Chapter List
Chapter One
The sun rose over the horizon slowly. Darkness still covered the farm that I had lived on for fourteen years. The morning dew still covered the leaves of the crops out in the fields. I had woken that morning wishing to hear the birds chirping, wishing to wake up with the smell of a freshly cooked breakfast waiting for me, and whishing to wonder what fun I would have that day. But like every morning before that one the only sounds I woke to were the sounds of the alarms going off to wake us. The only smells were that of a fire burning somewhere in the distance. The only thoughts were whether or not I would sleep soundly tonight, though I doubted it.
The lights were flicked on and I flinched and closed my eyes, momentarily blinded. I slowly opened them and let my eyes adjust to the bright light in the small barracks that housed eleven others and myself. Two men had entered the barracks, kicking the small beds of those who still slept. I sat up in my bed and looked around, wiping the sleep from my eyes. The barracks was a room about the size of a small house. The ceiling was caved in at some parts and most of what was left was slowly deteriorating. There was only one bathroom through a door in the back of the room that we all had to share. To others these living conditions would seem unsanitary and impossible to tolerate. To us it was home. The beds were aligned in three rows of four with two rows to walk through between them. I recognized everyone inside of the barracks, most of them having been there their entire lives. I looked to my left and watched as one of the men kicked the bed of a panther, his foot slipping on the edge and hitting the large cat in the ribs. I let out a small sigh as my friend shot up in his bed, trying to ignore the pain from the guards boot. I watched as the two continued past me to wake any others that were still asleep. I turned to the panther and spoke quietly to him.
�Damien, you alright?� I asked him. He lightly smiled at me.
�I�ll be fine. Thanks for asking though.� I smiled and looked at the men as they left. Many had already started to make their way towards the bathroom in the back. Damien got up and stretched. Though every one of us here were friends with one another, Damien was my closest friend. I had known him for as long as I can remember. He was seventeen, two years older then I was, and was one of the oldest at the slave farm. He had been sold when he was three to the owner of the farm. When he turned seven they removed his claws just like every other one of us who posed a threat. Everybody in here has a story to tell about how they ended up on the farm. In front of me stood a wolf, Terrance. Terrance was the same age as me, fifteen, but about a foot taller and more heavily built. He was captured and brought here when he was caught stealing food when he was seven, though he insists on telling everyone that he was brought here for killing a human. I looked across the room to Vincent, a jackal. Vincent was the youngest at the farm, only eleven, and had been here for only three years. Vincent was born free from slavery but his family was captured when he was eight. He was separated from his parents and sold off and brought here. I was very interested in hearing some of the stories he had to tell about when he was free. I would listen to him, taking in every word when he would tell of life being free. I listened because I didn�t know what it was like. My fox parents were slaves in Ireland when they had me. They had run away from the farm they lived in and traveled here to England before they were finally captured and killed. I was sold as a baby when I was two and brought here. I have nothing to remember them by, no memories of them to visit in the night, nothing that I could hold in their memory. They died for me, trying to get away from slavery only to run into more.
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