times and goes to the end of the road with a sort of decent looking shack. She enters it and the place is packed. Rows of bunkbeds filled the space. The stench of body odor and sweat was grotesque. A small bathroom was placed in but was overfilled and no one has cleaned it for a while. Everything in this room made her gag and needed to step outside for a bit. The air was still terrible but better than inside. A loud bell rang repeatedly as everyone gathered outside and saw a box truck coming towards them. The truck stopped at the edge as the soldiers got out one by one. They opened the back sliding gate as they set up tables. They brought a large pot and placed it on the table.

"Get in line, no shoving. Hurry the hell up."

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Everyone withe crude bowls stood in line while Nakoma had none.

"I haven't seen you around here. When did you arrive?"

A small teen boy was in front of her as he looked back curiously.

"I uhh... just got here..."

"I'm sorry to hear that... name is Chip, what about you?"

"It's Nakoma... my name is Nakoma..."

"You have a place to sleep at all?"

"I do not everything is... terrible."

"If you want you can bunk with me. It'll be a little tight, but it should be better than the ones top side."

"Top...side?"

"Next!" Chip quickly hurrys and get a bowl of food from the man. Nakoma decides to follow chip and not get any food. They walked around the town until they reached the back end of the very last shack. He looks around back and forth as he kicks the small wood frame of the base. It revealed a low crawl space with a small tunnel going down into the ground. Nakoma entered quickly as chip followed and fixed the wood frame back into place. They both crawled down the small narrow tunnel until they came to a small opening that was just enough to be sleeping comfortably in. Chip turns on a small electrical lamp that hung from the roof of the small pocket cave he had dug out.

"You...you made this?"

"Yes ma'am, I had to get creative since I probably would die up there ahaha. Want some?"

Chip hands Nakoma the bowl of food. She looks into it to see a grey yellow mush of whatever god knows what. She couldn't tell if there were seeds or just random dirt debris inside it.

"I'm okay... thanks for the offer though, I'm not that hungry..."

"I get it, first day is always hard to eat anything."

Chip does not use any utensils and instead eats it with his bare hands. His hands are filthy covered in mud and oil but still eats it clean off his hand.

"So what brought you to this place hm?"

"I uh... was working with people who were against Jackson's authority."

"Oh man are you with the freedom fighters! Those guys are awesome! What are they like! Are they super cool and have cool gadgets!"

Chip jumps close to her like an eager puppy after hearing she was working with the resistance. She backed up a little and was startled by his enthusiasm.

"Sorry! Sorry! I just get excited hearing about them. I heard they took on a multi unit convoy head on and took the food rations they had and gave it all to the needy who were hungry. I also heard that they have mega weapons to fight against the soldiers. Man I wanna see them so badly..."

Chip looks into his unidentifiable soup of mush and sulks. Nakoma huddles as she lays down to rest a bit. "How did you end up out here Chip?

Chip stops eating and look into his bowl. " I uh... wanted to be a hero like the freedom fighters badly and set a police outpost station on fire... They caught me when I was halfway done burning the place and they sent me here."

"How did you even survive this place?"

"Creativity! Hahaha... like this tunnel. I couldn't handle the smell either so in the nights I would always dig away until I was satisfied. Now I have a pad all on my own that doesn't smell like feces."

"You didn't try to escape?"

"There's nowhere to escape too. We're in the middle of a desert. By some miracle we do escape, the desert heat will slow us down and then will be facing the wall like the others."

Nakoma clenches her fist in anger as she is frustrated and does not know what to do next.

"Get some sleep miss. We'll be working the pit soon; you need all the rest you can get."

She thanks him and turns over to her side trying to get some type of sleep as possible. Her mind though was to awake for her to even sleep at all. The next morning, they walked all the way from their shacks to the mining site. It was a long walk and uneven walk too. The path was not even with so many dips and slopes. They finally reached the large pit with all the excavators and miners working hard. She grabbed a pickaxe and followed the crowed with Chip next to her. They were on one of the lower sections of the terrain as the excavators began to dig next to them. She couldn't hear a thing with that otherworldly monster of a machine working next to them.

With each swing she nails the axe hard into the rock. Over and over and over and over nonstop picking. Her arms were getting exhausted as she tries to take a moment to catch her breath.

"No slack! Keep mining!"

As a guard whacks her on the back with a nightstick. After a while some of the miners began to hum singing an unusual tune to Nakoma as one began to sing.

~Broken chains and shattered dreams~

~Dust settles in the silent streams~

~Skies are poisoned black and cold~

~Days of sorrow tales untold~

~Wasted lands and empty cries~

~Radiation burns disguise~

~Grief and pain on weary backs~

~Marching forward broken tracks~

~Dust to dust we roam alone~

~Echoes haunt our hollow bones~

~Shadowed faces turn away~

~Lost within the endless gray~

~Memories like shattered glass~

~Haunt us in the night that passed~

~Winds of ash they whisper lies~

~Cries of ghosts in haunted skies~

~No salvation no escape~

~Destiny’s forsaken shape~

~Children of the fallout night~

~Lost beneath the pale moonlight~

~Hope is fragile cracked and worn~

~In this land where non reborn~

~Every step a heavy chain~

~Drag our feet through ash and rain~

Nakoma was surprised how well the workers were singing, even in the harshest conditions. Even one of the guards who was watching over them was tapping his foot to the beat of the chain gang style music. For hours the mining was consistent, there were no breaks, not even to stop for lunch. Nakoma now regrets on skipping the meal Chip offered to her before. Suddenly, Nakoma felt something strange under feet. She stopped and looked down to see what she was feeling. There was nothing but something was definitely moving. A strange noise came from the giant excavator. The tracks seemed to be going backwards as it was still digging. Nakoma looks and waves the guard.

"What is it? The hell you want?"

"Um... is that normal?"

The guard looks to what she was pointing at, and his annoyed attitude became that of terrified. He goes to his radio and tries to get the people on the excavator to bail out. They didn't hear his call, and just as he was going to radio in again, the ground shook violently. The giant machine sank into the ground causing the terrain to shift slightly.

"Move!!! Everyone move!!! Get out!!!"

The guard yelled as he ran back up the trail to get out of the pit. Soon the other prisoners saw this and panic. They all rushed to leave but it was too late. The ground under the giant machine gave away and soon started to slide backwards. All the workers on the giant rig were flung backwards, some even falling off the rails and falling deep into the pit. Nakoma was horrified at what she was seeing and soon join in on the fleeing prisoners. The excavator started falling backwards as its long arm raised high above the air as it was turning to its side. Everyone was screaming running for their lives. A massive alarm system rang the entire camp alerting the danger. The machine was falling too fast, and the long arm struck another excavator. The giant turning wheel latched onto the back of the second machine as it dug deep inside it.

It pulled it back as well making the entire hillside crumble from all the uneven weight. The prisoners tried to run away but all fell down the slope, including Nakoma and Chip. The entire hillside came crumbling down with the screams of hundreds of workers and guards. The two giant rigs caught on fire and exploded sending oil and fire raining down. Nakoma gasped for air as she coughs wiping the dirt away from herself. She was halfway buried but very much alive and surprisingly unscathed. She was in the lower levels of the pits and saw the massive black plume of smoke rising high in the air. The prisoners tried to help each other up from the wreckage.

"NAKOMA!!!"

She looks to her side as she sees Chip sliding down the side of the hill. He rushes towards her an examines her if she had sustained any injuries at all.

"Oh no are you alright!? Any broken bones or torn limbs?! Quick how many fingers am I holding up!?"

She puts his hand down that was super close to his face. "Calm down chip I'm alright. Hard to say about the others though. She looks as everyone is panicking and looking for their friends. The guards on the top of the hill are shooting down water on top of the rigs trying to calm the blaze, but it barely has any effect on it. Nakoma takes a moment and leans against the side of the hill. Chip looks down at her worried for her, he barely knows her, so why is he being so kind. She doesn't mind it though. She closes her eyes feeling the heat of the flames shoot into the air as the smell of gasoline and smog fill her lungs as she takes a long deep breath.