Chapter seventeen

She looked haggard, her jet black wings hanging crookedly from her back as if she hadn’t the strength to hold them upright. Her clothes, like everyone else, seemed to be what she had been captured in; a riding jacket with holes cut out for her wings and a pair of trousers that were so shredded by now that they seemed more like a skirt. I stepped towards her as her head snapped up, her eyes meeting mine for a moment filled with joy and sorrow; she knew I was alive but I was held her like everyone else. A guard stepped out and pushed me back into line, the bustling crowd pushed me deep into its writhing mass until I lost sight of my sister. I fought against the pull but it was too much, I was grateful when I felt a strong arm grab me from the torrent of people and drag me too safety.
“Bit of a scrawny one” I heard TNT mutter beside me, my wrist still in his surprisingly firm grip “Should I throw him back?”
“He’s the one we want T” Stitch said, introductions had obviously been made before I’d arrived. TNT let go of me and went back to contentedly staring at Mist who promptly stepped behind Bud. The other people in the new group were just milling about unsure what to do but of course Trapper figured it out before anyone else.
“We’ve got to go get our equipment, hammers and such like over there” he said, pointing to a large shed with a half stable door which a large tusked mutant leant on. He looked normal apart from the large serrated curved teeth sprouting from both jaws like blades, blocking the view of his face and just stopping below his eyes and chin.
“You, you and you” he grunted, pointing at me, TNT and Mist “are breaking. The rest of you push the karts.” He picked up three hammers from behind the half door and dropped them on their heads; when I tried to pick mine up I nearly threw out my back but I pretended it was light since TNT and Mist were handling it like they weighted nothing.
“Do I look like I can push?” Trapper said defiantly. The tusked man jumped up and looked around, then had to turn his head and look out the corner of his eye to see Trapper; his tusks must obscure his vision.
“Fine, one more breaker” he grunted past his massive teeth, dropping a fourth hammer for Trapper who picked it up and balanced it on his chair’s arms.

We walked away, skirting the crowd that had finally figured out what to do. No one was stopping to ask why or looking for ways out, they just followed like sheep because it was something to do. In fact I was sure I caught a glimpse of one that was quite literally a sheep, thick grey wool and dopey eyes as he milled around letting out a worried bleat. The others stopped at intervals once they reached some rocks, no real place to stand they just went to any pile they fancied. Trapper had to be careful though, if he hit a rock he’d be tipped over and he didn’t fancy getting a hammer in the face. Mist and TNT stopped a little way away; Mist was clearly not welcome to TNT being around her so she made sure to break her first rock in two on the first blow to show she meant business. I kept walking though; I had to find my sister. I weaved between boulders and blows, some people seemed so caught up in the mindless repetitive work that they didn’t notice things around them; like my for instance. I dodged the third hammer to swing back and almost hit me, the first one had been warning enough when it smacked into my forearm and I was wary now. Finally I found her, standing between what could have been either two girls or one since they were stuck back to back and another normal looking man. I dodged under the double girl, she or they had a rhythm going so their hammers didn’t smack into each other so I knew at least she had been here for a while.

I hovered behind my sister for a second, unsure how to start up a conversation. You couldn’t very well just step up and say “hi fancy meeting you here.”
“You never could talk to women” she said before I had the chance to talk.
I snorted in indignation “I talked to Jessica...” my eyes strayed towards the doors but I slammed them back to my sister.
“So how did they get you?” she asked, turning to look at me with sad eyes that still had at least a glimmer of life in them still “You were missing from your house for days but you’ve only just arrived.”
“My friends over there” I pointed back the way I came “found out I was a mutant. They came and got me before anyone else did.”
My sister just nodded slowly “Sorry, guys this is my little brother Ivan, Iva-“
“Ivory” I said firmly “It’s Ivory now.”
My sister smiled weakly “So you’ve got a name already? Well it suits you. Ivory, this is Gemini and Amp. I’m Raven.” Two arms waved when Gemini was introduced, the double girl giving the same old tired smile as everyone else. Amp didn’t even bother to look around; he just smashed his hammer into a small rock and reduced it to dust.
“So what is this place?” I asked, going between Gemini and my sister to pretend I was working though I barely cracked the surface of the rocks.
“Basically it looks like a place just to keep us all in one place” Gemini answered, even her voices were in sync “we break up these rocks some days but on special days some of us disappear for other sorts of training. It varies until they find something you’re good at; just one piece of advice, don’t land surviving harsh environments. That’ll get you killed in a few days.”

I gulped and this time my hammer slipped slightly and hit a large boulder. It crumbled to my surprise and my sister gave me a quick check over as if checking she’d missed anything.
“Mustn’t know my own strength” I chuckled nervously, revolving the hammer in my hands. Buzz appeared out of nowhere and began scooping up rock pieces, a large red welt on his arm.
“One of the guards ‘explained’ to me that if I wasn’t pushing I was gathering” he explained at my questioning look. I glanced around, I couldn’t see everyone but Bud was ok, Trapper was destroying the rocks in single blows, Mist was having trouble getting her hammer out the ground and TNT... was stroking the rocks. He kept rubbing his oily skin then rubbing the rock, coating the rocks with even more blackness and somehow not getting any cleaner not matter how hard he rubbed his skin.

Shaking my head I decided that if they really expected a mental person to do a proper days work then they were insane themselves.
“The collars...” I began.
“Explosives, enough to take your head clean off” my sister said plainly, her wings ruffling as she swung her hammer high to break another rock in two; this was starting to ache my arms now.
“How long...” I didn’t even need to finish the sentences any more.
“Eight hours, then the next shift has a go; food before and after work.” I groaned loudly, it must have been ten minutes and my arms were already aching. I didn’t want to know anything else right now, I couldn’t stomach it. Still, I didn’t have to worry about learning anything more because at that moment the world exploded.

Disclaimer: I will shove anyone who steals from Lavalamp studios or me under a hammer. Seriously, I've spent a lot of time writing this...
Ebony and Ivory Collection
Ebony and Ivory chapter eighteen