Cave of Shadows

Remember You Will Die

Chapter 3- Connor’s POV

We were all hauled off the truck and were then immediately chained to one another at our ankles and wrists in a line.  From where we were standing, I could see that about a mile down the path we were standing on stood a huge facility, bigger than anything I had ever seen in my life.  We had arrived at the prisoners’ entrance to the Circuses.

Once we were all chained up, a woman came forward and surveyed us.  She was dressed in what I recognized as the robes of a Circuses official, but hers, unlike the normal plain white jumpsuits the circuses officials normally wore, had long, red stripes going down the sleeves.  She smirked at us as she spoke.

“Good morning, prisoners, and welcome to my humble circuses.  I am your ringmaster, and as such, my job is to make sure that your time here is as torturous and painful as possible.  Some of you may have scruples about being here.  I understand.  Allow me to clear things up.”

She stepped forward and looked us each individually in the eyes, one by one.

“No one, I repeat, no one, has ever survived the Circuses.  Once you enter, you are guaranteed a slow, sadistic, and unequivocally torturous death.  Put simply, you are all going to die here.  And the uncorrupt citizens, those who have not strayed from the path, well, they’re all going to watch.”

A man a few yards away from me, about 35 or 40 years old, suddenly burst into tears.  The Ringmaster walked over to him and lifted his chin up so that he was looking straight at her.  She smiled at him, almost kindly, but if you looked into her eyes, it was clear she was a master sadist.  She bent down and kissed his cheek, and brushed away the single tear still clinging to his face.

“Don’t cry.  It’s a sign of weakness,” she whispered.  Then, she turned to her guards.  “Officials, unchain this man from the others, and chain him to that pole over there,” she barked.

The officials did as she said without question, and took the man over to the big metal pole on the side of the road, the man begging for mercy all the way.

“Sorry, but weakness will get you killed in this place, and I simply can’t pass up the opportunity for a little demonstration.  So here’s what’s gonna happen.  My officials are gonna chain you up here, and then, we’re going into the Circuses with the rest of these maggots, and we’re leaving you out here.  I’d give you a couple of weeks before you finally slip away mercifully into death, but in the meantime, you can bet that you’ll have starvation, dehydration, and a full bladder with no where to release it into to contend with, to say nothing of the wild animals that might show up while you stand here and wait to die.  Oh, and let’s not forget, this pole, along with your chains, are made of metal, so I’d be expecting some pretty bad burns.”

The terror that she was instilling in the man was evident.  She took no notice of this, and grinned gleefully at him as her men finished hoisting him up and securing the chains so that he was forced into a standing position.

“You can just dismiss any ideas you may be clinging to about some charitable soul coming to your rescue, because nobody will.  You’re gonna die here, maggot, and you’re gonna die alone.”

She then whispered something in his ear that none of us could hear, but it must have been pretty awful, because the man then proceeded to wet his pants.  She seemed satisfied by this display of cowardice and fear, and without so much as another glance in his direction, she stalked away from him, and back to us.

“Well, maggots, I hope you have a lovely time at the Circuses.  May your stay be long, your bellies empty, and your hearts void of hope.  Forward March,” she barked, and we immediately started moving forward at a walking pace. 

Rachel was chained behind me, so I couldn’t see if she was alright.  However, I could hear that her steps were even, and her breathing was normal, so I didn’t have any reason for immediate concern.  Of course, I’m not really sure what the minimal reason for immediate concern is for an injured, physically violated pregnant girl walking towards a death camp.

Pretty soon, we were close enough that we could see an awning in front of the entrance, an entrance that we hadn’t been able to see previously because we were too far away.  As the group reached the awning, we were stopped, and one by one, our numbers were checked by an official.  The awning was made of thin metal pipes, and while the sun was bouncing off of them, I could just make out that it had letters on it.  After a minute or two, the sun and I had moved, and I was able to see that the letters spelled out the words Memento Mori in twisted, cruel letters.  I had heard that phrase before, because my father used to say it all the time, when he was in a dark mood.  That was pretty much all of the time though.  The man at the awning was checking my number, and writing it into something I had no word for… but I had seen it before.  Something I shouldn’t know, but my father had kept hidden… under a floorboard.

And suddenly, the object had a name.

Books weren’t even officially in existence anymore.  The last book on record was burned, along with all of the others, after the Rebirth.  It was decided by the founders of the Colony that books as a group had a negative connotation, due to the fact that they had been known to make people sad because of their subject matter.  Some of them escaped the fires, though, and my father possessed one of those miracles.  It was a book called Latin For The Novice, and my father and I spent hours poring over it.  He taught me everything I know about the language, but I had to keep it a secret, because if anyone knew that I knew, we would both be dead.  So, I never spoke of it, and gradually, the knowledge left me.

 I guess that’s why only then did I remember that Memento Mori means ‘Remember You Will Die’.

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Author's Note

Here's another chapter.  This is going to be the last one for a few days because, unfortunately, I have some business to take care of offline that can't wait.  There's also the reality of this book only being half finished, and while 14 chapters makes up alot of pages on microsoft, they don't last very long if you update 3 times in 2 days. 

This chapter is dedicated to LyriceMusicNote for making my amazing cover.  She's extremely talented, both in the cover making and writing departments.  Her current ongoing story is called "Princess Lydia", and it's pretty good.  You should really check it out!

Thanks for reading, and don't forget to vote, comment and fan!