The Brotherhood of Smits. The brotherhood nude except for modesty coverings that they had fashioned out of their few remaining strips of denim were ready to launch the decisive offensive. This was the make or break moment for the brotherhood. Failure would mean death at the hands of the others; or slavery – being condemned to obey the diabolical whims of the others until the end of their days. Success would mean recapturing the surface. It would mean being able to enjoy fashion again. To go out in the blustery fall in stylish windbreakers; to dive into the surf in summer wearing hot bikinis; to have snowball fights in the winter wrapped up in woolen sweaters. It was, in short, a fight to have their lives back and to have their fashion back. The leader of the brotherhood was a man called Koh, belonging to the lineage of Phangan. The men all looked up to Koh Phangan as a man of exceptional bravery and a man with deep strategy. He was always apart from the other men, lost in an endless self-reflection. The men all loved Koh Phangan and gave him the mental space he required. They accommodated Koh Phangan as best they could. Now, the men squatted behind rocks near the entrance to the underworld hell where they had spent far too long. All day they had covered their eyes, struggling to adjust to the brightness of the day light after their long enforced exile in the bowels of the earth. The men had headaches; they closed their eyes and saw splotches of color? vermillion and green. They suffered in silence, gritting their teeth, not making a sound. As dusk fell upon the land and the moon and stars appeared in the sky the men checked their weapons that they had forged on the anvils below. Their muscles ached from not being able to move for many hours. Yet none of this mattered. Adrenalin coursed their bloodstreams and all the men itched to engage the enemy. At the signal from Koh Phangan they moved silently out from their hiding places. They crawled slowly and silently along the ground until they felt the cool grass on their skin. The others had posted several guards near the entrance to watch for the humans and any possible excursions. In the past they had caught those who could not bear the confinement any more. The others captured these desperate souls and stripped them of their remaining clothing before flaying them alive. They stripped them of their skin with razors. The people below could hear the screams and sat by helpless to intervene. Usually the screams only lasted 30 minutes or so before the victims passed out. Koh Phangan was at the front of the crawling line of brave men. When he reached the entrance to the caverns he made off to his right. Half the men followed him the other half went left lead by Lieutenant Haad Rin. It took an hour for the two groups to take their positions. So far so good. They had not been spotted by the others guarding at the entrance. They had successfully reached the flank of the 4 guards. The next step was to dispatch the lives of the guards silently and to stop them raising the alarm. At the signal, an owl hoot, Koh Phangan and Haad Rin took their men silently behind the others. As they approached the others they were shocked by 2 things. The first was that the others looked just like people, like them. The other shocking thing was the quality of the others fashion. They wore Romy Smit blouses and Lacroix jackets and Channel shirts: their fashions were excellent and varied. Koh Phangan looked sternly into the eyes of his posse as if to say: “give them no quarter. Remember the screams of your friends and loved ones. Remember your fashions that have been rudely taken from you. Show no mercy!” Before the men could falter, Koh Phangan ran the last 10 meters separating him from the guards. His men followed. The guards had been reading fashion magazines and chatting about fabrics. They had not seen anything untoward from the entrance. They were drowsy and hoped soon to be relieved. Koh Phangan burst forth into the circle of the fire’s light and unsheathed his short sword and without any hesitation plunged it through the silk coat of the nearest guard and drove the blade upwards. The other guards rushed for their weapons but before they could arm themselves they too were mercilessly dispatched by General Phangan’s men. Haad Rin’s men arrived in time to stop the final guard from calling through the attack to the other’s headquarters. After the brief array the others lay dead, their fashion torn and their lives lost. Phangan sent a messenger back into the caves to tell the other warriors they should gather by the firelight and prepare for the next stage of the operation. So far so good Koh Phangan thought to himself: now for the difficult part of the operation. The plan was to take the leader of the others. He was believed to be staying in the Royal Palace surrounded by his loyal guard. Getting to him would be difficult and they had little time before the others sent to relieve the guards would notice the outbreak and send out the alarm. As Koh Phangan stood around the fire with his men he noticed a bowl of half eaten food by the fire. He picked it up. It was corn and beef. It was human food. He didn’t want his other men to see this so he quickly flung the utensil into the bushes. Within twenty minutes the rest of the brotherhood of smits had gathered in the clearing and were preparing for the next stage of their mission. There were 50 men in all. They hastily salvaged what fashions they could from the dead guards and took their weapons. They drank clean water and steeled themselves for the hardest part of their mission. Preparations and plans were still underway. No one knew exactly what was going to happen. For the time being as their designs were being made, they were all safe inside the volcano that had become their home. While the heat was at times unbearable, at least it kept them safe from the menace that was outside. Of course, living in a volcano, so close to the molten lava meant that clothes were more of a hindrance than anything else. Therefore there was no reason for their tormentors to come near. Without the cloths and fabrics that were their desire, the humans were of no value to them. But knowing that these creatures were roaming around free on their planet meant that the smits could not be content hiding in the shadows just trying to survive. They were going to have to take back what their towns and cities where they had grown up but had been forced to flee from in a vein attempt to save their families. Now that the women and children were no more, it was just the brotherhood of smits that were left. Whether they would succeed in their attempt to reclaim their land was unknown but they knew for sure that it was either that, or die trying. While their life had been much more normal, educating the young had been a priority. Being able to have a delicious meal, real home cooking from a kitchen is something that now could only be dreamed about. Now it was much more of a rough living affair. There was one benefit to living down inside the ground though. There was plenty of hot water so it was no problem to drink a cup of coffee or make a lovely cup of tea.