Chapter Five

Chapter 5


“No. Absolutely not.”
Nicolas groaned as he shoved a cog into place, and let go of the leaver that held the other gears around it, out of the way. Once the lever slammed back in place, the surrounding cogs crashed together.
“Axel, she’s different. She’s not like the rest of them.” He knew it would do no good to try and convince his friend, but he still had to try.
Nico turned to his best mate and rubbed his work glove on his goggles to try and wipe the grime away.
Axel was taking a break from oiling the axels of the cogs.
He was hatless, unlike Nicolas, and his usually bright blond hair was now dulled with ash and dirt. He was taller than Nico by half a foot, and was a bit more muscular than he was.
At the moment he wore a harder scowl then usual, and was studying Nicolas.
“Nico, you do realize that her  society threw us down here right? You do realize that it was her  society that beats us and throws us in jail when we get caught wandering around up there right? And it’s her society that takes away our basic rights, right?! You do know all this don’t you Nicolas?!”
All Nico did was nod his head.
“Then why are we even having this conversation?”
Axel went back to oiling, laving Nico to think over his angry words
“Just because she was born into that society, doesn’t mean it’s who she is. Our society doesn’t define us Axel. It’s our thoughts and actions that define us.”
Axel kept quiet and went on working.
“Nicolas, you always do what you want. It’s always been up to me to keep you out of trouble. I am not going to  stop you, I never have before. I am not your mother. But I will say I don’t like it.”
Nico knew that he would have gone whether Axel agreed to him going or not. But it always gave him a piece of mind when Axel gave him his blessing. This wasn’t exactly a blessing, but it would have to do.

He glanced at the large clock that was built into the factory’s wall. It said five-thirty. The ‘end of the day’ horn blared through Factory One.
Axel and Nico put their loads down, and followed the stream of workers through the factory and out into what they called the Tunnels.
The tunnels weren’t the kind made out of rock, instead it was made out of massive sewage pipes that hadn’t been used in years.
It got almost unbearably loud as the crowd talked amongst themselves. Nicolas pulled his goggles off, and stuffed them in his coat pocket.
“So when are you going to do this?” Axel asked in a low voice.
“Nine o’clock tonight.”
“That soon?”
“Well I’m not the one who set up the meet okay.” Nico grunted.
Axel sighed and shook his head, keeping his mouth shut as they came out of the Tunnels and into a large “room”, known as the Common Ground.
It was large enough to put King’s Cross Station in it twice over. A hazy light seemed to reach almost every corner of the area. It’s origin coming from a massive power source, that was naturally fuelled by the coal the Junkies produced themselves.
The rooms in which families lived, where old pipes that poked out of every inch of the walls. Smaller, flat boards, long and thin connected the various different areas. They seemed to become a web if one looked strait up.
Upon these boards, people walked on getting to their small hole in the wall.

“I’ll have to cover for you I suppose.” Axel stated.
Nico nodded.
“You can’t have the boys knowing I’m going to see a girl, let alone a Waster.” He whispered back as the two rounded a corner, coming into an alcove of honeycombs  that had been set off to the side of the Common Ground.
Axel pulled his work gloves off before bringing his fingers to his mouth, letting out an ear piercing whistle.
As the tune bounced off the walls, several dirty, small faces popped out of the holes in the walls.
“Hey! Axel and Nico are back!” A voice ran gout.
Nico watched as Axel’s face relaxed when the children spilled out of the Tunnels.
 He always seemed to lighten up when the rest of the gang was around.
Before the two could even reach the Common Ground in middle of the alcove, hundreds of children, of various ages and both genders, surrounded them.

This particular alcove was only home to orphans. The orphans were taken care of by London officials. London paid the people in food and basic goods such as cloth, leather and such. Most were traded or bartered for when one needed a particular thing, the factories also gave certain products to the workers.
Because there was so many people, and so few supplies, the other families could not afford to take care of the orphans, so the responsibility fell on the shoulders of the officials.
This meant, however, there was hardly enough to go around to the large number of orphans.

“Did you bring anything back Nico?”
Nicolas looked down and smiled at the tiny face beaming hopefully up at him.
Nico knelt down and enveloped the little girl in a warm hug.
“Well it was a close call, but - hang on…” He moved the girl’s black hair away from ear.
“What’s this?”
He pulled his hand away, revealing a sweat.
The precious girl rain off giggling, warming Nico’s heart as he rose.
“It’s always the same old trick with you.” Axel muttered with a grin.
“At least it makes them happy.”
Axel nodded in agreement.
“Come on, lets see if Gran has something to eat, eh?”