Reddened Wasteland Read Online Free Page B

screwdriver,” he said with a grin, “We’re going to do
some top-secret investigating.”
    ***
    The
next morning, Alerik arrived at the jobsite and went through the normal
procedures to get inside. After his daily violation from the guards, he
continued into the mine and found Velar waiting for him in the locker room
holding a screwdriver and looking panicked. The room only had one way in and
one way out, so it was easy to know if someone was coming, but it was also easy
to get caged in, so he understood why she was on high alert.
    “Okay,
watch the door and give me a heads up if you hear anyone coming,” he said as he
began prying open the lockers one by one with the screwdriver.
    In
the first few he didn’t find anything noteworthy, and he smiled to himself at
the possibility that his superiors were just paranoid. But then, he popped open
the fourth locker.
    In
the back of the locker, hidden away under a heap of clothing, he found a small piece
of metal with shavings and dust around the sharpened edges. There were carvings
in the metal that matched those he had seen in the meeting with Bragog.
    “Shit,”
he muttered under his breath, “I’ve got something.”
    What
he had feared the most had actually happened, The Union was right all along.
There may not be some huge conspiracy behind it all, but at least one person
was doing the carving. Possibly more. He hated that he would have to report
this to Bragog.
    “Okay,
you got what you needed. Let’s get out of here,” Velar hissed impatiently as
she tugged on his sleeve like she always did, “This whole thing is creeping me
the fuck out.”
    “Let’s
go.”
    He
let her take the lead. They headed out of the locker room and proceeded back
towards the surface. Alerik spotted a guard as they were walking and flagged
him down.
    “Velar,
I have to go now. I’ll meet you at the bar right after work. While they do
their investigation, I say we should probably conduct our own. Something tells
me this is bigger than The Union is letting on,” He said.
    She
nodded silently and left his side as the guard drew closer.
    “I
need to speak to Bragog,” Alerik moved close enough to the guard that he
wouldn’t have to shout it across the jobsite. The man immediately radioed up
and a few moments later he was given the okay to send Alerik through.
    Alerik
returned to the office, in much the same manner as the day before. He found
himself sitting at the same table looking across at the same hefty man through
the same cloud of smoke. This time he noticed how stuffy the room was, the air
heavy with a musky kind of smell like old mildew-ridden shoes.
    It
made his stomach churn, but that might have been more about what he had found
at the jobsite and less about the smell of the room.
    The
man was slumped in his chair and he appeared haggard, as if he had been up for
several nights.
    “Alerik,”
Bragog leaned back in his chair and clasped his hands over his chest, “What do
you have for me?”
    Alerik
jumped right in, not wanting to spend more time in the musty office than was
necessary, “I searched some lockers and found some etchings, the same as the
one you showed me before. I think you may be on to something after all…” his
voice trailed off as he fidgeted nervously in his seat. Tattling on his coworkers
to The Union didn’t sit well with him. He tried reminding himself that he was
doing the right thing. If this group did successfully organize an attack,
innocent lives were at risk.
    “So
now you know that this situation is real,” Bragog let out a sad sigh, “I feared
this were the case. We weren’t entirely sure. Honestly I still had hopes that
it was just a fluke, the etchings we found before. Some rebellious teenager
looking for attention, or something. But now it seems we were right in our
decision to follow up,” He brought his hand up to his chin and thoughtfully
rubbed his goatee. “Now, I have to report this up the chain. Alerik, you head
home, I will