The wind and its wisp of current moved the falling leaves. I could feel the breeze that lay on my face. I had no clue how long I was out for.
"Damn, the people in this world are so mean… I just hope this day is not as bad as my first job."
Thinking back on Earth, my first job was a pizza deliverer for a small pizza shop. Now, in this world, I am a woodcutter. How laughable.
Getting to my feet, I could see the clouds had covered my sight of the sun. Now it had moved enough for the light to beam in all directions in my vicinity. I knew that I still had time. I still had time to find as many trees as possible. I remembered Will saying during our walk that we only get about four hours to scout and bleed as many trees as possible. Sometimes one can get lucky and bleed three or four, but the average is around two or one. That isn't because of how few trees there are, but because of how wide the area is and how long it takes to travel back to empty out the given buckets one must carry — at least a mile and a half.
It took me more than a minute or two to find my backpack, the one strapped to the large bucket that would be with me for a while. This damn thing was hard to get on — the straps were not adjustable at all!
Walking down the dirt road already made for travel, I could still hear the trackers cutting down the trees. Bang! One tree fell. "Three more," I thought, before we would all help load and separate the pieces.
The trackers would cut them, then the trees would be cut once more, allowing them to be in pieces. Then a large truck would come over to take them. After that, the child workers…
I thought "child workers" seemed right. We would go to the barn with the trucks before they got ground up. There was another machine that split them in fours. Our job was to look at more than 100 wooden slabs, checking whether they were good to be used or set aside for something else. Some wooden slabs were for planting farmers' fields and creating a flatter ground, while others were good for decorating homes. The blood was used for pharmacy ingredients…
The dragon tree was a very valuable thing. So valuable that many farmers would grow them. They get these injections…
I don't remember the name, but Will went on about it. Now that I think about it, it doesn't matter. These trees were dying and being used as my source of food. I looked at them, seeing how they got some kind of steroid shot that allowed their time of growth to decrease, and they grew 50 feet tall to serve my future.
…
"Let's go! I found one I can take for myself." Taking off the backpack, my heart jumped. For a moment, I thought I had forgotten to get the needle, but I remembered I had put it in my pocket. Though the size of a fist, it was small enough to allow the bleeding of the tree.
Puncturing the tree in the right spot, I remembered how Will used it. Understanding how it worked, I pulled the lever to expand the amount of fluid that would come out of the tree.
Once that was done, I moved the bucket under where the needle was. There was a plastic straw attached to the bucket that I could connect to the punctured hole. Soon, I watched as the bleeding of the tree expanded downward into my bucket.
What seemed to be around an hour of work me watching the thick fluid of the tree fall into the bucket and onto my back seemed so simple… until I put on the backpack strap that connected to it all.
At first, I thought I would not be able to get this damn thing to move, but my persistence and the angle at which I got it on saved me. I tried to lean not too far back, believing fully that I would fall because of the weight of the tree's fluid.
I started to take each step as if the force of a planet was on my back. This shit was too much. I knew I had to keep moving, but deep down… I didn't want to.
I thought about all the good shit I could get — a piece of grain bread, maybe some water. I had been using a fountain for too long. Last night before going to bed, I used the that was free for everyone. I knew damn well that was dirty water!
I had no sense of the time, but it took me more than an hour to get back. To my luck, everyone was already there. I was the last person. They all waited.
"Now now, look who showed up!!" Jack said, knowing full well I had no clue when I was supposed to. Maybe he did, but he didn't tell me. This was more like a power play…
"I just…"
"Give the kid a break. He got one. That's 2 silver coins for you, bud. Save four more and get a new piece of clothes that fits."
Looking at myself, I could tell I was soaked. My clothes were wet from all the sweating I did going back and forth using all of my strength.
"Do I really get 2 pieces of silver?"
"Ha ha, this kid is too funny," Max said, looking at me like he was older than me by at least a decade.
We're the same age, dumb shit, I thought, looking at him.
"Know what, kid? I'll tell you all about your pay later. Now, let's all get moving. We have 400 slabs of wood to look at, and I know damn well you all don't want to be here all day."
"Alright, here's the plan. First things first as simple as it is, we don't have all day. Let's get to work. Once the machines have cut down the slabs, each of you will find which slabs go in which sector. Will, you'll teach Elliot where everything goes."
We all entered the barn. The large machines that were already cutting down wood were handled by the other workers, who were in charge of managing the cutting and all the high-paying stuff.
"Now come on, let's get this over with." Following Will, we soon reached a place where the instruments that would cut also lay, allowing it to roll into a station where we would use three tags.
"These tags. Did you hear what I said about how each tag works?"
"Yes. From the images you provided, there are three different kinds. The green has star markings, the red has dark spots, and blue..."
"Nice. You're much smarter and quicker than Mayer. At least you have a brain. Now about the other thing"
"I don't care, man. Just leave me alone and I'll leave you alone."
"Okay. I was just going to say, sorry, man. I just need to get this one. I didn't save enough grain last week."
"Well, you could have just asked me not to go in your direction. And also, I don't break promises."
Walking away and entering my zone, each scraper handler was assigned a zone. Then they would tag each wooden slab depending on what it was. These tags were simple — no force needed, just placing it on the wood was enough so that once it reached the end of the station, it would be assigned much quicker by the machine handlers.
More than four hours of tagging and long focusing, with as little as a minute or two of break, and all of the wood had been assigned for the day.
"Before you all leave, remember tomorrow will be our last day before our break. Now you can all dismiss." Jack's voice carried over the barn. Then his face turned toward me.
"Now Elliot, this is your first day though it's your first week. I had no choice in the matter." Jack's face turned sour. His hand reached into his pocket, pulling out a small pouch.
"What is this?"
"You're nice little treat for your poor situation. There are 2 silver coins in there. You can use that to buy a shirt or anything necessary. But by the looks of it, you might need more…"
"How much is that worth?"
"Oh, brother. Fine, let me explain what money is to you…"
Before he could finish, I interrupted, asking him to go more in-depth. While he explained, I got the gist of the money and currency. Even though this was helpful, it was not enough.
One bread equaled around three copper. Ten copper equaled one silver. One hundred silver equaled one gold. And 10,000 gold equaled one amber.
This was the universal currency everywhere, backed by corporations and trading sectors.