James woke up looking at a rock ceiling he hand carved himself. He let out a soft sigh and shook his head.
"Morning already huh? That's good. I'm quite hungry."
James slowly got up, his body protesting and crying out in protest every inch of the way.
*Crack, Pop, Creak*
All of his joints creaked like a door that hadn't been greased in decades and all of his bones popped like a firecracker going off inside his body.
Once he managed to creep up to his feet, James went to the simple pit he had been digging in.
There he saw the minerals he left out for himself yesterday. He grabbed them and headed in the direction of the plain building.
He arrived not much later and did everything like a drone on autopilot.
James turned in his minerals without seeing what they were or how much there was of each. Then, he walked to the automated food kiosk and grabbed two steam buns for breakfast instead of one.
James immediately tore into one and started wolfing it down, not forgetting to enjoy each bite.
He stuffed the other one into a pocket of his gray suit, saving it for later.
He looked up and saw the two guards, but only saw two of the four morons; Ugly and Old Man.
None of their expressions looked good.
Loud sighed and said, "Alright, now that everyone's here, let's do the weekly hygiene checks. Shower first, then we'll shave your heads."
James expression was odd. He thought, "Everyone?"
Loud sighed again and actually took the time to explain, "Monkey and Rock were drafted to the frontlines somewhere else. They'll no longer be your fellow prisoners."
Quiet, the more quiet guard didn't nudge or scold Loud this time around. He just let him explain.
James would usually only mind his own business, but he was really too curious this time.
"Orange and yellow?" He asked.
Loud understood that James was talking about the ribbons on Monkey's and Rock's uniforms. Loud explained the situation truthfully.
"Apparently the situation on one of the frontlines isn't very good. The Marin Empire has launched a full on assault. Therefore, all of the eligible prisoners were taken away from this shithole. That's also where your fellow Death Row inmates went a few months ago. Only now the situation is much worse, so they took everybody I guess."
James pondered for a moment, then pointed at Ugly. Everybody present knew what he meant.
Ugly hissed like a cat that had it's tail stepped on. "Brat! Are you trying to curse me? You want me to go to the frontlines too?"
Loud felt a bit awkward in his heart, so he didn't explain this one.
Quiet on the otherhand, thought of James as a good child and took the time to explain.
"The only people left are people with um... problems. Old Man is too old to fight on the frontlines, Ugly is too ugly to fight on the frontlines, and you're um... you're wrong in the head so you can't go fight either."
Loud, Ugly, and Old Man looked at Quiet in disbelief. They thought, "How can you say such a thing straight to a young boy's face?"
Don't let James tough looking body fool you. Because of the lack of nutrients all of these past few years, he was much shorter and his face was much younger looking than everyone else his age.
Even though he was 15 years old, he looked 12 at most.
Quiet coughed and waved his hand. "Ahem. Ahem. Hygiene check." "At least he found a good excuse to change the topic." Everyone thought.
Loud walked over to the furthest most door in the bland building and unlocked it with a scan from his wrist bracelet.
The door opened automatically. Loud then gestured to the three to enter the room.
After Ugly, Old Man, and James entered the room, the door closed behind them.
The Old Man seemed slightly nervous, but Ugly and James picked a spot and started taking all of their clothes off.
This last room in the bland building was nothing other than an open shower space.
It was a requirement in the No Man's Wasteland Prison for each inmate to shower at least once a week.
This was not out of friendliness from the higher ups, it was out of necessity.
Technology in this world was extremely sophisticated and all kinds of unbelievable technological advancements have come to fruition and changed people's lives, but one thing never changed.
The necessity of taking care of one's hygiene.
Not only did it suck to be around a bunch of smelly fellows, but it was also detrimental to not wash.
In the age of interstellar travel, who knows what disease is being picked up where, or what parasite is coming from who.
Will a shower change this? No. But for a few hundred prisoners and guards it makes a massive difference.
James put his clothes on a bench that was outside of the shower heads reach. He walked up to the left most shower head and it automatically turned on, instantly splashing him with warm water.
He blankly stared up at the water pouring out of the head.
"I hate the rain." He muttered.
James lost track of time while staring up at the shower head.
The steel door to the showers abruptly opened which meant it was time for the three to tidy up and exit the shower room.
However, James didn't seem to notice. He just stood there staring at his shadows.
Old Man and Ugly on the otherhand quickly dried off and put their uniforms back on.
Just because Loud and Quiet were polite to them didn't mean that Ugly and Old Man didn't understand their situation.
They were both prisoners while the other two were prison guards. They were from two different worlds.
Quiet and Loud saw Ugly and Old Man come out, but not James.
The two guards understood what was happening as it has occurred many times before.
Loud said to Ugly, "Go get him." Ugly nodded and walked back into the showers. She took her clothes back off and walked over to James.
She didn't care if James saw her naked at all. The two had been showering together for four years after all. Besides this, James looked like a little boy that needed to be taken care of. Not a man.
"James, are you alright?" Ugly reached out and gently patted him on the shoulder.
James came back to his senses and nodded slowly. He didn't say a word as he walked out of the shower, dried himself, and put his uniform with the red ribbon back on.
Ugly and James exited the showers and stood by Old Man's side.
Loud clapped his hands and led everyone to the middle of the bland building.
Him and Quiet swiped their bracelets across a small white box that made a satisfying *click* noise then opened.
Inside of the box was an oldschool razor and some disinfectant wipes.
In only a few short minutes, the heads of James, Ugly, and Old Man were completely bald.
Ugly was really the only one that suffered a loss. Old Man and James were basically bald already and could care less about their hair.
Ugly shed a few tears looking at the short brown tuffs of hair she had to sweep up herself.
Quiet and Loud looked on with only a sliver of remorse, which was already more than the other guards would have given her.
James, Ugly, and Old Man all started to go their separate ways after having their heads shaved.
Loud cleared his voice at this time and said, "Tomorrow there will be a great merger of districts at noon, so be prepared."
He said this while staring at Ugly and Old Man as if James didn't exist.
Ugly felt nervous and couldn't help but ask, "What exactly is happening?"
Loud liked to talk. If Quiet didn't stop him he would probably talk all day. Therefore, he naturally explained.
"Since most of all the prisoners are gone, the higher ups want us guards to converge all of the remaining inmates in the 48 districts into a few select ones. There will probably only be five to ten districts remaining afterwards."
The panic visibly grew on Ugly's ugly face.
She was a woman after all.
Even though she was down right hideous, what would some fellow that's been locked up for a decade or two care?
Loud knew what Ugly was worried about and dismissed her thoughts with words.
"Men and women will be separated by district, don't worry."
Ugly let out a long sigh of relief and started heading in the direction of her cave dwelling.
"James, a moment." Quiet spoke up and said to James who was already walking away, enjoying his second steam bun.
James turned around with the steam bun hanging out of his mouth. However, Quiet and Loud only saw his lifeless, dull eyes and got chills that ran down their backs.
"Just what could happen to a boy to have him turn out like this?" This is the question that was on both of their minds at the moment.
He was distracted for a moment, but Quiet didn't forget his duty. He said, "Loud and I spoke up to the higher ups on your behalf. You don't need to move districts like the others. As long as you keep your work ethic like you have for the last four years, nothing needs to change for you."
"Thank you Quiet and Loud."
The two guards watched James turn around and leave.
After he disappeared from their sight, Loud let out a deep sigh. "Poor kid." Quiet nodded in agreement.
James didn't know he had earned the sympathy of the two guards, but he did know he didn't have to relocate like the others.
Thinking this, his mood became much better than when he was in the shower. He even hummed a tune on the way back to his cave dwelling.
Whips crack like thunder, your skin torn asunder. Wake up late, that's your biggest blunder.