Feast

The survivors of the new group were only allowed to claim the bodies of the three which had been killed after their possessions had been ransacked to the liking of the strangers in red and added to the carts of charred meat taken from the first stairwell-group. He watched as the red-mantled strangers talked among themselves. One of them said something while making a dismissive gesture towards the corpses, and others of the strangers laughed. The leader of the strangers in red said nothing, only watching the survivors as they took the limbs of the fallen and dragged them into the shadows.

Only then did the leader say a few words to the other strangers and the young woman and the others from the first stairwell-group, and they turned away to resume their journey down the tunnel. He did the same. He heard the sounds of tearing flesh to the rear, and light flared, orange and yellow, and the faintest tendrils of smoke slithered along the ceiling before it became too dark to see, and the strangers in red withdrew their lanterns once more.

They moved deeper below the earth. Life was down here, small, pale crawling things with no eyes and long, feathery antennae that scuttled on numerous legs. They fled into minute crevices in the floor and walls at the group's approach. Larger creatures, also colorless and eyeless but covered in skin rather than scales, lived here as well. Most of them could escape before the group came too close. Some were dull, or injured, or unlucky, and they were snatched up by the strangers in red and eaten alive. The crunch of tiny bones filled the tunnel when this happened. The young woman and the others who pushed the carts could not do the same. He could tell that they longed to.

They emerged into another open area, but this one was not connected to a place where that bright, white light shone, as with the others. It was a room, large and sprawling. He could not see its ceiling nor its far end, but this was due to the darkness which filled the limits of vision. Boxy edifices were erected here, or more accurately rooms were made within this room, delineated by chunks of stone lifted and fitted together to form crude walls. These were of varying heights. He could see over some of them into rooms that were given over to mats of faintly glowing objects, bulbous growths raised in gardens fertilized by the refuse of the gardens' keepers. One structure was larger than all the others, a vague shadow in the distance which dwarfed all the others.

He could see others here. Some wore mantles of red, as did the strangers. They bore objects of war of various shapes and sizes. Most others looked and dressed more like the young woman or her companions. They sat or squatted at work, or lay motionless on the uncaring floor in restless sleep. No fires burned here. Some pounded the luminescent growths into paste and put them into clear containers under the watchful eye of the strangers in red, or daubed lengths of metal or long stones with it. These poles and stones were driven into gaps in the walls of rock to shed their wan light and allow its residents to see.

Others processed different objects for different purposes. Some of the smaller ones carried buckets or satchels and patrolled the perimeter of the large room, snatching creatures from the floor and walls, or reaching into crevices and extracting their struggling forms. They, too, were watched by strangers in red. He saw them reach into their buckets and pop squirming handfuls into their mouth whenever their watcher's attention was elsewhere.

The young woman and the other cart-pushers were told to go to the center of the room by the leader of the strangers in red. They obeyed. The residents of this community looked up as the wheels of their trolleys squeaked and rumbled by. Some did so in interest, others out of sheer instinct. When they reached the center, members of the community came to unload the carts. They all tried to grab pieces of the charred meat. They would not eat it. He knew they were aware of the consequences if they were to do so. But they could lick away the juices clinging to their fingertips after the meat had been delivered.

The receivers of the meat, tubers, and other items did not wear mantles of red, but they seemed to have the favor of the strangers. They looked healthier, stronger, less hopeless. Their clothing was less ragged. Strangers in red still stood watchfully nearby, but they did not seem as concerned with what they were doing. They used sharp implements to divide the hunks of meat, chopping it into strips and cubes. Some of the meat was set aside, and strangers in red came to carry it away towards the towering structure. The rest was thrown into a large basin of metal and mixed with tubers and other things. Fires were struck, and the basins were set atop them to cook.

The young woman and her companions stood silently, unsure what to do. The leader of the strangers in red approached them and spoke with them, indicating the large basins. The young woman's companions made sounds of gratitude. One of them fell to the hard stone and grabbed at the leader's feet in paroxysm, cutting open the skin and bleeding from the knees. The young woman said nothing.

In time, the tenders of the basins shouted, and the members of the community came in ones and twos to scoop the mixture out using shallow dishes. The young woman and her companions were allowed to go to the basins as well. They had no dishes of their own. The leader of the strangers in red forced some of the community to turn theirs over. He could see that the young woman was not pleased, but she was practical. She scooped, and she ate.

He heard shouts of joy from across the large room then. Heads turned to investigate their source and their reason.