“Asshole,” Dani mutters as Ike leaves the cubicle. They stand and scoot over to sit beside me on the bed. “Hey.”

I sigh. It’s the most I can do right now, while still under the effects of Ike’s vial.

Dani lays a hand on my forearm, and the hairs all stand to attention. A wave of relief spreads through me, from their fingers all the way up my arm, down my spine, right to my toes. My heartbeat quickens as they budge a little closer.

“Compliance,” they say with a resigned sigh. “It doesn’t last for long. Not initially, at least. The effects are really extreme for the first hour, but your body gets used to it. You’ll be able to move soon, a bit, at least.”

The corner of my lip twitches a little as I fight against the burning in my eyes. Dani lifts a corner of the thin blanket from my bunk and wipes the tear stains from my cheeks. The gesture is sweet—even surrounded by the hushed sound of our fellow inmates, being cared for in this way brings its own special wave of relief, a flood of dopamine that my brain has craved since the warehouse.

“I saw Caleb. He was taken to the other dorm with the men.”

I manage a blink, and Dani smiles.

“Hey, it’s already wearing off. Maybe you can lie down in a while. You need some rest. It’s been a rough night.”

I move my eyes enough to look them in the face. There’s no way for me to open my mouth or move my hands. I can’t communicate in any way. Instead, I try to speak without words, to will a message into Dani’s head, straight from mine.

I’m sorry. I should have fought back. I didn’t want you to come here.

Fresh tears stream down my face. I’m so dehydrated at this point that the salt stings my skin.

“Hey, now.” Dani continues to dab at my face. “It’s okay. Rest. We’ll figure things out in the morning.”

They kneel on the floor in front of me, reaching for my feet. With difficulty, they lift my legs onto the bed and ease my stiff limbs into a more relaxed position. The rigor mortis melts away at their touch, but slowly, achingly slowly. It’s followed by tingling, and then pins all over my skin.

I open my mouth to speak, to apologise, but only a dry, wordless rasp comes from my throat.

“Shh, relax.” Dani perches on the edge of the bunk and reaches up to stroke my forehead. “No more apologies. Sleep.”

----------------------------------------

My eyes shoot open to the ringing of alarm bells flooding my bedroom. I sit bolt upright, disoriented and jumbled—where am I?

Bright grey light streaks through a high-ceilinged hall from tiny windows, ten feet up. Shafts of light catch dust in midair, dancing madly as shadowy figures pass by. I frown, counting the beds surrounding me—five bunks made of steel and cheap fabric mattresses. Dani rises from the bed next to mine, dressing in grey linen and cotton. They catch my eye and smile. “Hey, you.”

The room spins around me, heart sinking and stomach lurching. Oh. Reform. The night had granted me the grace of a blissful coma, a chance to rest and forget. But the morning sent reality flooding back in.

“Hey, you,” I answer, though my tone is much flatter than Dani’s.

They step over to my bunk and motion underneath. “Reach under there. There’s a set of clothes for you. You have to dress in the cubicle.”

Our bunkmates change from one set of grey clothes into another, without a second glance in my direction. I swallow, clutching the cloth to my chest. I try to stand, to undress, but I keep remembering the ordeal in the shower, with Ike and the other warden barking orders at me.

I shudder, and Dani lays a hand on my shoulder. “Are you okay?”

“Hands off, inmate!” A warden barks from the cubicle entrance.

Dani jerks away, pinning their arms to their sides with a tut of disdain.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

The warden steps inside, and the other inmates shuffle next to their beds. Dani follows shortly after, and motions for me to follow suit.

I get to my feet and stand next to the head of the bed while the warden paces in front of us in a circle, looking us up and down. A shudder rattles from my feet right up to my neck as I recall flashes of the day before. The icy tiles on the walls, the bright, blurry lights, the blue clicking laser.

“Did you hear me, girl?”

I blink and stare right at the warden. They don’t wear helmets here. She has green eyes, with flecks of hazel in them, and creases at the corners. She’s angry.

A splitting pain stings my right temple, and I crumple like a puppet with its strings cut.

“Stay down,” the warden grunts, and spits on the floor right next to my hand. On her command, my body seizes, keeping me down on all fours, my face pressed into the floor.

The warden leaves for the next cubicle to yell at our neighbours. Dani drops next to me right away. “You okay?”

I huff a breath, my nose squishing into the ceramic tiles. “She told me to stay down.”

Dani sighs and slumps down next to me. “Yeah, they like to play with us.”

I steal a look at them—their face is even paler and more drawn than the warehouse. It seems like the past few weeks have drained them of colour, of life. When I first met them at the cafe, they were bouncing with energy, sparkles in their eyes.

Guess we’re both just shadows, now.

“You’ve got a little while,” a bunkmate says. “They send us to the factory in an hour. Take your time.”

I smile at them, but they don’t return it. Their face is the same kind of haunted as Dani’s—thin and drawn. Their dark skin shadowed by bags under their eyes, further darkened by the heavy dreadlocks hanging over their forehead. I open my mouth to ask their name, but Dani shakes their head, reading my mind.

“Can’t you order me to get up or something?” I say with a weak smile.

Dreadlocks laughs humourlessly. “Don’t work that way, sweety. It’s gotta be someone in charge. Our superiors.” She spits the last word with disdain, shooting a dark look at the warden in the next cubicle.

“Quiet,” a bunkmate with grey hair in a tight bun hisses. “She’ll hear you.”

“Hell if I care anymore.” Dreads sits back on her bunk, stretching out like a cat.

After a few minutes, my body regains its strength, relaxing and allowing me to move. I sit next to Dani and we recount our experiences from the day before, though we both skirt over the more unpleasant details. It seems like they had a less eventful intake experience than me, but only barely.

Sitting with our backs to the cold steel frame of the bed, I will my body to absorb every ounce of warmth from Dani’s. A tingle creeps upwards from where our thighs touch. I count down the seconds until we’ll be hauled out of this one moment of peace.

“We’ll get out of this,” Dani says in a low voice, breaking the silence.

Dreads barks a sudden laugh, but otherwise ignores us.

I reach for Dani’s hand, curling my fingers around their palm, feeling their heat against my cold, clammy skin. “We will,” I say, pulling their hand into my lap. “We just need to stay calm.”

I don’t believe a word of it. But the alternative is endless apologies, and I know they don’t want to hear them anymore. If putting a brave face on will help them through this, then it’s the least I can do.

Dani’s hand flexes in mine. They stroke my thigh, sending a shiver up to my neck. Nudging closer, they bend their head forward to meet my gaze. “We will.”

Before I can turn away, they reach for my face and pull me closer–but softly, ever so softly, and an unspoken question lingers between us again. Our lips brush together, and Dani raises their eyebrows. Okay?

I smile. “Shut up and kiss me.”

Their soft, full lips on mine chase away the cold, and some of the dull pain still lingering in my head. A flush of pleasure prickles at my skin, making my hairs stand on end.

Dreads coughs a loud warning. “Devil woman.”

“Hands off, inmates!” the warden hollers.

Our bodies snap to attention, untangling and pulling us apart in an instant. I curse the silver Compliance still flooding my system for the third time and gaze at Dani as the warden stomps into our cubicle. She walks right between us, towering overhead in their grey uniform.

“This some kind of orgy to you?” she sneers, hands on hips. “First day in Reform and already I got a target painted on both your pretty foreheads. Stand.”

We get to our feet, like zombies rising from their graves, pulled by an invisible force. The same cold, dripping sensation covers me from head to toe, until I’m trapped inside the icy shell, struggling to regain my agency.

“You–” she points at Dani, “–step forward.”

Dani takes a step forward, towards the warden, until their noses almost touch. They stare at her shirt collar, avoiding eye contact.

The warden reaches into her trouser pocket, and produces a bottle, shaped like a test-tube. A finger-sized ampule, filled with a black, empty void. It swirls around the glass, creating a whirling black hole of absence. She brings it up, into Dani’s line of sight.

The effect is instantaneous. Dani pales, eyes widening in terror. They shake their head, and the haunted shadow returns to their face, the same look they had when we were ducking into alleyways to avoid the wardens. “No, no, no-no-no-no—”

“Open up, inmate.” She unplugs the ampule and reaches for Dani, who has already opened her mouth like a goldfish.

I lunge toward her, but she’s expecting me.

“You—stay still and watch.”

My icy shell freezes solid, and I watch her empty the black sludge into Dani’s waiting mouth.

The liquid gurgles in the back of their throat, punctuated by their wordless cries of protest.

All the while, the statue of Kyla Chase stands, one hand outstretched, watching powerlessly as the light leaves Dani’s eyes.

“Bright new day, inmates,” the warden chuckles. “Time for work.”