The sun beat down on her reddened neck and back. The heat sizzled on her skin as it continued to burn and the earth felt dry and bumpy beneath her bare feet just like on her skin. She looked up for a moment at the forsaken sun, looking for any clouds that would offer some shade. Even the sky seemed to not give mercy or comfort.
Her shoulders felt heavy from the long days work on the plantation fields; almost as heavy as the shackles around her ankles. She groaned to herself and wiped the sweat pooling over her brows and pain shot up again from her back and hind thighs as she straighten herself from previously kneeling. There was no time to cry and even if she wanted to there was no tears left. They'd made sure of that.
She bent down, groaning again silently in pain, and picked up the basket filled with harvested cardamine crop and tossed in the last of what would fit into the basket. Even though it was relatively light, the weight of the long day had done it's part in weighing down the damned harvest. She struggled to pick it up and managed to pass the initial pain before finding a good position to hold it in; resting it on her head where she could keep it with less effort and without touching her painful skin.
The master's whistle blew and she could see the guards assembling nearby with their rifles on their backs and some of them having whips in their hands. She shuddered and cried inside with little whimpers escaping her lips as she stared directly at the tool used on her just days ago. The pain still didn't fully go away as it stung deep inside her flesh with every movement she took. Her few steps towards the guards felt like needles and her short strides, limited to her chains, were making it harder for her to make the pain less bearable.
[img float=left]http://i.imgur.com/ave72dd.jpg?2[/img] Above the tall orange cardamine plants heads showed from all directions she looked. On her far right was Alice with her basket on her back and a slouching, regretful expression throughout her body. On her far left she recognized Jane and Tom even farther. She looked ahead of her and she saw many others she recognized already with the Masters as they were lining them up and putting them on the gang while tossing the baskets in a truck. They'd make them march back to the barracks, she knew, and her body quaked with dread as she imagined another day of hurt and hunger back to her hay-pile for a bed and the cold touch of the night.
She looked down at her left shackle on her ankle after watching if anyone would notice. It was loose and fidgeting like she still expected. She'd noticed the damage was overlooked from the guards and had been slowly hitting it against rocks and stones. The pin had finally loosened and she could even be able to now slip it out. She looked up again and hesitated, though. An escape now would be her only opening, as she didn't have more binds on while working in the fields. Nevertheless, the escape would be costly if she'd succeed. The guards made clear of that a few weeks ago when another group escaped. The rest were punished and beaten, and she was one of the worst as she attempted to run though was caught. They'd kept her alive, but not by a lot, and she had to work again right after with no time to rest. If she were to fail again...
Another opportunity wouldn't be anytime soon, though. They'd check her irons and see they would need to be replaced. If she would miss this opportunity, there would probably not be another coming any time soon. With her reputation as a attempted escapee, they were already watching her more intently.
She swallowed past her dry throat and bit her lip. What would happen to the others? Would they try the same or watch her?
Another whistle broke her train of thought and she looked up to see she was one of the few still to be walking to the gathered group. She took another step while thinking...
And then she tripped.
Without thinking, she acted. Her basket lay now on the ground spilled all over and mixed with the dry dirt. They'd beat her for sure for it and not lightly either. Her hands went to her shackles and pulled on the pin as it slid with some effort out and released from her swollen leg. She ignored the pain there as she felt a burst of adrenaline and as quickly as she could she got up and darted in the other direction.
[img float=right]http://i.imgur.com/WyrrUDr.jpg?1[/img]She could hear shouts behind her but when she turned she could see others as well limping in a run in other directions. She noticed one of those being Alice but the three others she didn't have time to find out. In the distance and coming nearer was a forest and with all her might she darted through the tall orange fields towards it while ignoring the prickling of the plants and stones underneath her feet.
The sprint made her feel free and alive. Her long strides with her legs were relieving. She'd forgotten the feeling of this much freedom. Maybe this would be it... maybe...
She suddenly looked back as she heard gunshots. They were firing on them!? She looked and at the corner of her eye she saw Alice disappear under the fields. That was her that called her...
What had she done?
Fighting against her emotions she continued to run. There were shouts and gun shots fired and she darted from side to side like a prancing gazelle. She tried to balance the shackle that was flaying at the side of her leg though several times she felt a sharp sting against her thighs or feet. The pain felt sheering and she could feel something warm on her leg but she kept going.
Dogs barked in the distance. She knew they would call them out. The last time she tried to run it was the dogs that had found her up in a tree and with her chains still on. The forest in front of her was familiar to her... it was the glimmer of freedom in her eyes. She wouldn't stop now. She would run!
Dashing past one tree and another, she could hear the dog barking come nearer. She snagged and scratched against one twig and then another and she could feel pinching in her leg from perhaps a furn. Soon they'd be upon her, she thought. Soon she'd be caught. Soon she might be dead; shredded by teeth or by leather, or a bullet in the head.
She heaved and gasped for every breath. Her stamina was depleting fast but she pushed on farther. Every stride she took felt like the whippings all over again. Pain returned and she could feel as if every lash and ripped muscle come back to bite her again. Over a mound, under a branch, over a fallen log, she kept on going and running for her life.
As she jumped over another log, her chain snatched onto an extended branch and got stuck. She tripped again and fell down onto the ground in a hard thud. The sound of the dogs were fast approaching and ignoring all the pain she pulled together and tried to free herself as fast as she could.
"No... this can't.... this can't be happening.... Noo!"
With a pull and a snap, she broke free again, though as she looked up she could see the shuffle in the branches as the wild hunting beasts were now coming upon her. She half tripped again and broke into a run once more though this time ignoring the pain in her leg as the metal slapped her once... twice... and a third time on the legs. Twice again she half tripped and was saved by catching onto a tree.
She felt the air grow thick and her mouth run dry from exhaustion. She didn't even realize what was in front of her until it was too late.
Before she even realized, she'd started to fall down a steep drop into a ravine.
![[Image: UgD981z.jpg?1]](http://i.imgur.com/UgD981z.jpg?1)