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Dump Miner - Chapter Six
leO convinces mariA to apply for a child.
mariA leads a very woozy leO into the barracks, sits him down on his cot, and gets him some water in an old plastic cup. Familiar with its taste by now, leO drinks it and looks at mariA.
leO:
mariA?
mariA:
Yes, leO.
leO:
God has sent a message to me today.
mariA looks at him with a confused look; she has heard his rants in the past.
mariA:
What did he tell you?
leO:
The messenger told me that you where to bring the savior to us in the form of a child.
mariA stares at him in shock. She has heard him utter many nonsensical things in the past but nothing like this.
mariA:
leO, I am flattered that you would think that, but I am not with child, nor have I been approved to have a child. It is the fumes from the mines talking, not a messenger.
leO:
No mariA, you are to bring the savior to us!
mariA:
And who is this savior’s father?
leO:
The messenger said it was to be me.
mariA:
But you were a priest; you gave up your seed when you joined The Church.
leO:
We can always petition to have my sample sent from the state archive and you could be inseminated.
mariA:
This is ridiculous leO. I am not the mother of a savior. I am a dump miner.
leO:
The savior will born a common man, it is written that the meek will inherit the earth and we are the meek!
mariA:
leO, I do not know if bringing a child in to this world is a good thing.
leO:
Not a child, the savior. The messiah! You have no choice. You have been chosen by God, this is your destiny!
mariA:
leO, even if I did agree, getting approved for a child is highly unlikely.
leO:
If approved, then you agree that you will carry our savior?
mariA thinks to herself and reluctantly agrees.
mariA:
Yes leO, if approved, I will take this responsibility.
leO jumps up and runs around the room with excitement.
leO:
He is coming! He will smite all evil!
As the sun sets over the dumps ending another day, miners exit various caverns carved out of the sides of the heaping mounds of waste. leO bursts from the barracks into the facility’s common yard and forces his way through the crowd to the top of a mound of garbage yelling and screaming.
leO:
He is coming; don’t give up hope! He is coming to save us! Rejoice! Rejoice!
The sound is all too familiar to the camps residents; they have heard leO’s rants before. The miners stop and look at leO and then continue home from a hard day in the mines. A loud bang can be heard, leO knows what is coming, he crouches to his knees and a large net knocks him to the ground. The net tangles around him and throws his body to the ground. Four guards run to leO, unsheathe their nightsticks and beat him ferociously, leO just takes the abuse thinking, knowing, that they will be judged for their sins soon enough. His body bounces with each blow.
A whistle blows two sharp blasts and the guards stop their attack, pick up leO from the ground, and drag him into a facility vehicle. The guards drive the again bloodied leO to the Bishop’s office and throw him on the floor. The Bishop looks up from his desk, then to leO laying on the floor, then looks at the guards.
Bishop Lamb:
What did he do now?
Guard:
He was trying to incite a riot.
Bishop Lamb:
Thank you, I will take it from here, please wait outside until I call you.
The guards carelessly take the net off leO’s body, throws him back to the floor, then leave the room.
Bishop Lamb:
leO, why do you think that your actions are going to do anything but cause a false hope in your fellow dregs of humans? Have you forgotten what we were taught in seminary school?
leO:
He is coming; the truth will be revealed!
Bishop Lamb:
Who is coming?
leO:
The Savior!
Bishop Lamb:
Have you gone completely mad? Why would you say such a thing?
leO:
An angel came to me in a vision with word that a child will be born in the dumps and that child will bring truth!
Bishop Lamb:
Truth?
leO:
You can’t stop it! It will happen, the truth is coming!
Bishop Lamb:
The only truth is that you are the ones that keep yourselves here, you are the sediment that that will never amount to anything more than dirt.
leO:
The savior is coming! He will smite you!
Bishop Lamb:
Insanity is taking over your mind, leO. I thought you where stronger than that.
leO:
The savior is coming!
Bishop Lamb:
leO, only you can save yourself by accepting who you are and that you will always be just that, a dump miner. The Party offers the chance for you to better yourself, redemption for your sins, but you never try. Always waiting for someone else to make your life better. I have no idea what you are talking about with this savior business, but it obviously is making you upset.
leO (muffled and whimpering) :
He is coming.
Bishop Lamb:
leO, accept what is offered by The Party. This is your only salvation.
leO:
LIES!!!
Bishop Lamb:
Lies no, the truth, yes! Our Supreme Reagan Walker offers you the chance to better yourself; it is completely up to you. No one holds you here, if you don’t like it you are always free to leave.
leO:
That is not true! I believed that in the past, before my excommunication, but I know now that it is not true.
Bishop Lamb:
It is true.
leO:
Then why is the camp surrounded with barbed wire?
Bishop Lamb:
To protect you from the evils that wait outside.
leO:
Why must we survive by eating rats and scavenge like animals for scraps of food?
Bishop Lamb:
The vouchers you receive are enough to sustain you.
leO:
Why do you believe that man is supposed to live like this?
Bishop Lamb:
Not all man, just dump miners. Now get out of here, you sicken me.
Bishop Lamb pushes a button on his desk and the guards return.
Bishop Lamb:
Bring him back to the facility. I am done with him.
The guards take leO by the arms, drag him out of the office, and throw him into the compound. They turn and head back to return to the Bishop’s home. leO picks up his battered body and look back at the Bishop’s home and screams.
leO:
You cannot stop him from coming!
The guards turn and look at leO, leO stands defiant. One of the guards waives his hand in the air as to brush him off and they continue to their posts while leO continues his outburst.
leO:
He is coming
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