Hi, I'm back! Hopefully the internet will stay functional, my Dad finally got ahold of a helpful person lol. XD I've got a lot to get caught up on haha! I'll try and get all caught up tonight. :) (I also have some art I keep forgetting to post 😆)

BUT here you go, the saddest chapter so far. :(

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Weezie stood in her place in line among the other captives, hugging her arms to herself and feeling hopelessly lonely. They had been gathered into a long shanty built from rough cut wooden planks, its walls reaching up to a sagging roof that seemed only barely held up against the harsh mountain weather. The building groaned and creaked as the bitter wind outdoors found every crack in the flimsy walls and whistled its way through, chilling the pitiful rabbits who were used to the gentle weather of the southern woods.

She noticed a few rabbits coming and going through the hall about various tasks and assumed they must be slaves who had been taken captive earlier. She grimaced a little to see they weren't any more well dressed for the weather than the newcomers from the Great Wood were.

Captain Jert had spent the last half hour listing the rules and expectations for life here in the Red Bleaks, but Weezie’s mind kept wandering to other thoughts. She didn’t really care anymore. There really was no reason to care, if she had no one to care for anymore. She felt numb and empty inside, like a part of her had fallen asleep, or even died. She stood there, as hollow-eyed and hopeless as the rabbits around her. “This is Officer Knel. He will go down the line and give you instructions of where you will report for work. Once everyone has been assigned you will go as a group to meet with your direct supervisor. These rules I have told you will apply to all departments, repercussions will follow for any disobedience to these commands.” Captain Jert nodded to another brown buck in uniform who stepped up next to him. “Thank you, sir,” Knel said with a slight bow. He then began walking down the line, hardly glancing at the rabbit in front of him as he read off a sheet of paper. He told each rabbit where they were assigned to work, then gave them directions to where they were to stand and who they were to follow to the next location. Weezie realized she hadn’t really heard any of the rules Captain Jert had outlined, but she reminded herself that she didn’t care.

Knel finished the line ahead of Weezie and began working towards her, coldly assigning each rabbit their future. It struck Weezie as so wrong. There was no respect for life here, no consideration of the individual, what they would work best at or be capable of doing. The way they would spend their lives was forced upon them at the random command of a rabbit who could barely be bothered to speak their full name. But just as the fire awoke in her again, she quieted it down. We're just slaves, this is the way things are, and they can never be any different. She reminded herself. You don’t care Weezie, nothing matters anymore. “Louise...” Knel said, reaching her place in line. He gave a quick glance over her then continued in the most bored tone of voice Weezie had ever heard, “Coal mines. Camp Three. Go stand by the western window and wait for Officer Ortwel.” He gave a vague gesture with his free hand and continued on to the next rabbit, as blandly impersonal as before. And just like that, in the space of those few seconds, the rest of Weezie’s life had been determined for her. The only way it could change would be from death or injury, she thought mournfully to herself, walking in the direction he had gestured. I could have been assigned to the gardens, where I might be an actual help, me being a farmer and all but no, I’m a miner now. What kind of work does he even expect me to be able to do? She wasn’t entirely sure which group she was supposed to be in, so she stepped up to one of the more alert bucks, whispering, “I was sent to the western window, are you waiting for Officer Ortwel?” The buck seemed alarmed to be spoken to, but nodded his head in answer. “Thanks,” she mumbled, settling into the group to wait.

Once all of the slaves had been assigned, Officer Knel adjusted the papers on his clipboard and stood erect, looking over the various crowds of uncertain rabbits. “Stay where you are until the expected personnel come to escort you to your places. Do not wander off and do not make excessive noise.” He gave them all one more swooping glare, then marched to the smallest group, speaking to them briefly and exiting the hut with those rabbits in tow. Captain Jert stood off to the side of the door, watching the rabbits with the predatorial glare of a falcon that looked utterly unsettling on a rabbit’s face. They didn’t have long to wait before a large, burly grey buck clomped into the room. His uniform was filthy, with a long leather whip coiled up against his belt and a rapier at his side. He spoke briefly to Captain Jert who nodded and called for Weezie’s group to step forward. They all moved together, a sinking feeling of despair at the sight of their assigned commander. He looked them over, a disgusted sneer distorting his features. “Ugh,” he said, addressing the shorter Captain next to him. “This is really the best they had for me this time, eh? Half of them are stinkin’ does.” Weezie’s fire flickered, but she silenced it. She didn’t care what he said- what he thought. It didn’t matter. Jert shrugged. “Doesn’t really matter, you said you wanted more hands.”

Ortwel rolled his eyes with a grunt then addressed the crowd with a jerk of his head. “Follow me and mind you don’t lag.” His filthy hand fingered the whip at his waist as he turned and walked briskly out of the shed. Weezie and the others quickly followed, a few of the shorter rabbits jogging to keep up.

They marched across the place the carts sat empty, slipping on loose stones as the open sky peered down at them, grey clouds racing across its surface in the sharp wind. A gravel paved cart-road broke away from the plateau, winding its way through the pines and around giant weather-eaten rocks that reared their massive heads out of the dirt. This was the path Officer Ortwel led the rabbits down, throwing a glare over his shoulder every so often to ensure the slaves were still following close behind. Weezie took in the surrounding landscape with numb indifference, or at least an attempt at indifference. It was hard for her to keep her gaze from wandering over the strange new landscape. She had never seen hills so steep, rocks so tall, forming gaping caves and crumbling away down the slopes. It might have been beautiful here at some point, but there were so many places where the trees had been hewn down- their stumps sticking jaggedly out of the earth, rocks blown to pieces and the earth left shockingly bare. Most of the ground they walked past was dry and cracked- wholly unsuitable for gardening of any type, but there were a few places where the pine needles fell thick and she guessed there was some good loam beneath that might yield a decent cabbage head or two, but again she reminded herself that she didn’t care. She was a miner now not a farmer. She looked down at her feet and watched herself take each step. She hurt so bad; not in her body but in her mind and heart. A consuming, heavy ache that seemed to be eating away at her. She wanted so badly to stop caring and let all the sorrow wash over her like a stone on the river’s edge, untouched and unmoved by the circumstances, but it was such a struggle to give in when it all felt so wrong. It is what it is. She chided herself, watching her grey toes step over rough stones. And there’s nothing I can do about it, so I may as well just accept it. Her face set and determined, she marched with the other slaves along the scarred mountain path.

Camp Three was even less impressive than Weezie had expected it to be. The massive trees had been cleared away, some of them just thrown over the side of a nearby ravine where they lay on the bottom of the lake like rotting ghosts of their past selves. The ground of the camp had been leveled just barely enough for the flimsy huts to be able to stand upright, but was still ridiculously uneven, with rises and ditches and potholes full of rotting leaves scattered throughout. Tall, ancient pines stood around on all sides, guarding the stony paths that wound off in all directions with their deep, foreboding shadows. Like the plateau they had started from, the sky was unobscured over the top of the camp, likely- Weezie realized with a sickening jolt- for easier Preylord access.

She hated it. Hated how the shanties creaked and groaned in the wind as they marched past. Hated how the weeds seemed to be choking their lives out from the dry rock. Hated how the sky seemed to glare down on her. Hated the rabbits who would turn on their own kind like this, enslave and abuse them for their own gain. She wanted to hate them. She wanted to fight back. To act out against their rules, against the idea they had any control over her. They had taken away everything she had ever loved, and she was so tired. She wanted to not care anymore about anything. She didn't really know what she wanted or how to sort out the boiling cauldron of emotions inside her. All she knew for certain was that she wanted to be home again with her mother and sister.

They entered another large building much like the one from earlier, splintered boards barely holding together to form drafty walls and a sagging ceiling. Officer Ortwel lined them all up to where he could see them, and marched back and forth in front, fingering his whip the entire time as he spoke. “This is Camp Three. There will be other Drivers you must answer to, but I am the Head here. You will do exactly as you are told or face the consequences, so you better learn the rules right quick, and if I hear any complaints-” he stopped in front of one very frightened young buck- younger even than Weezie was- and glowered down into his face. “No- no, sir,” the buck said, shrinking under his gaze. Ortwel struck him across the face, sending him flailing into the rabbit next to him with an alarmed cry. “Don’t speak unless spoken to,” Ortwel straightened with a sniff.

“Bucks, you will be assigned to the mines. If you don’t know how to use a pickaxe now you’re gonna learn how to use one pretty quick. Does,” he paused, looking over the crowd with obvious disgust. “A few of you will go to the kitchen, but you can expect to find yourself going to the mines as well. I don’t care if you’re ‘not built for it’,” he said with a taunting whine to his voice. “You’re here to work, and you’re going to work at whatever I tell you to. You will be given your rations for the day, then you will begin orientation for your new job.” He pointed to the long tables and benches set up in the space behind them. “Sit.” The rabbits obeyed, climbing into their seats and not at all enjoying the fact that their backs were now to the surly commander.

An ash furred doe with one eye swollen shut scurried into the room at the call of the Officer and began handing out packages of food to the seated rabbits from her bunched apron.

"Save the cloth," she said quietly every so often to ensure everyone heard the instructions. "This is your entire ration until supper tonight."

Weezie accepted her parcel gratefully, just glad they planned to feed them at all before setting them to work. She unwrapped the coarse fabric which held a slice of dry bread and a baked potato. Her stomach rumbled loudly as she very quickly set to work on the potato. It was still vaguely warm in her chilled hands, which was another little blessing she had not expected. Once finished it hardly seemed to make a dent in her appetite, but as she picked up the slice of bread she decided it would be wise to save it for later. Just in case. She folded the cloth carefully around the precious morsel and stuffed it into the pocket of her dress. The dusty blue fabric still held the stain from before, now dried to an ugly brown. The color would never come out, Weezie knew that, but it seemed so strange how quickly Percy had entered her life and exited it again, leaving nothing behind but his dried blood on her skirt. The wave of loneliness swept over her again, and even though her belly was slightly less empty, nothing could fill the emptiness in her heart as she looked around the table of unfamiliar, frightened faces.