A/N: A quick note to reviewer brandon barclay, for lack of a way to message you otherwise: There are individual adventures to each of these stories in the series, and there is an overarching plot that is slowly unfolding as well. If you haven't read the previous stories as listed in chapter 1, I suggest maybe you check those out first. If there is any confusion along the way, I would be happy to reply, although as an anonymous reviewer, it's hard for me to write back. Hope this helped!
"The Generational Purge"
2. Walls & Cells
Somewhere on Earth – Orcus Penitentiary – in the year 3086
Nathaniel Nash had been installed as warden just months ago, but already he had made a name for himself: the prisoners looked to him as a man even more dangerous than any of them could ever be. They hadn't been aware of it, not in the beginning. But now they'd had months. Now they had seen what he could do. Now everyone was toeing the line, because they knew what would happen to them if they didn't.
Warden Nash was a man of forty, who carried himself on precise and hushed steps. He missed nothing, saw all and heard all. The last thing anyone wanted was to get caught in his sights, and that was exactly what Jonathan Bailey had done. Now the warden had summoned him to Block Nineteen.
Two guards had come to escort him from his cell, and as he shuffled along, the man would look left and right, to the other prisoners, safe in their cells. This was not a man's prison, or a woman's prison. If the judge decided to send you to Orcus, it did not matter who or what you were. Right now, those men and women above looked at him, wondering if they would see him again.
X
London, England – December 31st 2099
"Come on, Vicky, it's only the turn of the century about once every…"
"Hundred years?" Victoria Coates stepped out from her bedroom, turning about to show her new dress. "What do you think?" she asked her neighbor and friend Tasha.
"I'd say you're looking to be the first lay of twenty-one hundred," the woman chuckled and got a playful shove for it. "I mean you look fantastic," she amended.
"Better. Now, yes, let's get this party started."
X
London, England – July 18th 2067
"Matt? Matt, wake up."
"What is it?" he mumbled, still asleep. "I'm having a very lovely dream about you and…"
"My water broke."
"How'd you manage that?" he frowned, still slumbering along.
"Matthew Coates, you need to wake up right now and get me to the hospital if you don't want this baby born on the carpet," his girlfriend, Bridget, had gritted her teeth. He was awake now, scrambling to get his shoes on. He had thought for sure they might share a birthday, him and the baby; he was turning twenty-one in four days.
"How close… You've had the contractions then?"
"Keep the questions for the car," she made her way to the door as fast as her feet could carry her. Matthew swept in to help her and got her in the passenger seat. "Last chance to put in a bet with the boys at the garage," she told him, taking a breath.
"Don't have to, already told them it'd be a girl," he put his hand to her belly and she smiled. "That's her, our Victoria."
X
London, England – August 28th 2043
Declan Coates had been labeled a screw up his whole life. His teachers would say it, his bosses would say it, even his parents and his siblings. He didn't care that he was twenty-eight, unmarried, regularly unemployed… There was one person who didn't think him a screw up. Her name was Claire, and for her he had gotten his life in order. He'd held the same job for six months now, a personal record. His apartment hadn't smelled this good for this long since… ever. And today… today was the day. He was finally going to ask her out.
He walked into the diner that morning, spotting her behind the counter, red hair, freckles, and that smile… No one had a smile like her.
"I was beginning to think you weren't coming," she gave him a peek of that smile when she saw him walk up.
"Not a chance," he gave her his best smile, not nearly as good as hers, but what was, really?
"Coffee?" she offered, and he nodded. He was going to need it, if he didn't want to lose courage.
X
Orcus Penitentiary – in the year 3086
Block Nineteen was cold, like no element of heat was allowed. Jonathan Bailey looked to the guards on either side of him. They looked like they felt nothing; how could they, with those helmets on. Every prisoner had the same impression about those things: they just felt wrong.
"Mr. Bailey." He looked back forward, finding Warden Nash was there, waiting for him. "Please sit," he pointed to the one chair in the middle of the small room. "You two get back to work, that'll be all," he went on to tell the guards, and something about it was ringing every alarm in Jonathan's head. "You've been with us how many years, Mr. Bailey?"
"Seven," he answered.
"Yes, that's right. And in those years, you've been sent into isolation how many times?"
"I wasn't keeping count," Jonathan frowned, looking aside. The warden replied with a bow of the head.
"Your previous warden kept count, and so have I. It has come to my attention that parole has been put on the table?" This was news to him, and again the alarms were clamoring.
X
London, England – September 16th 2006
"Nicole, you're going to be late if you don't get moving!" her mother was calling, and she groaned, mouthing the words to herself as she tied the laces on her shoes and grabbed her bag. She dashed into the kitchen to kiss her mother goodbye.
"I'll be home late, don't wait up."
"Not seeing that Coates boy again, are you?" her face was unimpressed. "You're only twenty-two and…"
"So what if I do see him? It's not like I'm going to marry him," Nikki Tomkins smirked. "Love you!" she headed out the door, almost running straight into her neighbor. "Sorry, Mrs. Tyler!" she called.
"Late again?" Jackie called back.
"I know!" She could practically hear her mother's voice in her head, 'look where you're running, you're going to hurt someone someday.' She wasn't sure whether it was irony that she would be thinking this just as she did run into someone. "Oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't…"
"Nicole Tomkins?" the Japanese woman asked her.
"Yeah, that's me," she blinked, smiling. That smile turned into shock when she felt something, a sharp pain in her stomach and then something wet. She barely registered the sight of her own blood, seeping through her shirt before she fell to the ground with her last breath.
X
London, England – August 28th 2043
Claire Wadley hated the morning crowd. Most of them were either too asleep or in too much of a hurry to look at her like a human being. There was nothing to keep her tied to this job. Sometimes she thought of quitting. She couldn't be a waitress forever, could she?
X
London, England – July 18th 2067
Bridget Finnegan would look to her girlfriends sometimes and wonder how any of them could be considering marriage at their age. They were still in school, all of them, and she knew one of them was bound to drop out to play wife and mother to the first guy who gave them a smile. She had better things to do with her life.
X
London, England – December 31st 2099
Tasha Cole knew what could happen, going to one of Colin Bailey's parties without anyone, but it was the turn of the century, she couldn't miss it. None of her neighbors had any interest in going with her, but she didn't mind. She could do just fine on her own.
X
Orcus Penitentiary – in the year 3086
"Log entry, Warden Nathaniel Nash," he dictated. "Treatment number four was a success and the purge is complete," he dragged the empty chair back to the side of the wall. "Open directory," he turned to the screen on the opposite wall. "Inmate search. Bailey, comma, Jonathan." After a moment the pulsing 'search' icon had disappeared, and the results appeared.
Zero results found for 'Bailey, Jonathan' in the inmate directory. Please try again.
TO BE CONTINUED (TUESDAY)
