Number 346
There are few freedoms a prisoner has the right to. Work, the beat of the sunlight, the lick of the whip, those are the few things that keep the world inside the cage connected from the real world. She was just a girl when her family and village was raided by men. She had to watch as her brothers and sisters were taken one by one, her uncles and parents hung, and the elders executed. Remembering the past was also a freedom to some, but to her this was no different than being adrift at the sea and swallowing saltwater.
This criminal organization must have been strong, considering the amount of prisoners that surrounded her. Not like speaking was allowed in this work camp, much like in any other. The surviving men were drafted as forced labor, and capable women were to work the fields. Those who could not work any longer were to be used as breeding stock. She had not yet broken enough to be selected.
It was a painful life, but the pain and the isolation was not what killed a person. It was acceptance. That was why she thought of this little den as nothing more than a graveyard. She was human, but it didn’t matter. Everyone awaited death equally here.
But tonight, everything changed. She still couldn’t believe it. The sounds of mortars striking and guns blaring woke her up, as did they awaken everyone else. At first, she thought this would be useless. This was not the first time something like this happened. And what would the point be? In the end they would be taken as spoils by someone else and switch places.
But that didn’t happen. The explosions grew more and more intense. For a while,she grew more and more fearful, finally remembering the fear of death she had forgotten for so long. And then, the night began to swallow the prison gates.
Now, much like everyone else, she had stepped out onto the earth billowing with flames and stared in awe at what had happened. All the weapons had been annihilated, fire was swallowing the ground and the communication towers alike. She had only seen the dead amassed in one place, but a warfield devoid of corpses was another story. What were once cages to oppress them were now melted remains of buildings and towers, twisted and pointing upwards. Beasts she would have never dreamt of swallowed the skies above, large beasts of darkness that seemed to swim in the air circled the tallest spire of this camp.
Resting above the now deformed structure was a man with a bored, lonely expression stretching his arms and sleeping peacefully. Birds perched on his body calmly, a serene sight contrasting with the destruction around them. Not one soul could believe this. They were free.
And for the first time in her new life, amidst this hell that now burned even more brithgly than any, she like many others felt hope.
