Page 96 of Too Many Beds
Even this.
“The first night’s always the hardest.”
A disembodied voice echoes through to my cell; I straighten, pulse skipping. “Wh-what?” I stammer, thrown off-centre by the gentle, almost warm tone.
“The first night in the Plunge.”
“What?”
A dry chuckle.
“Where are you?” I dare to demand.
“The next cell. There’s a vent in the wall. Beneath the cot. No, you can’t open it and break out.”
“I don’t want to break out,” I mumble, and edge towards the steel pallet that serves as a bed. The thin, stiff mattress is so unforgiving the springs don’t even buckle as I sit. As hard and cold as stone—just like home.
My thumb rubs the wound again as I clear my throat. “You said something about thePlunge?”
“Ah, yes. The Plunge—the Plunge cells. That’s where we are. Hundreds of metres below the sea. The Authority’s version of solitary confinement.”
Panic fills my mouth.Solitary?No, that can’t be right. I was only processed hours ago. I can’t be caged here, alone, forever. I’m supposed to be in there, withhim.
“We all start in the Plunge, kid,” the voice says with a calming lilt. “As a warning. ‘This is what awaits you if you step out of line.’ But you’ll be alright. Keep your head down and you won’t be back.”
A shiver prickles across my skin and I swallow. “And … what … what about you?”
The man gives a low, purr-like chuckle. “I don’t keep my head down.”
Idon’t sleep much that night. There’s a scattering of threats and sexual comments but it’s the silence that gets to me. The silence that reminds me I’m alone. Disconnected. Underwater. That’s really what keeps me awake. Knowing I’m somewhere deep beneath the ocean and water could crush down on me in seconds. I can’t stop thinking about it. The image is persistent; uncomfortable. Like a cold fingertip slipping down my spine.
The man never speaks again. I try to strike up conversation as I lie there in the dark, but he doesn’t answer. Maybe hecan’t hear me. Maybe he’s asleep. Or maybe—I swallow—he was never there. Fuck. I’m already insane. The Plunge has broken me before I made it to my actual cell.
Before I got to see Tarrant.
The control panel outside my room chimes; it must be dawn. Without my device or even any windows to see the sky, I have no idea what time it is, but the bleary-eyed stare of the guard standing in the doorway suggests someone at the end of a long night shift.
“Congratulations,” the dishevelled blonde woman says dryly. “You’ve survived your first night.” She glances at a holoscreen projected from her device. “Might be the best sleep you ever have in here. Looks like you’ve been assigned to D.”
My heart thumps. D’s the top dog’s kennel—or so they told me in processing. And in here, the top dog is king. Stand by his side and be protected. Get in his way and?—
“C’mon,” the guard says, almost sympathetic. “The quicker you settle in, the easier it’ll be.”
“Keep my head down, right?” I swallow, recalling the stranger’s advice from last night.
“Exactly.”
We take the elevator back to the surface and, instead of passing through the administrative holding cells, turn right towards the main compound. We’re at ground level, as far as I can tell, and I even catch a glimpse of sky as we pass between buildings. I soon see a lot more of it as we enter the caged yard, where inmates are getting their morning sun.
“Oi, get a load of this pretty boy, fellas. Well, I’ll be damned.”
So much for keeping my head down.
All eyes turn to me the moment the door hisses closed. Instinct screams for me to freeze and I do, helpless like the beast I once saw caught in the crosshairs of a rifle in an old, illegalmovie. It’s the second time I’ve felt exposed and vulnerable and somehow, I don’t think it will be the last.
Bend over, grab your ankles.
The guard finally turns back and notices I’ve lagged, paralysed at the threshold of the yard. She sighs, her hand travelling to the holster of the sleek chrome pistol at her hip—standard-issue among the Authority.