Justice or Vengeance

A way of life, A way of war

I read the digits on my wrist. N4+$U.3+H10U$.DR49N33|

I don't remember too much of my childhood.
what I do remember is my trip to sector 8.
it was long and extremely hot. I remember passing through the different sectors.
to sector 8 of course and the discomfort, I felt during the journey.
I was being taken there with many other slaves. so we were packed like sardines.
there were no toilet breaks. and the trip took well over a week.

we didn't get any food either. when someone died they just tossed them out.
it benefited us in a way. the more die, the more room.
we had to live in our own feces, for that whole week.
originally we'd have to take turns in sitting. by the end of the trip,
a majority of us could sit down, that was the way it was. I guess

we rode in a box with wheels, it was painted white to reflect heat.
I guess the men taking us didn't want to get too hot.
the box was pulled along by mammals that walk on 4 legs, I know what they are now.
I have more knowledge then I did back then. but I guess I've seen more now as well.
sometimes I wish I could go back in time.
when fighting disease hunger and dehydration were your biggest worries
back then I was so curious. I couldn't bear having so many unanswered questions.
now I wish life could have been as simple as back then.

I eventually made it to sector 8,
I was 4 so I was sent to a facility for further training and education.
I don't remember much of the facility, probably because it was so boring,
why did we have to learn this garbage anyway?

when I turned 5, I was sold to a tall man whose face appears blank in my mind.
even though he owned me I never saw him again after that. well not until the war started.

after filling out the paperwork I was dumped into farming.
I've been working here for 7 years, meaning I'm 12 now.
I am rude and disobedient,
but because I am one of their best workers I get away with it,
with just a small smack on the wrist,
and some extra work.

the shi gave us codes, but us humans gave each other names.
i despise the idea of a code, but my friends call me Natsu.

one of the other slaves 9R4Y.FU||BU$+3R aka gray, also known as stripper is my arch nemesis,
we share the same living quarters and he's usually the reason I get into trouble.
he has raven spiky hair, and a similar body build to me, well except that I'm way more attractive! He hates being called by his code, says his name is his name.
we have 2 sets of slave clothes, and we live in slave living blocks. each one contains about 50 bunk beds.
the people who share living quarters were like their own group, they had to stick together.
I got familiar with everyone who worked in agriculture.
3RZ4.$C4R|3+ who was named Erza scarlet was another slave who kept us all in line. even some of the shi were afraid of her.

because she kept everyone in line and was trusted amongst all our supervisors, Erza was favorited.
meaning she got extra provisions. like cake.
we got a lot of food compared to other sectors.
we were one of the wealthiest.
according to the supervising shi, after the nuclear bomb in 9,
business everywhere in 8 skyrocketed.

9 is still recovering from the bomb.
It's the least populated sector.
sector 8 is most famous for its beautiful large lake, its water is pure and stays that way.
because the lake connects to 2 rivers, they have filters to keep out the other sectors garbage.
they keep it sparkling, by constantly cleaning it. we sell our water to other sectors.

because of the lake and rivers, sector 8 is split into 2.
we live on the west side, which has more than twice the population.
I've traveled to both sides and met lots of different slaves.
my group and I had to travel a lot around sector 8 to deliver food.
with shi supervision of course.
they trusted us, but not that much.

It may not seem so bad, I'm probably sugar coating it a lot.
it wasn't all smiles and fun.
in fact far from it.
B1$C4.MU|4N.C0NN3|, aka Bisca -a close friend of Erza-
was publicly flogged for offending and attacking an officer.

the snobby shi was picking on one of the newest recruits; \/\/3NDY.M4RV3|.
we nicknamed her wendy.
she was just moved into our block, she's was only 7.
the officer was visiting from another sector.

wendy was working when the officer kicked her. she flew and landed on some of the crops.
he then had a good old laugh at her as she whimpered in pain.
we were close in our block. we cared about each other.

since we were all working on the same field we all saw what happened.
some of us too shocked to move.
the officer started to walk over to her.
peering down at her he gave a laugh.
"not working I see, ooh and destroying crops. tch tch, you'll have to be punished for that."

he lifted wendy by her long blue hair, it happened so fast yet I remember it so clearly.
Bisca had run up behind him, she was so quick and silent.
even if she did make a slight noise, the officer wouldn't have noticed.
he was too busy laughing at poor wendy cringing in pain.

by this point we were all running to wendy, the other supervising shi stood there staring in shock.
Bisca was there first like I said running behind him.
she forced the shin of her leg to hit the back of his knee.
it was like this epic sidekick.

the officer fell to his knee, dropping wendy in the dirt, gray picked her up and held her in his arms.
walking away from the officer, gray never turned his back on the officer, though,
he never lifted his angered stare off the officer either.

the officer stood up and went for Bisca.
I was too far away to stop him so I grabbed the closest thing to me, which happened to be a basket of the tomatoes.
I threw the tomato and as it impacted his shoulder it exploded leaving a red chunky stain on his uniform.
everyone decided to join in.

Erza aided Bisca and wendy while the shi that were SUPPOSED to be supervising us finally took control of the situation.
the officer was a big shot, and the shi had to punish one of us or they'd be disgracing sector 8.
so Bisca was stripped of her clothes and whipped publically.
and us, we were forced to take front row seats.

Erza protested with tears, wendy couldn't stop crying and apologising, I hated seeing the people I care about like that.
that's when we all finally realized. how horrible. the shi were.
we had witnessed them doing many terrible things, maybe even worse than what we saw today.
but the fact that it was done to someone we cared so much for.
someone in our eyes could be seen as innocent.

whats worse is that they forced us to watch!
and they didn't punish all of us, just Bisca, we were at fault too.
we were at fault too.

I don't remember the name of the officer, though I'm sure Wendy can remember it clear as day.

that was the cherry on top of the sundae.
Bisca survived, barely. they whipped her for half an hour straight.
it was pure evil.

one of the other blocks had been through similar garbage. we united,
at first, it was just us,
and it took some time, and at some points, we were fearing getting caught
but eventually, all of the sector 8's slaves were on our side.
from agricultural slaves, to mere house workers and home repair.

we were starting a rebel.
we were starting a war
and
we didn't just want freedom.
we wanted total annihilation