Chapter 16
The morning brought release from their temporary prison. Oliver hugged Elaine, outside her suite, and kissed her lightly on her cheeks.
“No one will know what I know,” he said softly. “No one will know of the love I have for you.”
She gazed deep into his eyes, holding both his hands in hers. “And none shall know of my love for you.”
She could feel the Manipulator’s influence, working to alter her feelings toward Oliver, but somehow, her love for him was the anchor needed to rebuff its effects. No longer did he nauseate her; no longer did she despise him. As he walked away, she felt another key had been found that could be used against her jailers.
All the confidence won vanished when she stood above her bed once again.
Can I really let him win?
She came close to the edge of the bed, with the sheets and blankets still in the same position from that fateful night. A faint smear could be seen on the sheets, and the memory of the event almost made her vomit.
Let me, said a voice inside her. Let me deal with this. I’m very good at dealing with . . . loose ends.
“No. I must take responsibility for what I have done, and see things I’ve started through to the end.”
She whipped the sheets and blanket off with one motion, and threw them in a corner of the room. Gradually, she flipped not only the mattress over, but the box spring as well. Finally, she gradually sat on the edge of the bed, and took a deep breath. How do the prisoners deal with a sexual assault? They don’t have even this luxury of throwing away the sheets, seeking comfort outside their rooms.
There was a knock on her door.
“Lainey, we’re getting’ together for some morning chow – met us in the cafeteria,” said a voice she knew to be Simon’s.
“Alright, I’ll be right there.”
“Oh, and be on your best behavior. Todd said he’d join us.”
She clenched her fists together, and ran into the bathroom to look in the mirror. She gripped the edge of her sink tightly, and gazed into her reflection.
Let me out! screamed her inner voice. Let me kill him! Let me make him pay, let me make them all pay!
“How do I know you’re not just a product of the Manipulator? That this isn’t another wrinkle in its map of our fate?”
One thing you should know is that I am outside of your life. My words, my desires, my thoughts, exist above all your petty influences and imperatives. When I speak, know it to be uncensored, unadulterated, and pure.
Elaine squeezed the sides of the sink even harder. “I am in control, no one else, but me. I am in control!”
The cafeteria was quieter than usual, with most of the prisoners keeping to themselves, sitting in relative silence. Elaine gazed around at them all as she sat down, and found most were stealing glances at her. And as she glanced at the guards, Blake and Colin, she found they were doing the same thing.
I wonder who knows about what, she thought, as she smiled and nodded at Sarah and Michael. I wonder who knows when it will all happen.
The tension was only heightened when Todd slowly made his way in, accompanied by Isaac. A couple of the prisoners jeered as he passed by, with some even drawing a finger across their necks, in imitation of slaughter.
“Greetings all!” said Todd, as he managed to sit in one of the regular chairs. It creaked a bit, and he looked a little out of breath, but from a distance, he looked like a normal person, not some hideous freak of nature.
“Todd . . . well, you’re looking quite well,” ventured Oliver. “How did you do it?”
Elaine was amazed at how quickly a large part of her still wanted to hate Oliver. Even now, the sound of his voice grated on her, no matter what they had been through in the detox room. She took a deep breath, and focused her mind on the face beneath his face.
“Yeah, Todd, how’d you do it?” added Michael, never one to refuse an opportunity to curry favor with a supervisor.
“Willpower, my friends, willpower. Although I admit, I didn’t quite lose as much as I would’ve liked, I think I’ve made satisfactory progress. Wouldn’t you agree. Sarah?”
She nodded approvingly. “Yes, indeed.”
As they began to eat, more inmates filed in for breakfast, many of them moving slowly, holding their sides or groaning as they sat.
“Another beatdown?” asked Oliver.
Todd grumbled, as he forced himself to push away his plate of food, after only eating a third. “Yes. As Sarah has probably informed you both, some things have happened during your . . . convalescence. They have developed a particularly bad attitude and some repugnant habits, and I instructed Isaac to break them of their misguided endeavors. No blows to the face, mind you, we wouldn’t want the auditors to be offended. But they needed to learn.”
They all nodded mutely, knowing it had to happen sometime.
“So, I hope we are all on our best behavior today! Today is our audit, and our guests should be here in one hour. Make sure your groups are up and running on time, and for Holis-sake, keep your stims out of sight! We don’t want to give the wrong impression.”
“Then don’t blame me if I pass out from exhaustion,” quipped Michael. “I mean, after all, I didn’t have a nice rest-cure like Lainey and Oliver.”
“Yes. I would’ve thought Sarah would have informed me of her decision,” said Todd, his demeanor turning dark and serious. “Two whole days in the detox room? You should both be thankful I’ve been distracted, or you wouldn’t have been in there two hours.”
Todd’s eyes met Elaine’s and they both stared at each other for a moment. Oliver noticed, and broke the tension.
“Fine,” he spat, swallowing the last of his drink, and banging the glass on the table. “Anything else?”
“Make this work, today,” pressed Todd with the most evil eyes he ever cast. “I don’t want any fuck-ups. Do it right, and things’ll get easier around here. They’ll have a brief session with me, then a little trip around our quaint little village, then spend a little time with each of you. Make me look like a pile of shit, and I guarantee this place will make a real prison feel like a rest-cure.”
Elaine gathered her supplies and headed down the corridors to her first group. She heard a helicopter set down, and felt it was the beginning of the end. I wonder who these people are, she thought to herself. The vision she had of a woman telling her she was a pawn stuck with her like nothing ever before. They must know who the political prisoners are. Could it be time to execute them? Execute me? Could Isaac's little revolt actually be sanctioned?
She was about to turn a corner, when something bid her stop. She could hear two sets of footsteps approaching, and Philip’s whining told her who one of them was. For some reason, she felt she wanted to hide, not to let those two know she was there. Behind her was a depression in the wall, which delineated a storage closet. She pressed herself back into it, bringing her hands tightly to her chest, turning her feet sideways.
Am I actually going to try this, at nine in the morning, with all these lights on? A part of her thought it was utter foolishness – she was sure to be spotted. I can do this . . . I must do this.
Philip stopped just further down the corridor.
“Why are you telling me this?” he whined.
“Because the time has come,” said a voice she knew to be Colin’s. “A whole lot is going to change. You can either be part of what survives, or what dies.”
“You . . . you wouldn’t kill me, would you?”
“No, no! Don’t be silly. But a whole lot of prisoners are gonna be runnin' around for a little while. You wanna make sure they know they can count on you, or they will get rid of you.”
“What about the docs?” pleaded Philip. “What about . . . Lainey?”
Colin chuckled. “You really are sweet on that little bitch! Maybe we should keep her, so you and Ian could share. But I don’t think you’d want what’s left after he finishes with her. Sorry, wish I
could help her, but that little bitch has got her ass all done. If she doesn’t die tomorrow, then she surely will tomorrow night.” He pushed Philip hard, his gaze narrowing. “Now, you in?”
She heard Philip let out a long sigh. “Yeah, I suppose.”
They walked a little further, this time just in front of Elaine. She could smell the stench of Colin, the fear on Philip. She had a brief fright, wondering if she put on too much, or too little deodorant. She pressed the worry to the back of her mind, and slowed her breathing even more.
“They’re all gonna fuckin' get it!” cried Colin, as he slammed his fist into his hand. “It’s gonna be so sweet! No more of this damned bullshit Todd does. Isaac'll run this place the way it was meant to be run. Don’t worry ‘bout people like Ian or Darren living too long. After the Union –”
the Union?
“–gives control of the place to Isaac, he’s gonna wipe away all the shit that's got dreams of power. Any inmate steps out a line . . . wham! The hammer comes down.” Elaine shifted and twisted a minuscule amount, just enough so that she couldn’t be seen by the corner of Colin’s eye.
Philip managed to speak. “And . . . you’re really gonna be able to get . . . women prisoners?”
Colin let out a loud laugh and darted his eyes darted back and forth, just to make sure no one was coming. He backed up a bit, and Elaine tried to squeeze even more into herself, but there wasn’t anything else she could do.
“You're some sick shit, aren’t you? Yeah, we’ll get some pretty little things in here – Isaac’ll see to that. And you can roll around in their damned laundry, if that’s what makes you happy.” He leaned forward again. “But if you breathe one word of this to anyone, 'specially your precious little Lainey, I’ll personally shove every piece of dirty, filthy underwear in here down your sorry throat until you choke up blood and die. You got it?”
Philip meekly nodded. “Yeah.”
“Good,” said Colin, throwing an arm around him, as they moved off down the corridor. “Now, we gotta figure out what we’re gonna have for dinner, to celebrate!”
When they were well out of range, Elaine took a deep breath, and fell to the floor, as she felt lightheaded.
I wish I had reprogrammed the euals to kill you, Colin.
She had decided on a sing-a-long for her group, as it usually got the prisoners in better moods. It was a holiday medley, as few prisoners knew exactly what date it was. They sung of the Forgiveness Festival, chants from the week of Redemption, and a couple of choruses from the Day of Enlightenment.
All through her group she kept thinking on the impending death of Isaac, Ian, and Darren. Ian and Darren didn’t concern her, but killing Isaac, no matter how corrupt he had become, seemed to be outside of her bounds. She kept kicking herself that she didn’t think of it earlier, to give herself more time and reprogram the euals to restrain Isaac instead of killing him. She knew he had a family outside of the prison, and regretted that some nameless child would now grow up without a father.
But it was just like that for you, wasn’t it? said a voice inside her head. She stopped playing, confused for a moment, as the prisoners wondered what was going on. She smiled and continued, and it was then that an auditor came in.
She was a short woman, with long, curly red hair. Dressed in jeans and a blue t-shirt, she wasn’t heavy but very hippy, to the point that she waddled into the room. She was older, with a small jowl hanging from under her neck. She had a mean expression, and Elaine could tell in an instant that she was used to getting exactly what she wanted. She had small hands that led to long fingernails, and Elaine knew they would rasp on a desk or scratch into flesh if she was irritated or angry.
And yet . . .
There was a shifting to her face. Elaine knew this woman wasn’t quite what she seemed to be.
“Alright group, as you may have heard, we’re having visitors today, and—”
Suddenly, about a third of Elaine’s group, those she knew to be all true murderers, stood up, pulled their pants down, and lifted their shirts up high. Elaine was utterly shocked, until she understood what they were doing. Their bodies were covered with bruises, thick, purple ones, that were caused by Isaac’s recent beatdown.
“Please, please!” yelled Elaine. “Put your clothes back on—now!”
“Do it!” shouted Philip, yet without raising his baton. He stood there, relaxed, as the prisoners exhibited their bruises for a few minutes longer. Finally, they pulled up their pants, and down their shirts, and sat back in their chairs, their heads hung low.
To her credit, the auditor seemed completely unfazed, but she did spend a full minute furiously writing in her notepad.
This was part of it! thought Elaine. This is what’s happening in every group, in every cell, when the auditors pass by. Her mind moved like lightning. When the prisoners revolt, and Todd is murdered, it will seem like it’s because of his own violent policies. Isaac will plead that he tried to countermand Todd’s order, but knew he was the final word on authority. And our deaths will be an unfortunate side-effect of Todd’s policies.
She gritted her teeth and smiled at Philip, who didn’t know what to do with himself under her gaze.
After her group, the auditor sat down with Elaine for a short one-on-one session. They pulled two chairs to face each other, and the auditor shook Elaine’s hand with a tight-lipped smile.
“I’m Carol Foster—it’s good to meet you! You conduct an excellent group.”
“Yes, with some exceptions, of course. That little display isn’t what normally happens.”
“Elaine, we rarely ever see what normally happens in a prison. Whenever we come, the guards are on their best behavior, the counselors are brow-beaten into submission by the warden, and as for the warden, well, let’s just say Todd isn’t the first to lose some weight before an auditor’s visit.”
Elaine let out a chuckle, as did Carol. But Carol quickly got back to business.
“So, why were they all bruised?”
“The inmates have taken to trying to challenge our authority. The prison has become split, between inmates who choose to follow the rules and try to maintain an ordered existence, and those who despise order, and seek chaos. I genuinely think Todd was unsure of what to do with such a large population problem this close to the audit. He ordered the beatdown mainly as a short-term fix, and kept the beatings to below the face for obvious reasons. I’m sure he has some plan to deal with the population problem.”
Carol nodded, scribbling more in her notebook, though it sounded more like chicken-scratches than human writing. “I understand you have tried your own method of fixing the problem. Meditations?”
“Yes. It has helped to unify those who want order, and has given them a tool to negate the stress of being incarcerated.”
“I don’t think meditation will work with your hardened sociopaths, but it certainly has helped the rest.” She sat for a moment, gazing at Elaine, before closing her notebook. “Well, that’s all I have time for.”
“Wait,” said Elaine, deciding to take a gamble. “I know you aren’t who you seem to be.”
“What do you mean?” asked Carol, genuinely shocked and confused. “Who do you think I am?”
“Let’s just say, I know who I am, and who others are in here.” This is a big gamble—I better be right. “I can see in your face that you’re not like the others. Why are you here?”
Carol scrutinized Elaine once more, before allowing a brief smile. “It isn’t who you are, but where you’ll go.”
The words triggered something in Elaine’s mind. She knew them to be a code, a prompt that demanded to be answered.
“And . . . where you’ll go,” said Elaine haltingly, the words coming from deep in her subconscious, “is by far a better place.”
Carol beamed a wide smile. “As I said, you’ve done a great job with your group! We will be leaving after dinner—all of you counselors are invited to dine with us and Todd, though I’m
sure he won’t be in the best of moods.”
Carol walked out, as Elaine gathered her supplies, her mind churning with thoughts she barely knew.
A war? A battle? Many battles? I have seen her face before, at a bad time, in a bad place. Was it a face that brought me hope, or despair? Damned this place! She paused for a moment, as she desperately wanted to throw something. How can I overcome this mental manipulation? How can I find out who I am?
Who you are, depends on the moment you are in, said a voice within herself. To think that there is a constant ‘you,’ is to limit your self and your actions. To be what you were, is to forget all you have learned, and to doom yourself to repeating your mistakes.
At the end of a long day, filled with surprise after surprise for the auditors, they all sat in the cafeteria, at three tables turned to join one another. Carol suggested the counselors sit with the auditors who sat in on their sessions, while Todd sat at the head of the table.
Elaine had never seen him more nervous. Each group played out exactly the same as hers, with a third to a half of the inmates stripping to show their scars. When the auditors made a tour of the cellblocks, many of the inmates did the same, staring at the unwanted guests with evil in their eyes. No one wanted to broach the subject, until Michael stumbled into it.
“So, you see, we normally have a very uneventful day around here.”
Todd snapped down his knife and glared at him. “Yes . . . well, it just goes to show the myriad of unpredictables that can surface at inopportune times.”
Oliver chuckled under his breath, as Todd straightened even more in his seat. Yartis, the lead auditor, wiped his mouth, and leaned forward.
“While we’d love to sit here and watch you twist in the wind, we really were rather impressed.”
Todd glanced around at the other auditors, who nodded their heads in approval.
“You see, we’ve been to a lot of prisons,” continued Yartis, “and what we’ve found, is—”
As Yartis spoke, Elaine felt a tapping on her foot. She immediately knew it was Carol, and that it was code.
We have been searching for all of you for quite a while. We feared you had been separated, and disguised. This is one of the last prisons I decided to try.
Are you the only one sympathetic in this group? asked Elaine.
Yes. I need to tell you that this is the worst place to be in, a place we hoped we wouldn’t find all of you in.
Why?
This area has some . . . unique properties to it. When we’ve used satellites to scan for mental signatures, this place, more than any other, has the most amount of distortion along mental wavelengths. We wondered why none of you tried to escape, but being here I understand. Mental manipulation is amplified by the properties of this area.
“—and I must say, this has been a very enjoyable visit!” cried Yartis, as he wrapped up his assessment. Elaine got anxious, and pressed forward.
Is there a way we can destroy the Mental Manipulator?
There was a long pause, then; this is by far the largest scale we have seen mental manipulation affected on. If you can’t find the physical unit, then search for power cables leading to it, or fiber-optic cables leading out. A device such as that would need at least ten emitters to thoroughly blanket a facility of this size.
We don’t have that kind of time!
Then, quickly tapped Carol, as hands were bring shaken and napkins brought up onto the table, as a last resort, you need to overload its processors. Like I said, it has to be a relatively new machine, and I’m sure it’s being taxed to its limit. Have you ever noticed any gaps, in coverage?
Elaine thought back to the food in the cafeteria, how sometimes she could see or taste the protein paste.
Yes, I have noticed some lapses.
Then you need to get a sufficiently large number of people to mentally focus against it. To overload it. They need to struggle to remember as much about their past selves, all at once. Hopefully that will trip its failsafe, and send it into default mode, temporarily switching off its effects.
Elaine nodded to herself, as she knew it was a plan she could accomplish. Do your people have a way we can get out?
We are prepared to storm this facility. It will take twelve hours for a team to be in position.
There is a riot being planned for tomorrow night, at 9pm. I have already diffused most of it, but that would be the right time for an invasion.
We will be ready, were the last words Carol could tap before she and the other auditors stood, and left the building, with Todd seeming to bounce along behind to see them out.
The counselors sat at the table for a while longer, relieved at how well things had gone. Only Oliver and Elaine knew that the true trial had yet to begin.
“We have a lot of work to do,” groaned Sarah. “We're facing a true crisis. We can’t allow half the prison population to exist in defiance of authority.”
“I think it’s finally become something out of our hands,” said Simon. “I mean, we do have our limitations. We were not sent here to cure anyone, or make them repent their murderous ways. We were sent to improve the quality of life of as many inmates as we could. We were sent to make as many inmates as we could more cooperative to a community based on order and accountability. If and when an inmate refuses our help, or acts in defiance of it, is when we turn that inmate over to the corrective actions of the guards and the warden.”
“Don’t quote SOP with me,” snipped Sarah. “You want them dead—case closed! You’re not willing to push, to try harder. You have the highest corrective rates in group—the most inmates get beatdown in your sessions than in any other!”
Simon replied calmly; “discipline is the foundation of respect.”
“So you would side with the guards you hate now?”
“I would side with those who haven’t yet murdered, against those who have murdered.”
Sarah sighed. “I never should’ve let you see those files.”
“What do you mean?” demanded Oliver, perking up. “Does Simon know the crimes of the inmates?”
“Now hold on, Oliver,” interrupted Michael. “Simon had a certain problem with a few when he first came here. We had just sent the other three counselors home, and the guards had lost two due to promotion. It was a week before you and Elaine came, and the inmates were restless. We had to get Simon up and running fully, no matter the regulations.”
“Damned,” said Oliver, sitting back. “So Elaine and I have been the only ones in the dark? No wonder we work harder than any of you to help the prisoners.”
“And that’s another reason I gave both of you the days off in the detox room,” replied Sarah. “Now that you’ve been here six months, I can finally share with you all the details about all their crimes.”
“Dammit!” shouted Oliver, as he pounded the table. “All this time – all this time!”
Elaine motioned him to be quiet. “Enough. We need this information, sooner rather than later. Do you have a download?”
“Yes. I can give it to you first thing tomorrow morning.”
“Ahh, my wonderful staff!” cried Todd, as he lumbered back into the cafeteria. “Thank you, thank you so much!”
“So they actually liked this shithole after all?” quipped Sarah.
“Yes indeed, yes indeed! After all these many years here, perhaps it’s finally time for me to move on. I so grow tired of only seeing sociopaths each and every day, with only you few as a pleasant diversion.”
“You’ve really put in for a transfer?”
“Damned right!” he cried, with an expression of utter relief on his face. “And they seem to think I should definitely get it within a week. One more week!” Todd stood tall, gazing around the cafeteria at the sad souls seated around him. “Seven long days, then freedom! I have felt as though I would never serve the end of this term, but at long last, I have been granted a reprieve.”
Sleep was elusive for Elaine, as she tossed and turne
d in her sheets. She felt she could hear every sound of the prison, from the guards walking back and forth, the euals twisting their metal heads in acknowledgment, to the inmates shaking the bars of their doors, testing to make sure they were secure. No matter how much she told herself that tomorrow would be a big day and that she needed her rest, her body refused to cooperate. Her heart throbbed in her chest, her legs scissored back and forth under the sheets. She kept tensing her arms and fists, trying to work out the last bit of energy that refused to leave. Finally, three hours after she lay down, sleep overcame her.
And as suddenly as she closed her eyes, she seemed to open them again. There was a presence in her room, a dull throbbing terror that demanded to be seen.
“Your time has finally come.”
Elaine sat up slowly, and at the foot of her bead hovered the faceless woman she had seen before. She was dressed in black—a tight fitting combat uniform Elaine had never seen before. Her mouth and nose were as a single, blank tract of skin, but her eyes blazed like a pair of infernos. Behind her sat the obelisk, but this time it only glowed a blood red. It was small, yet blazingly hot, and to look on it gave Elaine an overwhelming sense of not only dread, but guilt, and shame.
“I . . . don’t want to,” ventured Elaine, managing to speak. “I am happy with who I am.”
“Happy?!” guffawed the woman. “You are nothing! You placate one, to disappoint another. You hide in the shadows, and watch, but don’t have the strength to act. Do you even know what you’re going to do tomorrow night?”
“The euals will battle it out. I’ll get the other counselors, and we’ll hide somewhere.”
“Hide? Hide?! I don’t hide, I stalk, I prey, I conquer! I am who you are to be—a terror the likes of which none can oppose.”
“You are all darkness,” whispered Elaine. “There is no pity within you, no compassion. There is no regret, only this fatalism that leads you to murder and death.”
“You speak of death? You will die, if you refuse me. And you cannot refuse me.”
The woman vanished, but the obelisk remained. It shook the ground with its throbbing, burrowing into Elaine’s mind and bombarding it with its presence. Elaine fell to the floor, and crawled over to it, seemingly against her will. She reached up a hand, and ran it over the object’s surface, her hand covered in blood. She yanked it away quickly, and scurried into a corner, as the object grew in size and influence.
“No, no,” she moaned, rocking back and forth, “I don’t want to be about death! I am surrounded by people who are about death, and all I see is misery in their eyes.
“You see yourself reflected in their eyes,” said the woman, her thoughts seeming to float in the air around her. “You are of them, their sister, yet better than them, for you use death with a surgeon’s hands, dispensing it only when necessary.”
“No! There must be a better way, a different way!”
“You are only here because of me. Because I sacrificed my self to do what needed to be done.”
“If you have sacrificed yourself, then how can you ask for thanks? How can you act as if a debt needs to be repaid?”
“How dare you?!” bellowed the unseen voice, as Elaine felt the pull from the obelisk grow even stronger. She felt herself crawling along the floor, against her will, her limbs, her mind, her very soul summoned into the depths of the object. “You are mine—I cannot be refused!”
“And . . . yet I . . . must . . .”
Elaine looked up at the obelisk, and saw the words written on its surface with greater clarity than before, yet, seemingly written in a language she couldn’t comprehend.
“You don’t know what it says, do you?”
“No! And yet, I know it means so much.”
“It means nothing,” spat the woman. “It just means you can’t read, cannot understand, what is right before you.” In an instant, the obelisk changed from bloody to shining white, gleaming like a new sunrise. “This is so far beyond you, you will never fully understand.”
“Elaine?” said a voice, seemingly in a dream. “Elaine!”
She opened her eyes, and found herself in her sheets, on her bed. The room was as it always had been, and standing over her was Ronald, with a worried look on his face.
“Are you alright?” He ran his hand over her face, wiping away what she thought to be tears. “You’ve been crying out ever since I got here, and I’ve been trying to wake you up.”
“How . . . how long?”
“For ten minutes, at least.” He put his arms around her, and drew her close. “Oh Lainey, I’m here now! I don’t know what could’ve been troubling you, but I’m here,” he said softly, kissing her forehead. “I’m here.”
She slowly came to her senses, and pushed him away. “But how?”
“Philip!” he cried, with a wide smile. “Since the auditors left, and things went well, he said he wanted to thank me, and let me out to come here.” He paused for a moment. “You do want me here?”
“Yes—yes,” she said, with growing enthusiasm. She kissed him deeply, and in moments, his clothes were off, and he was inside her. She was tired—actually exhausted, but she needed this closeness more than anything else right now, to banish her terrible dreams. He kissed her face often as they played, and sexed, never seeming more gentle, more attentive to her needs. But as he climaxed, she never felt that it was more wrong. Something about having him on top of her, dominant, and her submission to him, gnawed at a part of herself like few things ever had. But she pushed away the irritation, the hesitation, and welcomed him in, ignoring the smell of death that hung all over his body.