Lord of Rats

He awoke the next day, and immediately regretted getting up from his position. All of his body ached, and he barely could get up. But then he noticed the clock in the square read -21.4. He had about six minutes to get to work, or else suffer the consequences of being late - being fired. This was the only job he had ever held, and he intended to keep it.

The man ran down the street to his house to pick up his coat, and ran the whole 4.5-3 miles to work. He barely made it in time to punch his card in. He puffed in to the warehouse, where the boss pointed out that he was to work with his rival. The man ground his teeth, but took it in stride, since he didn’t have a choice. The boss then pointed out the items they were to load. His finger pointed to almost 300 titanium pipes, of sizes varying from 3 feet long to almost 30 feet. The man almost visibly sagged defeat, for his back ached horribly that day, and he did not believe he could manage to lift all those pipes in one day. But that was what his job required of him, and he certainly would not show one bit of weakness to his rival. Almost half an hour went by as they worked, and they did not say a single word to each other. After an hour they took a break for lunch.

Since this man did not have anything to eat, his rival came over to him and offered him some of his food. The man refused, determined that he would never let his rival see any sign of weakness out of him. Secretly, though, one of his friends, a shorter man, slipped him some food, that he went outside to eat with the pretense of having to go outside to smoke.

The rival ducked back inside the building, shaking his head sadly, as he went back to work with the man. He was sure that the man was doomed, both spiritually and mentally. He shook his head again and slipped quickly back inside before he was spotted.

The man looked around, spotted his rival, and they quickly set back to work. His back ached horribly, but he had to continue on, because he knew that his rival would continue on as well. They had gone through almost half of the stack, when his back almost gave out. His rival saw this, and asked if he wanted to take a break, with something that looked like genuine concern in his eyes. But then the man’s eyes narrowed, and he thought to himself that the man was just trying to get him fired again. He coldly refused his rival’s offer.

Over his shoulder, he heard the overseer shout, "No slacking, even for sons of lords!!!" and the tall man despaired, for once he had been the son of the Duke of Los Angeles, before his father had died and he had been placed in the High Asylum. The man sat despairing for a moment, but then got up, remembering that his rival was watching. They had one more pipe left to carry to the truck, and it was the longest. They both picked up their ends, but the tall man sagged under the weight, and his shorter rival immediately called out, obviously concerned, to ask if he needed help. The tall man grunted, "No", and they continued working. But as they lifted the pipe into the back of the truck, his back buckled.

His back broken, the man struggled to rise, to continue to work, but collapsed. All the men around stared in shock. His small friend cried out in despair and started weeping. The tall man’s rival moved towards him and looked him over. The tall man nodded up at him, and his rival pulled out his one-edged knife and sliced the tall man’s jugular vein. The tall man sighed as he died, and the carrion eaters gathered round him. The rival’s eyes narrowed, and he spat, "He is lord of nothing but dust and rats now."