The Poetry Marathon

The woman made it to the mines in an unknown haste,

She carried on with her everyday scraping of the lichen growing on buildings

She quickly realized how she could harm someone with her tool,

She waited until the day dwindled from the sky

And the soldiers grew lazier,

She watched as one of them left the group walking along the outer rim of the mine’s ravine

In the blink of an eye, the blade met the soldier’s neck,

And she kept puncturing his neck as her energy allowed her

As he fell bloodied and dead, the woman took apart his armor and attached it to herself,

The woman believed that she could walk amongst the others as she wore the armor

But she forgot about the blood soaked into the polyester and cotton garments,

She did everything she could, from hiding the body to wiping off some of the grey blood

But as she walked towards the elevator towards the lower levels, she heard someone call out to her,

A guard had yelled at the woman but she didn’t understand what he was saying

It was only mumbling to her,

Fear clung to her chest, something she hadn’t felt in a long time

The woman inched her hand towards the pistol in the holster.

She unbuckled the holster, uncocked the pistol and fired at the incoming soldier,

In one fell swoop she had killed another one

More were coming her way and she had no time to waste,

Without hesitation the woman ran with determination and caution in her feet

Without thinking, she jumped off of the rim and into the grey waters below.

The world was void of color,

Except for the navy banners that glistened in the daylight,

Or the light blue outfits that the workers wore every day

Blue reigned superior amongst the Grey’s and the blacks,

But as the woman looked upon the staggering blue,

She did not see luxury

But behind the blue, a vicious controlling state.

As she touched her pale skin, it felt wrinkled and dry,

The woman realized how her back ached and her feet became sore as she walked about.

The woman began to realize how old she really was,

Long strands of white hair mixed with the black hair,

Soon it will all turn white

And grey as time went on becoming fully ashen

The mines were treacherous places,

Everyday a worker or two would loose their lives

And they were carried away never seen again

Stained air and polluted gases clouded the atmosphere

The workers were assigned to different tasks

Sut and cement were dug up from the war torn ground

Long plastic hoses were used to drain the flooded tunnels beneath

While the last of the workers including the woman chiseled off the lichen growing on buildings

For the first time in a long time,

The woman realized all these things

Her nose burned and so did her throat and eyes

As her mind slowly reappeared, so did the pain from exhaustion and tiredness

She felt disgusted by all these things, but she still determined to get out.

Rifles clanging to padded armor,

The screams of kidnapped people

The cries of burning victims,

The woman remembered how she lost her family

They were running in the streets of an unknown city,

Her mother was shot clean between the eyes

But she kept going as she held her brother’s hand

The soldiers picked him up like a plaything beating the woman in the process

And took her away in the blink of an eye

She didn’t know where they took her

But all she knew was that they intended to harm her,

The pulsating sounds of horns pierced her ear drums

And molested her cerebral

Everytime she cursed them, they sounded the horns again

They sounded the horns until her conscience seeped out of her mind

Until she couldn’t think anymore

Until she wasn’t herself no longer

The woman learned was stealth was,

The darkness was her Ally in escaping the soldiers at night,

She would flee to an abandoned building not far from the worker sleeping pods

It is also where she discovered fire and pain simultaneously

Rainer

The woman knew that she need a plan to escape but how?

Another thought came to her mind mysteriously

Beyond the worker pods were the mines in which she worked

Down below the mines were openings possibly leading out into the forest

She killed the newly found flame and departing into that terrifying night

Rainer,

The name called out to her

Like a perfect note played on a piano

The woman couldn’t remember where the name came from

It just came about within her mind

Rainer

She soon realized that she could think again

What was thinking?

She quickly became aware of her surroundings

The other workers in the same exact outfit of navy blue

The soldiers watching over the workers with rifles in hand

She looked around realized one last thing,

The woman had to get out of there.