I awoke to the ringing of bells. A harsh, deep sound, they signaled the end of the night shift, and the beginning of the morning shift. I sighed as I got out of bed, throwing the meager sheets and blankets off of me, shivering in the morning chill. As I glanced out of the solitary window in my living quarters, I saw the sun beginning to rise. As I grabbed my work robe and pulled it over my head, the bright orange cloth signaling that I was on duty, I watched the warm glow of the morning sun engulf the barren quarry.

I sat to finish watching. It never failed to amaze me, the beauty of nature. How people used to pay so much money for painted pictures and manufactured sculptures. They would pay tens of hundreds, of thousands of dollars, while nature’s common miracles surpassed those human creations with such ease. Well, that was when people still paid for things. That was before the government was disassembled. Before “anarchy” was “established.”

I chuckled to myself. “Anarchy…” I muttered under my breath, laughing at the ridiculousness of the system. That had lasted long! It had only been a few days before some hooligan with guns had begun to round up everyone he could and had put them to work, toiling for him. He had very few loyal followers, but they were enough. They had weapons. We did not. That was all that mattered.

I stood up from my bed and stretched, a groan escaping from my lips. Off to work… I thought to myself, dreading the seemingly endless hours of monotonous labor that were to follow. I hit the button by my door, and it slid into the wall with a quiet hiss. At least we still have electricity… I pondered, trying to cheer myself up somehow. And plumbing!

As I walked down the narrow corridor, I saw a few others exiting from their quarters. “Naira!” I heard my name, and turned to see who was calling me. It was Jiergo, one of my few friends in this hellhole. I smiled and waved at him, beckoning him to hurry. “C’mon you slowpoke you,” I teased, shoving him gently. He panted from running to catch up to me, leaning against the wall while I gave him a minute to catch his breath. “I ran all the way from the lab. They want a man and a woman to work there! I put our names up — if we get this, we won’t have to spend all day in the quarry anymore!” I smiled at him reassuringly, but inwardly I was worried. The labs? I questioned myself; what do they even do in the labs? Didn’t I hear rumors of mad scientists, and experimentation? I shook off my worries, reminding myself that anything must be better than the quarry.