“Victoria’s upstairs in the pen, I think,” answered Parnell. With the back of his wrist he wiped off sweat that was beading on his brow. “Bascomb had Brittany taken to his house.”
Halverson looked puzzled. “Why? I thought you were treating her for shock.”
Parnell shrugged. “Change in plans, I guess.”
“What’s going on?” asked Reno, sauntering toward them.
“To tell you the truth, I think Bascomb’s got eyes for Brittany,” said Parnell.
“I wouldn’t mind giving her a spin, myself. She’s young and built.” Reno leered and winked. “Or haven’t either of you two noticed?”
“What’s your drift?” Halverson asked Parnell.
“I’m just saying,” answered Parnell.
“Are you saying Bascomb’s keeping her prisoner for himself?”
“A sex slave?” asked Reno, eyes wide.
“I don’t know,” answered Parnell. “I don’t know what’s going on here, but something’s off-kilter. Haven’t you noticed how nobody talks when Bascomb’s around?”
“Yeah,” said Halverson.
“I think they’re scared of him.”
“But why?”
“He doesn’t exactly warm the cockles of my heart,” said Reno.
“They don’t look very happy here,” said Parnell.
“Why should they be?” said Halverson. “They’re living in a prison.”
“It’s better than living among the infected.”
“Everything’s relative,” said Reno, nodding.
“It’s clear Bascomb doesn’t know what he’s doing,” said Halverson.
“Why do you say that? He’s got that security detail backing him up.”
“That’s not what I mean.”
“What are you getting at?”
“If he knew what he was doing, he wouldn’t have Parnell down here digging a ditch. Parnell’s a doctor, not a construction worker.”
“How can I find the cure for this disease if I’m shoveling dirt?” asked Parnell.
“Bascomb knows what he’s doing when it comes to protecting his own ass,” said Reno.
Clad in a tank top, a short stocky bald guy with tattoos clustered on his beefy arms stepped up to the three of them. “What’s the problem here? We’re not on break.”
Parnell glanced at the man’s jowly face and resumed shoveling.
“Who are you?” asked Reno.
“Erskine. I’m the foreman here. Who are you?”
“I’m Reno.”
“OK, Reno. Grab a shovel and get cracking. No lollygagging around here.”
Sighing, Reno glommed onto one of the shovels that lay in a nearby heap.
Arms akimbo, Erskine stared up at Halverson with his porcine blue eyes. “Do you get special treatment or something?”
Halverson said nothing.
“Don’t you know the motto around here?” asked Erskine.
“No,” answered Halverson. “I’m new here.”
“Work will set you free.”
“You mean, the truth will set you free.”
Erskine shook his head. He peered up into Halverson’s face and inspected Halverson’s eyes. “I meant what I said and I’m not gonna repeat it.”
Erskine was itching for a confrontation, Halverson decided. Erskine was out of luck.
Halverson retrieved a shovel.
He and Reno started digging beside Parnell.
Erskine moseyed away.
“This place is leaving a bad taste in my mouth,” muttered Reno.
Shovel in hand, wearing skintight jeans and a yellow halter, a muscular Hispanic woman pushing thirty sidled up to Halverson. With her deep-set brown eyes and short brunette hair, she could not be considered beautiful. But she was voluptuous, Halverson recognized.
She waved her gleaming supple arm at him.
“Be careful what you say here,” she said under her breath, “or they could throw you in the dungeon.”
Chapter 40
“I’m Halverson. What’s your name?”
“I’m Selena Playa,” she said with her full lips.
Halverson moved closer to her, so Erskine could not overhear them. Halverson noticed that Erskine was preoccupied with another worker at the moment.
“What’s with this dungeon?” asked Halverson. “Isn’t that where they execute the ghouls?”
“They execute all criminals there,” answered Selena. “Not just the infected.”
“What’s going on in this place? Why doesn’t anyone say anything?”
“They know a good thing when they see it.”
Reno came over to them, swinging his shovel. “I couldn’t help but overhear you. Did I hear you correctly? Did you say this is a good thing?”
“It’s better than living with the infected,” said Selena.
“I don’t know about that.”
“We don’t get infected here. I’d rather be here than get infected in San Francisco.”
“What keeps you going, though? Digging this ditch? That’s not much to look forward to.”
“The country’s not what it used to be. The plague changed everything.”
Selena shoveled dirt into a nearby wheelbarrow.
“But you live in a prison here,” said Reno. “You wake up every morning and see steel bars surrounding you.”
“It’s not a prison anymore.”
Her torso glistened with sweat as she shoveled.
“I don’t have any problem with hard work,” said Halverson, digging into the hard ground. “That’s life. But people should do the work they’re qualified for.” He motioned to Parnell. “He’s a doctor, not a construction worker. He might be able to find the cure for this disease if he worked at it.”
“I don’t make the decisions around here.”
“Nobody does except Bascomb, apparently.”
“That’s the problem,” said Reno.
He jammed his shovel into the earth and struck a rock, which sent a shudder up the shovel’s wooden haft.
“Ouch!” He winced as his arms vibrated from the impact.
He let go of the haft, leaned it against his chest, and shook his arms at his sides, trying to dispel the pain in his elbows.
“We get food and a roof over our heads and no plague here,” said Selena. “Where else are you gonna get that?”
“But what kind of a life is this? It’s more like a life sentence than a life.”
She stopped shoveling for a minute and looked at Reno. “We’re all screwed. Is that what you’re trying to tell me? So what else is new? That’s the way things are now. Get used to it.”
She resumed shoveling.
She had a point, decided Halverson, but that didn’t give Bascomb the right to order everyone around.
“Why do you want to be a ditch digger?” asked Reno.
“If I wasn’t working here, I wouldn’t be doing anything,” answered Selena. “I don’t know about you, but I don’t like sitting on my ass doing nothing.”
“Why not? It’s a nice ass to sit on,” said Reno.
“Don’t get any ideas,” she said, rounding on him.
“Why not?”
“Then keep them to yourself. I didn’t dress like this for you. I dress like this for me.” She went on shoveling.
“Whoever you did it for, I approve.”
“You need to concentrate on your work.”
Reno sighed. “I don’t know if I can stand being locked up in this prison for the rest of my life.”
“Then leave and get eaten by the infected. I’m not stopping you.”
“You’re not. I’m not so sure about Bascomb.”
“You sound like a spoiled brat. Do you want this to be Disneyland or something?”
“I don’t want to feel like I’m in jail.”
“If you don’t live here, you don’t live. Period.”
“How can you be so sure?” Reno glanced in the direction of the ocean but could not see beyond the wall of the pit th
ey were standing in. “Maybe there’s somewhere out there that’s not infected with plague.”
“Every place we’ve been to so far has been infected,” said Halverson.
“I know it doesn’t look good out there, but this place is giving me claustrophobia.”
“You think too much,” said Selena. “Just do your work. Keep going. Your mind can be your own worst enemy, if you let it.”
“There must be a better way,” muttered Reno.
He heard the front-end loader toot as it backed toward him. Leaning on his shovel’s haft, he watched the vehicle chuff forward again.
“I’d rather be driving that front-end loader than using a shovel,” he said.
“If you get on the Chosen One’s good side, he might grant you your wish.”
Reno scoffed. “When pig’s fly. He hates my guts.” He paused. “How can you stand calling him the Chosen One?”
Halverson caught sight of Erskine swaggering their way, hitching up his pants.
“Put a lid on it,” whispered Halverson and shoveled a load of dirt into the wheelbarrow.
“I’m not a afraid of that clown,” said Reno, but resumed shoveling.
“I’m still trying to figure out the lay of the land here. Let’s keep playing along with them for now.”
Erskine changed his direction and headed elsewhere.
“Bascomb is bad news, if you ask me,” said Reno.
“It’s not like he’s got everybody locked up,” said Halverson.
“What about that dungeon we keep hearing about? That can’t be good.”
“I think he’s an OK guy,” said Parnell. “He believes in a society based on laws. He’s just not very bright in certain matters, like there’s no good reason for me, a doctor, to be digging a ditch when I could be studying the disease.”
“You’re all missing the point,” said Selena.
“Which is?” said Reno.
“We’re safe here from the infected.”
“But are we safe from Bascomb?”
Selena stopped shoveling and gazed at Reno. “What do you think he’s gonna do to you?”
Reno didn’t answer right away.
At last he said, “Why is everybody so afraid of him that they won’t talk when he’s around?”
“It’s not that they’re afraid of him. They’re afraid of the plague. That’s why people are scared here.”
“But you just said we’re safe from the plague here.”
Selena shrugged. “For now, anyway.”
“What did you used to do before the epidemic?”
“I was a trainer for the California Angels.”
Reno looked impressed.
“You must have a medical background then,” said Parnell, looking up from his digging.
“I can treat minor injuries.”
“Then you shouldn’t be digging this ditch either. You ought to be in the infirmary along with me.”
“Maybe nobody’s sick. How do I know? The community needs people to dig, so I’m digging.”
“What about this sex slave rumor that’s going around?” asked Reno, his eyes peeled for Erskine’s unannounced return.
Selena froze as her shovel hit the dirt.
“Well?” said Reno.
“That’s the first I’ve heard of it,” said Selena, keeping her eyes averted from Reno and returning to work. “Who told you that?”
“Parnell says Bascomb took Brittany to his house to be his sex slave.”
“I overheard somebody say that,” said Parnell quickly. “And they didn’t use the term sex slave,” he added, annoyed with Reno. “I have no idea if it’s true.”
“He does invite people to his house,” said Selena. “What’s wrong with that? It’s a nice place.”
“How do you know? Have you been inside?”
Selena paused. She looked up at Reno, shading her eyes from the sun with her hand. “I’ve been there. Yeah.”
“That’s another thing I don’t like here. How come Bascomb lives in the lap of luxury and the rest of us live in jail cells?”
“He’s our leader.”
“So you put out for him. Is that it? Is that why he invited you to his house? To party with him?”
Selena whirled on him. “Watch your mouth!” she snapped, brandishing her shovel like she was fixing to hit Reno.
Erskine heard the commotion and jogged over to them.
“What’s going on here?” he demanded.
Selena settled down and lowered her shovel. “Nothing.”
“Are you two married or something?” asked Erskine, his eyes cutting back and forth between Selena and Reno.
Selena guffawed.
“Then let’s chill out and get back to work,” said Erskine. “I’m gonna keep my eyes on you two.” He pointed his index finger and middle finger at his eyes then pointed the same fingers at Reno and Selena.
As good as his word he stood there, arms folded, and watched the two of them dig.
Shoveling earth Reno grumbled.
Chapter 41
Halverson didn’t know what to think. He was too exhausted to think. His entire body ached from the hours of shoveling he had put in at the pit.
Now he lay on his bunk in a cell wondering what to make of all of it. To stay or not to stay on this island? That was the question. Maybe he should just stop thinking about it and get used to living here. Then again, maybe not. There was no law that said he had to stay here.
He must have dozed off for a few minutes somewhere along the line. He could not remember entering this cell.
He wondered where everyone else was.
He turned on his side in his bunk and peered into the adjacent cell. Reno was lying supine on his bunk.
Halverson whistled to him.
Reno stirred. He opened his eyes and stared at the bleak ceiling.
“Are you awake?” asked Halverson, sitting up.
“Yeah.”
Reno tried to move. He groaned. His body ached all over.
“What’s wrong?” asked Halverson.
“I never worked so hard in my life,” answered Reno, grimacing as he felt his sore muscles throb whenever he moved. “Every fiber of my body hurts.”
“You’ve led a sheltered life.”
“I never want to see another shovel again for as long as I live.”
“Bascomb knows the natives won’t get restless if they’re dead on their feet.”
“You’re speaking in riddles.”
Halverson lowered his voice. “People won’t question his authority if they’re too tired to think.”
Halverson scanned his digs. He picked up on a CCTV camera mounted in the top right corner of his cell trained in his direction. Watching the camera he stood up and stepped to the other side of his five-foot-wide cell.
The camera lens turned with him, following his every move.
“Where are you going?” asked Reno.
“We’ve got company,” answered Halverson.
Reno ran his sore, blistered hand over his rucked brow and down his face. He blinked his eyes.
“My brain doesn’t work after I wake up until I’ve had coffee,” he said, trying to concentrate. “Run that by me again. There’s nobody in here with me that I can see.”
“Check out the top corners of your cell.”
Reno looked up and quartered his cell. When he clapped his eyes on the movie camera crouched like a spider in one corner, he stopped casing the joint.
“I can’t say that I’m surprised,” he said.
“All these cells are probably equipped with them.”
“Sort of an invasion of privacy, don’t you think?”
“I’m sure the place is bugged for sound, too.”
“I thought Bascomb was supposed to be big on respecting the law.”
“Not all laws, apparently.”
“This just goes to prove Bascomb’s paranoid, like I’ve been saying all along.” Reno raised his voice, stood up, and faced the camera lens. “And I
don’t care if he hears me or not.”
Humming, the camera swiveled and followed Reno.
He caught sight of his reflection in the lens. He lowered his gaze and spied the pinpoint of red light beneath the lens.
Halverson watched him. “They’re not making any attempt to disguise the camera.”
“They want us to know they’re watching us.”
“Another way to intimidate us,” muttered Halverson.
“Bunch of voyeurs. Probably get their kicks ogling the women undress in their cells.”
“The women could kill their lights.”
Reno spun on his heel to face Halverson. “What good would that do? These cameras nowadays have night-vision capability.”
“It wouldn’t be the same as living color, though.”
“How do you know? Have you ever used a night-vision camera?”
“NVGs. Everything looks green.”
Reno quirked an eyebrow. “I get the impression there’s more to you than meets the eye.”
Halverson changed the subject. “I wonder where Victoria and Brittany are.”
“Speaking of women, do you think Bascomb ever pronged Selena?”
“Why do you say that?”
“Didn’t you see how she reacted in the ditch when I mentioned her being at Bascomb’s house?”
“She almost took your head off with her shovel.”
Reno smiled like the proverbial cat that ate the canary. “That’s my point. I touched a nerve. There must be something to it.”
Halverson shrugged. “What difference does it make?”
“What if Bascomb won’t let women out of his house unless they let him bang them?”
“If that’s going on, then neither Victoria nor Brittany is safe.”
“You’re not as stupid as you look.”
Halverson gave Reno a look. “The point is, we don’t actually know that’s what’s going down.”
Halverson heard a door slam and footsteps approaching from the main entrance to the cell block.
“They’re coming to take us away,” said Reno, tongue in cheek.
Halverson wasn’t so sure it was a laughing matter.
Chapter 42
“Rise and shine,” said Bascomb, marching up to Halverson, a coterie of armed security guards behind him. “Today’s your big day.”
“How so?” asked Halverson, puzzled.
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