Red Snow

A man in some sleek flak armor approached. His balaclava did little to hide his contempt. 'Ugh, this asshole.' A cart that hovered three feet off the snow trailed after him. He opened a hatch on the side and revealed a bunch of primitive wood cutting tools. Rusted heads that were quickly sharpened with laser tools and handles of varying quality.

"Take one each and get to work." His speech was curt and filled with agitation, one that was reciprocated by myself, although I made sure not to vocalize it.

Barefooted, I march into the snow, my body tensed, I nearly went stiff in the cold, but I resolved myself quickly and looked at the bright side, I was outside again.

'If they caught me smiling, I'd be ripe for a beating..' The edges of my lips creased ever so slightly before I reached for the axe's handle. A worn leather coating barely held together the wood. Despite such, I felt secure with a weapon in hand.

A few steps found me at the base of a tree designated to be brought down, its rugged white bark and cracks that revealed red innards in combination with the weather, and the mountain at my back made me aware of my general location on Uriel. Clues began to shed light on the identity of my captors.

'Father had described a cruel group slowly gaining popularity as a revolutionary force. They had some fanciful name and subversive propaganda that hid their underhanded tactics.' The dots finally connected, and I knew my tormentors, The Insurgency.

Regardless of such knowledge, there wasn't much I could do. Exhaustion had gripped me long ago, working the mines for twelve-hour shifts, every day. Along with the measly rations, had made me weak. My troubled sleep had not helped. Despite my present weakness, when I swung an axe, it dug deeper into the thick bark than any of the other slaves could manage. Time passed by slowly as my body agonized, and I thought about my situation. I was of stronger stock, recognized even by my captors.

They had given me slightly more rations than the others, rations that if I didn't share with Tubbo, I'd find myself alone in this desperate situation. I was the only one expected to tackle a tree alone. They split the others into groups of five to work on one tree at a time.

'The other guy's would feel unlucky to have Tubbo in their work group, those guys won't take their frustration out on him though.' I noted as I looked over to my only friend.

When afternoon came, two had already collapsed, their bodies surrendered to the cold and with little in the way of nutrition, they were far too frail to get any meaningful work done. Three men who shared a room all broke away at the same time in three opposite directions, running along the forest as though they had known it for decades. I could recognize that they were natives by the way they stuck to cover. The snipers couldn't get a bead on any of them. Well, that was the case until one man tripped.

No matter how well an escape method, capture was inevitable. They let them get a head start for a bit of sport. The moment the man hit the snow face first, the snow was stained red with a whip-like crack, amplified to violent volumes. The carnage a lone bullet from their rifles could inflict deterred most sane people from rejecting the will of their wielders.

'At least it was quick.' My morbid thoughts got the best of me for only the briefest of moments.

The second man had gotten far enough that the average man's eyes could not spot him. The agitated man had been by the heavy-set chief's side. They seemed to enjoy the sight. I caught a bit of their exchange.

"This groups awfully energetic. Did you give them some Gaz in the morning?" Fat fingers ran through an unkempt beard as he spoke.

"No way. If I had some Gaz, I wouldn't even share it with you, chief." A light chuckle escaped his masked lips.

"Don't think I don't know your game, Scott." The fat man took a few steps forward and squinted. "I'll take the one headed west; you take the one going east." With that, the heavyset man took out a hand axe from his waistband and tossed it in hand a few times.

To many it looked as though the heavyset man had just thrown an axe at random, the snow around him clearing as his strength unleashed a visible recoil in the surrounding. The axe had traveled through any obstructions, with nothing truly capable of slowing its momentum. At one point I even noticed it turned, an abnormal thing to say the least. Only my eyes could keep track of such a thing now. My fellow slaves went back to work as to avoid the ire of the brutal men. At a certain point, even I couldn't confirm the kill, but the chief seemed quite confident, and so I was sure the escapee had met their end.

"Too fat to enjoy a lil' chase?" Scott spoke in a mocking tone.

With the taunt, he took off into a sprint, his speed easily tripled that of a normal man. His stride was abnormally long and effortless, in his hand was a machete. A slight chill ran through my body as I imagined the cruelties the last living man would face. All knew Scott was a man who took everything slowly, including inflicting death. Scott had been responsible for at least 20% of the deaths that have occurred since I arrived.

When both had escaped my sight, I disregarded the matter and returned my focus to my work. As I chopped at the tree, my mind once again drifted. I remembered my father's harsh drilling. I tried to anchor my mind to the present, but I drifted and felt a searing migraine. My knees buckled even. Despite my strength and endurance, I am only twelve, my body has limits. For the first time since I arrived, I fell to my knees. I looked at my shaking hands, and realized something,

"I'm so cold.." The cold, had hooked in early on, but with my constitution I held strong. The physical exertion slowly cracked my shell both physically and mentally, neither were honestly not that hard to do. My hands grabbed at the grass underneath the snow. I noticed that my skin had slowly become an agitated red hue, and the shaking grew worse.

While caught in my mind, I didn't see the boot directed straight at my ribs coming. Ribs snapped under the pressure and my body was lifted, only stopped by the tree I had been working on. Collapsing into the snow, I came to my senses only briefly. "Gah!" Gasping for air was all I could manage after the blow.

"If it isn't my lucky day, I was waiting for you to break." The Chief loomed over me. The man seemed larger than ever now. "Ya' know, kid, there has been something I've been hankering to tell you. You know that pretty sister of yours- "Before he could finish a sentence we heard a crash at our side. An enormous pile of snow was kicked up, turning into a light flurry. As the flurry cleared, we came to notice Scott, and shortly after the shock of the situation passed, the blood that coated the snow made itself visible to me. 'Finally, that asshole had it coming.' I didn't stop to think about the implications of his timely arrival.

As I inspected further, I noted the massive indent on his torso. I could only imagine that death must have been instant. Confusion filled the air. My head was still rattling, and the booming of a man's voice caused unimaginable pain. My entire world felt as though it was shaking.

""Insurgent swine, let that be your warning. Surrender now, or die!"