Pain Vs. Suffering

It was March Twentieth Twenty Sixty Five. Ten years had gone by; hundreds of thousands of people died because of the coldest war ever known in the history of humankind. Food was scarce. Assault weapons were easier to acquire than necessities, and food was extremely scarce. The people that survived the nuclear blasts suffered in the streets from starvation while those who were rich at the time of war were unharmed and hardly effected. The elite were prepared years before the war. They planned well. Those who had a couple hundred thousand to spare were welcomed to exclusive safe zones built underground. The life of the rich underground was very different. The rich had access to ample food, unlike the poor who would go weeks at time without eating and had access to only a few water sources.

Disease was wiping out several thousands of people whom had never had health challenges before in their life. Hazardous chemicals remained on the land from old nuclear weapons were mutating the wild life that survived. Children were born with extra limbs. Life was so harsh for those who survived mass bombings that suicide was as common as playing sports or card games. Misery was the new essence of existence. Now there were not any zombies but the people were so malnourished that cannibalism began to be an answer for families to continue living. It was literally a dog eat dog world. There was a total new way of living for man. To survive it was necessary to travel within a large group of survivors around you and always move accordingly. Never leave your tribe behind. The unfortunate kids could no longer enjoy the comfort of playing outside. Land mines were still buried in the ground active making it extremely unsafe in certain areas making it even one hundred times more difficult for individuals to go, roam, and pillage for food. Only a few vegetables survived the nuclear disaster most of which were root vegetables such as parsnips, rutabagas, ginger and beets. Unfortunately, hundreds of people died digging for sustenance therefore, many of the survivors feared to dig into the earth for sustenance.

Certain leaders played a huge role in the survival of the villagers. Most of whom were war veterans that were left behind by rich socialists. One day one of the war veterans that lived amongst the villagers was digging in an area that was thought to be scarce and it turned out to be plentiful. He found turnips and parsnips everywhere. After noticing that discovery of access to provide health for his peers he said “Fuck it” and put it all on the line. He risked his life for the village and dug until he could no longer dig because his arms were tight to the extent that he could no longer bend his elbows. In addition, gathered several veggies for the locals. He was a hero and was praised by the locals. In the process of digging into this fruitful land, he found an underground water supply. One day he was in that area and noticed some of this rich people were coming out from nearby and entering an area that was gated off with hazard signs everywhere. The villagers were certain that if they went in that area that they would be blown to pieces. The rich person was noticed though binoculars and entering leaving looking refreshed. “Maybe this was an entrance to the underground paradise the War veteran stated,” hmm. It was unheard of for the stragglers to ever make contact with the elite they would be viciously murdered slaughtered like hogs and they are remains would be burnt to ashes if they ever got remotely close to the elite. Remember in the Bible how the leapers were treated in Biblical times. Well, it was just like that. The war left plague from the nuclear material therefore creating hostility towards the village people for the sake of the rich adults and children beneath the surfaces health and well-being sake. Simultaneously the villagers had a huge sense of hatred for the elite people. “They left us here pillaging for resources to survive that were no longer ample. Meanwhile the rich were underground in luxury living like kings. While our children had to live like peasants. They lost hope for the future and those who had faith no longer believed in God or religion itself.

Vaccines for several of the new diseases were stored underground. They could be purchased for ridiculous prices that the villages could not afford. The encampments of the poor survivors could hardly withstand rain and strong winds that would sweep through the town. There was no longer a desire to create life. For they did not want to wish what they were doing on another human being. There was no hope, for most they did not want more innocent children to be brought into a situation of suffering. Life seemed worse than death itself.

One day the old military veteran had enough. He gathered the strongest fittest survivors of the village and held a gathering to awaken the community and motivate them for an ambush. It had been months since he noticed where the elite had an entrance to to the underground kingdom. He had been watching them from thousands of meters away with binoculars, and was waiting for clarity in order to devise a plan to ambush and enter the underground palaces. With the help of his villages, he knew he could overtake the rich will the perfect plan. He also had noticed when the rich came from underground that they all for some reason had a heart shaped locket at the entrance of the encampments to get in the doorway of the tunnels or wherever that led them underground. At this time, it may have been a tunnel or it could have potentially be a stairway that lead to food water and shelter underground.

The best plan that they thought they could enter was to catch one of those rich fuckers slipping. A few trained military personnel within the community were trained to kill. The weaponry was available. “When we see one of those Pompous Ass Stiffs come out we have to hurt them but not kill them” “Once we fuck them up we should torture them until they give us all the info that we need”. Days went on and the food of the village was beginning to get short. More people died from diseases, they did not know what type of disease because all of the doctors were underground in paradise. There was shifts created in the safe zone where the leader found out he could scope out they’re entrance for shelter and each of the people on the murder squad would take turn observing carefully and taking detail notes of what they noticed. Different observations were made and it was almost time to execute and get in that place at all costs. They could not let too much time go by at all because food was running low and women and children had first dibs on the grub. On day, two of the stakeout another elder of the community found another entranceway for them to get into the underground encampment. This one was even closer to get a clear shot on one of the elitist. The biggest dilemma or catch 22 was the fact that they would be no good for them if dead. They had one shot at harming one of the people in the extent of serious injury and be fast enough to get them and hold them hostage. The military personnel that led the squad taught his small army a few torture tactics throughout the days of planning.

On day three, they noticed more than one came out that day. Could it be because they felt or knew someone was watching? They decided to retreat for a couple days or the plan would fail horribly. Day four the people just used to refresh they are tactics to capture. They picked the strongest and fastest of the crew to lead in combat. Had a certain individual to stay nearby the sniper with the binoculars and about 20 people to run in for the retrieval of the harmed elitist to lead the way to shelter. All of which were heavily armed. The next day came and finally, there was the target walking around like no one could ever get to him. He thought it was sweet, not knowing that today may very well be the day of his demise. The old vet had him in his scope. The watchman as well and the runners ate well that morning and made sure they spent the beginning of the day fetching water so they were more hydrated than any of the other days because they were able to get 2 days’ worth of water in order to take over this underground shelter. The veteran got a clear shot on one of the Pompous men and blew his leg off. He exclaimed I got that Fucker’. The runners ran in and beat him with they are weapons to state of unconsciousness and drug him to the village. When The Rich man finally woke up, he was around the people who he thought of as undesirables and not only feared them eating him alive like a pack of piranhas but he knew they would viciously and maliciously torture him. He said, wait. I can give you access in with this locket. All you have to do issue it as a key once you get downstairs where you saw me leaving. Only one man can enter unfortunately but once one man enters you can get the rest in. They tied him up to make sure he was telling truth and sent the youngest strongest one to go in first wearing the special heart locket. He rushed the thousand meters and the man was not lying. He made it to the promise land. He went in and left the entrance wide open. Then left out another entrance and left that one open as well. Now it was time to save his family and friends from hell. He hurried and scrambled back with a small pack of food and water just enough to give them strength to go and take over with automatic assault weapons. Now it was time for half of the people to rush one entrance and the other half to go through the alternate entrance, lay those tight asses down, and make them realize they were still human and had a right to live just as much as the elite did. The plan went well. The people were inside with not a care in the world. The element of surprise was for sure the best method. The rich had guns penetrating their temples, and even small babies were taken hostage. They willingly let them all come in bathe and eat at this point because they had nowhere else to hide. The storm was now over for those in agony. Water food and shelter was once outdated but now the villagers were now safe and life was finally more desirable. The choice to take action is all that saved them. If they stayed in fear of what was to occur when risking for the children they would have stayed in torment for generations. Haruki Muakami quoted,” Pain is inevitable but suffering is optional.” There was no longer suffering because one leader inspired them all to take action and leave their state of Suffrage. They demanded Heart lockets and now could later go out and retrieve any one left behind.

Written by

Joshua Hill