Empathy

The tunnel stretched ahead, subtly curving to the left the whole while. The light gradually receded as the blazing fire lit by the stairwell-group grew farther away. The strangers in red seemed to have come prepared. Each reached beneath their mantle and withdrew clear containers filled with a paste that gave a faint green-yellow glow. Two of the strangers in red were ordered by their leader to walk a bit farther ahead. Individually, the crude lanterns did not shed much light, but their combined illumination allowed the group to continue navigating the tunnel without slowing down.

He still trailed behind them, at the edge of vision. No one spoke, and the only sound was the echoing rattle of the carts as they trundled down the tunnel. This continued for some time, until a dim light could be seen gradually illuminating the tunnel from up ahead.

It was another enclave which lay at the bottom of another set of stairs leading upwards into that bright, sterile light above. This one was more populated than the earlier one had been, though its members seemed more downtrodden and furtive. They cringed more at the sight of the strangers in red. Most fell back from the light and only a few stood their ground, the tallest and strongest-looking of that group.

The leader of the strangers in red addressed them and this led to extensive conversation punctuated with angry gestures and raised voices. Most of the other strangers skulked among the enclave, poking, prodding, investigating, claiming bits of dried meat or gnarled tubers as their own, returning them to the carts. They struck those who resisted or tried to hide their belongings with their weapons. Sharp cracks and answering cries of pain rebounded from the vaulted ceiling. The shouting grew louder, the gesticulating more fervent.

Two of the strangers in red remained to watch over the carts and the small group which had pulled them. He saw them look at each other as the conflict escalated. They exchanged words with each other, then one of them ran to assist in the scuffle. The other remained, keeping watch over the carts and their tenders. Most of them were pale and terrified, but the young woman seemed composed, steely, tense. She waited, her gaze inscrutable.

He heard a particularly shrill cry and turned to view its cause. One of the strangers in red stood above the tallest resident of this area, who had collapsed to the ground. Blood dripped from the end of the stranger's bladed weapon, and blood spread out upon the ground in a growing pool which flowed from a wound in the tall resident's abdomen. Others of the group darted from the shadows, but the leader of the strangers in red shouted words at them, and shouted different words at the other strangers. They all formed up, except for the one remaining near the trolleys, brandishing their weapons and yelling. The injured man had been pulled back and was tended to by some others of their group.

The young woman watched them. He watched the young woman. Then she closed her eyes, relaxed her muscles, and exhaled a deep breath. He knew she had calculated the odds of wrestling away the red-mantled guard's weapon, using it to attack, rallying the others to help her. Now was not the time.

Her mouth was a hard line as the strangers in red advanced towards the fallen man. They forced aside anyone even partially in their way, including the few that were trying to staunch the flow of blood from the gaping wound to the man's midsection. The fallen man looked up at the leader of the strangers in red and snarled words laced with the sharpest vitriol. Then the fallen man spat. In response, the red-mantled man buried his weapon in the fallen man's throat, twisted it, pulled it back out.

Two others were executed by the command of the red-mantled one. The young woman watched, her hands balled into impotent fists. He continued to watch the young woman.