NaNoWriMo Day 27

Word Count: 45,028

Candy

I can feel the searing heat of the glowing branding iron begin to burn my skin before it even touches me. The brander holds it just inches from my forehead, taunting me. Fayed watches, grinning like a wolf. Even the slave quarters guard is here, apparently someone woke him up. He watches angrily with a rag to the back of his head. I am guessing that he is in for some sort of punishment as well, for letting me escape. I am crying hysterically, begging and pleading and cursing and whatever else I can do to convince them not to brand me. I never relied solely on my looks to get by, but it was a nice option in a pinch.

Just before he plunges the white-hot metal into my vulnerable flesh, there is a large commotion upstairs. Fayed’s attention snaps upward and the brander backs off just a little, looking up as well. The commotion continues down the stairs they dragged me through and who should burst in the door of the torture room but Freidrich Brandt and a handful of armed new regime soldiers. He tells Fayed to stop what he is doing, which obviously doesn’t go over very well. Fayed demands to know the meaning of this intrusion. Freidrich tells his men to lower their weapons, to try and calm the room a little. He tells Fayed that he has come for the slave girl, and with a jolt of relief I realize that he is talking about me. He says that he is willing to pay any price that Fayed thinks is fair for my release. Fayed’s gaze travels back and forth between me and Freidrich, I can see in his eyes the internal struggle between greed and cruelty. Luckily for me, greed wins and he names a ridiculous price that makes me feel awful important. Freidrich nods without hesitation and one of his soldiers pulls an astonishing wad of bills from a knapsack. Freidrich hands it to Fayed, who tosses it to one of his guys. He approaches me and takes my chin in his hand softly. This is the luckiest day of my life, he says, he hopes that I will cherish it forever. Fuckin’ A right I will.

They release me and I run over to the apparent safety of Freddy and his guards. I shoot a hateful glare at that little snitch Bilanna and she sticks her tongue out at me petulantly. Her loss. Freddy takes me by the arm and we retreat out of the palace slowly and carefully, things still just a little bit tense. When we walk out into the stifling hot air and I am finally free, joy bursts from my heart in a way that I never thought it would again. I take Freddy’s hand and begin gushing my thanks, and he responds by slapping me in the face. He calls me a whore and tells me to keep my filthy mouthy shut until I am spoken too. I must say, that was not the reception that I expected.

We board a helicopter and take off, the soldiers watching me closely. I start getting quite nervous, perhaps I have just been rescued into a situation worse than being a disfigured sex slave for the rest of my life. If that’s even possible.

The helicopter drops us off seemingly in the middle of nowhere then takes off again. One of the soldiers starts to fiddle with a metal hatch, which is the only distinguishable thing in the area. Freidrich pushes me to the edge and I look down to see a ladder descending into blackness. He tells me to climb down, so down I go. The drop is huge, and a fluorescent glow gets brighter as I reach the bottom. Freddy is right behind me, or right on top of me as it were. I finally reach the bottom and gape in astonishment at the huge space we are in. Some sort of underground complex, apparently that’s where he has been hiding this whole time. I’m still confused about the soldiers accompanying him but I don’t want another slap so I can’t really ask about it. If Freddy came to take me from Fayed, then Joseph must have found him and might just be here too. Hopefully he can talk some sense into mean old Freddy here, if I can find him.

I am hustled down long, featureless hallways, passing the occasional posted guard along the way. This place is huge, I can’t believe I never heard about it. We come to a door and Freidrich opens it, shoving me inside the small living space. He shoves me in and tells me to stay put and not to make a sound. With that, he locks the door behind me and I am alone with my chaotic thoughts.

Molly

I can’t stop pacing around my room. Physically dismantling those men was such a rush, but part of me is very concerned about just what they have turned me into. At the beginning, Brandt said that I was going to be some sort of super soldier, but I never considered the life that would accompany that. I especially didn’t think that I would not have control of a part of myself ever again. Is this how it is going to be? The life of a hired gun, traveling to exotic locales and killing who needs to be killed, just like in the simulations? I thought those were all fun and games, I never imagined that Nanodyne might be involved in so much violence and intrigue. Unless they plan on selling me as a weapon, the company is a defense contractor after all. I still have no clue how Joseph is involved in all of this. I never thought that I could be honed into a ruthless killing machine but they did it. Could they do the same to him? I laughed with the thought, I couldn’t even imagine Joseph being trained to kill roaches.

One final test, then I begin the life of a mercenary. I think back to how things were back at home, and what, if anything, I was really giving up. My cozy little apartment. My modest group of friends who would more likely be classified as casual acquaintances as far as anyone else might be concerned. My mother, who might just start to be wondering where I’ve gone if she has even noticed that I am not around. The job I took just to pay the rent until I could find a useful way to benefit from my psychology degree. The company oath that I swore without even considering the consequences. Breaking the oath is tantamount to treason, and Nanodyne is fully legally entitled to punish treason with death. I have to remember to be more careful with what I agree to in the future. Physically wired but mentally exhausted from all of this introspection, I take a sleeping pill, then two more, and fall into a fitful sleep. The big test is tomorrow, I want to be in my best shape.

Joseph

This time when I wake up I am relieved that I can open my eyes. I am in an operating room, on a table, and my head is killing me. I sit up and groan with the wave of pain and nausea that accompanies being upright. There is a pitcher of water next to the table and I drink straight from it as if I was dying of thirst. A man in doctor gear that I don’t recognize comes in and asks how I am feeling. I hoarsely tell him about the headache and he nods, making his way to a tray of needles. He tells me to relax and plunges a syringe gun into my neck. Just like that, the pain floats away and I feel absolutely dreamy. He looks into my eyes, tests my reflexes with the little rubber hammer on the knee trick, and asks if I feel well enough to stand. I agree that I do and rise, a little unsteady at first but not too bad. He asks me to stand on one foot and hold it, which I do without too much difficulty. He has me touch my nose, do a few jumping jacks, walk a straight line, it is starting to feel like I got pulled over on a DUI. Finally, he seems satisfied and he hands me some clothes telling me that he will be in the next room while I change. I put on the clothes quickly and head out of the operating room.

There are big consoles and blinking lights all over the place, it looks like some sort of control room. Brandt is huddled over a mound of diagrams and papers. He acknowledges my presence with a slight nod and asks how I am feeling. I reply that I feel pretty good and asked what happened. He puts down his pen and approaches me, looking me right in the eyes. He explains that I, along with Molly, were chosen specially for an exciting project. It may be the drugs, but I am actually more impressed about this than upset. When I ask about the experiment he grins and cryptically says that I will find out soon enough. He glances over at Wong, who I didn’t even notice was sitting at one of the big consoles, and asks if he is all set. Wong nods, pushes a button, and just like that I can’t move. I start to hyperventilate and Brandt tells me to calm down, they are just getting some baseline rest readings. Since I don’t understand what he means, this fails to reassure me. Without any input from me, my arms shoot straight out, hands turning to face upward, my knees bend, then the whole routine is topped off with a little hop. The only thing under my control is my eyes, and I look over to see Wong looking very pleased with himself. Brandt also seems quite tickled by the display. My body stands upright stiffly, then does a ridiculously acrobatic back flip that I know I never would have been capable of on my own. Apparently everyone else is just as impressed as I was. Wong does a few more tricks with my unwilling body, then like a flick of a switch I am back in control. I back up against the wall in horror, staring at the hands that are once more acting as they should. I ask what the hell they did to me and the smug bastard Brandt again tells me to calm down. He explains that they have implanted a device into my brain that allows them complete control over my motor functions. Under their direction, I am capable of much, much more than I ever have been before. I ask why me, and he chuckles. Apparently my psychological profile indicated a strong desire to serve and to succeed. Now, thanks to the gift they have given me, I can be the greatest asset Nanodyne has ever produced. Even through my panic, I kind of like the sound of that. I ask why they would need control of me and he tells me that my successful procedure opens the door to the possibility of an army of soldiers that can be controlled with perfect efficiency by a single tactical mind. Molly was the first step, once they figured out how to control one limb it was a hop, skip, and jump to full body control. She was an unexpected success, but I, he says, am a veritable masterpiece.

He orders one of the soldiers standing at the door to accompany me to the mess hall. He tells me to get a good meal and go to my room and rest. It has been a big day. I am too flabbergasted to protest, so I obediently follow the soldier. I eat spaghetti but I don’t really taste it, my mind is reeling too much for me to do anything but robotically shove the food into my mouth. Unless I’m not doing that and it is them controlling me once more. With a start, I drop the fork and a few other diners look at me quizzically. Am I going to spend the rest of my life wondering if I am the one controlling my every move? Oddly enough, the first thought I have is about jerking off, and how uncomfortable that is going to be in relation to this train of thought.

The soldier looks at me to ask if I am finished, and I nod. We walk to my room and he leaves. I sit on the bed and try to slow my heart rate. The company oath said something about them owning every part of me, and I certainly meant it when I agreed, but I never in my wildest dreams thought it would mean something like this. A guinea pig. Not exactly the big important management career I imagined for myself. That fucker Jenkins probably knew the whole time, that’s why he’s been so intolerable lately. While I am being paraded around and made to do silly tricks for amused audiences who are interested in purchasing meat puppets that they can throw into battle, he will be sitting in my corner office with his feet up on the desk, laughing his ass off. God damn him.

I can’t believe that asshole Brandt told me to rest. Hey buddy, we just made you a freak and ruined your life as you know it, but try to get some shuteye, ‘kay? Shit. Oh man, my mother is going to kill me. She is always so proud to tell her jealous friends about her big shot successful corporate son. Somehow I doubt that she will be as happy to gush about her son the dancing, hopping, flipping war monkey. I become lost in these thoughts, obsessing over everything in my life that no longer has any meaning, and I jump when the soldier who dropped me off before opens the door and tells me it is time. Time for what, I ask. He just jerks his head for me to follow, and with a sigh I do.

We enter a large room and I stop with a gasp. The old man is sitting there, along with Jenkins and half the Nanodyne board of directors. Cleaver stands and walks over to me regally. He shakes my hand and tells me that he couldn’t be prouder of me. Thanks to me, Nanodyne is now once again the world’s most cutting-edge defense company. Jenkins, still sitting behind him, nods like a sycophant with a little grin on his stupid face. Brandt asks the board if they would like to see a demonstration and they nod excitedly. He gestures to Wong, across the room at his control board, and the sickening loss of control comes again. The board claps and gasps delightedly at the tricks they have me do. Amazing feats that only a highly-trained athlete should be able to pull off, and a schlub like me is pulling them off with gusto. I land on my feet after a particularly exciting somersault and I am back in control, breathing heavily. As you can see, Brandt says proudly, we are now capable of amazing things. Nanodyne is on the verge of a very exciting and profitable new era. The board applauds this, and the old man nods his head with a smile.

Jenkins raises his hand like the snotty know-it-all kid in elementary school and asks how they can be sure of my complete compliance with whatever instructions they give me. Brandt tells him that this is an excellent question, and Jenkins beams like he just got a treat for being such a good boy. They have arranged a demonstration that will prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that I will carry out any order that they give, no matter how questionable I may find it. He tells my escort soldier to fetch the test subject and off he goes. I really don’t like where this is heading.