"You've just become a lot more", he grunts, "Valuable".

"Obviously, scum like your tribe always treat people with information as assets"

There is tangible tension in the room. He's twitching in his chair and I'm twitching in mine both anticipating the first move. He clenches and unclenches his fist before speaking.

"Scum. Like. Me? That's rich coming from the girl who runs the most corrupt tribe in the entire city"

"Corrupt, now that's rich. We are the only tribe in the city to offer a community that resembles something of the old days. We are the only tribe to give options to our people. Do you remember those things Jay? Options? Or are you too caught up getting out the next video game to think about the real world and basic human rights!"

"The real world. You steal children from their homes! What kind of option is that? We have given the people here water, electricity and jobs! The games are for entertainment to bring this place together like TV did before the virus. Why would people willingly leave that? Every person who disappears leaves a life behind and people get hurt. So don't spit your liberation trash at me. We're building something stable." He shouts, rising up and looming over me with a look of stubborn pride.

"What we believe in is trash! Your so ignorant its laughable, except your ignorance means that people here are enslaved to do your will for 'the greater good of the city'. Your ulterior motives are so bloody obvious that believe it or not Jay people willingly leave this place because what your providing is no good! We steal no one, we hurt no one, and we are the voice of the individuals. Uniform mentality doesn't suit everyone but you obviously wouldn't know how individuality works would you because you're a faithful soldier of the techno army. Yes sir, Yes sir, whatever you say sir." I mimic his deep voice poorly but I know I hit a spot when I see him flinch for what is a nanosecond.

"Voice of the individuals. You say I'm the one with uniform thoughts, your spitting out the exact same lines as every other person from your tribe does when we question them. Except for a guy, probably got questioned a couple of months ago, he spoke the truth about your organisation and that's how we found you. He told us everything about what you do, where you are and how you operate. We let him go he was actually alright guy nice to know there are some sensible people."

I almost give him the satisfaction of shutting up. I know exactly who he's talking about but I just can't freaking believe it, I knew, I knew he had to be talking about Axel but he would never sell them out. He had been so broken, so distant since he had come back.

"Hit a sore point did I? Already knew the truth didn't you, you knew your people were unhappy and ready to sell you out" he says smugly.

"You broke him! If this is how you treated him I don't doubt he gave in. When we found him he was broken, battered and well beyond bruised. Guess who had to cut out the metal left when you were done with him" I spat "He was writhing in pain for three days the metal you use is rusty by the way and before you go hurting other people you should expect them to get blood poisoning"

It was his turn to take a step back and I was glad. "That had nothing to do with us, he could of got jumped when we set him free"

"Don't think so you guys have a specific knack to sign off on your work, your insignia is printed on his forearm, for life I would assume"

I think that's when he finally gave up denying and rationalising. He was finally starting to shut up.

"I'm sick of talking to you, you may as well leave" I said

"Don't what to do with truth about your tribe do you, can't even look me in the eye and defend yourself" there was conviction in his voice but there was no longer any confidence or smug pride.

"Get. Out"

"We'll be chatting tomorrow"

"YOU will be, I will sit here and think of ways to waste you for what you did"

"For the record, I knew nothing of what they did to him I only ever tal-" he began.

"You only ever talk to them and then send them off to your little brother to have the crap beaten out of them; you have an idea of what he does"

He walks out of the room and clicks the door shut. The whole experience has left me feeling more empty and depraved than anything else they have done to me.

It's about midnight and I can't sleep. The wound on my rib reopened while I was sleeping, the dress I am wearing now stained. It's taken a while to process but the realisation that I am going to live the rest of my life here because I'm sure they won't let me out of live. There is no reason to have hope and I know it's time to let what little of it I had. It's all gone and all that is left is a gaping hole of pitch black. What is there to wake up for? These kind of thoughts are dangerous, I know but there is just no stopping them once they're there.

"I'm never getting out" I whisper "I'm going to be in this hell forever"

This is how Axel felt, thought and saw the world when he was here. It is scary and lonely; no wonder he did what was necessary to get out. I realise now that none of these tribes are perfect none of them can match the society we lived in before and even it was flawed. The Technos are not the best outfit around and they are certainly not the most liberating lot but they do try and provide where others have just taken. It's not fair to sit on a high horse and look down on these people when we haven't done a lot to help. If I could do it over I would do something better with the community, cautiously though. This revelation is useless though because I am going to die, in what, two maybe three days. My eyes sting as the more I realise the more useless I feel the stinging turns it to full blown tears and it's not long before the waterworks are at its peak. I moan in protest as the more I sob the more my rib aches but I just can't turn them off. I sit and cry; watching and waiting for the sun to arrive.

Its day number…day number… ah heck I should of kept count but it's been a long time. Jay hasn't been making anymore appearances but Ram has and his two wives Siva and Java come along for a bit of spectator sport. As much as I have to grit my teeth to admit, Ram is a technical, practical and business genius. When we reach an impasse or I'm too battered to talk he goes through some of the things the Technos are working on, mostly confidential stuff, I guess he figures I'm not going to live long enough to tell anyone important. Apparently, he's been manipulating the mall rats' popularity and the city leader, Ebony. You can tell he has an infatuation with her, from what I remember most guys did even before the virus. I think back to school and all the drama that surrounded the love triangle which was Bray, Trudy and Ebony. The rumour mill had a field day with those three and having been in their classes meant you always had sit in entertainment. Anyway, back to Ram, his plan was to marry Ebony and get the tri-factor going with the sisters. It was sick but you had to admire his determination. Today was no different, we were back to talking about Ebony.

"She tells me she's hung up on some other guy, says he's dead or something like that" He says with a partially puzzled look.

"Do you want the truth or do you want to keep eating what she's been feeding you" I say between gulping breaths of air and nursing what I think is a fractured wrist.

"Give me your best shot at the truth, amuse me" he laughs, or more cackles.

"She's got a guy right now, having the dead love makes her unavailable and makes the guy inaccessible to you and your…how should we put it…persuasion?" I say "The whole not wanting you to know who it is suggests it's an inside guy, not low enough that he doesn't care whether he loses his job. No, I'd say a higher up, someone close."

"Are you proposing a traitor among my top ranks? I decide who makes the ranks; I think I would know if someone was unfaithful to ME!" his voices rises in what I think is fury but I have a feeling he knew already. "A soldier, a commander of my army would not do such a thing! Don't you dare accuse Jay of that! He is faithful to ME!"

"Hey, hey I never said anything about a commander, soldier or Jay. You're the one who was playing fill in the blanks" I almost laugh "But your guess is probably right"

He started mumbling and grunting in anger, nothing intelligible and without another word wheeled out of the room. It was comforting to think of how he was going to spend the next couple of hours ripping himself apart over whether he had a traitor.

Ah, alone again, time to sleep I guess. I close my eyes and gulp down on the pain.

I screech as the chair beneath me is pulled out and I hit the floor. My hands jerk at an unnatural angle as they pull back from being chained to the table. I scream as I hear a snap. There are hands pulling my legs back causing the table to drag with me across the floor. I'm guessing that its' a techno but a nail digs into my leg and I have a hunch that it's' a certain someone who I pissed off yesterday.

"EBONY! What the heck are you doing!" I almost scream but she cups her hand over my mouth. So, this is black ops.

"You think that was funny, telling Ram the truth. My head is on the chopping block because of you. Marry him or die basically. What kind of game are you playing with me." She kicks me in the ribs.

"Hah, so it is true, been getting a little friendly with the general Jay" I want to sound blasé and sarcastic but it's a little hard when your gasping for air.

"Who the hell are you! Why did you do this and how did you know" She puts her hands around my throat "Tell me or I will waste you right here and now"

She twists me over onto my back and stares down at me. I can't see a thing and I'm guessing she can't see me. I can hear her panting like a wild animal impassioned, erratic and dangerous. There's an awkward silence as we try to make out each other, sizing up the competition. Knowing full well that she has the advantage I cave and decide to fess up.

"I didn't do it for any particular reason, Ram came to me with a problem and I had a stab at what was behind it" my voice is a bit raspy from the choking but I know she heard.

"I don't believe you" her grip tightened, "and you still didn't tell me who you are"

"We've met before" I whisper "First time was third period gym class"

I gasp for air as she lets go. She sits down next to me and helps me push myself up into a more comfortable position. We sit like that for a long time just musing over nothing. When I look at her now she's actually not that different from the best friend I had in high school. It seems like a life time ago that we were out on the grounds gossiping, laughing and flirting with the guys but I still feel the same comfort around her that I did back then.

We had been inseparable since being paired up for volleyball in gym on her first day. She had walked in with a confidence and arrogance that immediately isolated her from the nice girls and was too independent to fit in with the popular girls. The rumours and gossiping that when on about her was unrivalled but she took it with a grain of salt. We had the best time just doing nothing mainly talking about problems which were at the time huge but now are totally insignificant. Where I was definitely a nerd she was a social butterfly jumping from party to part and boy to boy but there was always and unspoken understanding that we were each other's best friends, no one else. That was of course until the virus hit and she decided that Zoot was the way to stay alive. I don't blame her, I didn't exactly stick around to wait for her. The first week had been the most frightening and horrible experience of my life and I wasn't thinking logically for the most part of it.

She snaps me out of my reverie when she says "So, you're alive."

"As are you. Good to know, didn't doubt you would be, you knew what was coming."

Her face seems a little haunted as her head turns to face me, "Are you, you know, mad at me or something…out for revenge?"

I sigh "Honestly, I didn't even know you were here. Ram was the one who brought you up. I was trying to get Jay in trouble; I knew Ram wouldn't do anything against you he's too…" I made a mock voice of one of the snobby girls from school "like, totally in love with you boo"

And because this place is so twisted we both burst out laughing. It's natural and I feel a little ache as though I had forgotten how much I missed this; laughing and being completely strange. I look at her and I know she hasn't laughed in a while too. It's hard not to get a little too serious about everything when you're preoccupied with a post-apocalyptic world that needs running. This place might not be the grounds but it's as good as place as any to catch up. The laughing dies down and we're back to silence when we both realise that we're talking to each other, in a prison cell, with guards watching and she's supposed to not know that I'm here.

"How did you find out that they had taken me prisoner?" It's not like it matters but it'll break the silence.

"I asked. Ram gives me some weight around here. He has me sucked into this little world of his. I run around his little maze rat." She laughs bitterly "A mall rat"

"You're not one of them are you" I groan, "I would prefer you to be one of the Technos'!"

"Why? There's nothing wrong with them, they might be a little…" She drifted off

"Immature, self-serving, deceiving, pretentious and snobbish" I fill in.

"Yes and no, but they've got a lot of heart sitting on top of their high horses" she grits her teeth as she says "even though they grind all my nerves"

It's a side of Ebony that I only ever saw rarely and one that nearly no one else ever sees. Her being humble and defending the upper class is about as common as a good cooked meal by the Technos; rare but not impossible. It makes me wonder how she got so attached, and it also makes a little bit of jealousy worm its way into my stomach. I immediately let it go though we've been out of touch for almost four years it's not surprising that she has a new group to run with…and maybe a new best friend? I almost ask but the question dies, the answer might be something I don't want to hear.

"Jay's a good guy, why would you want to get him in trouble?" She asks with a double meaning. First, why would you want to get MY guy in trouble and the second, what did he do to you to make you want him to get in trouble.

"We've got conflicting morals to say the least" I try to be diplomatic and answer both questions, "we're just polar opposites and I was trying to make his life a little difficult as a bit of pay back for the whole getting tied up and beaten mercilessly"

Ebony retracts a little but not as much as I thought she would. She shakes her head slightly as in disbelief at what I said.

"You and Jay are almost exactly the same! Both of you think you're morally superior" she laughed.

I scoffed at her, "I do not think I am morally superior, you're mistaking me for that Mall Rat leader of yours"

"You do so! That is why you hate the Mall Rats so much; the leader is Amber by the way. They're so much like you that you hate it. That makes me wonder why I hate her but not you. I guess because she's a man thieving and emotionally unstable mess who shouldn't be a leader" There was a bitter edge to her tone.

"She is making a move on Jay?"

"I think so; she did it before with Bray. Not just to me, but to moody Trudy as well"

"C'mon don't call her that" I moan "Anyway, continue"

"She was captured by the Technos too, experimented on or something like that" she sighed "now, she is playing on his guilt to get him to do things 'for the greater good' the more time she spends with him…" she alluded off to the obvious conclusion.

This paranoia wasn't unusual. Ebony always had some sort of mistrust of everyone lying around in her subconscious. There was a whole other side of Ebony that came out to play when a man was involved, an ugly side you didn't want to mess with and after being caught up in that psychotic mess once she knew this chick, Amber, was in for a ride.

"I wouldn't worry about it too much, she'll fade out. The guilt card can only be in play for so long and when there is nothing else tying him to her, he'll come to his senses. Oh and Eb?" I try out the old nick name for some leverage.

"Yeah".

"Would you be able to slip me some pain killers you kind of dislocated my elbow" I try to but in a blasé way but the pain is back to being in the front of my mind.

She actually laughs, "Okay, but you remember who kicked your butt and I'll do it again if I have to"

"My god you're twisted beating up on an old friend and laughing about it" but I laugh as well because are both probably the most twisted human beings on the planet "but seriously if you don't get me those pain killers by tonight I will tell my bud Ram that you came and found me".

We both know that our threats will be carried out if the other doesn't come through. The more I think about it now, we probably don't have as much trust between as most friends would but it's a lot more than either of us is used to giving out. The door clicks and Ebony walks out and I'm back to being alone. It's pointless but I feel glad to know someone in this place, someone who I can somewhat trust.

When I look out the window I judge the time to be about six in the morning. He Technos are out and training, practicing a cross of the martial arts. I don't know why they bother I've seen the weapons they use; there will probably never be a situation when they need to use close combat. All they have to do is zap them and walk away like the heartless machines they are.

I sit there for a while, just watching them train for a lack of something better to do. It's not until what I guess is midday that someone comes for a talk.

The door clicks and I look up at who I was expecting to be Ram but am sadly mistaken. It's Jay. After what I got from Ebony last night makes me expect the worse from this not so friendly reunion. He shuts to door behind him and gives me a dark look.

"Right, we are going to have a little chat" he says in a low voice "and you're not going to like it but after what I went through yesterday I don't really care. Ram has enlightened me to your detective skills."

Ah heck, I am in trouble now.