Welcome to Hell {Prinxiety}

Chapter 8

Virgil's POV

I go into the man made, or rather child made cave system and I immediately remember why I hated this place so much. A bunch of kids, many younger than me, are tirelessly working while men with flintlocks and swords watched lazily. Because of my guard escort, none of the other adults spared me so much as a glance as he shoves me inside. I take a spot further back, not wanting to be near another guard for as long as possible. From here I can see almost everyone, but I scan the lowered faces for a specific, sassy one that can't avoid trouble for long. I soon spot the copper waves that make up Roman's hair, and get a glimpse of his face that confirms it's him. I can't exactly grab him now, and any one of these random kids could be huge snitches so I'll have to wait until lunch at the very least. In the meantime I start digging before I get yelled at for slacking.

It's only been three months since I was doing this back-breaking labor and my god it is worse than I remember. Seriously I don't remember it being this hard, and I was seven when I started doing this trash! That or a little bit of doing almost no physical activity, at least not nearly this much, really wore down what strength I did have. It seems Roman's whiny attitude rubbed off onto me though, but he was always stronger than me so he shouldn't be able to complain.

After an hour or two of getting nowhere, the guards announce that it's time for lunch. I allow a few kids to pass by while I try and find Roman in the small crowd. Of course, he's already leaving so it looks like I'm gonna have to wait. I can at least try and figure out a new escape route since that'll probably come in handy since I'm not trying to get us both caught. I guess I could try to open up a new exit while digging, but I'd probably get caught doing that. Roman's always been the creative one not me, which is why I need him to make an escape plan. God dammit why does he have to be so freaking blind?! We probably wouldn't have been able to plan anything at lunch without someone snitching or getting suspicious, but even knowing that he was working on a plan would be reassuring enough.

Instead, I was stuck trying to catch his eye from across the room since moving was a risk I wasn't willing to take just to talk to him an hour or so earlier. Instead of sitting around a table to eat, we were given very breakable trays and sat down on the ground in order of when you got there. It's probably to make it harder for us to plot against them or something since hungry kids aren't afraid to push for a good place in line. You had to give the guys running this place credit for trying to keep us in line, slight emphasis on trying. Apparently they couldn't perform a simple head count and realize they had an extra kid or rather, that they were short one kid a few months ago so they sometimes do a good job. I could at least be grateful that they didn't notice an extra kid was here, so far anyway.

I eat a spoonful of the gray substance that they call soup, and it tastes even worse than I remember. Almost three full months of Patton's amazing cooking had seriously raised my standards, and I can now say with complete certainty that this barely counts as food. I'm gonna have to get used to it though since I might be here for a few days and an omega generation kid getting food poisoning would definitely raise some suspicions.

I choke down the rest of the thick substance, knowing that I won't get anything better for the entire time I'm here. Only minutes after my stomach has stopped trying to force the tasteless soup back out, the guards call out that lunch is over. We're all quickly ushered out of the room, whether or not we've finished eating, and are told to get back to work.

Roman takes up a spot near the entrance that's practically out of sight, and I see my chance. As covertly as possible, I pull him a bit further back, "Oh thank god I was able to talk to you, now we can figure out how to get out of here!" I whisper excitedly, hoping that the sounds of metal striking rock can cover up our conversation.

"What?" He asks, looking all kinds of confused.

"Now that I'm here we can work on a new escape route since I'm pretty sure the old one was blocked up," I restate, trying to talk slow enough to be understood.

"Escape?" He takes a small step back, looking warily at me as his eyes seem to visibly darken.

I laugh awkwardly, trying to figure out what's going on. Is he just shocked at seeing me? Because it feels like it's more than that, much more, "Well yeah, are you okay Ro? You look a bit pale there."

"I'm fine," He mumbles blankly, "Causca endalis!" He shouts in perfect Endrean, loud enough for the guards to hear clearly. And wait, when did he learn Endrean? I could've sworn he said before that he only knew Kahi... A couple guards come running over, looking between the two of us, "Airin des enduro, respado," He tells them, and they immediately grab me.

"What? Roman?!" I ask as they drag me away, wondering what the heck he could have said to them and why.

The two roughly lead me down a terrifyingly familiar hallway where traumatic memories were made. This was where almost every one of us was punished at some point, whether it be by whipping or just being left in a pitch black room with no food for a day. I don't even fight, knowing it'll only make things worse, and instead wonder what just happened. No matter which way I look at it, the answer remains the same;

Roman sold me out. 

A/N: I would say I'm sorry, but I'm not >:) To be fair if I hadn't done this the book would only be like 12 chapters long