by SJ Morris
“Oh, ouch. Yeah, the man you intentionally put in my life told you about our sex life, and surprise, it wasn’t all that good. It could have something to do with the fact that the Captain here isn’t very well endowed, so I wanted sex to be over as quickly as possible. Every…single…time. But, yeah, go ahead, pretend to have your inside jokes together if that’s what makes you feel high and mighty. Where do you need me for your stupid tests? As I said, I’m tired,” I responded, nonchalantly staring directly at Jack, making sure my jabs had disturbed him, which they apparently did. His expression was one of genuine hurt, and I couldn’t have been happier.
“Well then, Captain, could you leave us, please? I think you are needed in the security quarters.”
“Mam? I thought you wanted me with her at all times?” Jack questioned visibly frustrated.
“Sure...with her at all times when I am not with her. Security quarters, Captain Norrington, that’s an order,” she quipped back at him.
Uh oh, dissension in the ranks already. Oh, boo-hoo, Brigantine, and Jack had just started being friends again, and they’re already fighting. Jack was so stupid. He should’ve expected Brigantine not to keep her word, even after she got what she wanted. I guess Jack couldn’t see past his own jealousy, though. The idiot was getting what he deserved as far as I was concerned. Less than he deserved actually since he wasn’t being drowned, brought back to life only to be drowned again over and over. In my mind, there wasn’t anything painful enough to act as punishment for what Jack had done.
Jack left the room in a huff, and as he was exiting, he bumped into the soldier who was bringing me another tray of food. Jack chastised him for being so careless, but the soldier seemingly ignored him. It looks like my friend already figured out that all he needed to do was bide his time. He could help me make sure Jack paid for all of his wrongdoings soon enough.
The young man placed the tray in front of me, and I looked up at his jacket where his name was stitched, it read Smith.
“Mam, I hope scrambled eggs and whole wheat toast are acceptable?”
“Yes, Smith this is great. Thank you so much, sir.” I smiled and winked at him cautiously.
“Mam,” Smith responded nodding his head as he took his leave.
“I’m glad we could accommodate your appetite, Mrs. Norrington. Now if you wouldn’t mind eating quickly, I have things to do,” Brigantine said impatiently.
“Oh, by all means, let me shove this food in my face as to not disrupt your daily routine of crazy psycho human testing. Not to mention all you’re work to eliminate virtually the entire human race from the globe. I’d hate to make you a few minutes late for whatever crazy bitch hijinks you have next on your agenda.” I said as I put the napkin in my lap slowly and sipped my cranberry juice.
Smirking, she said, “I doubt you are going to be glad you ate at all when I’m done with you, Mrs. Norrington.”
“I’m pregnant, and I assume these babies are important to you, so you aren’t going to do anything to me. I’m calling your bluff.”
“That would not be wise my dear. Yes, those babies are important to me and no I cannot hurt you because of them, but I can hurt someone else you care about. Stuart, would you mind opening the curtains, please?”
The other doctor in the room with us walked over to the two-way mirror. He did not have a comfortable look about him as he slowly opened the curtains and knocked timidly on the mirror. A light went on behind the mirror, and on the other side was Lance. He was hanging from the ceiling by his wrists bound with a rope attached to chains. His eye was already blackened, and he was bleeding from a gash on his forehead. In the room with him was a soldier who did not look friendly at all.
“You fucking bitch, I’ll kill you!” I screamed as I jumped at her.
She pushed a button on the wall, and the soldier in the room with Lance punched him hard in the stomach, making Lance gasp for air and writhe in pain, stopping me in my tracks.
“Don’t cooperate with me, Abby, and Lance feels the pain. I promise you the gentleman in there with him has no issue with torturing a seventeen-year-old. He’s killed younger boys for me in the past, and if you mess with me, Lance will wish he was dead. I guarantee you that.”
“How could you? He’s just a boy,” I cried as I fell to my knees.
“All you have to do is follow my orders, and I’ll have Lance taken down as well as make sure he gets medical assistance, a shower, a hot meal, and a bed. Defy me, and I can make both of your lives a living hell.” She smiled back at me. “So, do I tell Commander Grabner in there to take Lance down, or do you need to see more so I can prove to you how serious I truly am?
“Take him down, please! I’ll do anything you want, just take him down. I’m so sorry Lance. Oh God, please forgive me!”
“God has no place here, darling. Unless you’re referring to me, and in that case, I forgive you. Now take off your pants and lie down on your back in the bed.”
I immediately jumped up to do as I was told without question or hesitation. I feared what they would do to Lance if I didn’t. The other doctor, whom I now knew as Stuart, obviously had an issue with how Brigantine was manipulating me. He was visibly shaken after witnessing the torture of my son. He refused to look at me as he pulled the stirrups from under my bed and asked me to scoot to the edge so I could put my feet in them. Dr. Brigantine sat between my legs, and Stuart rolled over a cart turning switches and knobs as he handed the internal ultrasound wand to her. She snapped her gloves and looked me in the eyes.
“Just lay back and relax. It’ll all be over soon. Now, let’s have a look at these adorable little babies and see how many embryos actually took.”
I barely had the energy to consider that she had just confirmed my worst fears. She had indeed inseminated me. I was utterly destroyed by the last few days of my life and now by what she was doing to my son and me. I focused on watching Commander Grabner lower Lance to his feet and get him to a gurney. He then wheeled him out of the adjoining room.
“If I don’t get to see my son alive and unharmed in the next hour, so help me you will have a huge problem on your hands. Do you understand me?” I said through gritted teeth.
“Oh, as long as you cooperate, you’ll get to see Lance every day, and we will take excellent care of him. But don’t mention any of this to Captain Norrington. If you do, Lance will pay gravely for it, and I will be forced to…well let’s just say…sever my relationship with the Captain. Now, do you understand?” She smiled as she spoke to me as if having a casual conversation about how cold the weather had gotten recently instead of how she was going to have my son tortured and Jack killed if I didn’t do as she demanded.
“Yes,” was all I could muster as a reply.
Chapter 17
The next few days were a monotony of the same benign tasks. Get up, eat, shower, and tests. I did have downtime in between tests and whatever else was happening, but Jack was always there silently watching me, so I didn’t get much accomplished other than reading crappy, self-help books Brigantine left for me. They weren’t even books that were relevant to anything anymore. They were about how to get your finances in order, and other mundane garbage people used to worry about before the Z-Strain, or Perdition Virus, wherever it was called. I guessed Brigantine was trying to keep me bored, so I wouldn’t try to plan an escape, but one was already blossoming in my head. I just needed the opportunity to chat with Smith, even if only for a few seconds.
Even though Jack was almost everywhere I went, at least, he wasn’t trying to talk to me. I probably would have ended up punching him in the throat if he had tried to spark up a conversation, and Lance would have ended up paying for my outburst. So, I tried to keep myself on an even keel around Jack.
I did nothing to stray from what I was told to do in fear of what they would do to Lance and in return, Brigantine kept her word. Once a day for about 15 minutes, while she was doing some sort of test on me, she opened the two-way mirror, and I could see that Lan
ce was okay and unharmed, as far as I could tell. I couldn't talk to him, and he apparently couldn’t see me, which was agonizing, but as long as he was safe, that was going to have to be good enough for now.
I was awaiting an opportunity to privately speak to Smith, who delivered my meals three times a day. Finally, after what I think was my fourth week in Dr. Psycho’s Paradise, there was a small wooden pencil wrapped in my napkin with breakfast. On the napkin was a tiny little question mark. I assumed it was Smith asking me what the plan was, and I was going to lay out as much as I could.
I ate slowly like I usually did, and Jack stood at attention next to my door staring at the mirror. I wondered if he somehow knew what was behind the glass, or if he had an idea but refused to threaten his standing with Brigantine to find out. The thought of him not caring enough about his own children hurt me, but I couldn’t focus on that now. I needed to focus on getting the hell out of here with Lance and as many soldier allies as I could.
As Jack fixated on the mirror, I casually switched hands with my fork to the left so I could write with my right hand on my lap. Writing on a napkin usually sucks, so trying to write on a napkin, in pencil with one hand and trying to do it in secret was a huge pain in the ass.
‘Get as many allies as possible, drug Grabner & Jack with lunch. Get prisoner next door & we all leave.’
I wrote as short as I could. I wish we could use a cipher or something just in case someone else found the napkin, but we had no way to get each other a code to use so this was going to have to do. I took some ketchup from my plate on my hand and crinkled up the napkin tucking it under the plate, so you couldn’t see the words I’d written. Hopefully, since it was dirty no one would give it a second thought. It was just a dirty napkin, right?
I made sure to leave the pencil inside the napkin also since I knew Jack would check me for anything I shouldn’t have sooner or later. He caught me with a toothpick once and thankfully he said nothing to Brigantine when he took it away from me. If he had told her anything, I was sure Lance would have a black eye again the next time I saw him.
I grabbed the book I was currently reading. How to Knit Your Wardrobe was the latest riveting title left for me by Brigantine. I pretended to read it as I sat guarding my tray against Jack’s prying eyes. It was seemingly the longest twenty minutes of my life before I heard the door beep and Smith came in. Jack peered into the hallway as the door was closing behind him, and I took the chance to wink at Smith who smiled back.
I hoped our secret message was going to work, and I wasn’t just going to end up getting Smith into a shit load of trouble or worse, dead. Smith had taken four weeks to figure out this way of communicating with me, so he had to be sure it was safe with minimal risk of being caught, or he wouldn't have done it. Well, that was what I told myself.
Smith was a big guy. He had lots of muscles and appeared to be very strong, but he was also very young. I could only assume his job was food tray duty for a reason, but he was going to have to be my saving grace in this world of shit we were in together. He just had to be.
Smith acknowledged me with his normal “Mam.” and took my tray. Being sure the napkin wouldn’t show, he picked up the plate and put it completely on top of the napkin. He piled on the plastic silverware I had used and laid my empty juice cup over the top of everything. A little overkill, but I guess he was just being safe. Smith picked up the tray and started for the door.
“Stop,” demanded Jack, halting Smith in his tracks.
“Sir?”
“Just stay there and don’t move,” replied Jack as he walked over to where I was sitting. “You didn’t eat your applesauce, Abby. It’s your favorite,” Jack said taking the spoon and the cup of applesauce from the tray Smith was holding.
Jack put the cup in front of me and demanded that I eat it. I handed him back the spoon, unused, drank down the contents in one gulp, and handed him the now-empty plastic cup.
“Happy ass hat?” I asked without looking up from my book. I didn’t want to raise any suspicions since Smith looked as if he was ready to run screaming out of the room.
“Good. You need the fiber and vitamin C that’s in the applesauce for those growing babies.”
Jack placed the cup on the tray Smith was holding, and Smith turned quickly to leave without another interruption. I put my face back in the book I was pretending to read and quietly breathed a sigh of relief. I wanted so badly to throw the book at Jack for his snide comments, but I satisfied myself with the thought that there would soon be a plan, and one way or another, Jack was going to get what was coming to him.
I sat back with my book in hand actually reading it this time as a small smile crept to my lips. There were no windows in my room, but I imagined the sun shining brightly at our small victory, or at least that was what I pictured in my head. It was probably storming like crazy for all I knew. I hadn’t seen daylight in weeks after all.
There was a quiet beep and the door opened for Dr. Brigantine and Stuart in tow as usual. Except for this time Stuart carried a heavy coat and snow boots in his arms instead of a tray of instruments.
Smiling broadly, Brigantine said, “Good morning, my dear. How are you feeling this fine day?”
“I’m fine. What’s with the winter gear?” I replied bluntly.
“I figured you would like to see the first snowfall of the season, Abbigail. It might do you and those babies some good to get some fresh air too,” she said, flashing me her yellow smile that made my skin crawl.
“Well, if you would just let me go, I could enjoy plenty of fresh air and my spirits, which you seem to be so concerned with, would be much better. It would also be great if you would happen to slip and fall face first into a board of rusty nails and die a slow agonizing death. A girl can dream,” I replied as I grabbed the coat and boots from Stuart.
I didn’t have anything against Stuart other than him going along with Brigantines stupid plans, but the look on his face told me he wasn’t doing so willingly, or he was, at least, forced to play the part somehow. He looked at me sadly now, and that made me hope whatever scheme was being plotted to get Lance and me out of here didn’t get Stuart hurt. I bet if given a chance, Stuart would happily go with us.
“Someone is feeling feisty this morning. I hope you can behave if I take you outside, after all, I don’t have to. The babies are growing fantastically, and you look stunning for just over three months into the pregnancy. You could stay inside if you’d like?”
Motioning toward Jack, I said, “No, I’d much prefer scenery that doesn’t consist of Captain Douche over here and these plain drab walls.”
“Ha! Captain Douche. Now that’s funny, Abbigail. I figured you two would be talking again by now. After all, you have been married for how long? Forever right?”
“Marriage means nothing when it’s a fraud. Jack is a stranger to me, and he’ll never be anything more than that.” I said as I put on the heavy socks, boots, and coat. “It must be pretty cold out if you’re giving me all of this.”
“Yes, it’s a chilly twenty-six degrees outside, and it snowed last night. There’s about eight inches on the ground now, and my courtyard is absolutely beautiful. I thought of you as I took my tea out there this morning. It made me want to share the elegance of nature with you. The exquisiteness that I…no that we, helped cultivate into what it is today.”
“You really are batshit crazy. You know that, right? All you did was kill millions of people. Just because the world is still pretty, and winter still comes doesn’t mean you did anything to help it. If you hadn’t released the Perdition Virus, winter would still be here right now. It still would have snowed last night. The only difference you made was that there are little to no children, or anyone for that matter, left to play in the snow or to enjoy it. There are only corpses left to amble through it, making the white snow black with their poisoned blood. The cars that are now abandoned on the roadways will rust and leak their unused fluids into the ground, poisoning it even more.
Face it, all you did was take away one so-called problem and created hundreds more.”
“Well, Abbigail, it sounds like you’ve put a lot of thought into that response, but you’re wrong. I planned for all of that. Come, take a walk with me, and I’ll explain everything.” She said offering me her arm.
“I’m pregnant, not old. Thanks, but I can walk just fine on my own.”
Dr. Brigantine turned away from me with a huff that I still didn’t want to be her best friend. Stuart smiled at me ever so slightly but immediately wiped it off his face when he saw Jack staring between the two of us.
“Captain Norrington, stay here if you will. I think you and Abbigail could use some time apart,” Brigantine said as she swiped her card to open the door.
Jack looked like he was going to protest, but he stopped saying what he wanted to before the words left his lips. With the face of a defeated child who was told they couldn’t go outside and play, he plopped into the chair next to the door. I enjoyed his frustration way too much, but he had brought it on himself.
Chapter 18
We walked quietly down the hall, and as usual, I paid very close attention to every door and hall we walked past. I was trying to memorize where everything was. It’s always better to know where you’re going than to be guessing in a place like this.
We turned to a hallway I had not yet been down and walked past a door marked “Electric.” It got my mind racing that if I was somehow able to get in there and turn the power off, I might just be able to break out. No electricity, no electric door locks, right? I’m sure she had a backup generator somewhere, but hopefully, I would at least have a few minutes before that kicked on to make my way outside.
I was pulled from my thoughts when Brigantine gasped overdramatically at the wall of glass doors I’m sure she’s seen a million times before.
“Oh, look, Abbigail! Isn’t this spectacularly breathtaking?” she exclaimed.
