He started to eat slowly but had to push down the feeling of wanting to vomit. The abuse he had taken had made his body slow to tolerating food...he managed to eat it and came to the point where he believed this would be his final meal. He would die here....he no longer cared...he didn't know where he was and doubted anyone would find him. It was over.No one came to bother him that day, and the food did help to get some strength back. He got two more meals and a replacement for the water bucket; they were not a cruel people, just desperate. At one point he heard a group return from a firefight, and men and women crying as they were told of the loss of their loved ones, either through battle or to the death camps. All they knew was suffering and grief.
He was given an extra blanket that night to ward off the chill, and given the state of the place, he probably had as good a lodging as anyone else there. Years of bitter struggle had left them with little.
Something awoke him that night, sounds of desperate voices yelling to get more weapons, to build up defensive barriers. Then came an explosion.
(Rsp)
There was a battle going on in the compound; explosions, sounds of screaming, people trying to give orders. The sounds grew nearer to the prison wing, and finally he heard the key in the lock. The door flew open and the woman who had asked him questions the day before was standing there, blood and soot on her face and clothes. "The Mags, the planetary defense, are here. They're killing everyone they see and this place is burning. You're free, fleeter. We won't leave you in here to die like an animal in the fire. It's everyone for themselves." Behind her, David could see others opening the rest of the cells, could see the light of the fire not too far away and smell the smoke. And then she was gone, probably to die fighting.
(Rsp)
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