Page 40 of The Captive Missing

Val looked sideways at Charlie who flashed her an uncharacteristic grin before composing his features once more. Husband. Captive Val did not have a husband, she reminded herself.

Her brain tried to rush forward with the information, but the words she wanted to say, the questions she wanted to ask, wouldn’t form coherently in her mind. Instead, she put the heel of one hand to her forehead and rubbed hard.

“You’ve got to stop taking the pills,” Charlie whispered. “And yes, there isn’t a television program around that hasn’t had Mr. Jason Riggs himself on it yelling about Cambric and yelling about you. Lawsuits are flying all over the place. People are getting stirred up. It’s almost like it was right before-”

Val waited, but Charlie didn’t go on.

“Right before what?” She asked finally.

“Right before they tried to dismantle Cambric. If your husband keeps going like he is now, then there’s still hope.”

“He was my owner, I was never married to him,” Val corrected, her heart taking one gigantic leap in her chest before it quieted.

“That’s a good story to stick to.” Charlie bobbed his head, perfectly serious. “But we all know it’s not the truth.”

“When will they start booking me clients?”

“I don’t know.” Charlie adjusted his machine up before reaching over to increase Val’s alongside. “Best guess? A few more weeks. Your color has come back, your body is close to perfect. All they need is to re-train and submit you.”

As the treadmill picked up speed, Val was forced into a jog. Submit. The word kept echoing around in her mind. Her chest grew tight. Clients after submission, of course.

Despite the foggy haze of medication, she knew what lay ahead of her. And suddenly, the surrounding air was hard to suck into her lungs. She gasped once, legs stumbling and tripping beneath her. Charlie snaked out a hand and grabbed her upper arm, holding her upright as he ran.

“Pick up your feet,” he hissed. “Run through it, or run away from it. Doesn’t matter which but you’ve got to keep running.”

Val ducked her head and did as she was told. Charlie let go of her, then mumbled the next few words under his breath.

“And stop swallowing that damn pill.”

Chapter 14

It wasn’t long after that they moved Val out of Isolation. Tracy entered her room one morning without the customary plastic food tray. With a flick of her wand, she beeped Val back into dorm life.

Across the green expanse of courtyard, two red brick dormitory towers loomed tall, casting long shadows as the sun moved. One was set aside for adult captives, the other for children. She had lived in both, at one time or another, but always with Bee.

Riding up the elevator now, Val stared at the electronic numbers as they counted up, up, up. In front of her, Tracy tapped her foot impatiently against the metal flooring. This was an industrial sized elevator and it moved rather slowly. At any given time, it could fit up to forty people, though Tracy had waited for an empty one before boarding.

The floors themselves were separated according to training level and work designation. Hourly and party captives came first. They required more transportation, oversight and scheduling, so Cambric kept them on the lowest levels. Their floors were noisy, busy and crowded. Hourly captives were constantly being moved, driven to different locations and brought back, not to mention there were simply more of them. It took Cambric staff less time to move them through the stairwells or on the elevators if they only had a few floors to go.

As the elevator continued its rise inside the building, the designations, along with the atmosphere, changed. The next block of floors was occupied by trainees. These were high school graduates just entering the final phase of their classification.

Here they would be trained sexually for the first time, sit in class, observe demonstrations and get used to the feel of D2 life. Although security had once been fairly lax in this section, since the incident with Bee and Gabe, it had been tightened considerably. Still, everyone was young, had enthusiasm and wanted to have a good time. The daily grind of actually being a D2 captive hadn’t yet sunk in.

Riding past those floors, Val could hear faint music thrumming from the trainee section. She remembered it well, though it was censored and the broken words didn’t make much sense. That didn’t matter of course to someone who had never heard real music before. None of the trainees had set foot outside of Cambric. None of them had listened to a full song.

Soon the vibrations settled into silence and the elevator doors opened onto one of the monthly subscription floors. These captives were in it for the long haul. They had set schedules and could develop a rhythm and routine. Most were experts in their line of work. To get here they all underwent a series of personality screenings.

As a result, they often had demure, accepting dispositions. Life on these floors was slow, gentle, calm. A monthly D2 didn’t need as much oversight, nor security, and there weren’t as many of them. The permanent placement captives that hadn’t sold yet, were housed alongside.

With a huff of breath, Tracy stepped out first. The hallway was long and narrow. Every so often a fluorescent bulb could be seen inset deep in the ceiling overhead. Val watched the confidence in Tracy’s walk, the way her sensible heels tapped along the worn grey carpet. About midway down the hall, Val spied an open door. Not able to help herself, she glanced in as she passed. There was a young woman draped across a single bed, flipping distractedly through an old magazine.

After that, it seemed almost every door was propped open. She noted both women and men, reclining by themselves, or chatting in small groups. As Tracy appeared, conversations ceased. When they caught a glimpse of Val, the voices resumed.

Abruptly Tracy came to halt and stepped off to one side. Val pulled up short in front of a closed door with the number nineteen displayed beneath its viewing window. Each door had a single square of glass through which a guard could monitor them. There were no video cameras in their rooms, only one at each end of the hall.

“Here we are.” Tracy pulled out her wand and passed it over Val’s arm until it beeped. “On this floor we expect you to adhere to a particular schedule. If you are unable to stick to it, then certain privileges will be revoked.

You have set times for meals which are listed on the inside of your door. If you miss a meal time, then you miss the meal, same as always. Any appointments booked for you will show up on the screen fastened to your desk. You are expected to check it when you get up in the morning and before you go to bed.

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