Cold air still lingers even though the sun is already set high on the horizon, warming up the earth with the help of the clear sky above. 

The freezing air doesn't seem to bother the activity of people in town as the smoke soared through the air from the house cooking nearby. The same thing happened in the city market crowded with people selling all kinds of stuff. 

A peaceful life masking the harsh reality behind it.

Something that makes Zack scowl all the way cruising the busy streets.

The reason is simple, people have thrown away their old selves and are oblivious to it.

More than a decade ago, the earth became inhabitable and turned into a harsh place. Half of the population was wiped out in an instant. The remaining people have been living in colonies, confined in the cities with large walls surrounding them and giant transparent domes covering high above.

Inside those walls, people thrive, rebuilding what they have lost in the past decade and eventually making a proper living place as they used to be. The colony has everything they need to prosper throughout the years, thus making people feel like their previous life has been brought back entirely.

The colony itself consists of two layers of walls. Separating two main parts of the colony, the capital, and the suburbs area. Each of the suburban areas is further divided into four districts.

The colony itself is at the bottom of a valley, with the north and east districts directly coming across with Siberian Mountain range, dyed in crimson at this time of the year.

In the west district lies a huge lake that some part of it is included inside the area of the colony, supporting most of the townspeople’s water needs.

Meanwhile, there’s only flat grassland outside the north district’s wall, a suitable terrain to accommodate people. They got almost everything to live sufficiently inside the colony in the middle of nowhere.

Everything except one thing was never given back.

Every time it crosses his mind, he feels like his gut is about to throw up just by remembering it. Knowing how this world was only made Zack feel annoyed. What’s more, the fact of how ignorant people around him are of the world they live in is the worst of all.

The noise of vehicles passing by, the voice of people arguing, the laughter of careless children running around the streets, and the joy of a housewife being with her family, is the peaceful lives that Zack never used to.

At least inside these suffocating walls, with those who seem to be enjoying their lives without the slightest care.

BEEP! BEEP!

The loud noises attract people’s attention from their buzzing business on the roads all of a sudden.

In the middle of the crowded streets filled with many people, a huge group of trucks is seen to be coming from the gate of the outermost wall. Like a convoy of ships, cutting through the ocean of humans.

“Outta the way!”

“Move it, Rats!”

“Make a way, slow ass!!”

“Hurry up or I’ll kill you, bastards!”

People quickly move around and make a path out from the crowded streets. Before long, the sight has become chaos.

Besides the trucks, armored vehicles as well as personnel were deployed to maintain the process of the supply transfer. They make a fine line along the sidewalk filled with citizens.

Several men among the crowds are pushed back forcefully by them to make a clear path and control the situation. Some of them don’t even hesitate to hit civilians that considered slowing down the transfer process. Mercilessly beating them altogether.

“Move your ass, brat!”

Out of the blue, one of the officers swings his baton at him. Somehow Zack was able to dodge it at the nick of time the moment he came back from zoning out. Without realizing it, Zack already stands too close to the street.

“Oh, you are sure a quick fella, huh? You thi- Hmph?!“

In a single move, Zack grabs the officer’s arm before he lands another strike, tackles his leg, and pushes his body onto the ground with full power out of reflex. Landing with nape first.

“Ack!”

“Stop makin’ a scene, will ya?”

It doesn’t take long for him to realize that he has drawn the attention of people around, Zack decides to quickly walk away while covering his face with the hood, leaving the unconscious guard behind.

The crowd gathers along the streets, and seeing convoys of supply trucks is such a miracle as if the messiah himself has descended upon them. The long-awaited aid has finally come.

With everyone’s eyes glued to the main attraction in front, Zack can freely breathe again after knowing that no suspicion or officers are tailing him after what happened earlier.

Yet soon after, a ruckus is stirring up from the crowds surrounding him upon seeing the convoy take an unexpected turn at the crossroad. Heading to someplace in the opposite direction of the center of the town.

Some people even try to ask the guards. Instead, they get another hit from them, and a small brawl between the two groups is unavoidable.

Zack tries to ignore his surrounding to see where the convoy will lead them to. In the end, like a battalion of refugees, they stop going further the moment they don’t hear the engine sounds anymore A cloud of dust covers the whole view of the place when those trucks stop one by one.

They can hardly see what’s going on in front of them. Completely blocked. Slowly, the sight before their eyes is uncovered. The second the dust clears up, everyone is at a loss for words at what they’ve seen.

A vast barren wasteland stretches from the horizon with an enormous crater gaping widely underneath a gigantic building of the same size.

From afar, like tiny ants crawling on the rock, giant loader trucks filled with goods slowly climb up a winding path around the crater.

No one can imagine the scale of it, as well as the building standing intimidatingly in front of them, with a lifeless look carved in their eyes.

The only thing that separates them from the monstrosity of the crater, is the tall black fence surrounding the entire area, acting as the enclosure. Tracing their gaze back to the entrance, a wording is etched firmly high above the sturdy gate in front.

шахта смерти
(Shakhta Smerti)

There’s no single person inside these walls except knowing that this is where unfortunate souls throughout the colony are bound to end up. Even the authority isn’t trying to deny the fact of what happened inside, nor how people will see it.

That sole purpose is the reason why the place is called by such a name, 

The Mine of The Death.