Fire Fury Freedom

by Amanda Rose

  As Suako slept on several occasions Yu-Lee would work long hours into the night. She asked the life energy to heal broken straining dreams that affected Suako so horribly. Night after night it was no use, the terrors continued. She attempted preparing a brew of vervain tea for Suako; an ancient sleeping herb, in an attempt to bring her peaceful dream. Suako drank the tea, but it was to no effect that night either.

  Yu-Lee knew she was hiding something; hiding, or burying. Whatever she was doing with it, it was festering deep within Suako like a toxin. Yu-Lee knew she needed to help Suako before it destroyed her. One night while Suako was asleep Yu-Lee attempted to call upon Suako’s life energy to tell her the story with the nightmares. They painted her a picture within her mind’s eye:

  It was black, all darkness, but for a single minute light pouring in threw the barred peep hole of a wooden door. The floor was cold, and felt dirty against the bare skin of cold feet; she was imprisoned. Strange inexplicable bitter scents filled the air, and the stale sickly smell of urine and feces mingled with them. Muffled voices could be heard off in the distance, and faint screams echoed off the stone walls. In the corner a prickly pile of hay and matted cotton lay for sleeping. The voices then began to speak in low subtle tones:

  “Hurry, they’ll be here any minute! I can’t die here… not like this… What’s taking so long? Common, common!”

  “Just let me work it. I’ve only ever seen this done before.”

  “We don’t have time! They’re gonna get us….”

  “Just shut up unless you want to die in this cell!” There was a brief silence, and then “Shh… Listen…. Oh shit, he’s coming!” the second voice said. Whoever they were they scampered quickly away from the door. They went to the corner, or so Yu-Lee’s ears told her. The conspirators panted heavily, frightfully.

  Loud footsteps walked up unto the door, and a pair of large devious eyes gawked into the morbid cell. After the eyes spotted a target there was the jingle of clanking keys as the peeping man unlocked the door. Light was almost blinding as the dung swung open. After the blinding light subsided the man was visible, he stood tall and was wide, hair covered a great portion of his gruff body. He wore a soldier’s uniform, and carried a gun.

  A scream came from within the cell. The contents were revealed, two girls in their late teens, huddled in the corner of the cell. They were wearing loose tattered clothing, and had great scars over their torsos. Both had long matter hair, growing from bloodied and bruised scalp’s. Their arms were covered in many clean surgical cuts. “No!” one of them repeatedly screamed and hollered as the other tried to crawl away from the man. He came into the cell, grabbed one of the women and dragged her out, locking the other one in once more.

  Through a dimly lit cement passage way they travelled. Many more cell doors lined the corridor. Petrified prisoners in the calls gasped as the heavy footsteps passed them by. The girl struggled to free herself. She whimpered, and was struck on the back of the skull with his armour-plated hand for doing so. Blue electric light pulsed into the small passageway as the man unlocked the large steel door before them. Big bold letters read on the door: AUTHORIZED PERSONEL ONLY. Terror filled the girl’s eyes and she clawed at the wall not to be taken in, tearing off finger nails and leaving a bloody trail on the wall. As the young woman turned to do so Yu-Lee caught a glimpse of the girl’s face, it was Suako. The door slammed shut.

  Yu-Lee suddenly snapped back into reality, and Suako woke up, and sat in her bed, soaked in perspiration. Suako saw Yu-Lee sitting with incense burning about her, and Yu-Lee’s eyes focused in on her. They acknowledged that each other knew what just happened. Nothing was said that night. Yu-Lee watched as Suako lay back down in her bed, then followed her lead and went to her own bed; morning would be for talk, this night was for thoughts.

  After a sleepless night, they both had an early start to the day. Yu-Lee prepared some mint leaves to wake them both up from their tired state. Suako heard her rustling around and pulled herself from her bed and strolled into the kitchen. The morning was bitter cold. Neither said anything, both were still in the middle of a long train of mixed thoughts and emotions of which they were attempting to sort out within themselves first.

  Yu-Lee sat down and passed Suako a warm cup of ginger tea and a small wooden bowl with some mint puree, and the scent alone awoke Suako’s senses. They sat staring at their cups. Yu-Lee awaited Suako to speak. Still examining her cup Suako began to speak, “I never meant to hide anything from you… but I’d never told anyone of it. Not a single soul… I know you saw. I know your great powers. You were there, I could feel you there with me…” she trailed of in a bit of a daze.

  After giving her sometime to recuperate, as Suako lifted her drinking dish, Yu-Lee finally came out with a nagging question, “Where is… there?” Suako’s hand quivered as she lowered the cup back to the table. Three painful breathless words pursed through her mouth, “Torusan… The…. Company…” Yu-Lee had thought that they were the only ones sadistic enough to use people for their experiments but she’d never seen those cells in any of her visions before.

  Yu-Lee was about to question Suako on these rooms of confinement when Suako began to speak again. “You saw only what I saw tonight… right?” she didn’t await a reply, she already knew, “The other girl… my sister Renee… after that night I never saw her again. They must’ve killed her... We tried to escape. I couldn’t pick the lock in time…” Suako wiped a tear from her blank face, her eyes appeared to be vacant.

  Suako paused again. “The rooms you saw… they’re on a base level five… the C.D.F.P. building supposedly only has three sub-levels, according to their official documents. They have some of their laboratories down there… we were their lab rats. They stuck IV’s in us and gave us drugs to sustain us consciously during many of the procedures… they’d open us up… see what we could live through. They were working on some sort of pain endurance project. Something to help their soldiers.

  We were also test dummies for any new chemical products that may be used to enhance the soldiers… I… I had a small capsule inserted within my left arm… it connected right to the vein… it injected me with a drug induced night vision on periodic intervals… I removed it myself when I escaped, I got the sharp rusted shackles that’d been around my feet off and I… I used them to di it out. I nearly bled out…” Suako relived the event within her head. Her once calm tone turned deep and hate filled. After a moment she cooled down and showed Yu-Lee the scar on her arm.

  “Some of the more critical operations they put me to sleep for. I don’t know all of what may be placed within me. I have a strange impulse to hide the secrets of the miserable time I spent within the tombs of the C.D.F.P. building… I’ve been mutilated beyond repair,” she sighed. Her hand hovered above her stomach, but she couldn’t bring herself to touch it. Suako slowly rose up from her seat, then undid her robe slowly and revealed bare skin. Her stomach was covered in precise scarring, the scars you would expect to see from a doctor’s scalpel. So many trained across her fair skin she so faithfully hid from the light; hid away from all others sight.

  All perfect precision scars, less for one, and Yu-Lee’s curious eyes hit Suako. Suako was not shy to share the story of the gorged scar that obliterated its way through several other marks, indenting her skin. It appeared to be a burn of some sort, except for that fact that burn scars to not pattern them selves in such an exacting fashion. Suako explained to Yu-Lee that that scar was the only one she actually didn’t mind keeping.

  One late night she was taken down to the sterile white laboratory for experimentation. The doctor that ordered her as his specimen had been highly intoxicated. He attempted to use a highly new technology called a laser, a tool he’d never used before. The beam cut along her skin, though she didn’t bleed. The doctor was taken aback with its power and accidentally hit the contraption, the laser became intensified, and swung about removing his index finger.

  The prison guard came rushing in
to assist the doctor. The doctor was so drunk that night he hadn’t tied her restraints properly. As the guard dealt with the idiotic scientist she slowly pulled and yanked her way free. She pulled the guard’s pistol from its holster, and she killed the guard with a single shot to the head, and pirated a katana from his dead body.

  Rage from years of torture didn’t leave room for tolerance. Infuriated she held the sword high above her head, over the snivelling scientist, who pleaded for his life like the weasel he was. Suako’s patience had been drawn to an end. Briefly closing her eyes and envisioning her sister she whispered just loud enough for the scientist to hear, “This is for you… my sweet Renee…” and he met his bitter end. Suako commented in broken sentences of the happenings before his final breath, her words weren’t clear, but one could assume her vengeance to be far from merciful.

  Suako’s horror stories of her two years within the C.D.F.P.’s entrapment continued through the course of most of the day. Yu-Lee gave Suako her full attention from dawn till dusk. That day the sun never pierced the clouds that rolled overhead. Suako had to remember to stop and breathe the little breath she could take in from the deoxygenated, seemingly toxic air, that the C.D.F.P. had provided the outer world with. The day was as grim as ever, yet in the end Suako felt lighter. Her buried secret was now out, she no longer had to carry the weight on her chest, just the haunting memories.

  From the day of Suako’s deepest secret being announced she changed; the mask has been shattered, and the fragments thrown to the wind. The fraudulent happiness and fake replies were gone, Suako was a real person again, no longer hidden away. Yu-Lee saw the transformation from cocoon to butterfly, the new woman was strong, and although angry, she seemed oddly relaxed. Suako no longer smiled at everything, nor occupied herself for the full twenty-four hours in her every day. Suako found her self lost in thought as she starred out the beautiful arching windows into the wastelands outstretched beyond her eyes.

  The new light shone on Suako’s personality left Yu-Lee more at ease. Not as often would Suako toss and turn screaming out into the dead of night. Now Suako was involved in the planet life studies mind, body and spirit. She could finally link her reality into the life source, she was one with the nurturing earth, and in sync with the ever-flowing universal powers.

  Save me from the nightmare before it consumes me, don’t let the light fade again.

  Chapter 8: Grid One Life

  Light footsteps echoed through the hallways on the executive floor of the C.D.F.P. headquarters building in Torusan. There was the sound of the click of a young woman’s shoes mixed with the rattling of papers as she flipped through a document. The woman was tiny, and her raven black hair was tightly tied into a neat bun behind her head. Her starched grey suit moulded around her small figure as she walked. She entered the elevator at the end of the hall, impatiently tapping her foot as she awaited her destination. Ding! The doors opened onto a single room floor at the very top of the building.

  “Ah, Tamiko,” a man’s voice coyly greeted from behind a large chair. Tamiko stepped out onto the floor and walked up to the desk the man sat behind. Curved windows stretched from the floor to the ceiling within the circular room. The man spun around, and watched as Tamiko swayed in towards him. “How’s my favourite Dome and Generator accountant and Maintenance Department Head doing?” he cheekily titled the woman. Scarlet eyes pierced back at him displeased.

  The chubby middle-aged man soon saw teasing wasn’t a good choice today, he saw the icy glare within her eyes. Swiping his hands threw his greying brown hair he rested his head in his hands. “Mr. Chairman, my department has just completed the construction estimates for the rebuilding the generator in grid eleven,” she passed him several papers. “So what’s the problem?” he asked taking them from her. “Well sir,” she began, but he cut her off. “Please, Tamiko just call me Genjo,” he said with a slight sigh. “Ahem, Genjo, the issue is that we are falling behind in our tax collection funds. It seems Quan hasn’t been paying its monthly taxes for several months now. Of course, the C.D.F.P. has enough funds from other savings to begin immediate construction, that it isn’t an issue. My point though, is that we have to dip into our other savings rather than use the tax money we would usually rely on for repairs and building in general.”

  Taking his spectacles out of his drawer, Genjo put them on and pushed them up. Scanning over the document as he listened, Genjo nodded along in agreement. “Mmm, I see… well I’ll be calling a board meeting tomorrow. We’ll see what everyone thinks the best course of action is then. I’ll be seeing you promptly at 800h in the conference room on the seventy-second floor then,” he said firmly. Then turning on his intercom to his secretary, he began to babble orders of who to call unto the meeting the next day.

  Tamiko took her leave, and Genjo’s voice soon became monotonous behind her. She entered the elevator and pressed the digits 7-0 into the keypad. Tamiko gave a sigh, busy thoughts scrambled about in her overworked head. As floor seventy was coming up she straightened herself out to her usual stiff and formal appearance. Ding! The door opened and she stepped out. Busy people scurried back and forth throughout the hallway, in and out of rooms. Work oriented murmurs bounced to and from one person to another.

  Tamiko entered her office and gently pushed the door shut behind her. Sitting down at her monitor she immediately began to make up a general report for the audience at the council meeting the following day. Furiously she worked on various projects until hours late into the night; the world outside of her office was oblivious to her. Long nights were her speciality, Tamiko was driven, motivated to be perfect in everything she did. Soon night turned into the early morning hours, and hers was the only light on, on her floor.

  Creek! Tamiko nearly jumped out of her skin when her door opened suddenly. “Working late again I see,” a deep voice said. A man with ice blue eyes peered in. “Oh, Koto,” a sly smirk crept crossed her face. Koto’s blond hair intensified his appearance, there was a dark undertone to his nature. Koto fully entered the room and strutted up to Tamiko, sitting down on her desk. Only for Koto would she drop everything in a heart beat. “My dear, may I rescue you from paper?” he asked picking up a few from the desk. “Hey!” she quickly snatched them back from him, “Don’t touch! I’ve been compiling this data for hours. It’s taken me forever to put this all together!” Tamiko angrily snapped at him.

  The young man’s expression went sour, and Tamiko was suddenly fear struck, she turned red from head to toe. How could I have talked like that to the C.D.F.P. manager? The chairman’s son! she questioned herself. Koto was the only person to whom she’d ever felt the need to submit her power to. Only to him did she feel powerless, yet completely drawn to. “Koto… please forgive me,” she bowed her head. Only to her work did she hold such loyalty as to speak up against him. Koto smiled at his prey in submission. Vainly he held his head high, “Shall we then?” He stood offering her a hand to help her up, he nodded, and again all was well.

  It was nearly 2:30AM when Tamiko and Koto finally arrived at her house. An hour later, after drinks, Tamiko had her back against the wall, Koto insisted on staying the night. Tamiko enforced her need to sleep before her meeting just over five hours away. “Mmm, Koto… please, common… I need to sleep,” she moaned as he caressed her with frequenting hands beneath her robe, and quick moving lips upon her neck. After much swaying, begging, and a final passionate detachment he left.

  After waving Koto off from the porch, Tamiko went back inside her grand house. Tamiko listened as Koto’s car screeched away down the street, leaving tread marks on the otherwise perfect road. Her house was all pristine white within, furniture was scarce, as was her presence within the large home. No one else was there, she lived alone. Seldom was she home but for to sleep, decor was as bland, as was her black and grey wardrobe.

  Tamiko entered her bedroom and looked drearily at her unmade bed. I wont sleep anyway the thought and turned to go into her oversized marble bathroom. She dre
w the water for a bath in a porcelain tub. As the water slowly filled the tub she went into her kitchen. Opening the cabinet, only a few bottles of wine and liquor grazed the nearly barren shelves. As she walked through her atrium she picked up her work bag, which she’d thrown on the couch prior to her bedroom engagement, and walked back to the bathroom with it. She removed her robe and stepped into the soapy bath water, reviewing her work portfolio.

  Tamiko sat in the tub reading and sipping wine until dawn arrived all too promptly, the sun shinning threw a stain glass window. The night had been sleepless, as it usually was for her. She washed the soapy water from her flesh, then dried herself off with an overpriced C.D.F.P. embroidered towel. Walking to her room she entered her dressing room, and Tamiko pulled a black dress suit from her closet, along with a pair of leather boots, with a sharp pointed toe.

  “…Yes, send a pickup immediately to my residence,” she called for a company cab. Tying her hair into her usual tight bun, she dragged dark red lipstick across her plump lips. She viewed herself in the full-length mirror of her hallway, throwing her overcoat over her shoulders she prepared to leave. The cab came and honked its horn to inform of its presence. Grabbing her briefcase, Tamiko left, and the door echoed within the barren home as she pulled it shut.

  “Good morning everyone. Please be seated,” the weighty Mr. Genjo Anami told everyone as he lowered herself into his head-honcho chair and the front of the oval table. A cluster of important group leaders within the C.D.F.P. had gathered. “It seems the Dome and Generator monitoring department has stumbled upon some facts they need to bring to our attention. Tamiko?” he quickly passed the floor off to her. Tamiko stood up, “Thank you Chairman Anami. I have prepared this for all of you, please take a look,” she said as she passed around a fact sheet for everyone.