I was exhausted by the time I wrapped the fourth class of the day, even though not a single one had ended up involving physical activity. They had all played out roughly the same, in fact. A long history lesson mixed with whatever case studies I could remember off the top of my head, in an attempt to convince the group that you had to actually understand an enemy if you wanted to successfully counter them. It was… a tough sell. Most of the people here seemed to be young and sheltered enough that they were actually eager for a conflict. I suspected Wallace had specifically chosen them that way. They thought a war would be… heroic, glorious, fun. You could try to explain that that wasn’t how it worked, that it was mostly risk, injury and trauma, but as with so many things, words were never enough. Some mistakes people had to make for themselves, no matter how many from the previous generation told them it was a bad idea. The most I could do was temper their enthusiasm. Hopefully. I was looking forward to actually doing some sparring tomorrow, it would be less tiring. I stepped out of the gym and into the hall, planning to head back to my room, when I heard a commotion down the hall. Curious, and at loose ends for the moment, I followed the sound of shouting to the right. I turned the corner to find 2 of the new recruits, and Tom, escorting a gurney down the hallway, towards what I could only assume was the medical wing. The person strapped down to the gurney was cursing and shouting at his captors, demanding to be released and threatening creative bodily harm once he did get loose. I assumed it was one of the Immune that had been liberated from the Domini, until I got close enough to see his face. My breath caught for an instant. Andrew Cramer. He was strapped tightly to the gurney, an IV pole leading into his arm and his chest swathed in bandages. Cramer was pale, and clearly weak, but it seemed he had survived. I wasn’t entirely sure how I felt about that, but I was sure that I was not pleased to see him again. The feeling seemed to be mutual, because when he caught sight of me, I saw his eyes bulge and he strained against his bonds.
“You!” he croaked through parched lips. “You did this to me! You ruined everything! Where are my brides!?”
He tried to spit at me, but tied down the way he was, his aim wasn’t especially good, I rolled my eyes as I sidestepped.
“You took my loves from me,” he snarled. “When I get free, I will pay you back by taking everyone you have ever loved from you.”
“Love, huh? Well, if you are the one determining who I ‘love’, I like my odds. After all, your own ‘loves’ were women you captured, chained in a basement, and traded like baseball cards. I think there is a decent chance you’ll just eliminate my worst enemies for me.”
“You mock because you don’t understand. Those women got everything they deserved. They wanted what I did to them. And when I leave this place, I will find them again, and they will come back to me. Then, I will find others. You won’t always be around to stop me. I’ll make sure of that.”
“Look, Cramer, you managed to survive our last encounter, unfortunately. There are no guarantees that the next one will end so well for you. Don’t push your luck.”
Cramer snarled, face purple with anger, gurney rattling as he struggled.
“My brides will come for me, and for you, it is only a matter of time.”
“Well, I will be waiting patiently, then,” I smirked.
Tom stepped forward and shoved a gag into Cramer’s mouth, silencing him, aside from the irritated grunting. Tom leaned in close to his ear,
“No one is coming for you, Drew. You are here with us now. For the rest of your life, however long we decide that should be,” he turned back to the escorts and waved them on. “Hurry up and get him to the medical bay. He’s disrupted things enough.”
They nodded and hurried off, wheels rumbling down the tile as they went. Tom turned to me,
“Sorry about that. I should have had him gagged from the start.”
“What is he doing here, Tom?”
“Well, Cramer had been in the hospital for treatment, of course, but as a civilian hospital, everyone was pretty nervous having him around, especially once he regained consciousness. They had him in a secured wing, and Gail had people watching him, but obviously no one was terribly keen to keep him longer than absolutely necessary, and Gail really can’t spare the people for too long. So, once he was declared stable by the doctors, they wanted him moved out. We offered to take him in for containment and questioning. We are hoping to get information out of him about his network, the people with whom he was trading thralls. Since you already have an… established rapport, maybe you can give us a hand with the questioning, once we’ve got things set up.”
“Sure, you know me, I’m always happy to help. And it’ll be nice to get a chance to catch up with my friend Drew. We barely got to talk at all, just now.”
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Of all the things happening in this place, at least this one was unambiguously worthwhile.
“Fantastic,” he clapped me on the shoulder. “Well, I should catch up and make sure they get him locked up safely, but I will come by your room after we’re done, and we can talk. You done classes for the day, right?”
I nodded,
“Yeah, we wrapped about 15 minutes ago.”
“Well, maybe not quite that long ago,” Tom smiled, looking back behind me.
I turned to see that most of the class had also followed the commotion and they had been quietly watching the drama this entire time.
“I’ll see you back in your room,” Tom clapped me on the shoulder, and jogged off down the hall.
Once he was gone, one of the young women stepped forward, tentatively.
“You did that to him?” she asked.
I nodded,
“He did really leave me much choice, I’m afraid.”
A murmur spread through the crowd.
“They told us about Andrew Cramer, you know,” another student spoke up. “Told us what he did to those women, how the government and their people wouldn’t stop him, that they just ignored what he was doing. You are the one that finally took him down?”
“Well, yeah, I...”
A dozen people began talking all at once. Some were asking questions, some seemed to just want to share their opinion on this new turn of events. I couldn’t decipher it all, but the gist seemed to be that they were impressed, and they wanted all the details.
“Alright, alright,” I raised my hands for silence. “I can see that people have questions. I am going to go and meet with Tom now, but if you come to class tomorrow, I’ll answer anything you want about this, ok?”
There was some general disappointment at that, but also an eagerness for the next lesson. It was better to leave them wanting more, I supposed. I wasn’t sure that this was a lesson I wanted to be teaching them, or that I even wanted to be talking about this while it was still so raw, but at least they seemed interested, and if you wanted people to learn, that was a good place to start.
I was in the process of putting away some of my belongings and brewing a pot of tea in my kettle, when I heard the knock at the door.
“Come in!”
Tom came in to find me pouring hot water into the antique teapot Luke had managed to retrieve from my apartment. He looked around at the clothes draped over the bed and the little kitchenette I had set up with a microwave and hotplate on one side of the room.
“I see you received your supplies,” he noted, shifting a box so he could sit down.
“Yup. Luke’s a good kid. He found almost everything.”
“Almost?”
“He brought the wrong gun, for one.”
“Really? I told him exactly what to look for.”
“Ah well, they were stored together, and I get the impression that he doesn’t know much about firearms. He did his best. And the one he brought will do well enough for the firing range, which I have been informed is the only place I will be allowed a gun.”
“I mean, did you expect any different?”
“Not really,” I shrugged. “Want some tea? It’s Earl Grey.”
“Sure, thanks.”
I poured two mugs and handed one to him, then blew gently on my own to cool it down.
“You get Cramer settled in alright?”
“Yup. He is well secured; you don’t need to worry.”
“It isn’t me I’m worried about. He’s dangerous, Tom. If he ever gets out…”
“Why save his life, then?”
“I don’t know. It seemed like a good idea at the time. Besides, if he had died, we wouldn’t be able to get any information out of him,” I shrugged, testing a small sip of my tea. It was still too hot. “Speaking of which, when do you want to question him?”
“Oh, we’ll give it a few days. His health is still pretty fragile, and like you said, if he dies now, he won’t be able to tell us anything. So, we will let the medical staff stabilize him, and then when they give us the go ahead, we will see what we can get out of him. If we can locate even one more girl, it will be worth the effort.”
“Agreed. Well, you let me know when he is ready, and I would be happy to have another chat with him.”
“Thanks, Ray,” Tom smiled. “It’s good to have you here, you know.”
“I appreciate you giving me a chance. I know I haven’t done much to engender trust, lately.”
“Hey, we’ve all been having a tough time, it will get easier.”
I sighed and reached for the pill bottle on the table, shaking one into my hand.
“What’s that?”
“Oh, doctor gave me some sedatives to help me sleep,” I swallowed it with a gulp of tea. “I am supposed to take them around now, so I can wake up for the first class tomorrow. Hope you don’t mind.”
“Not at all. I’m glad you are taking better care of yourself, honestly. I didn’t even realize you liked tea, for example.”
“It helps with the hangovers, I find,” I laughed.
“You know what else helps with hangovers, right?”
“I have no idea what you are suggesting,” I smirked, taking another gulp of tea.
Tom rolled his eyes and took a sip himself, spitting it out in surprise.
“Is there gin in this?”
“Yes. Why?”
“Are you supposed to drink with those sedatives?”
“Probably not. You need to loosen up a bit, Tom.”
He sighed, and took another sip of the tea,
“This is actually not bad.”
“I know, right? The juniper and herb taste pairs well with an Earl Grey.”
We sipped our tea in companionable silence for a time. Eventually, Tom drained his mug and rose.
“Well, I should get back to it. But I will get in touch when Cramer is stabilized.”
“Sounds good.”
“Just, take it easy with this stuff while you are using that medication, alright?”
“Yes, mom. Relax, I know what I am doing.”
“Sure. I’ll see you later, Ray. Sleep well.”
He closed the door behind him, and I went back to unpacking my belongings, while I waited for the sedative to take effect. It looked like I was going to be here for a while, so I might as well get settled in.