100 Words a Day 1036

“We’ve found it!” Rustbeard called, his excitement echoing through the tunnel.

Gorger crashed down the tunnel, smashing into the diminutive goblin slaves and sending them careening into the rough walls.

“Where is it?” he demanded, shoving Rustbeard aside.

The massive chest was still half-buried in the loosely-packed rubble. Gorger seized a pickax from one of the goblins and began furiously attacking the mix of stone, scrap, and decayed organic matter encasing the chest.

Once the lock was exposed, Gorger hefted the pickax high over his head, nearly hitting the tunnel ceiling, and brought it crashing down on the sturdy clamp.

100 Words a Day 1035

Yetsum’s eyes snapped open; his breathing was frantic, his heart racing. Waking from cryosleep in the past had always been a gradual process. His eyes darted around. Something was wrong. The pod hadn’t opened and the air smelled funny.

He shoved against the heavy lid of the chamber, grunting. It creaked open. Yetsum sat up and looked around, confused. He remembered the room being a comforting blue color with lots of soft angles. Now it was the color of blood and rust, angles disjointed and uncomfortable to look upon. He heard unfamiliar noises coming through the doorway of the room.

100 Words a Day 1034

Geb sat on the dirty ledge, hands on the safety rail. He rested his sooty cheek on his skinny arms and looked down. Past his swinging feet, the building disappeared into the darkness of the undercity, so far below that it never knew the light of day. It was lit by flickering lumo-lights and inhabited the detritus of the hive, those who could no longer endure the sixteen-hour workdays and didn’t have a connection to one of the corporate houses that would support them.

A noise made Geb look over his shoulder. Two arbiters were heading his way; he ran.