Returning to Fort Aegis after 7 years

Morning came like a silent predator, creeping over the ruined neighborhood and warming up to chilling night air.

Rows of military vans lined the cracked streets and soldiers stepped out in formation, moving with the efficiency of men who had done this a hundred times before.

From the shattered remains of homes, miners emerged in silence, their wrists and ankles bound in thick chains. The clinking metal filled the air as they walked forward, their faces hollow, their bodies frail.

This was just another day of backbreaking labor in the mines like they have done every day of their lives since they turned 11.

A sudden cry echoed from one of the crumbling buildings. The sound, weak and filled with grief, made some soldiers pause. Without urgency, two of them walked toward the source.