The Free City

by Marius Pitigoi

  But the hatred was there, germinating inside him and growing each day.

  One evening, as Dylan was sitting at a table at the ward eating his dinner, he noticed two guys jumping a third and dragging him on the stairs. Anti-aggression mechanisms automatically came into operation and Tased the two. Inside wards, violence is not permitted so that government property is not destroyed. Anti-aggression mechanisms are therefore placed in such buildings. Seeing as he was now free, the third man tried to kick one of his attackers lying on the floor. He was immediately shot as well. The entire incident made the other residents laugh. How can you be so stupid to fight right in the ward? They were probably drunk or had simply forgotten that inside the ward was a mechanism that detected any trace of aggression and eliminated it.

  However, this reminded Dylan of when he was tied up and left prey to the rage of Gabriel Hall. And while Gabriel Hall would not return to New Hope, many of those who helped him were here and could be found. Adrenaline flooded Dylan’s entire body. He got up and ran.

  The loathing he had been carrying around with him every day could now be pinpointed. And it had a name. Krugar. He was the leader who orchestrated everything. He gave the order to replace his bracelets. He captured Lydia and him and handed them over to Gabriel Hall on a silver platter. Dylan finally understood that he was not the bait—he was the prey. If Dylan wanted to take revenge against someone, that someone was Krugar. It didn’t even need to be called revenge. Krugar was a wrongdoer who needed to be stopped. If the state didn’t intervene, then he would.

  Yes. That was his purpose from then on.

  Dylan returned to his room long after nightfall. He did not care about the dangers of the night anymore. He only thought about what needed to be done. The enthusiasm he first felt had been tempered a bit. Many people reported to Krugar. Robert Gomez was just a pawn, and there were many like him. And there was also that bitch Sarah Sanchez, who shot him twice. Something truly evil was in that woman. He had to unmask them all. But for now, he had no idea what he should do. At least he had a goal, which was a good thing. It dissipated his drowsiness.

  Dylan decided to start training again the following day. He was out of shape. No matter his next step, he needed a robust physique in order to accomplish it. He remembered Donald Ortiz told him not to isolate himself and to look for his old friends, so he went to the gym in area 12H7 where he found Jeremy Phillips and his gang.

  They listened to their friend’s entire story. Some of them heard stories that the bracelets could be removed and replaced, but it was hard to believe. That was the biggest controversy. They were just rumors, they said. One of the guys said he heard about a sensor that made direct contact with the skin and recognized the person. Another said he heard that the bracelet had a lot of circular circuits, and if you disconnected one of them, an alarm was triggered. All rumors—nothing you could really put your finger on. But now they had in front of them living testimony that the bracelets could be removed. That was a very strange notion for all of them.

  Seeing as Dylan had no money, they bought him a drink. They wanted to know as much from him as possible. Was it true that at the mental hospital they performed lobotomies on you? Was it true they had a drug there that once injected made you spill everything you knew? No. These were not true, Dylan told them. But they had very good doctors, like Donald Ortiz, with whom you could talk about anything and who wanted to help you.

  He told them about his hypnosis sessions; that made them go insane. They all talked at the same time, suggesting all sorts of hypotheses. But one thing was clear to them all: he had been brainwashed. Are you sure they didn’t inject you with anything before the hypnosis session? No drugs? Yes, he had taken medicine, but not right before. He was told it would help him relax. It was obvious; he had been given truth serum. They hypnotized him in order to find out everything they wanted to. Of course, he didn’t remember anything except being asked about his general health. It was the perfect cover. How perverse of them! Under the pretext that they wanted to help, they entered your mind and discovered everything.

  “Hey guys, that’s not true... hypnosis helped me. I even learned how to use it on myself.”

  The clamor had suddenly quieted down. They all stared at him and were perplexed. Did Dylan now have occult powers? Was he their man now? Trying to get everything he could out of them? Jeremy Phillips broke the silence:

  “Well, if that’s so, then come on. Hypnotize me. Now, Nathan Green, you pay attention. If he attempts something nasty, you slap me out of it. The rest, you jump him!”

  They all agreed. Dylan had to show them. Then and there.

  “You don’t understand. It doesn’t work like that. Nobody can hypnotize you against your will. If you resist, nothing can come of it.”

  “Dude, I am not resisting. I’ll do everything you tell me to do. Come on.”

  Dylan had no choice. But first, he asked for another beer. They brought it to him in an instant. He sat in front of Jeremy Phillips. Behind them, the guys were encouraging him. They all put forth suggestions.

  “Turn him into a dog.”

  “Make him do frog sounds.”

  Laughter.

  “Follow my finger, Jeremy. No matter what happens, keep your eyes on my finger. Relax and take a deep breath. I’ll count backward from five to one. As I am counting, you’ll feel your eyes getting heavier, as heavy as lead. When I reach one, you will fall asleep.”

  “...and be a cow...”

  “...a dog, dude…”

  “Relax and breathe. Five.”

  Dylan couldn’t utter another word. They all finished the countdown for him.

  “...four, three, one...”

  “Arh-ooo!”

  “You forgot the two...”

  “...can you feel one finger in your ass?”

  “...wait, he hypnotized me, too...”

  Dylan laughed with them. He had no supernatural power, which was a good thing. He had once again been accepted as part of the group. He dropped the hypnosis routine and had another beer. You need to get pissed drunk in order to get well again. If they brainwash you, the only remedy is to do the same thing to yourself once more. By drinking alcohol. As Dylan didn’t usually to drink much, it didn’t take much to get him so drunk that he couldn’t walk on his own two feet anymore. Nathan Green, also quite tipsy, carried him back to his studio. As there was only one bed, they had to sleep together. In the morning, Dylan was thrown off the bed and sent home.

  A horrible headache prevented him from focusing on anything for more than a second. And he was thirsty. The trip to the ward felt endless. Once there, he drank a liter of water at one sitting. He wanted to eat something too, but it wasn’t lunch hour yet, so he had to wait.

  Chapter 17

  After a whole day of lying around, Dylan started to feel better. By chance, his recent boozing took place on a Saturday. In New Hope, all days seemed the same. It was difficult to distinguish a weekend or a weekday. Dylan made a schedule for his training. He had a lot of catching up to do.

  He still had no idea how to unmask Krugar. His best idea at the moment was to gather hard evidence and somehow make a film to be distributed outside of New Hope. People in the civilized world would revolt and surely do something about it.

  He thought about what he had so far. He knew what Krugar looked like and he knew where his mansion was located. Unfortunately, the mansion was on the Island of the Rich, which was quite difficult to access. He also knew Sarah Sanchez’s physical traits well enough. And then there was Robert Gomez. Robert Gomez was the only one who was reachable, for now. Dylan marked on a map where Robert worked at the market, the studio where the bracelets had been replaced, and the studio where he had been held hostage with Lydia. He needed to be careful with Robert Gomez. He didn’t work alone.

  The following Tuesday, after training, he was approached by Nathan Green. “I’d like to talk to you about something. Can I accompany you to the subway?”

  “Sure,” sai
d Dylan, “Let’s go.”

  “You know,” said Nathan, “I’ve been wondering…is it true what you told us on Saturday?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “The thing about hypnosis? Is it really that easy? Does it help you relax?”

  “Yes. Of course it’s true. It’s been helping me a lot. And remember what I told you I’ve been through? Well, now I’ve found the strength to move on.”

  “I’d like you to teach me.”

  “I don’t think so. You saw the show when I tried it with Jeremy.”

  “Yes…because we were all there making fun of it. But I’d like you to teach only me. Somewhere where there are just the two of us. I have trouble sleeping. And it is only getting worse. It takes me hours to fall asleep. No matter how tired I am. I don’t have the money to see a doctor. That’s why I’d be willing to try hypnosis.”

  “Well…I’ll try to help you… if I can… come on over and we’ll talk.”

  “Okay, boss.”

  On the way to Dylan’s studio, they barely spoke. Dylan was happy that he would be given a chance to help someone, and Nathan Green thought about the things he was about to tell Dylan. On the one hand, he was not thrilled about sharing his problems with Dylan, but on the other hand, his sleeping problems were getting quite serious. And after all, what was the worst that could happen?

  When did his insomnia first emerge? Nathan couldn’t remember. It was insignificant at first; he hadn’t paid much attention to it. But in time, it had gotten worse.

  Dylan warned him, “I have no specialized psychological training, so we might fail. But if you really want to do this, together might have a chance to succeed.”

  “Dude… what matters the most is that you’re honest. You’re not trying to be anything you’re not.”

  “I see no reason to do that…If I can, I’ll help you. In any case, sometimes it does one good to talk about their problems with someone else. By the way, I don’t know if you’ve mentioned it already, but why are you in New Hope?”

  “I’m here willingly. But then that’s only partly true. The truth is, I never managed to keep a steady job. And you know how the state forces you to pay that flat-rate tax. Until you’re seventy, you have to pay to the state $5,000 every year, whether you’re employed or not. So, besides the fact that you need money to survive, you also need money for this tax. I’ve tried everything before coming here. Trust me; I’ve had plenty of jobs. What haven’t I tried?

  “Let me start from the beginning. My parents, although not that young when they had me, were used to a certain lifestyle. Let’s say they were cushy. They didn’t really feel like taking care of me. They let the school educate me. In middle school, I had the same classes as a relative of one of the teachers. In preparatory class, I don’t know what came over this “relative” but she pushed me. I must have said something or pushed her back; I don’t remember exactly, but she jumped me, pulled my hair, scratched me, and slapped me. Before I could react, a teacher came and separated us. That led to a huge scandal, but everything was recorded by surveillance cameras, so I was off the hook, but the headmaster called her parents. She had previous behavioral issues and had caused many problems. In the end, she had to move and attend a special-needs school. But the teacher who was related to her figured that I had started everything and he held a grudge against me forever after that. I didn’t realize it then, but he would always ignore me when he was explaining something new and would have me solve much more difficult exercises than the rest of the class.

  “Under those conditions, I didn’t try too hard at school so I never even got into high school. I went to a vocational school. Since my parents never gave me any useful advice and I had already reached the age when you start getting interested in girls, I chose to become a massage therapist. Don’t laugh. I could almost see myself at the massage table with a young girl crazy about my moves. That was all I had in mind. I finished vocational school and started working at a beauty shop close to where I lived. I never considered that most women in need of massages were old. It’s fine if you happen to glimpse the naked back of an old lady only once in a while, but I had to look at them on a daily basis. That wrinkled, saggy skin. I was disgusted.

  “I would arrive late for work. Leave early. Take too many days off. More than I was entitled to. The owner was indulgent for a while. He liked me because I generally received good feedback from customers. But after a year or so, almost two, he fired me. I didn’t want to keep working in the field, so I took a job at a garage. The salary was not much, but I had enough for rent and food.

  “I don’t know whether my folks wanted to get rid of me or not, but one day they took me aside and told me they’d done everything they could for me, but now they were old and wanted to start saving some money. I agreed with my folks that it would be better if I tried to be on my own. But it bothered me that they wouldn’t admit that they never actually cared that much about me. We end up having a fight, and in the end I moved out.

  “I worked at that garage for a long time. Things were going well. I took out a loan and bought a car. I wasn’t planning on committing to a steady relationship, so I was mostly just having fun. After New Year’s holiday, which lasted a few extra days, I went to work terribly tired. Because I was so absentminded, I incorrectly coupled the battery-terminal connections of an engine and fried it. I had been told its protection mechanism against high voltage had been taken off, but I had forgotten. The insurance company wanted me to pay for the damage. They had many lawyers and I couldn’t afford any representation, so I made a deal with them that I’d pay half the cost of the engine.

  “In order to take out another loan, I had to find a job quickly, so I accepted an offer from the state to work in administration. Dude, they have like a million protocols and internal regulations! I wasn’t able to learn them all, nor did I want to. After six months and multiple warnings, I was fired. I was given one month notice, during which time I had to find another job. But since I didn’t want to go back to massage therapy, and motor services wouldn’t hire me because of my history, I only had two other options: odd-job man or the army. For me, working far from home on a building site was pretty much the same thing as working in the army, but the army paid more. So I enlisted. I only lasted for three weeks. Waking up at 5:00 a.m. pretty much ended it for me.

  “I only had one option left: the odd-job man. But the revenue authority made me an offer. They probably noticed I wasn’t managing to accrue any tax money and they probably thought I’d end up stealing or killing for it. So they told me that if I move to New Hope ‘willingly,’ they’ll freeze my debts, and if I stay here for ten years, they’ll consider them completely paid. I have four more years.”

  Nathan told the whole story in a breath, as if he recited a well-learned poem. Dylan listened to him carefully and without interruptions. He realized Nathan Green needed someone to talk to. Dylan had to play the part of the psychotherapist. He was not prepared for it, but his new friends were nice, and he wanted to help Nathan, if he could.

  “I see you’ve managed quite well these last six years.”

  “Yeah, I managed, but not well. Out here, you always have to be prepared for the worst. Never let your guard down. It took a lot of effort. And I wasn’t ready at all. The beginning was terrible. I was used to parties, to having fun. I thought I’d find paradise here. Food, accommodations, drinks. Everything for free. I thought these would be ten years of milk and honey.

  “One night, I went to a lecture theater. However, what during the day looked like a lecture theater, during the night was an area of depravity. There was a hot girl there. It had been a while since I had a girl, so I hit on her. But she was there with a large group of long-haired guys. They beat me up fiercely until I was knocked cold. They broke both my legs. I don’t know why. I can’t even remember. I spent almost a month at the ward’s hospital. Then they released me. They said I was no longer an emergency case, so I had to recuperate the remainder of time at hom
e.

  “A seven-minute trip then took me an hour. Two hours sometimes. That’s how long it took me to get to the ward. You probably know you can’t spend more than an hour there for every meal. And afterward, you must go outside for at least two hours. At most, four entries per day. I think that is how they prevent overcrowding. Anyway, in order to avoid walking there and back twice, sometimes I would go outside the ward and just stand in front of it for a few hours. After a few days of this struggle, I went outside my building and asked a neighbor I had spoken with briefly before to get my food and bring it to my studio, for a price, of course. I was exhausted. My neighbor went and returned with my food. I recognized him and opened the door. When he found himself safely inside, he Tased me, beat me up, and in order to make sure I wouldn’t fight back, although it was clear I couldn’t have, he tied me up with a rope. He premeditated it all. He stole everything I had: money, possessions, everything. I had a basketball I used to play outside with. He even took that.

  “The really bad part was that he left me tied up. I cried for help for an entire day. Nobody came. I begged for someone to help, I screamed, I even cried, but all in vain. I eventually fainted. When I returned to my senses, I was still tied up, tightly around the legs and hands. I started shouting again, still in vain. It took a lot of effort just to drag myself to the door, but once there, I couldn’t to open it. I just lay on the floor. I was thirsty. I felt my insides burning.

  “My vitals were dropping. These bracelets serve a good purpose after all. They alerted the authorities, and some volunteers finally came and took me to the hospital. I had a breakdown there. They got concerned and kept me in the hospital for two months. I attended some counseling sessions. I haven’t been the same since. I feel no compassion for people anymore. I only think of my own survival. I still remember the guy who robbed me. I have a down on him. I can still see him in my mind. If I met him, I’m sure I’d kill him.”