Jerrod returned to release him after what felt like hours. Iyasu hung there in the dim basement with pain now throbbing in his wrists too. He couldn’t even think about anything that happened since he’s been kidnapped, his mind was too exhausted and his body too sore to focus on anything else. When Jerrod arrived to let him down he didn’t even have enough energy to walk. 

The large man caught his waist before he collapsed on the ground and grabbed his legs to lift him gently in his arms. Iyasu’s head rested on his chest, a tiny, pitiful whine left his mouth when the movement made his injury sting. Jerrod said nothing as usual but the sound did make him still for a second. He seemed to move at a slower pace so as to not jostle Iyasu too much as he climbed the stairs. 

It was mostly dark when they entered the hall with only artificial lamps leading the way to the antechamber. The house was quiet now and Iyasu realized he must’ve been hanging up in the basement for the whole day. His foggy mind tried to take in more of his surroundings but he couldn’t concentrate, he could only smell the scent of soothing cinnamon wafting off of Jerrod as he was carried outside. 

Iyasu began to drift off as Jerrod got further away from the prestigious courtyard and walked along a dirt road leading to a circle of tattered shelters. He saw a small woman standing on a rickety porch and staring at them with hard eyes as they approached. He couldn’t keep his eyes open any longer after that, finally succumbing to exhaustion.      

When he woke it was to the smell of food cooking and the sound of songbirds chirping in the distance. Iyasu groaned feeling like he got hit by a boulder when his body reminded him of his injuries. He was laying on a dirt floor with only a few dingy sheets separating his aching bones from the hard ground. He turned onto his back, clumsy and disoriented as he tried to sit up on shaking arms. It took some effort but eventually he was upright enough to look at his surroundings. He was in some type of shelter that looked mostly barren save for a basin in the corner and a stove that was being fed wood by an older woman. Her presence surprised him for some reason, besides the smell of food he didn’t even sense another person in the room. She looked back at him while stirring an old pot on the fire, her face weathered and expressionless. 

“Ya up I see. Good, I didn’t wanna hafta give you a rude awakenin’. Overseer Lester don’t usually like no one waking up afta the sun. Guess he took pity on ya.” She shrugged as she spooned some of the soup into a wooden bowl.

Iyasu could only close his eyes and shake his head to clear away the fog of confusion still floating in his head. He rubbed at his face to clear his vision and opened his eyes again to see the old woman handing him the bowl of food.

“Ah,” he said looking into her clouded brown eyes timidly. “Thank you.” He said taking the bowl and cradling it, it almost hurt to talk with how scratchy his throat was. He skimmed his surroundings nervously before speaking up again.

“Um miss, where am I?” 

“Rider Plantation.” She answered in a clipped tone that makes him look away from her.  

“No I-I mean, what Faction--” 

“Faction 1, now ya better eat quick. I was tol’ ta make sure you out the slave quarters by 8. I kept it warm so you need to eat quickly.” She crossed her arms looking out the entryway with a more nervous expression. Iyasu couldn’t help but notice that she had a burn scar on her face that almost took up the entire left side, it was painful to look at even if it was clearly an old wound. The woman caught his eyes as he studied her much to his embarrassment. 

“Stop starin’ an’ eat, son.” was all she said before leaving to stand on the porch, Iyasu could see glimpses of her tattered skirts through the cracks of the poorly built walls as she walked away.

He ate the food in a hurry noting that it was much more tasty than he expected by how unappetizing it looked at first. He finished his food in record time not wanting to get in any more shit than he was already in. He didn’t know who this Lester guy was but he was willing to bet the man wasn’t any more civilized than Roland. 

Iyasu struggled to stand but eventually did, surprised to find that he could limp over to the stove to put down his bowl on a small table. He still had a hard time wrapping his head around the fact that he was in Faction 1, it was an alien place he's only seen on TV before now. 

Afterwards they made their way to the fields in a few minutes, the heat from the sun made waves in the atmosphere as slaves worked the fields with empty expressions. 

“Overseer Lester, I got him up an’ ready now.” The old lady said as she gestured for him to go on into the field of crops. 

“Come on.” Lester said, prompting Iyasu to follow him. They walked to the other end of the field that was much less tended to. 

“Uyless, boy, come show em’ how it’s done.” Lester said to a boy who looked to only be a few years younger than Iyasu.

 “Yessir.” The boy replied, his dark eyes were full of surprise when Lester called him but he quickly moved over to Iyasu even with the heavy sack that weighed down his skinny body. Lester only studied them with stern eyes as he turned his horse in the other direction.

“I better see y’all workin’ in sync in the next few seconds. No fuckin’ around.” He called out as he trotted away on his horse.

“Yessir!” Uyless called back before turning his attention on Iyasu. His eyes held a pure and excited curiosity that could only be found in youth. 

“You Gin right?” The boy asked eagerly. 

“My name’s Iyasu.” Iyasu tried to keep the anger out of his tone from just hearing that name. 

“Oh okay, Iyasu, that's a funny name. I heard you came from the north is that true?” As the kid asked the question Iyasu could see the overseer looking their way. The scowl on the man's face spelt trouble. 

“Hey, it’s Uyless right? Not to rush you but weren’t you supposed to be showing me the ropes?” He tried to keep his voice calm but Lester was heading over and making his heart quicken. 

“Oh yessir, right away. Here let me show you how to pick the goods.” Uyless handed him a bag that was concealed behind his own before stooping down.

Iyasu hunched over to put his hands on his knees glancing up to meet eyes with Lester who was now not too far from them. Iyasu could feel a fat drop of sweat run down his face when he looked back down to watch Uyless pull apart a cotton plant with small nimble fingers. It didn’t look that difficult so Iyasu didn’t hesitate to bend down and pick apart a plant carefully, if only to distract himself from Lester’s presence. 

“You a natural at this!” Uyless exclaimed, marveling at the clean cotton bundle. The statement stung more like an insult than anything. 

Uyless began picking towards the outer part of the field, Iyasu followed suit but couldn’t help looking behind them again when he heard Lester’s horse began to follow. There was a deep distrust in the overseer's eyes when he looked at Iyasu. He tried to ignore the man and continue to pick at the plants below him but Lester began to speak. 

“I better not ever see you planting any ideas n’ anyone’s head.” His voice was low with ire. Iyasu tried to focus on the sight of his own hands working the field alongside Uyless's smaller ones. Lester’s presence came closer to him making him itch with a more nervous sweat. 

“Northern niggers like you are too damn uppity.” His voice rumbled behind them making Uyless and Iyasu glance at each other with equally wary looks. Lester continued to watch him like a hawk but he had to force himself to concentrate on the white fields in front of him. 

Iyasu continued the endless picking, almost going on autopilot after his bag was half full. He’s always been in good shape but the unyielding sun and weight of the bag was beginning to take its toll. He could feel the tips of his fingers becoming numb, his arms ached along with his leg that was already throbbing from his previous torture. He didn’t notice himself lagging behind Uyless until a whip swung into the air and bit into his back with a loud snap. A scream was ripped from his throat from the burning sting that emanated from his back, Uyless glanced back at him with a conflicted look but was too afraid to stop moving.

“Come on, get your lazy ass up and pick them flowers like you mean it.” There was a taunting tone to his voice. “You northern darkies aren’t too pampered to do real work.” 

Even through the pain Iyasu wanted to curse the man to oblivion. He peered up with anger in his eyes much to Lester’s amusement. Iyasu forced himself to look away and stand again on his unstable legs. He began to pick at the cotton again with trembling hands that didn’t want to work properly. Lester continued to hound him, if he stopped for anything Lester was there to lash at him with his whip. His cries weren’t even noticed by most of the other slaves though the younger ones would tense in fear at the sound.

At some point the pain was the only thing he could concentrate on. It was like his back was on fire and he could barely see the crops in front of him when he finally fell completely to the ground from the torment. Lester looked down on him with a satisfied sneer that told Iyasu he wasn’t done. In that moment Iyasu felt his instincts scream at him, a surge of adrenaline ran though him as he picked himself up again, but this time he ran. The fields were wide and seemingly endless with how much pain his body was in but his legs pressed forward desperately. 

“You little shit!” Lester yelled, gaining on him. 

He tried running faster when Lester caught up on his horse and grabbed a handful of his hair only to fall off his horse when Iyasu yanked on his outstretched arm. He landed on top of Iyasu and tried to pin him but Iyasu found the strength to punch the man square in the nose causing him to jerk away to cradle his face. Iyasu was ready to get up and run again when he felt a prick on his neck and then a jolt of electricity that made him stiffen in agony until he fell limp.

Lester finally got back up with a grunt before putting away a strange looking device and walking up to Iyasu’s crumbled form.

"Crazy fucker, I'd electrocute you to death if I could." Lester growled grabbing his leg and pulling him along the ground by his ankle. Iyasu stared up at him through his eyelashes and willed his numb body to move but it wouldn’t. He was dragged all the way back to the white mansion and through a backdoor that faced parallel to the barn area. He recognized the damp dungeon-like room but it was a different section of it. He was thrown into a much too small cage that sat next to empty ones. His already petite frame was forced to curl up in the claustrophobic space, the bars dug painfully into his tattered back.            

Iyasu was not sure how long he was there in that little cage shivering from the coldness that seeped through his thin clothes. As the hours turned to days his pain subsided a little and gave way to the hunger that was now clawing at him. He didn’t know when he last ate and he would only see water appear in his cage every now and again when he woke from troubled sleep. His joints were stiff from being in the same position for so long and he felt completely disoriented with the lack of daylight. He felt like they would leave him there forever, he would be trapped in darkness until he went insane.

As that thought passed a noise could be heard from the stairs. His wide eyes followed the noise as his heart began to pick up speed. A light was turned on revealing Roland’s presence. His thin lips were turned down in a dissatisfied frown as he looked at Iyasu.

“I knew it wasn’t a good idea to let you work the fields without properly training you but Lester convinced me. Should’ve known better than to listen to that power-hungry idiot.” He said before bending down to Iyasu’s height.

“I suppose the new collars were a good investment after all. At least your rebellious spirit is proving that.” A small smirk formed on his face as he took in Iyasu’s broken form. 

“I suppose you want to eat something.” Roland continued and Iyasu resisted the urge to react to the statement. He was beyond starving, his hunger pains were beginning to rival the wounds on his back, but he didn't want to show any vulnerability to Roland. Unfortunately he must’ve let something in his eyes show his true desperation as Roland was now looking more smug than usual.

“I must punish you first before you earn any food. You realize I can’t have any of my slaves acting out, it would ruin my reputation.”

Iyasu tensed when Roland moved to open the cage. Has he not endured enough for these sadistic people? He was so weak he couldn’t even resist when Roland pulled him out of the confined space and dragged him to the larger area where the furnace was. He was stripped naked and chained to the ceiling by his wrists, the tips of his toes were the only thing that touched the floor as his body dangled. 

A few minutes of silence went by until he suddenly felt a whip bite into his upper thighs. He tried to hold back his scream but it morphed into a shocked gasp. Roland pulled back his head violently by his hair, forcing him to look at the bloodlust in the alpha’s eyes. 

“I want you to count every lash, you hear me?” He ignored the terror on Iyasu’s face along with the small pleas that left his lips in a rush. “You better count them all the way up to 30 or you’ll get even more.” he let go of Iyasu’s hair and pulled back the whip again. 

Iyasu’s blood was cold with fear but that didn’t stop the searing pain that ignited once the whip hit his already injured back. Roland whipped him until clouds of blood sprayed into the open air, he tried his best to choke out the numbers as they grew. Eventually he was so delirious with pain he could barely form words, only making Roland whip him more viciously. By the time he got to 30 his whole back was screaming in unison with his upper thighs. Blood ran down his body in rivulets forming a crimson pool on the floor beneath him.

Iyasu shook violently as he leaned his weight on his numb wrists and tried to breath through the pain but his breaths came so short he couldn’t get much oxygen. Roland was panting heavily behind him from the efforts of his swings. He unhooked Iyasu letting him collapse into the pool of his own blood. He looked down at Iyasu with an expression that almost looked giddy as he took in his handiwork, his hair was wild and unkempt around his face. The expression frightened Iyasu even through all the physical torment his body was suffering, there was too much passion there, too much raw desire. 

Iyasu squeezed his eyes shut and began to sob.