The room was… where was this? Looked like some kind of hospital ward. Still, stale air flavored with the sharp, coldly clean odor of disinfectant. Cinder block walls painted gloss white. No windows in view, but it was so bright there must be at least a few. A curtain was pulled most of the way around the bed. She looked down at her hands and tugged against the thick velcro straps tightly binding her wrists to the bed frame. She couldn’t move.

  “Hello? Hello? Is anyone there?”

  Her voice felt lost in the space, echoing against distant walls. She couldn’t see beyond the curtains, but from the sound of the echo she got the sense that the room was large.

  “Can anybody hear me?!” She could hear the panic creep into her voice, threatening to overwhelm her and cloud her thoughts. She struggled to calm herself. Forced herself to take a deep breath, hold it, then slowly exhale. “OK, get it together, Abi,” she whispered to herself. “You can get out of this mess.”

  “They won’t come, you know.”

  Abi almost jumped out of her skin at the sound of the voice. It was close. A woman.

  “They never come when you yell. Not ‘til they want you.”

  “Who’s there? Hello?”

  The voice returned, soft and calm. “I’m right here, honey. You see me? Peekaboo.”

  Abi craned her neck. There was a break in the curtain close to the wall behind her, and in the narrow gap she could see the face of a woman. Or it… it was probably a woman, hidden somewhere beneath the bruises. Brown hair. Maybe around fifty years old? A little overweight? Her face was such a mess it was hard to tell.

  “Oh my God, where am I? What’s going on? What… what happened to you? Are you OK?”

  The woman tried to smile. It didn’t work. She was missing most of her teeth and one of her eyes was swollen shut, and her smile came out as a terrifying grimace. She closed her mouth when she saw Abi’s reaction.

  “I’m a picture, ain’t I?” She let out a snorting laugh and turned to face the ceiling before continuing, her voice suddenly quiet, almost childlike. “I was pretty, before. So pretty. All the boys used to say so. They used to chase me day and night. Just teasing me, you know? All in good fun. Tugging at my hair, trying to steal a kiss.” She smiled again, as if reliving a happy memory, but this time she kept her mouth closed until the smile drifted away and her voice hardened. “Not so pretty now. Not now they caught me. Different boys, though. Not the nice ones.” She sighed, and her one open eye narrowed. “Same thing’s gonna happen to you if you don’t do as they say, honey.” Her voice was colder now. It had an edge. “You should just do as they say, that’s the best thing. They don’t like to hear you say no. Oh Lord, no, they don't like that one little bit.”

  Abi was confused. “Do as they say? What do you…?” It finally dawned on her. “Oh. Oh no.”

  “Uh huh.” The woman stuck out her bottom lip lie a sulking little girl, and her voice turned childlike again. “Boys get mean when you don’t give ‘em what they want.”

  Abi felt tears prick at her eyes. “This can’t be happening. There has to be a way out of here.”

  The woman sighed. “Quicker you make your peace with it the easier it’ll be.” She turned away and stared at the ceiling again. “I was just like you when they started. Fought against those straps for hours. Even fought them when they came for me. Kicked and screamed, spat and bit. Held ‘em off for a few hours. Thought they’d given up in the end.” She laughed again, but this time there was a desperate sharpness to it, as if she were teetering over the edge of of a bottomless abyss. She didn’t stop for a long time. It seemed like she couldn’t stop if she tried.

  Finally she managed to calm herself a little and get out some words, her voice wavering between laughter and tears. “Then they came back and took my teeth.”

  Abruptly the laughter stopped. The woman’s mania seemed to drift away like a passing squall, and a calm, placid expression took over her face as she looked back towards Abi. She smiled, her mouth a gaping black hole glistening in its depths with blood. “But maybe they’ll leave me alone now they’ve got another pretty young thing. Maybe I’ll be OK now. Yeah, maybe they’ll be done with me.”

  Abi felt a wave of terror flow through her. Goosebumps shivered down her body, setting her hairs on end. The woman had obviously lost her mind. Wherever it was it wasn’t quite in the room. She seemed to look through Abi now, as if she wasn’t even there.

  “Do you know where they took the man who came in with me?” she demanded. The woman didn’t seem to hear her. “Hey! Lady! Where did they take the guy they brought in with me?”

  The woman snapped back for a moment. It was as if her mind was bobbing on the edge of a bungee cord, drifting in and out. “A man? Oh, your man? You got yourself a nice man?” She spat the word ‘man’ like an insult. “Haven't seen a man, but who cares what they do with the menfolk? Dead, probably. Don’t see why they’d want to share with more men.” She let out a long sigh, and when her voice returned it had an odd, lilting singsong quality to it. “Wherever he gone he’s in a better place than you. Oh yes, you better believe that. A much better place. His pain’s over now.”

  She turned back to the ceiling and began to hum a tuneless dirge, her swollen lips turned up in a faint, empty smile.

  “Where are we? Do you know what town we’re near?”

  The woman continued to hum, as if she couldn’t hear Abi.

  “Hey. Come back to me. What’s your name? Where are you from?”

  No response. It was as if she’d drifted out of Abi’s world. Whatever tenuous link to sanity she still had had been broken for the moment. Abi might as well be talking to an empty bed.

  She turned her attention back to her own bed, to the straps binding her wrists. She took a moment to calm herself, to clear her mind of clutter and focus on the problem dispassionately.

  OK, concentrate, Abi. Her hands were bound, but that didn’t mean she was entirely helpless. The straps that should have bound her feet had been left untied, and if she just kicked away the sheets like this her legs were free. Beneath the sheets she was almost naked, stripped down to her underwear, but maybe if she used her toes to tug off her sock like this, and if she could bring her left foot up like this – thank God for four years of yoga – and sort of tuck her heel against her right arm like this, then pinch the velcro between her toes like this… If she could just tear the strap back like this she might be able to…

  Damn. No. Beyond the velcro the restraints were fastened like a watch strap, with a thick bar secured through a hole. She’d need a free hand to unfasten it. There was no way in a million years she could do it with just her feet.

  What about the bed itself? Was there any way to move while—?

  Huh.

  Abi shook herself from side to side. The bed frame rocked a little with her movement. It wasn’t anchored to the ground, and it didn’t seem to be all that heavy. Maybe if she could get enough momentum going she could rock herself like this, and… yeah, just a little more. The legs of the bed rattled and banged each time they hit the ground. One more time and she could…

  She threw all of her weight to one side. The bed hovered for a moment, teetering at the zenith, and then Abi felt her stomach turn over as gravity asserted itself and the bed came crashing to the ground on its side. Pain exploded in her chest as she hit the rock hard floor, unable to brace herself against the impact. Every breath of air was forced from her lungs, and she struggled to gulp any of it back.

  It felt like every last one of her ribs had been ground to powder, but she forced herself to move. She knew her breath would come back to her in a moment. She also knew she couldn’t afford to lay around worrying about a little pain, not now she'd guessed what would happen to her if she stayed trapped here. She pushed the agony down deep.

  With both hands strapped to either side of the bed she yanked her shoulder violently forward and tried to roll clumsily onto her front. It took three attempts, but finally she managed to pull the full weight of the bed onto her back. It was heavier than she expected. Much heavier. Her face was pressed firm against the cold floor, forced down by the mattress behind her, and still she couldn’t take a full breath. Her heart raced in her chest as the panic overtook her, but she found a way to channel that fear. I won’t end up like her, she told herself. That’s not my future.

  She forced the fear into action, pushing her butt from the ground and lifting the weight of the bed. The first try only moved it a few inches, but on the second push she managed to find some purchase with her toes. Just enough to push forward and… there we go. The frame of the bed hit the wall. Now it was just a matter of pushing forward like this and arching her back like this and then… yes!

  With a superhuman effort she managed to slide the edge of the bed frame up the wall and bring her feet forward just enough to stand. She was awkwardly hunched over and every last inch of her body screamed out in pain, but at least she was standing. Now she was wearing the bed, like a turtle wears its shell. Its crushing, unbalanced weight rested on her back, painfully heavy and threatening to topple at any moment, but she could stay on her feet so long as she kept the frame resting against the wall.

  Abi shuffled over, inch by excruciating inch, until she could twist her hand and brush against the curtain beside her. Every move was agony. It felt as if her wrist was being twisted to breaking point, but she managed to push the curtain aside just enough that she could see the woman.

  “Hey. Hey! Look at me!”

  The woman stared at the ceiling, still humming the same mournful dirge to herself.

  “Honey, please look at me. I can get us out of here. Please.” Nothing. It was as if she were on the other side of a soundproof window.

  Abi cursed under her breath. She needed to get closer, within reaching distance, but the weight of the bed was already causing her knees to tremble, and the lump on her head was throbbing with each heartbeat. She could only keep this effort up for a minute or two longer, and she knew that once she fell to the ground she’d never find the energy to get back up. This was a one shot deal.

  “Honey, listen. I don’t know if you can hear me but I’m going to walk towards you, OK? I need you to reach out and grab the strap on my wrist and pull. Do you hear me? I need you to pull!”

  The woman still didn’t respond. Abi didn’t know if she couldn’t hear her from whatever comforting space her mind had retreated to. Maybe she was just ignoring her, but there was nothing for it. She was at the very limit of her strength now, and if she didn’t make her move there’d be nothing left. She braced her feet wide on the floor, leaning back just enough to take the weight of the bed from the wall, and with slow, halting steps she dragged herself sideways, inch by inch. The steel frame squealed a protest against the floor as it dragged.

  Abi didn’t even notice she was weeping by the time her hand touched the bed beside her. She was frantic, barely in her right mind, but the moment her fingers touched the hand of the woman beside her she felt a burst of hope. The woman gripped her hand, tight. Not painfully but desperately, as if she were lost at sea and reaching out to grab a lifebuoy. She was still staring blankly at the ceiling, her tuneless hum escaping her cracked lips, but Abi saw a tear roll from her swollen eye down her cheek, and she sensed the woman was still in there somewhere. She was trapped, wherever she was, but some small part of her remained.

  “OK, honey, I need you to grab the strap. Do you understand me? Please, if you understand what I’m saying I need you to let go of my hand and hold on tight to the strap so I can pull it free. Please, honey, I’m begging you. I can get you out of here. I can make this all end. They won’t hurt you any more, if you just help me.”

  The tears were rolling down Abi’s cheeks now. She knew she only had seconds. Her legs were burning with the effort, and she could feel herself shift off balance. Any second now she’d topple to the side, and—

  The woman loosed the grip on her hand. Her fingers relaxed, then began to search, walking blindly along her palm until they brushed against the coarse velcro. Just as Abi felt her legs give way the woman reached the strap, and Abi let out a yell as she began to fall sideways.

  The bed crashed against the wall and then slid to the ground, sending Abi sprawling on the cold floor. She hit her head this time, right in the same spot she’d hit it against the window in the Humvee, and her vision exploded with colored spots as her ears rang like a bell.

  The world felt… fuzzy. Soft. She could tell she was drifting away, just like in those final moments before sleep when she tried to force her eyes to stay open and read one more page of a book. Any second now her eyes would close and she’d fade, unless she…

  She bit her tongue, hard. Harder than she’d ever bit it before, even by accident. The pain was excruciating and her mouth filled with the sharp, coppery taste of blood, but in a moment her eyes were wide open. She gasped, a glob of blood and saliva dripping from her lips to the white floor, and with the last of her energy she tugged at her right hand, snapping it to and fro, yanking it back and forth until finally, blissfully, the strap loosened and her hand came free.

  She couldn’t believe it. For a moment she just lay there and stared at her hand, miraculously mobile. It felt as if she suddenly had a superpower, the simple ability to move her hand wherever she wished it to go. Untie the other strap, she ordered it, and she watched in wonder as it obeyed her command. Her fingers moved as if by magic, without any conscious thought, and they deftly loosened the other strap and freed her from the prison of the bed. She laughed, half insensible, barely even conscious of what she was doing but overwhelmingly excited at the idea that she could do anything but lie there and wait for unimaginable terrors to be visited on her.

  From somewhere Abi found the strength to lift herself from the ground. Her legs were still shaky, but now she could stand without the weight of the bed pushing her down she felt as light as air, as if she could jump up and touch the ceiling. She shook out her aching hands and looked around her, excited for the chance to take action. Now she had the chance to think, and to consider her situation beyond the restraints.

  Where am I? What is this place? How do I get the hell out?

  She walked to foot of the bed and tugged the curtain aside, revealing the rest of the room. Just as she’d though it was large. At least large enough for a couple dozen beds, but most of the room was empty. Not just empty, though. It was stark. It was forbiddingly empty, as if it had been intentionally built to be as bare as possible. The only furniture in the room were the two beds, surrounded by curtains.

  Something about the room just… wasn’t quite right. Along one side of the room a row of windows allowed in lots of sunlight, but the windows were up near the high ceiling and covered with steel bars. In fact, everything was up near the ceiling. A small cage hung high on the wall, empty but for a steel bracket that looked like it should have held a TV. The power outlets on the walls were about nine feet from the ground, much too high to reach without a stool to stand on. Below that the walls were blank and featureless, just bare cinder blocks painted white. No patient held in this room would be able to reach anything. They’d never…

  A thought struck her. The blank walls. The barred windows. The restraints on the beds. A secure ward? A prison? Maybe even an asylum?

  Abi walked softly towards the door at the end of the room, almost on tiptoes. She didn’t want to make any noise, and only when she reached the door did it occur to her that nobody had come running as she was clattering around the room with the steel bed. They probably wouldn’t rush in at the sound of shuffling feet.

  Hanging on the doorknob was a white lab coat. She grabbed it and pulled it on, the shoulders slumping over her own and the sleeves hanging inches too long. Clearly a man's coat, but anything was better than walking around in her underwear. She rifled through the pockets, but there was nothing useful. Just a dead cell phone and an empty pack of cigarettes. She tossed them aside and tried the door.

  It was locked from the outside. There wasn’t even a keyhole on the inside. Nothing, in fact, but a small six by ten window of toughened glass, so thick it distorted the image of the empty corridor beyond. Abi pushed at the door, hoping against hope it would budge, but it barely even moved in its frame. However it was locked it was never meant to be opened from the inside.

  Her hope began to drain away. A moment ago Abi had pictured herself breaking out, finding her way out into the daylight and searching for the chief. She’d imagined herself rescuing him, maybe even rescuing some other captives, and getting them out of… wherever this was. She’d hoped she’d get the chance to be a hero, but she couldn’t even get out of this damned room.

  As she stood staring at the door another thought came to her. Something had been bothering her since the woman in the next bed had started talking. She was obviously crazy, and at first Abi had assumed she’d been driven over the edge by her captivity, by the actions of her captors that she… that she was still trying to stop herself from picturing.

  But could a sane woman really be driven insane that quickly? It had hardly been a week since the power went out, and surely it would have taken a few days before even the most eager small fractions of human beings decided to start collecting people for their sick little harem. How could this have happened to her in just a week? No matter what kind of hell they’d put her through, how could a sane woman snap so completely in such a short period of time?

  Unless…

  Abi rushed back across the room to the woman’s bed. She was still laying there as Abi pulled the curtain aside, still staring vacantly at the ceiling. Abi didn’t know what she expected to find, but the last remaining shred of faith she had in humanity was erased when she pulled back the woman’s sheets and saw what she was wearing.

  Virginia State Mental Health Institute, the stenciled type on her thin white gown read. #3927. Marsh, P.

  She was a patient. She could have been here for years, locked up in a mental hospital, strapped to a bed. And then when the power went out… who’d stay behind to take care of her? Who’d keep feeding a bunch of crazy people while the nation was under attack? Maybe the staff just walked out and left everyone behind to fend for themselves, leaving the doors open for a different kind of crazy person to walk in. Predators. Predators who kept this poor, helpless woman strapped there, and did unspeakable things to her.

 

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