My heart was trying to beat its way out of my chest. I’d held my breath for so long my lungs were hurting. I blew the air out slowly, then inhaled open-mouthed so I wouldn’t make any noise.
“Good girl. Good girl.”
I imagined him stroking her hair as he said that and it made me nauseous. I was powerless to stop him. I couldn’t even tell Patton without explaining how I knew, and that meant giving up Clifton’s labyrinth.
I couldn’t do it. It was too big a risk. I needed to explore the rest of the ducts, find out if they might possibly lead to escape. Some small part of me still held back one-hundred percent trust in Patton. I couldn’t hand myself over to him completely. Not in this place—at least not yet.
I would have to take care of this problem myself. No longer would I ask to see Judy in the morning. I would demand it. And Brian was going to oblige, whether he knew it or not.
“Anyway, like I was saying,” he continued in the darkness. “Mr. Shriver will be gone, along will Sean’s guards. After they take him to the airport, they’ve got a big job to do. All the men from the party I told you about, remember? It’s time to dispose of some of them. Sean’s guards have to deliver each of them home one by one and stage a natural death. It’s brilliantly intricate. If evil. Wow, baby. Look how good you’re doing. I might actually come tonight after all.”
He stopped for a moment, I assumed to enjoy his blowjob.
“And I imagine Sean will be preoccupied tomorrow as well.” The sinister laugh that followed almost made me gasp. It didn’t even sound like him. I could feel goose bumps forming all over my body. “So starting tomorrow, you’ll get a break from the beatings, since Mr. Stump Dick will be out of town. And you will go to Melissa and tell her what’s been happening to you. You’ll cry. You’ll let her embrace you. And, if we’re lucky, she’ll do something very, very stupid. Now speed it up and finish me off. I can feel it. I can feel it.”
Silence ensued, and out of it rose the sound of him breathing through his teeth, faster and faster, until finally he grunted and exhaled.
“Did you swallow it?”
“Yes,” Judy said, her voice as cold as I’d ever heard.
“Go over there and turn on the light.”
─Little Scar─
I DIDN’T sleep all night. Liu had taken the middle of the bed on purpose so she could sleep between Flora and me, and when I lay next to her she turned over from spooning Flora and slipped her arm around my waist.
I was so exhausted I didn’t fight. She was small and soft and comfortable, and in the dead of night the same feelings one experiences in the daytime don’t necessarily apply. Liu wore only a t-shirt and pair of panties, and as her fingers glided gently up and down my back, I found mine doing the same to her. I felt her body shifting, drawing closer to me, our hips touching. Then the weight of her face on my pillow. Her breath. Her puffy lips. Her tongue.
Before I fully realized what was happening, Liu had slipped her hand between my legs. I spread them for her.
I didn’t return the favor.
She stuck her tongue in my mouth and I felt pleasure building in me quickly. The Libido Drug was still in my system. I drew back from her and rolled over on my back, legs spread, breathing sharply and concentrating on the counterclockwise motion of her fingers.
I climaxed, and then I was fully awake again. I turned to Liu. She looked disappointed and expectant.
“Go to sleep,” I whispered.
Then I got up from the bed and went to the kitchen, where I packed a small bowl of weed and stood smoking in the dim glow of the counter lighting.
I knew I shouldn’t. Abandon all inhibitions, fuck whomever, and lie around smoking weed? Might as well change my name to Kate.
I sat at the table and stared Liu down until she finally rolled back over and cuddled up next to Flora.
Before long I was stoned, and the higher I got the more the weight of this place bore down on me. I was in over my head. Not even a college education to my name, and somehow I thought I could outwit what had to be some of the smartest men in the world.
Me, the girl who let a married man inside me at eighteen and was surprised when he traded me in for a newer model.
Mistake after mistake after mistake. That was my life.
When the bowl was cashed, I made my way over to the couch. There I sat for hours, contemplating my next move.
Explore Level A. That was a top priority, especially now that Brian was out to get me. If I could find a mode of escape, I had to seize the opportunity. I could take Flora with me and hope for the best. Maybe I could even kill Sean first, which was what Brian hoped I would do when Judy came to me about the bruises—Sean or Mr. Stump Dick, as he called him.
Figure out a way to convince Patton not to trust Brian. A no-brainer, of course, but without giving away Clifton’s labyrinth, I had no way to prove it.
Unless I could convince Judy to tell him. She would be coming to me tomorrow to confess the beatings. I faced the same problem with her, having to reveal the pathway through the walls, but I felt I could trust her.
After all, she did bite that guy’s dick off, and now she was paying for it. It was my fault. If I hadn’t drugged Kate, Pete, and Murphy, Judy wouldn’t be in this situation. I had to help her. I owed it to her.
The little clock on the end table showed three minutes past four when I finally fell asleep sitting up on the couch, debating whether or not I needed to set an alarm. I awoke a few hours later to Flora’s beautiful face, the tickle of her long wisps of hair on my arm, her hand gently squeezing my thigh.
“Good morning,” she whispered.
“What time is it?”
“Seven-thirty.” She sat down next to me and brushed her skirt over her knees.
“Where’s Liu?”
“Taking a shower.”
“Did you have fun last night?”
She leaned in close, smelling of honey and lemon balm—fancy soaps galore in this place, one of the perks of being a prisoner—and whispered, “I need to talk to you about that.”
I sat up in a panic. “What happened? Did James do something? Did he hurt you? I’ll fucking murder that little prick.”
Flora was shaking her head. “He didn’t do anything,” she said, “but he kept trying to get us to do stuff. Together, you know? I reminded Liu we’re not allowed, but she was on his side. They got mad at me and left me by myself while they went to hang out in the shower room. I’m pretty sure they did it.”
A great surge of guilt and shame welled inside me and in my half-sleep it took me a moment to realize why.
Then I remembered making out with Liu last night, letting her touch me.
I’m the dumbest bitch alive.
“I’m sorry, Flora,” I said. “I shouldn’t have let him come over.”
“We insisted,” Flora said. “It’s our responsibility. I’m sorry, Melissa. From now on I’ll do whatever you tell me. I won’t argue.”
She leaned in to me and rested her head against mine. I took her hand and held it in my lap, inhaled her sweet, lemony fragrance, and tried not to fall asleep, entranced as I was by her warmth and softness and tenderness.
Such a kind soul. All of the Floras.
She was stroking my arm with her index finger, drawing invisible shapes, and when I looked over I caught a glimpse of the little scar on her bicep where Brian had implanted the device long ago.
For some reason I started thinking about the very first Flora Girl. Where did she come from? If all the Favorite Girls were clones, there must have been a natural-born source.
Another question to add to my mounting pile of confusion, though something told me the original Flora didn’t volunteer her DNA.
Flora snuggled up closer to me and we sat there in the early morning with our feet kicked up on the coffee table, enjoying a moment of peace while Liu showered alone. In the quiet, I began to imagine a bank account somewhere depleting by a million dollars a day. How much time did Flora and I hav
e left before someone came and confiscated her? What would happen to her? What would happen to me?
“What’s the matter?” Flora whispered, touching my tear-streaked cheek with her fingertips.
I tried to speak. Nothing came out.
“I’m making homemade brownies tonight,” she said with an upward inflection and a warm smile, as though brownies would save her life and mine.
“I’m looking forward to it,” I managed. “I bet they’ll be wonderful.”
Flora nodded emphatically. “Oh yes. It’s Patton’s recipe. He makes the best brownies in the world. He teaches all the girls how to bake.”
Somehow I found myself laughing at the thought of Patton wearing an apron and a chef’s hat, a qualified instructor in Home Economics. Flora patted me on the leg and jumped to her feet, her skirt bouncing so high I caught a glimpse of her underwear.
“Breakfast?” she asked. “I’ll call in an order. And when James gets here, feel free to be mean to him. He was really mean to me.”
I got dressed for the day while Flora placed an order. When I came out of the closet zipping my jeans, Liu emerged from the corridor wrapped in a towel and dripping wet. She scowled at me and without a word stepped past me to the closet. When James arrived with breakfast, she came trotting out in a skimpy dress and ran up to greet him.
James looked grumpy, disappointed. Poor Liu, the Plan B girl, the remaining option. I could tell how badly he wanted Flora by the way he gawked at her, his eyes slicing through her clothes, stripping her down in his mind.
Liu held him by the wrist and was whispering to him. Already attached, already hurt that he wasn’t thrilled to see her.
“Thank you, James, that’ll be all,” I said, approaching quickly.
James said nothing. He just smiled, nodded, and left.
When the door shut, Liu put her hands on her sides and cocked her head. “Are you trying to ruin my life?”
“Don’t be dramatic.”
She huffed like a frustrated dog and pointed her bony finger at me. “You know what? I’m gonna tell Patton I want a new room. I’m gonna tell him how mean you are.” She smiled and shifted her hips and began to twirl her flat, weightless black hair. A piece of gum in her mouth and she would be a stereotypical eighties girl. “We talk all the time, you know. Me and Patton. It gets lonely up there while classes are in session.” She giggled. “He’s so flirty sometimes.”
Some instinctual part of me wanted to take the bait. I knew she was just trying to make me jealous, but even the thought of something happening between Patton and her made rage build up inside me. I wanted to hurt her. Maybe yank out a clump of that coal-black hair.
But I had Patton to think about. If she really intended to complain to him about me, sending her off with a bald spot would do nothing but further her cause.
“If you want a new room, I’ll help you out,” I said.
“Guys don’t,” Flora said, her soft voice like a distant echo.
Liu had tensed up, and for the first time I realized she had pretty substantial muscles for such a scrawny girl. Maybe pulling her hair wasn’t such a good idea.
“Good,” she said. “I can’t wait to get the hell out of here.”
She was crying, and I started to feel ashamed. Liu was fresh out of high school. There should be a maturity gap between us, but I was behaving just as childishly as she.
I ate breakfast alone on the couch while Flora consoled Liu at the kitchen table. Still compassionate after how Liu and James treated her last night.
It was just past seven when I finished, so I left the room, waving to Flora as I passed by the kitchen.
I went out to the lobby and sat for a few minutes by the pool. It was empty, of course, since all the employees were having breakfast before work. I wanted to look for Judy in the cafeteria but I needed a few minutes to calm my nerves.
Sean emerged from the back hallway and headed into the hall leading to my room. I jumped to my feet and jogged over to him, calling his name.
“I was looking for you,” he said. “No work this week. All appointments are cancelled. Mr. Shriver left this morning on a business trip.”
“What am I supposed to do?”
“That’s not my department.”
He turned to go back the way he came.
“Hey!” I said. He stopped and I stepped close enough to whisper. “Did you find out anything about that soldier?”
Sean looked around the empty lobby, then set his black eyes on me, mouth forming into an eerie grin. “He’s nothing to be concerned about.”
“Is the government after us?”
Us? What the fuck, Melissa?
“No,” Sean said. “He was collecting evidence for the purpose of blackmailing the company.”
“What did you do with him?”
His smile widened. “I still have him. I’ll probably keep him for a while.”
My stomach twisted into a knot. I thought about the soldier at the bottom of Brian’s pit, naked and shivering and scared for his life. What condition was he in now?
“I want to see him,” I said, my voice cracking in anticipation of immediate refusal.
“Okay.”
“What?”
Sean shrugged. “Okay, I’ll take you to see him. Not right now, though. I have some things to do.” He looked at his watch. “How about noon? You can meet me here and I’ll take you up.”
I nodded quickly, unable to speak, and as Sean walked away I just stood there in shock.
Up.
There were only two floors above Level C, and I knew for a fact he wasn’t housing a prisoner with the Favorite Girls.
Today at noon Sean was going to take me to Level E.
Holy shit. I have to tell Patton.
I waited for Sean to turn a corner. Then I ran down my hallway and back to the room. As I opened the door Liu’s loud, angry voice blasted in my face, but she stopped as soon as she heard me. I didn’t catch what she was saying and I didn’t care.
“Everything okay?” Flora asked.
“Yep, just gotta make a call,” I said, rushing to the telephone.
I dialed Patton’s office. It rang four times and went to voicemail, so I dialed his apartment. The same.
“Liu,” I said. She spun around in her chair and looked at me for the first time. “I need you to do me a favor.”
She grimaced. “Are you fucking serious?”
“Please,” I said. “It’s an emergency.”
“What’s wrong?” Flora asked, standing from her chair.
“Nothing, everything’s okay. I just have to talk to Patton.” I turned to Liu. “When you get to work, tell him I need to see him.”
“Why don’t you just wait for him? He’ll be here in half an hour.”
She was right. I would have to postpone talking to Judy. It would be better to wait until she got off work anyway. We would have more time then.
“Okay,” I said, taking a long, deep breath, trying to calm myself.
“What’s so important anyway?” Liu asked, her cynicism cutting through my patience like a razor blade.
“If you could show yourself as trustworthy,” I said, “maybe I would tell you.”
“Whatever.”
She went back to eating her biscuits and gravy.
Flora still stood there looking timid and nervous. Her intelligence and intuition had no end. Completely dumb to the circumstances, she could still sense the gravity of the situation.
I walked over to her, forcing a smile, and brushed a crumb from the corner of her mouth. “Finish eating. Everything’s fine.”
“What’s going on, Melissa? Can you tell me?”
I gave her a furtive nod, hoping Liu wouldn’t see it. “Eat your breakfast. We’ll talk later.”
The next thirty minutes crawled by. Now that I had time to sit and think, I started to get scared. I didn’t like being alone with Sean. Once he had me on Level E, I would be helpless. Not even Patton could save me. He might well deci
de to strap me to the same pole to which he’d tied my first Flora and Mr. Moses. Slit my throat just like he’d done to them. And I would die looking at his pale, black-eyed, grinning face.
Tattooed irises be damned. Sean was a fucking alien. I was convinced.
While I waited for Patton I started thinking about the party. All those powerful men, business executives, politicians, high-profile religious figures … all at the behest of Mr. Shriver, the CEO of a sex slave operation that—I was learning lately—was so much more. These were men who made me more uncomfortable than I’d ever been in my life, and yet Mr. Shriver had captured them all like flies on a sticky strip. With his power and Brian’s technological innovations, Your Favorite Girl, Incorporated might actually take over the world.
So where did that leave me?
Hopeless. Futile. Dead.
This train of thought tamed my eagerness to talk to Patton. Yes, Sean would be escorting me to Level E in less in four hours, but what good would it do? What information would I possibly gain from the experience that would help our cause? Bringing down this company was tantamount to the concept of bringing about world peace. A nice thought, sure, but reality argues against it.
When the knock came, Liu displayed more excitement than I did. She answered the door for Patton, who arrived in his usual suit with an unbuttoned collar. I was delighted to see him peering over Liu’s head, searching me out despite her attempt to steal his attention.
We met eyes and he smiled.
I pushed myself off the couch, ready to cry, and went to him.
“I need to talk to you.”
“Okay.”
“Outside. Now.”
I pushed him into the hall, closed the door behind me.
Before I could speak, he put his arms around me. I hugged back, but I was so weak from sleep deprivation that I hardly had the strength to hold my arms up.
“You okay?” he asked.
“Just tired.”
“Did you get any sleep?”
“Not much.”
His Favorite Girl Page 6
