{Gait}

324 sat on her bunk in a spiral of confusion and misery. A conversation surrounded her. The Nice Man and a female voice that kept calling her—

“Bethany, can we take the hood off?”

A name. 324 existed for pain. A thing without a name. But the name carried weight. A heavy one that settled in her chest.

The Nice Man’s familiar reassurance repeated, “We’re taking the hood off. If you scream, we’ll leave.” Assertive. No choice either way. That was her world.

324 squeezed her eyes shut with the hood lifted. Even the darkness of her bunk burned bright compared to the nothing of the hood. Without it, she could tell they left the lights off.

“Thank you, Matt. But I thought your boss wanted me to endure a session first?” The Nice Lady’s presence warmed 324 like hot chocolate or soup. Comforting and familial.

“We did. For an hour. You broke down and begged me to stop.” Quickly, he added, “Everyone does in the first session. It’s nothing against you.”

Timidly, 324 relaxed and cracked her lids. The pair in her cell moved like shadows in an abyss. Blobs of black on black. He taller than her. Her nearer to the bunk. The woman’s fingers brushed through 324’s hair.

“You cut your sister’s hair? Oh, Ross, look at what you did to Bethany. Kyle get my camera.”

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No!

Scurry to the corner. Hide. Distance. Safety. The only person to touch her gently always lied and punished her with more pain.

The woman cursed in soft cries. “Bethany. Bethany, I’m sorry. I didn’t think. I won’t touch you again. I promise.”

The Nice Man also promised, “No one will touch her again.”

“How? Won’t you get caught?”

Confidently, he explained, “Razor’s on Earth, and I’m tampering with the security footage after each interaction. But it won’t matter much longer. I’ve put together a team to break everyone out.”

No. He will find out. He will kill them all. It happened before… Others tried. And they ate them.

“But you have to play along in case there’s enough time for Razor to question it. When I report to him, I’ll tell him you reflexively activated your ability. On accident, of course. It’s realistic that you would under stress. He’ll expect it. But it also means he’ll find you more intriguing. And I’m not sure how much he’ll engage you over it. So prepare yourself. As far as he’s concerned, everyday you withstand an encounter with me. And everyday you’ll see Three Two—Bethany.”

“You didn’t know it was her, did you?” Again, the Nice Lady’s voice was so gentle.

“I swear I didn’t. He assigned me to her, and I never knew. It fits his modus operandi.”

“He’s disgusting.”

The Nice Man nodded his head in the dark. “He’s a genius manipulator and an impressive entrepreneur. It’s unfortunate about Sagan. I think she almost brought him over to our side.”

“Where is she?”

“When things got desperate, I pushed her into the Seam. You know, that grayscale place between conduits? Now I think she’s trapped there.”

“One day, I’ll want the full story.”

“You’ll get it at my debriefing once we free everyone from this Emporium and shut Razor down.”

The woman on her bunk repeated, “Bethany, do you hear that? We’ll get you out.”

“Free.”

“Out.”

They didn’t know who they were dealing with. But they’d find out, and 324 would eat them like the others.