The Hell Under the Sun


I stared down towards my gray cell walls, waiting for my turn to take the heat and get the sparkly things our superiors called “gems”. For as long as I could remember, I was trapped in a place brimming with magma and heat that could burn my eyelashes off if I didn’t go out in a thermasuit. ‘Ding Dong’ the bell rang. My cell door opened and men with long metal rods with holes at the end came out. I felt the cold metal as they proceeded to poke me into the long shambling line of the other prisoners. We were pushed over to our lockers and I slipped into my thermasuit and grabbed a pick. The guards swept us into a black box and we were shipped out to the large cavern located outside the prison. Sparkly Stones of every color formed on the sides, creating an opaque light that glimmered in every corner of the hell- hole. With a jolting noise our transporter opened up and we were directed onto three rickety steel platforms. As if insects, we were prodded onto the platforms, and one guard sneered,

“There’s been a shortage in food today, the ten people who bring home less then 10 gems are going to have no supper! So get working!” Suddenly, there was an angry mob trying to reach a large cluster of green sparkly things. My pick sunk into the molten rock, and I raked it out to reveal 5 clear ones. I scooped them out, and dropped them into my pocket. I looked around to see if anyone had noticed my yield, and I ran to another spot. I thrust my pickaxe again and again to bring home 20 sparklies. I looked around to see if any of my friends were struggling in finding any. As I walked back to the transporter, I dropped 5 into my friend’s bag. A gunshot went off, and we were herded back into the abysmal box.

“OK first on the list! #565 come up and give us your gems!” They shouted. I gulped as I dropped my satchel into their arms. As they counted off my 20 sparklies. I turned around to see if my friend, #566 was doing well. He handed them his satchel and walked towards me.

“Hey,” he mumbled.

“Hey,” I replied.

“Did ya give em what they wanted?” I asked.

“Yeah, but someone put 5 of em in my bag right in the nick of time…” He said as he sneezed into his thermasuit.

“Your welcome,” I said. Another day we would survive the cavern. I could see our numbers had easily diminished, since there were no guardrails located on the sides of the platforms. Meals were brought to us by grim looking robots with the long rods all over em. Word was it that they ran on the sparklies we collected. I sunk my spiked piece of metal into the warm meat, and dug in. In our isolated chambers we sat, waiting to go outside. I scratched a sparkly that I had brought from the surface onto the floor. Ever since I had been taken from the sun filled land the people around me had been killed and killed, until there was just me left, #565, and #566. They say that only the worst criminals were banished to the dark pits of my hell, but I had done nothing to deserve this hardship. I crawled onto the cold stone floor and took a blanket from the windowsill.

“Goodnight,” I whispered to the un-answering place around me, “Good night.”
Lights blared, as I was shook from my sleep by the very robot, which brought me my meal. Prodded, I was forced into my pick clothes, and I was escorted down a lane filled with the screams of those wanting to escape. The robot swiped at their hands, chopping them off in one blow. I continued walking alongside the engine of destruction, until we stopped outside a door with a PUNISHER sign on it. He inserted a key, and the door opened with a click. A well-dressed official, no doubt a person in charge, sat in a polished desk in the center of the room. Medals for bravery and conduct lined the walls.

“Hello. Please set #565,” he ordered me. After complying he began to speak once more. “Now, my name is General Hayes. Do you know why you are in here right now?”

“No, sir,” I replied. He took out a photograph of me standing in the sun with my mother and friends, and the 800 farm workers standing behind me.

“Does it not gather memories?” He asked me.

“Yes sir.”

“I repeat. Do you know why you are here?” he asked again.

“No sir,” I again replied.

“Well then. I guess I need to show you why,” he said after taking out a blade like sparkly and pressed it against my neck. It was the same one I had taken, and the same one from a necklace my mother wore fondly.

“How did this get into your possession? A piece of this quality must be worth a lot of money. Did you steal it?”

“No sir. It was my mothers,” I said, “I took it with me when I was taken from the sun and brought to this hell hole.”

“Do you realize how many we’ve killed in your group for telling lies?” He questioned.

“Around 500 sir,”

“No, around 564 to be more exact. Now #565, go back to your corridor. Questioning is now over,” He said solemnly. I was escorted back into my cell, and a hole appeared in the ceiling, dropping the necklace into my lap.

“Keep it,” A voice over a loud speaker said. I recognized it as General Hayes’, “Your mother was very precious to me”. ‘Ding dong’ the alarm rang again. I could hear the walking of the other prisoners through my cell walls. Neither my doors opened nor #566’s opened. Again, the voice on the loudspeaker said, “Rest. You will work tomorrow. Now go back to sleep.” One wall to the side went up and I could see #566 awake, his eyes filled with madness and darkness. The alarm stopped ringing and I disappeared into a deep sleep. That night, I dreamt of all the things of horror that happened before I came to hell. My mother. My father, the unchanging farm. The lights turned on in my cell. I could see walls coated with blood through the window that connected me to #566. Shattered glass layered his mutilated corpse on the ground, with its head chopped off and tendons splayed about. There was a note pinned to his body. I could read it from my location, and it said, ‘l left now, none left soon. Alarms started to go off as General Hayes and robots rushed into the cell, and carried off the dead body. With a glance at me he whispered

“Why?” and then walked off into the gloomywalls, as if I had committed the horrendous task. Anger surged through my body as I felt nothing but anger towards my parents, friends, and of course, General Haye. With #566 gone, it was time to escape to the land of sun we had both longed for. The wall connecting me to #566 came to a shut again, and a destroyer came out with handcuffs. They snapped onto my wrists, tightening until my hands were white and useless. Again, I was taken down the hall to the punisher room.

“Why is there a dead child torn apart in the cell next to yours?” General Haye shouted.

“No idea,” I replied.

“Hmmm, no idea? We have video footage of you cutting him apart and hurting him.”

“Now how could I have done that?” I asked.

“There was nothing in between your cells, nothing but some shattered plexi-glass.”

“I still don’t understand, sir.”

“He was your only friend, wasn’t he? The only flower in the pit? The only grip you had on insanity?”

“How did you know my mother, sir?”

“From the surface, that is all I shall say. Now answer me, WHY DID YOU KILL HIM?”

“Was he that important to you, sir?” I asked him.

“No. I will not have inmates killing each other if I can. We have footage of you doing the deed.” He said as he opened up a video on a touch screen device of me stabbing him with the sparkly necklace. I shuddered as he paused the video and pointed to a bundle of blankets and said,

“Your body was found a couple feet away from #566’s body, and in your hand you had a sparkly, a blade, a jewel from your mother’s necklace. Do you know anyone who has access to your cell?”

“No, sir, only you,” I replied.

“Very well. The judges shall review your case,” he said. As the robot escorted me into a new cell, I crept behind it and took out its core. I proceeded to take my blade sparkly and jam it up its processors, and inside there were 10 green sparklies, stuck in glowing tubes. I took them out and slowly the robot deactivated. I ran towards the exit to one of the transporters, and took control, punching the guards in charge and taking the steering wheel. Slowly I was lifted up into the air, and went into an escape pod. Guards poured around me as they yanked my body out of the black box. They poked and prodded me into a rectangular area, and I was led into a room labeled Head. Inside there was an old man with twice as many medals then General Haye.

“SIT!” He yelled.

“Do you know how many lives you could have taken if that box had reached the surface?”

“No sir,” I said.

“The lava in the cavern is slowly rising, and soon I will need to evacuate this area, leaving behind all the workers and guards. If you had succeeded in taking that vehicle, I could be left stranded here. Imagine. ME dying. Also, just for your information, General Hayes has been replaced. He showed, er too much sentiment on the job, after he killed your mother and father, who had been good friends of his. #566 was his son.”

“How was he a general then, if he came from the sun, sir?” I asked.

“He gave 800 people to the government as workers. God knows that if he didn’t do that, we could not steal away all that land and build more homes,” he said maliciously, “Who knew that one would survive. They were to be killed, one by one” I felt my anger overcoming my pain and resistance. I took my sparkly, and slit the Head’s throat. Suddenly, machine guns pointed at me and I was forced back into my hole. I felt the entire base shudder, and Destroyers came and escorted me to a transporter. It was filled with workers in their thermasuits, and I was given one to put on. Once we got to the top of the cavern, the destroyers came inside and took a worker next to me. He was hurdled into the abyss, and the lava bubbled up 10 feet. They continued to grab workers, and through them until only I remained. The Destroyers surrounded me, and attempted to catch me, and their claws sliced off part of my thermasuit. I took out my sparkly, and did what I did to the other destroyers, ripping out their insides, and taking the fluorescent sparklys that glowed inside. I brought down the sharp blade, ripping out the tubes that were attached to them. They easily slid out, revealing a handle and trigger. I held it in my hands, and pulled it as hard as I could. Two large holes appeared in their backs, and their eyes dimmed. Running into a corner, I climbed up a ladder to the right, and lifted up the hatch. Inside was one General Hayes, gagged and bound, with the Head piloting the machine up and out of the abyss. He had a large scar across his neck, and his eyes were glazed over. I sliced open the ropes tying General Hayes, and pulled the spiked metal piece with the tube pointed at the Head. His blood splattered everywhere, creating a pool beneath him.

“Can you pilot this, Sir?” I asked. His eyes were filled with terror. He took the tube from my hand, and pointed it at his neck. He said,
“No. Survive. Deserve the life I took from you. Goodbye.” Right after saying this, he pulled the trigger, and I was left alone, with nothing but a plummeting box. I took the wheel, and attempted to make the transporter go up, but to no avail. I prepared for impact, waiting for the lava to overwhelm the therma protection on the outside. I lay down, and darkness overcame me as lava burned all my organs and skin. At least I had happiness in the darkness, I thought. My time in the sun had been a glorious one, filled with adventure. The lava crept up my body, reached my brain, and before I could react, my life was snuffed. Goodbye, Goodbye, Goodbye, Goodbye, Goodbye, Goodbye, Goodbye. My life is gone. My tale is one to be repeated, again and again. In a world of sun, overpopulated, and dying, and the caverns, hell pits where we mine.