Shifted

19.Kalaya

Kalaya

"We can't let that happen again," I ground out at the bar. "Next time; we need to be ready, we need rush them: they can't kill us all. We have to stop allowing them to kill us, stop standing by and doing nothing," I hissed as every shifted watched me from where I sat perched on the bar top. I was seething to think I almost became a Tama. A traitor. I almost lost my way. "We have to raise hell."
"You're not thinking straight," Games slurred as he look another shot. "That will only piss the general off. He'll cut our population in half before he allowed us to free even one shifted he sets his eyes on to kill."
"No; they need us," I shook my head, slamming my fist down onto the wooden table top before standing up and meeting everyone's gaze. "Think about it, for so long they've relied on us. If they kill us, who will care for their crops, the lazy guards?" A soft laugh traveled around the bar at that. "They only want us to believe we are disposable. But they need the labor workers."
"Exactly, so what if they kill all the children and the old."
"They need the children too; to replace us as we get too old to work," I said simply and ground my teeth. "We will lose people, family members, neighbors. Those we care and love. And that's regardless," I shouted out, "regardless if we fight back or not we will watch each other die. We do watch each other die. Think of all the faces that aren't here now. All the shifted who were killed for petty reasons. All of you," I pointed out, "for the rest of the week, you take a good look at those around you. And you tell me by next week, if you can confidently say it's not worth the fight. It's not worth letting years and years of pent up rage out. You tell me, will we die regardless if we fight?" I turned around, slamming back a shot before stalking out the bar, fuming. Mad at myself more than anything for allowing myself to believe that I might have found a slice of happiness. Impossible. How could I ever think that when we were all still enslaved to humans? Still treated like livestock. Maybe even worse.

Snakegirl quietly followed me from the bar, being my little shadow. It wasn't until we were inside my home, that she finally reached out with her small hand and patted me on the back before readying her mat for sleep.

"I'm going to get everyone killed," I whispered into the night air as I laid down and pulled my too thin blanket halfway up my body. Tears sprang to my eyes but I held them back. Not yet. I didn't have that luxury of letting go of my emotions yet.

"You're right though," Snakegirl turned over and peered at me. "We are dead already. We can't keep living like this. I'd rather we fight to the death than continue on like this," venom dripped from her tone.

Taking in a shaky breath I responded, "yeah, maybe we can all gather and burst through the front, having an all out war until we march through the streets and make it out. Strength in numbers and all that. Most humans arent warriors either, like us they have children and ol-" I paused. Children!
A slow and what could be described as an evil smile spread across my face. "The children," I sat up and so did Snakegirl as she cocked her head at me.
I shot up. "Get up, we have to find another way to get through the gate."
Snakegirl immediately popped up, always ready to follow me anywhere, my heart softened for her.
"What are you planning now?"
"We need to find where the humans go to school. We overtake the school, a group of us, and threatened to kill all the children inside unless they allow us to march our people out of here."
Making our way the the gate that held us in, we started walking down it to find any small holes we could chip away at to make bigger like the last one.
But we couldn't find one as it looked like they redid the older parts once it came out that we have been sneaking into town.
Our only other option was to dig underneath, the gate went deep under ground, some of it buried under that to prevent digging under, but we had all the time in the world; being stuck inside and all. Might as well work towards our goal.
"Let's dig under the fence here, once the hole is big enough, we need to try to find that school."
"Let me do it, I'm small so as soon as it's just wide brought for me to squeeze thru, I'll go and won't be easily spotted." I smiled down at her and ruffled her hair.
"Your eyes stand out so much Snakegirl, you'll never blend in with the other children. We should get a more human looking-" she literally hissed at me as she narrowed her eyes.
"I'll do it and I won't let you down." Worry ate at me but I nodded. She was the toughest kid I knew. And she was right; to save time we should just dig until it was just wide enough for her to slip in and out.

And so we went for any tool we could find to help and started digging at the hard packed dirt.

It took us a few days but we got underneath.
"Damn; they put that gate in deep," I whistled as I bent to peek underneath. "Think you can fit or does it need to be wider?" I questioned Snakegirl.
She immediately started belly crawling through it. And made it to the other side. My stomach dropped and I dropped down to peer at her feet on the other side. Worry ate at me until she crawled back under.
"Wow," she said sitting down. "They live like that?" She asked me with pain in her eyes. She was looking towards the rows of small barley crumbling homes and shaking her head. I knew what she had seen. On the other side, cobblestone roads, two and three story homes without holes and built with wood and stone and stood steady and tall. Once she started snooping more around she was in for a world of hurt.

Because when you grow up a certain way, it's your normal. It what you think is normal. And then you start looking at how others live and you realize just how much you've been suffering, just how much you've been lacking. And it hurts real bad.

New anger lit up her eyes. "We have to go through with it."
I nodded, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"No, Kalaya listen to me. If they don't allow us to leave, we have to kill that school full of children. It can't just be a threat, we have to follow through, and show them we aren't messing around. So even if the plans fail; they will take us serious everytime we make threats, that we are willing to do any and everything it takes," her little shoulders were shaking. I didn't have the heart to tell her they saw us as nothing more than animals capable of exactly that. And killing those children, threatening their kids, could make everything a lot worse for us. What I had done by trying to bring my people through to protest in town would be for nothing. That day a few humans saw us as people. But now they would see us as monsters. But so be it. It was easy for them to turn their backs on fellow people while they suffer. It would be impossible for them to turn their backs on monsters. To feel safe with us around.
Either we would be free or we would all be slaughtered.
Her words were vicious for such a sweet girl. I immediately tugged her into a hug, wrapping my arms tightly around her. I stayed silent because I knew what she wanted to hear. But I hoped it wouldn't come to that. I hoped the threat alone of killing off a bunch of their offspring would make them desperate enough to allow even just most of the shifted free. But I knew one thing was for sure.
Whoever went on the mission to overtake that school. Whichever shifted joined me in that, would all die. They'd never let us live. Maybe they'd let others go, but once gone, those of us hanging behind, who hold knives to the necks of their children would surly be killed.
"You find me that school Snakegirl, you tell me the location. And you tell me what time most of them are there. And in the meantime, I'll keep digging at this hole, making sure a bunch of us will be able to get through."
I wasn't sure I'd make it out of this mission alive. But I hoped beyond hope that Snakegirl would one day be free of this hellhole.