Chapter 29

Three days later.

Time: Sunday, January 20, 2019 4:20 PM

Chico, Toro, and Bambino pressed their faces against the clear transparent door. They were at the end of the line, the terminal store of Green Mall, the plush furniture and consoles of the Hilton Executive Conference Center visible just a few short meters away. And it was all completely untouchable.

“So, we got to see it,” thought Chico. “Big fucking deal. I wonder if in 1909 ... what the hell was that guy’s name? Would Commodore Peary have been satisfied to look through a window at the North Pole? Not fucking likely.”

Chico stood aside so the others could come up and see. He thought they all deserved that, even the slave bitches. Meanwhile he walked back ten meters and plopped his tired body down and leaned against the wall. “Unbelievable,” he mumbled. “All this work ... for what?”

Chico was beginning to think of the entire expedition as one incredible failure, though there didn’t seem any other decision he could have made. They had arrived at the hub of the spiral system late Thursday night, after a long day of portage. Chico found the implications of the six passageways terrifying. After their first days in their strange new home, Uno had pressured everyone to assume the other parties were far, far away. Maybe they weren’t even on the same planet. They would never to be heard from again. But the reality of the hub with its six passages changed everything.

Chico made a command decision to split his party. Almost at random (Toro loved money, and his favorite color was green), Chico sent the main party down Green Mall with Toro in command. Their orders were to proceed as far as ten kilometers if the corridor contained nothing but locked stores, otherwise to stop anytime Toro saw fit. Meanwhile Chico and Segundo would check out the white and red spirals, while Bambino and Geraldo checked out the paths of blue and yellow.

Late Friday night, they all met up again outside the Green Mall bike shop. The displays of bikes inside made them sick as they realized what fools they were for not being more aggressive in their December explorations. They would report to Uno that all six spirals had magnificent stocks of bikes, and everything was completely out of reach.

And it was the same feeling with the AM/PM Locksmith stores, one in each spiral about a kilometer further away from the hub than the bike stores. Chico eyed all the mushroom locks now and was certain their Party had been played for chumps. He was mad enough to ... To what? Take his frustrations out on the hoof pussies?

Chico took his cue from Brandi on that one, especially after their talk in their sleeping bag last night. Free of the influence of Nadine and Jessica and Tiffany, Brandi was actually treating the slave with kindness and advocating for them, making sure they got full water rations and asking Chico to lighten up on the pace when it became too much for them.

And Chico saw her point. Almost all of the six slaves had some medical issue now after what they had gone through the previous month, either poor ankle conditions from earlier chaining or being beaten for resisting the new world order. And Lynn! Chico felt so sorry for her, but what could he do? The idiot muchachos had caned her butt the night before Santos disappeared. Thank God the other five slaves were still unhurt.

Santos and Gilberto and the muchachos, they were the worst, Chico thought. He had seen more than one woman whimper when they were assigned night shift work to any of them. In charge of the slaves now, Chico was finding he actually enjoyed showing the slaves kindness. His unsolved problem was how to protect them long term.

Toro came to sit beside him. “So, what now boss?”

“Haven’t a clue,” Chico said with a humorless laugh. “Any suggestions?”

“Well, we could camp out here and hold this position until the water runs out.”

“Yeah, well, there’s an idea.”

“Yeah. Well, I could try to shoot the lock off.”

Chico sighed. “It’s tempting to waste the ammo, I know. But remember our experiments at Rabbies Dram. Tungsten drills, the blowtorch, the crowbars and sledgehammers...”

Toro sighed back. “I wasn’t being serious. I hope Jenaro is feeling better now. I never saw a sledgehammer bounce like that.”

“Yeah, and the crowbar was ringing like a bell...” Chico leaned his head against the wall behind him, unconcerned with letting his weariness show to his group. “Four days to get back. Thank God we packed enough water. I don’t think we can push the hoof pussies any harder.” He closed his eyes.

Toro nodded. “You got that right. Uh, Chico, what’re you going to do with Lynn? Her limp is so bad now from those damn welts, she’s almost useless in the harness.”

Chico could hear the concern in Toro’s voice. “You getting sweet on Lynn, Toro? You’ve slept with her for what...” Chico opened his eyes and smiled as he saw Lynn preparing Toro’s sleeping bag. “Third night in a row now, right?”

“Yeah, well ... maybe. I don’t want to see her get hurt, that’s for sure. And I don’t want to force her to do anything. I’ve been having some problems with the muchachos about that.” Toro paused for a moment and sighed. “And Chico, want to hear something amazing?”

“Sure.”

“Last night, I was bone tired. Lynn and I don’t fuck in our sleeping bag. With her welts, that would just hurt her too much. But last night, all by herself, Lynn asked me if I’d like her to blow me. She was willing. We wound up just lying with each other. We started looking in each other’s eyes, and ... It was so amazing. The whole rest of the world disappeared. That’s what it seemed like. Just Lynn and I whispering to each other, and the whole rest of the world just wasn’t there. I can’t believe the stuff I told her about myself, stuff I thought was so embarrassing I’d never tell anybody. Know what I mean?”

“Yeah, I think I do. Brandi and I sort of did the same thing last night. She told me things too. It wasn’t just one way.” He sighed. “And check out Bambino and Cassidy sometime when they’re sacking out. They’re not just getting it on.”

“Yeah, exactly. Bambino seems so happy with Cassie now. I feel the same way about Lynn.”

Chico reached and patted Toro’s shoulder. “Don’t worry. I won’t cut her loose out here, no matter how much she slows us down. Hell, she can lie on the sled and get a free ride if she has to. And I’ll talk to the muchachos. They won’t bother her.” He paused and added, “Toro, if you want to claim her as a girlfriend, I think I can convince Uno to take her off the night shifts. He owes me a few favors.” Chico closed his eyes again and rested.

Toro did not reply at once. He just leaned back on the wall and followed Chico’s lead in closing his eyes. “Gracias, compadre,” he whispered.

Time: Sunday, January 20, 2019 6:00 PM, a second floor suite at the Hilton Executive Conference Center

Emily came up from behind Jada and touched her shoulder. “Time you were relieved. Hungry? Aggie whipped up another really delicious dinner.”

Jada looked up from her monitoring console and locked eyes with Emily.

Emily didn’t have to ask how Jada was feeling. The emotional states of two people linking were the first things exchanged, and far more deeply than could ever be expressed in words or body language. “My dear friend,” thought Emily, “I love you. Have courage Jada. Do NOT give up hope.”

“I’m trying. It’s so hard.” Jada hiccupped and broke the connection. She turned back to the console and made a minor adjustment.

The reason for Jada’s distress and that of the whole group was the census counter. When they awoke Friday morning, they saw that it had ticked down from 017:102 to 016:100. It appeared that a man and two women had died.

Mark and Toshi and Frida! Nothing was certain, but the possibility was horrendous. The Red Mall group had spent the day monitoring all their locations near the hub, until they saw all fourteen people of Chico’s party gather near the Green Mall bike shop Friday night. The deaths had not come from there.

On Saturday and Sunday they installed sensor nets from the terminal stores of Red, White, and Blue Malls, and even from the trapdoor White Mall store at the 360 degree mark. They now had a clear majority (82%) of the mall system covered by their surveillance network.

Emily nudged Jada out of the chair, and after brief hugs they said goodbye. Jada entered the nearby elevator and returned to the home complex of Red Mall, but on a whim entered through the lower level by the library. She walked through the unoccupied first floor, finally arriving at the large circular stairwell. The spiraling stairs down would take Jada to the Dress Barn, and the stairs up would take her to the bedroom she shared with Emily.