Ughhh…
Groaning and cursing the day he told himself that he had to get up. Both low on food and water, he couldn't understand why he wasn't feeling motivated. Almost as if he was hungover. Well, it's like this every morning.
Dragging himself out of bed, he reached out at his coat. As he was putting his coat on, he took the revolver out of the pocket and crouched down when the coat was fully on. The planks on the floor were wet, unstable and easy to snap yet they didn't because of the supporting concrete, rubble and rocks underneath. Carefully, he lifted the plank off the floor, dug up the rubble and picked a metal box. He placed the revolver on the desk as he input the pin for the box to open.
2587 … Click…
Suddenly, the lid of the box shot open revealing the inside. It was a fairly small box but enough to fit a revolver inside. He scanned the surface of the desk above his head where he the revolver. Feeling the cold, metallic handle, he tightened his grip around it so he could empty the cylinder. Slowly, he placed the revolver into the box and closed it. At the side of the pin there was a button.
Click… 0000
The numbers reset to zero. Taking his time, he put the box in the hole and added the layer of rubble on top of it. Finally, he put the plank back onto the floor which made it look like as if nothing happened. He liked the idea of that, knowing something someone else doesnt.
Using the desk for balance, he rose up from the floor, brushed the dirt of his ands by rubbing them together and opened the door.
The air is horrible but at least the sun is up. He thought.
The stone bricked labyrinth consisted of many black market traders as well as scammers. Plenty of gang rats would brush against your pockets so it's best to stay vigilant and only bring what you need. At the end of the path, he took a left to see the merchant who sold food.
It's only bread today but it's better than nothing. He thought.
"The usual, Mr Amens?"
"Yes. Thank you."
Amens took out three copper coins, throwing them into the merchants jar. Today, Amens noticed something different about the jar.
"Thats a new lock" Amens remarked.
"The streets are cruel these days. Money being the difference between life and death. It's understandable why they'd try to steal but im a greedy man. I don't make money from charity. The welds a cruel place but im sure you know that better than anyone, Mr Amens." The merchant replied.
Amens held his head low as he walked towards the edge of the labyrinth. At the ends of the slums, the bricks seem to slowly disappear, making it looking like a small, stone staircase that blends into the fields of charcoal and dead trees.
Crunch… crunch… crunch…
The sound of him walking filled the barren landscape. Squinting, he managed to see the well in the far distance. Dirty water and disease filled the well but it was either this or dying of dehydration. A wooden bucket, rimmed with iron was beside the well.
As he leaned to his side to pick up the bucket, he noticed what looked like a dark patch in the well. Rolling up his sleeve, he put his right hand in the water as his left hand had the bucket. He felt something soft but heavy. Dropping the bucket to pull the thing in the water, he noticed that he was motivated to do something other than survive for once. Planting his feet in a wide stance whilst both hands were on the thing in the water, he started to pull.
A large gush of water came out as the thing did too. Amens was slightly wet but he managed to avoid most of the water. The thing was a dead body. It's whole body mostly intact except for a warped expression on it's face. Young adult, probably 16 or 17. Looking disappointed and dissatisfied at the body, he turned his attention back to the well so he could fill the bucket. With the bucket full, he was now finished with his weekly and daily chores.
Walking back to his home, he started wondering about that body.
Poor kid. He probably didn't even know what he was getting himself into.
Amens was 27 years old himself wich made him relate to the corpse. Crime like that was common but luckily, Amens lived in a place with one of the lowest crime rates in the slums. However, just because it's the lowest compared to the other parts, it doesn't mean that it low. Crime is still high and most commonly fatal no matter where you go in the slums. Amens lives in what considered to be nearest to the edge of the slums but even so, it still is a 20 minute walk with shortcuts to the actual edge of the slums. Usually, it would take 2 hours of walking to get there without shortcuts.
Amens looked inside of the bucket and realised that it was blood red. The corpse probably decayed in the well, probably making the water red and inedible.
Damn that kid. If only he didn't do what he did.
This arose many problems as the nearest well other than the one outside was owned by a gang.
I believe their name was "The Gilded Dregs".
The Gilded Dregs were one of the richest of all the gangs in the East slums. However, due to their strange desperation for money and their unyielding greed they don't have a large alliance but they do have a large following. Their status and motives is actually what made the unwritten rule of "bring only the amount of money you need to when you are on the streets". Violence, scamming, pickpocketing and burglary are all crimes that are committed by this gang. The difference between this gang and the others in the East slums is that The Gilded Dregs aren't a cult.
Amens scratched his head. He still hadn't lost the will to live and water is a necessity. After much debate, Amens came to a conclusion.
He'd go to the well.