Weekend Writing Prompt #360 – Expire
She knew that soon the charm would expire, without awareness of what would happen then. She had to wait, look after her wounds, search her memory for the events that had preceded. But where was she? She felt the immensity of the place, that her wrists were aching, that more pain was on its way. Then she recalled, the dark nightmare of the past three days.
Inspired by Weekend Writing Prompt #360 – Expire
Expire or Survive
She knew that soon the charm would expire, without awareness of what would happen then. She had to wait, look after her wounds, search her memory for the events that had preceded. But where was she? She felt the immensity of the place, that her wrists were aching, that more pain was on its way. Then she recalled, the dark nightmare of the past three days.
She’d been captured three days earlier, and there was no charm, but the effects of the drugs she’d been given before the mission started: this would expire, only she did not know when. Then she would feel the pain, the excruciating pain of the many hammer blows, all the various lesions, she had to suffer. They had beaten her up, waterboarded her, raped her, sodomised her, without end.
She thought briefly of her partner, for they had been two on the reconnaissance mission. She did not know where the other girl was, probably already dead. She scanned the state of her metabolism, realised she had managed to repair some of the wounds. She scanned also the vast dungeon where she was hanging by her wrists, her feet in chains but not touching the floor. She was thirsty.
Luck in disaster
She realised she’d been lucky to follow the instructions to the letter: keep your body, stomach, bowels, bladder completely empty. Thus the worst choking had been avoided. Before the drug expired, there lied a risk: if they thought she was a replicant they would destroy her at once. Luckily their machines had read her as human with a high degree of probability. Yet she had survived the torture, had not spoken, this would attract suspicion. Sooner or later they would have to decide either to keep her, until the tortures killed her, or execute her straight away.
She heard footsteps in the tunnel that led to the cave, heavy boots, and what she thought may be female voices.
Four officers came into the cave and walked immediately to where she was hanging. They were of a different type from the butchers she had to face in the past three days. Clean uniforms, female creatures, crew cut, different badges, the indifferent faces of calm professional assassins.
The captain
One of them was addressing her. They were going to detach her, take her to a medic, clean her and give her some food. Their leader was a tall black haired lady, with chevrons of a captain. The Empire had kept the old grades of their predecessors, she thought.
She could not walk, they gave her a cape to cover her broken body and two of them helped her to walk with them along the tunnel to an elevator. She scanned the walls, the whole of the route they were taking. If she ever had a chance to escape she would have to rely on her memories, on those images quickly captured in her mind.
The five of them stood while the elevator took them up, she could feel the motion, but had no way to judge how far they were going. The elevator stopped. They pulled the hood of her cape to cover her eyes. They walked her, still holding her for her not to fall, for what she thought some twenty minutes. A door was opened. They removed her cape, and told her to sit on a narrow bank. They were in a cell. She waited, naked, immensely tired. The same officer opened another door: a quick glance showed her it was an austere bathroom.
She saw the bath and thought it may be water boarding again. Apparently not. One of them helped her to the bathroom, run a scanner on the whole of her body, and then told her to lie down on anther bank. Soon a female medic in uniform came in and proceeded to examine her, ran another scan of her body, including her cavities, through her vagina and anus. She was given an injection, while the first officer was running a hot bath.
Soon she was left alone with the tall officer, as the others left the cell.
The officer helped her in the bath, and told her to relax. She said that once she was clean and had eaten something she would interrogate her, but she wanted her to realise collaboration was the only way she could stay alive. She was given a little sponge and a bar of soap. She resisted the temptation of falling asleep. A quick survey of the bathroom showed her multiple cameras and other sensors.
Interrogation
The officer helped her to get out of the bath and carefully helped her to dry herself withe large soft towel, and then wrapped her into a warm peignoir. Then she guided her to a little table in the cell and she sat, as she heard someone bringing a tray of food and drinks. The officer sat down on another chair next to her, smiled, and told her to eat slowly. After a while, as the effect of the cool drink and food started to strengthen her, she heard the officer slowly explaining what she wanted to know.
There was no haste. Merely simple questions about who she was, how she’d come to be so close to this fortress, who she reported to and where. She was told she had time to rest and perhaps she would chose to write down, or rather dictate her answers. In absence of collaboration she would be executed the following day. The officer said she would be out for a couple of hours, and would then come back to hear what she had to say. Before she went she held the prisoner’s head in her hand, almost delicately, and said: “You deserve better that being butchered by those beasts, if you help me I will take care of you.”
Picture: Dark Portrait of a crucified female
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