(Currently Untitled)

It was a barren wasteland like so many others around the nation. The trees had been removed from the mountain, no vegetation in sight. Only mud and rock covered the ground amidst the thousands of workers who gathered there everyday.

They came form all over, all forms. Most signed up for merely a few years feeling it more of a civic duty and an honor, rather than something that must be done.

It was grueling hard labor with its fair share of injuries and the occasional death. If one stayed long enough, they just might move up through the ranks to oversee their own site, if they made it that far. But with all difficult and dangerous jobs, many left, feeling that lasing sense of pride in their souls that they had helped save the world for as long as they could withstand the agony of the job.

A ladder descended into one of the many holes cut into the rock. Down ten or sometimes as many as thirty feet deep into the earth, the workers would climb to begin their labor.

In the center of the hole sat a massive wheel, not too unlike that of a ship's wheel turned on its side. Its center connected to a large shaft which bore deep into the mountain below. There were twenty people to the wheel, each sharing in the turmoil of spinning it in a clock-wise direction, their boots digging into the muddy holes left by the person in front. Occasionally, someone would loose their balance and fall into the mud. Quickly they were taught to roll to the right or left out of the way of the rest of the people or face getting trampled because the wheel could not stop.

"One more hour left," shouted the team leader to his crew. "I know it's hell, but let's keep it up!"

The group all cheered and pushed harder. Their muscles ached from the previous nine hours, but they kept turning.

With quitting time coming up, it was time for the shift change. The next crew stood single file at the top of the hole. One by one they would climb down the ladder and file in place with another worker. That worker would stop pushing, climb out of the hole and another replacement would follow.

Adam Jones was next. He was twenty-two and had worked at the site for a little over a year. He swung his body around to face the ladder and slowly descended to the bottom of the pit. His muscles still ached from the torturous ten hour shift he had pulled the day before.

Reaching the bottom, he made his was to his replacement, number twelve. She was older than him, maybe by ten years. Adam felt a little sense of guilt when he stepped in to take her place. Having worked in this pit the whole time, he had seen her many times before. But Adam was ready to give up his position. He could not handle the stress his body had undergone.

Gripping the end of the wheel he pushed his heels into the muddied ground and so started the first second of his ten hour shift.

Adam pushed and grunted. The sweat was already starting to collect on his forehead and he had not even made it one full circle. He could not wait for his first fifteen minute break, where he could muse over what to do with the rest of his life. A life no longer hated. His face smashed into the mud, Adam quickly rolled out from under the torrent of feet behind him.

Falling down was not something that was looked down on. Everyone did it. Even as much as a few times a day, but having fell within the first ten minutes, Adam jumped to his feet and swore. The blood rushed to his face but was hidden by the mud which he wiped from his eyes and hair and slung to the ground.

It was first a noticeable odor of sulfur that filled the air followed by a crack and hiss at the center of the wheel. Everyone stopped for a moment and looked at each other. The team leader ran over and grabbed a hold of Adams part of the wheel "Push it!" he screamed. "Now!"

The adrenaline surged as everyone went to work. Adam ran to his spot and heaved his body against the spinner. Steam began to emit from the center of the shaft as it grinded against the earth. The hiss was followed by a gurgling noise, then a pop which turned into a piercing shrill as the gases poured out of the crack.

"Everybody out!" The team leader shouted above the sound.

Burning gases filled the pit as everyone scrambled to make it out. All orderly fashion disappeared and turned into a mob of panic. Lava and gas erupted from the center of the wheel. It became so hot and hard to breath.

Terror seized Adam as he inhaled the toxic gas. It traveled through his lungs scorching everything it touched. He began to choke, his body trying to expel the poison. The feeling of inhaling hot wet cement was over powering. He fell to the muddy ground thinking what his life may have been.