The Factory

Chapter 4
Rin's Side

Rin watched Len cross the catwalk before turning her attention to the ground floor and the foreman. Whatever they were assembling seemed to be finished. What confused Rin the most was what came out the end of the line, which were what seemed to be huge cement blocks. There were a large number of them grouped together at the end, all standing upright. When the last one was in place, the foreman took out his radio and spoke into it.

"Alright the batch is done; shut the line off for a second." A couple of seconds later, the machinery stopped and the room grew quiet. Rin noticed that the workers were standing there, staring like the first time that Rin saw them. A woman's voice soon filled the room courtesy of the intercoms.

"The lines off, but only for five minutes since we're running behind schedule. I'm coming down to check on the latest batch." The foreman seemed to stiffen up from what Rin could see, though it didn't last long before he replied, "Yes, ma'am. I'll have the one that will be checked selected by the time you get here." He put the radio away and started to look at the blocks. While he was doing so, he slipped and nearly fell.

"What in the-?" he said to himself, checking what he had slipped in. Rin moved down the catwalk a bit to see a bit better. He had slipped in a puddle of the red stuff flowing through the tubes up top. When the foreman looked up and saw some of the leaking tubes, he cursed a bit under his breath.

"You've got to be kidding me," was what he said out loud though. Rin noticed that the two workers that took Miku away had returned and the worker in the blue jumpsuit also walked from the other direction.

"Is something wrong?" She asked, which the foreman replied by pointing up. "The tubes are leaking again. I thought we replaced them last week?" He said. Blue made a motion that looked like she was sighing. "That's the price we pay for buying cheap. I'll get replacements in soon."

The foreman nodded. "That would be good ma'am. Leaking tubes are a terrible waste of blood."

Rin's body froze in horror and she looked up at the liquid above her. 'That's blood! But why would they need blood here?' Rin thought and then looked at the blocks that the foreman was now looking through. 'And what could they be making that would require this much?'

The foreman, who continued to look through the blocks, stopped and patted one. "This one seems good," he said. Blue nodded.

"Alright, I'll leave this to you. I've got some things to do, so you won't mind if I borrow one of those two, right?" She asked, although by the tone of her voice she knew what answer she would get.

"Of course, ma'am," he said before he clapped his hands together like a kid in a candy store. "Alright, let's crack this thing open."

"Umm…" a voice said quietly. Rin surely wouldn't have been able to tell who said it if the foreman hadn't looked at one of the two workers.

"What is it?" He asked. From the tone of his voice, it seemed like he wasn't used to them talking. The male one looked at the ground. "It's…um, about the machine….cracking thingy," He said.

The foreman took a minute to understand what the worker said. "Yeah, what about it?" he asked. The worker didn't answer because Blue snapped her fingers like she suddenly remembered something.

"Oh yeah, that's what I was forgetting. The cracker has been buggy lately, so I took it offline for maintenance." She said. The foreman looked at her, and then put his hand over the goggles of his mask.

"Are you serious? How am I supposed to crack these things open then?" he asked. Blue shook her head, pointed at the female worker and began to walk away. "Why don't you try the old fashioned way, a crowbar and some patience?" she asked sarcastically.

When Blue was gone, the foreman made a sighing motion. "I guess I'll do just that." He said to himself then turned to the worker that was still with him. "Hey, get me a-" his order was interrupted when the worker handed him a crowbar. The foreman stared at him for a second before grabbing the tool and started working on the block.

Rin carefully walked further down the catwalk to get a better look. She was so focused on what the foreman was doing that she didn't notice the worker was gone until the foreman noticed.

"Hey, can you get the-" he started before noticing that he was alone. "Oh, where the hell did he go off to?" he asked no one before turning back to the block. "Ah whatever, I almost got this open. Is this over the drain?"

Rin wasn't sure why he said that until he cracked the block open a bit more and, much to her horror, blood started to rush out of it. It didn't take much longer for the foreman to open it fully and for Rin to see what was in it. It took a while for Rin to understand and accept it and she was horrified.

It was a human being.

"Well, he looks good so far." The foreman said to himself and started examining the man. He was still covered in blood which dyed his skin and hair an unnatural red. Rin couldn't tell because of the distance, but she could swear that the man looked familiar. The foreman continued to inspect the man, who seemed imbedded in one side of the block that held him. The foreman moved a bit out of the way and Rin saw something she wasn't prepared for.

'Oh god, he's naked,' she thought to herself and turned away, but she shook her head a second later. 'Oh what if he is? There are more important things going on Rin!' she chided herself and turned to look back, although she was careful of where she was looking. The foreman was done looking the man over and nodded to himself.

"Alright, his body seems fine, time to check his mental faculties," he said to himself. He reached into one of his pockets and pulled out a small box. Rin wondered what it was before the foreman flicked a switch on the side and heard the crackle of electricity.

'He has a taser? But why would he-?' Rin thought to herself before her question was answered. The foreman took the taser and held it to the man's chest. At first, nothing happened, but that changed quickly when he started screaming. The screams turned into horrific coughing as the man fell from the block and started coughing up blood on the floor.

"That's good, let it all out." The foreman said. He sounded concerned, but Rin was sure he was faking it. When the man was done coughing, the foreman stood him up straight. "Alright, let's get a good look at the rest of you." He wiped some of the blood from his face. When he was satisfied with that, he preceded to check his hair. Rin couldn't tell from the distance, but it seemed as though his hair had a kind of bluish color to it. Rin decided to not follow the line of thought that presented itself. She was horrified enough already.

The foreman seemed satisfied with the man's condition. He called another worker over and said something to him. When the worker and the man left, Rin decided to move somewhere else.

'I'm pushing my luck right now. I'll just hide somewhere and-'

"Mommy?"

Rin froze. Time seemed to slow down for her as she turned around. The worker that had snuck off earlier was behind her, staring at her.

She couldn't help that she screamed.