I am not at all pleased with this chapter. Please please give me some pointers, ideas, whatever.

Chapter 3

The Commandant backhanded the officer, furious.

"Did you give Recruit 273 my explicit instructions not to feed the prisoners?" he screamed.

"Of course, sir." Officer 162 shook with fear. "Just as you instructed."

"And where is 273 now?" asked The Commandant, looking more and more furious.

"Her collar activated. She passed out. We didn't know what to do so we took her back to the barracks."

The Commandant turned towards the wall opening. "And how many did she manage to feed?"

Officer 162 hesitated a moment. "All of them, sir."

"All?" The Commandant roared. "How did she accomplish that? Her collar should have made her pass out after the first one!"

Officer 162 remained silent, afraid of what to say, of what not to say.

"So be it," said The Commandant. "Send her to me when she awakens."

"Enter!" said The Commandant when he heard the knock at the door. The one he had been waiting for, the one who made him seethe with anger, was here.

Recruit 273 pushed open the door. Damn her! She didn't look to be suffering any ill effects of the collar activation. She should look haggard and tired. She looked neither. She looked... strengthened.

The Commandant bore his eyes into her.

"Were you not given orders to not feed the prisoners? And yet I heard you have. All of them." he panted with his rage at this maddening woman. He expected obedience!

Recruit 273 smirked, just a bit.

"They needed food, sir. They were dying without it. How do you expect to build The Spire with dead people?"

The Commandant raised his hand, activating the collar on the lowest level. He'd punish her for this!

And yet... The woman smiled. SMILED! She should be drooling on the floor! He activated the next level, then the next.

"You might as well stop there, sir." said Recruit 273. "I can withstand much pain."

"I can see that, recruit, but you cannot withstand the highest level. Feeding the prisoners did eventually incapacitate you. It will again."

The Commandant lowered his hand. He pointed to a pillar.

"I believe you know this man." he gestured to the heap on the floor on the other side of the pillar.

"Bob!" she said, rushing to him. "Bob, can you hear me?"

Bob was on the floor muttering something unintelligible, but The Commandant could catch a few words about being the next link in the chain, which made The Commandant smile.

The Commandant looked at the heap, disgusted. "Guard 268, I order you to be quiet."

The man on the floor continued to mumble as Recruit 273 stood to face The Commandant, looking angry.

"268- Shut your mouth." The Commandant turned to the woman. "Those who do not obey can be made to. But those who cannot obey are useless."

He drew a nondescript sword and held it out to Recruit 273.

"Take this blade."

Recruit 273 hesitantly took the sword in her right hand, testing its weight. She looked up to The Commandant with an unspoken question.

"Good. That's better." he said. "Now, he is useless. It is better that he is taken care of now. I order you, end his pathetic life."

Recruit 273 dropped the blade to the floor.

"No!" she screamed. "Bob has a wife! Send him home! He'll get better if you let him go back!"

"Surely you know," The Commandant said. "There is nothing beyond these walls."

"Don't be ridiculous." said the woman. "Of course there's things outside."

The Commandant tilted his head.

"You misunderstand. There is no longer anything outside these walls. Once you landed here, you became part of The Spire. Nothing outside is worth going back to."

Recruit 273 laughed. "You're mad."

"Fine." said The Commandant, picking up the sword. He then plunged the sword into the sobbing man on the floor. Directly into his head. Once the brain matter showed through the cuts, Recruit 273 screamed and tried to attack him. He activated the collar to its fullest setting, making her pass out once again.