Trash

Chapter 7 : Trash

"Wait." A cloaked male figure held up his hand, signaling to the people behind him that they should hold. The four others behind him, all cloaked , did as directed without so much as a word. Evening in the Rakehell Grove was not to be taken lightly yet the party of adventurers seemed more than comfortable.

"There's one several meters in this direction. Move out. And watch for bugs." The man said as he dashed forward. The rest of the group followed his lead, keeping their eyes peeled along the way.

"Dammit." The orange haired adventurer grunted as he leaned against a nearby tree. He only had a makeshift crutch, created from a large tree branch to prop him up.

Chaddus cursed ever coming to the Rakehell Grove, let alone all of the death and carnage it created. Despite it being his own idea, he'd settled on the notion that Toma was all to blame.

*That little bastard. If he hadn't run off none of this would have even happened.* Chaddus's left arm was fractured, as was his right foot. After he'd been sent flying by the arachni, he'd been knocked against several trees and finally landed roughly. He had no idea how long he was unconscious, or what happened thereafter. He awoke to darkness, the sun had fallen and the forest was deep and dark.

Somehow he managed to avoid the sight of insects, the dozens of spiders he and the others battled on their way into the forest were nowhere to be found. Chaddus didn't want to speculate, and frankly he didn't care. He wasn't in a condition to do battle anyway. His only saving grace as his ability as a Marksman to use ranged attacks. Although his supply of throwing daggers were ample and he kept a small shortsword on him it would be foolish to engage in battle with an injured foot.

Unfortunately, much to Chaddus' dismay, his entire stock of healing potions were crushed. This no doubt occurred as he was swatted away like little more than a fly. He spent the entirety of the remaining night walking as quickly as he could despite his injured foot. Chaddus only managed to make it a third of the way back before he could no longer move. The pain was too intense and he could no longer bear it.

He spent the night nestled between several rocks, jumping at the slightest of sounds within the near pitch black darkness. He was happy to see the sun rise, yet with hunger setting in and his foot still ravaged with pain, Chaddus was beginning to doubt his chances of survival.

He continued on, slowly, step by step walking for the entirety of the next day. When the pain overcame him, he would sit and reserve his strength. He would then press on, despite his misgivings, cursing the situation completely and totally.

Things seemed hopeless for Chaddus. Even if he managed to reach the exit of the zone, his portal had already dissipated. Still, he decided that passing out on the long trek home was still better than being eaten by spiders, pill bugs or centipedes.

In this way night fell once again and Chaddus found himself battling both his fears and a weary body on the brink of failure.

The sounds of rustling alerted the adventurer to something moving quickly in his direction. He grabbed three of the hidden daggers and armed himself, slowing his breathing so that he could focus. He would have to be deadly accurate if he wanted to avoid a painful death at the hands of bugs.

Chaddus released the daggers, aiming them each in a different position even as he reached for more. The sound of clanging metal, followed by an unfamiliar voice prompted Chaddus to stop.

"We mean you no harm. We've been dispatched to find your party." The voice was accompanied by several figures surrounding the injured adventurer.

"Oh-- thank the spirits." Chaddus said as the tension slowly drained from his body. He was weary, tired beyond comparison. Despite his injured condition he'd forced his body to move constantly as much as he could muster. His effort left him tired, drained and finally as he began to faint -- unconscious.

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"Hey. Is.. is that a joke?" Toma could only express his disbelief at hearing the words of the man next to him.

"Food? And ...entertainment? What does that even mean?" Toma asked as he glanced around. He half expected the man's words to be a joke but judging from the reactions of everyone else within the room -- it sounded more like a terrible dream.

According to his new cell mate, a man by the name of Jevoy, all of the men within this place were simply playthings to be used at the whim of the spider girls which resided in the walls of the place.

"You don't have to take my word for it. Just wait.." Jevoy said as he too fell silent.

"HEYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!" A scream in the distance immediately caught Toma's attention, it was so well timed that it seemed fate carried a sense of humor.

"What the fuck was that?" Toma whispered as he recoiled.

"It's… what you are probably thinking. And maybe even worse." Jevoy replied.

"You're an adventurer right? Why haven't you tried to escape this place?" Toma asked.

"Ha. Ha ha ha." Jevoy's laugh was unexpected, throwing Toma for a loop.

"Everyone of us here are adventurers. What's your level, Toma was it?"

"Zero." Toma replied.

"I'm probably the strongest one here--and I'm only level two." Jevoy replied.

"All these other men here are either level one or level zero--just like you. No weapons, no gear, no items. Half dead from being fed once every two or three days. Weak, dehydrated--not to mention the weakest of those monsters is probably a level four. There's dozens of them, stronger, faster, armed.. You get the picture." Jevoy seemed to lament having to explain the situation to Toma.

By comparison, Toma fell quiet as if the reality of the situation was slowly beginning to dawn upon him.

"What do they want?" Toma asked finally.

"Who knows. They don't exactly speak to us. We're livestock. That's it… Do you speak to the pig before you eat the bacon?" Jevoy answered. In response to this Toma gulped.

"No way." Toma muttered as he slid his hands into his blue hair and sank his head downward.

No longer than twenty minutes lapsed when the first of the taken men returned. Toma couldn't help but notice their blank expressions, their eyes seemed hollow and dead. The spider girls unceremoniously tossed them back into the cell, three of the five who were taken. They laid upon the hard stone floor for several seconds before finally moving, some crawled and others got up to walk. All of them returned to their respective places in the cell.

Toma shot a glance towards Jevoy who only shook his head and laid down, presumably to sleep. Toma cast a glance at one of the nearest returners and whispered to him.

"Hey. Hey. What….what's happening out there?" Toma asked. The man was grimy and dirty, covered in even more dirt than Jevoy. Yet he lifted his head and focused on Toma for the briefest of moments. It seemed as if he was recalling something, this thing made his eyes widen. He opened his mouth to speak, but no sound came out. Instead his eyes went blank once more and the man laid back down without saying a word.

Toma had no idea what to make of that, but he could do little else. No others returned to the cell and eventually Toma forced himself to sleep. In the end it was all he could do.

"Hey. Get up Toma." It was Jevoy's voice accompanied by the sensation of a foot gently kicking him.

"It's time to work. Try not to fall behind." Jevoy said as he got to his feet and walked towards the gate at the front of the long stone room. Toma quickly got to his feet, partially because he didn't want to be left behind. As he filed into line he noticed that the two remaining men never returned. Toma immediately thought back to the hysterical screams of one of the men as he was dragged out the night before.

Toma suddenly felt a wave of dread creeping over him, even as he and the others slowly filed out of the dungeon. The guards, spider girls resembling the same type who'd inspected him the night before, stood outside of the dungeon room. There were two total and their eyes seemed to catch everything, no matter how small.

Their presence was enough to make Toma reconsider anything foolish. He thought back to his first experiences with a arachni girl, how effortlessly she'd detached the head of a level three adventurer. How easily another had been pierced through. For an instant Toma felt bad, he struggled to remember the names of those two men -- even Chaddus seemed like a distant dream.

The duration of the day was spent accommodating Toma to his new "life". First they were forced into single file lines and given food and water in small amounts. One fruit and one ladle of water each, anymore would see them corrected by force. One such person made the mistake of attempting a second drink, a nearby spider girl knocked him against the nearby wall with such force that he went unconscious instantly. She then held up a lone finger and emphasized her point to everyone else.

After "breakfast" they were all corralled into a courtyard. It was here that Toma realized the captors were being held in some kind of fortress. It was rather large and from what Toma could tell, unfinished in many places. In total there were about fifteen guards in this area alone, but not all of them resembled the dungeon guards. These spider girls looked more humanoid. Some still possessed the massive abdomen which made them look like extreme spider hybrids, but their figures were more girlish.

These spider girls seemed able to communicate, some verbally and others telepathically. For those who spoke, it sounded more like a series of clicks. Aside from the twelve men from Toma's room there were over forty other people there, all men. Most of them appeared to be in the same shape as Toma's new companion, Jevoy. The dirtier they looked, the longer it seemed their time was in this captive place.

The group of people were quickly split into several groups and put to work under the close and watchful eye of their arachni girl captors.

"Hey! Stop! You won't make it!" A man's voice rang out. Everyone's necks craned towards the sound of the disturbance which echoed across the courtyard. In the distance Toma could see a young man dashing towards one of the broken walls of the fortress.

"Fool." Jevoy whispered as he went back to work.

Nearly everyone else continued watching what happened next. One of the guardian spider girls easily caught up with the man and thrusted her spear, impaling him in a single swift motion. The man cried out, even as the spider girl lifted his writing body with one hand and flung him to the ground.

"N-no! AGH--" The man lifted his hands, pleading for his life as the guardian's legs stepped on his ankles, pinning him down. Next the spear found its mark, piercing his heart in a single strike. He died on the spot. Toma felt his blood run cold at the brutal sight, yet found his gaze transfixed as several smaller spiders appeared and dragged the man's body away.

*Work. Continue. Now.* The broken sentence was transmitted to everyone who still had the audacity to slack off. Spurred on by the sight which had just unfolded before them, the men quickly got back to work. A tense and ominous tension hung about them for the remainder of their time. They worked from morning until dusk. Every two hours they were given a water break, or allowed to relieve themselves -- all under supervision.

At the end of the day the men were forced back into their chambers, with no meal, fatigued and sore. And then something unexpected happened.

"They're here again. Insatiable fuckers." Jevoy said, a tone of obvious displeasure in his voice.

"What do you mean? We have to go work again? It's past dark isn't it?" Toma asked.

"No. It's… it's time for them to have their fun. They usually don't come back this soon. We usually get a break before…" Jevoy's voice trailed off as the sound of the gate echoed through the room. Two of their usual guards filed in and stood opposite to one another at the entrance as if they appeared to be awaiting something.

After a few moments another arachni-girl made her presence known. This one was familiar to Toma. He wouldn't have mistook her silky smooth, lavender colored skin anywhere. Her movements were both agile and graceful. Even the tired men within the room craned their necks to gaze upon her as she walked to the middle of the room then glanced around.

*You. Come.* The thoughts transmitted themselves directly into Toma's mind, causing him to gulp -- hard.