Step Two

"How are you settling in?"

Blade gave him a slow look, and then looked back down at the table, her eyes boring a hole in the wood.

Bob gave a small, uneasy shrug, "Yeah. I... I heard you aint doing well. I heard..." he hesitated, glancing around him, and then leant down towards her, lowering his voice, "I heard you're fighting the Commandant."

"What of it." She asked, emotionlessly, not moving her gaze.

There was a long pause. "Nothing. Nothing, of course."

They fell into silence. Blade looked at the wall. It was feeding time in the camps. The guards were all sat down on these long tables. Three officers handed out plates of something that could debatably be called food. There was vague chatting. This was the only time they were allowed to talk, and people made the most of it. Blade didn't. She preferred silence.

"I wish I had your strength." Bob murmured, softly.

She glanced up at him for a second, almost surprised, this statement cutting through her momentary stupor. What did he say? She too glanced around them. She didn't want him worked up in this. She'd told him right from the beginning that she didn't want him to be seen with her. She was the troublemaker. She didn't want him tarred with the same brush, it was too... fatal. For now, he was doing fine, avoiding attention... surviving. And like hell that was going to change because of her.

A plate was put down in front of her. A slosh of something that could have been stew with questionable meat, and a crusty, brown roll of bread. She picked up her fork and then glanced up at him, "You should be careful what you say. In front of... certain people."

She placed the fork in the bowl and then pushed it towards him. He instantly took his bread roll and put it in its place. They had done this since Bob had asked her why she never ate all her meal. She answered that she was a vegetarian, and he offered a trade - her meat for his bread. It was a good system, and had worked for weeks.

But this time it didn't.

An officer saw her trade her meat, and walked over to her, quickly, "What's your name?"

She looked up at him, raising an eyebrow.

"Guard 273, sir." Bob answered, hastily, seeing and recognising the expression on her face before the officer did, trying to keep her out of trouble yet again, "And I'm 268."

The officer paused, looking at him. Then moved his gaze back to her, "Get up."

She paused, as if to show him she still had the slightest ounce of free will left. Then she obeyed, slowly, pushing back her chair so she could stand fully in front of him.

He observed her for a second, his eyes moving over her face, down over her body, and then back up again, "What's wrong with your meal."

"Nothing, sir." She replied, quietly, reminding herself firmly to keep her tongue.

"Then why aren't you eating it." He asked, raising an eyebrow. His voice echoed warning. A couple of his officer friends were now standing behind him, curious as to how this was going to play out.

Blade watched him, cautiously. All the officers recognised her. All knew who she was. And they all seemed to want a go at breaking her. Maybe the Commandant had offered a promotion for the first person to make her submit. She wouldn't put it past him.

"I am eating it, sir." She answered, her voice still soft, no sign of antagonism in her.

"I meant your meat. Why aren't you eating your meat." She didn't reply, and he cocked his head slightly to one side, "In fact... you've never ate your meat. Have you. Why not."

She paused. Her gaze flickered to the floor. There was no other possible explanation. Even a brainless lackey like him could have figured it out. But he wanted to make a point of it. So she would have to answer him.

She moved her eyes up to him. "I'm a vegetarian." she said, slowly.

He raised his eyebrows, and then shook his head, turning to his friends behind him and giving a short, sharp laugh. Then he turned back, abruptly, and spat in her face.

Blade closed her eyes for a second. She didn't move. Then she looked at him again.

The officer raised an eyebrow again, "Well? What d'you say?"

She thought for a second, her mind calculating what was required of her. Then she got it. "Thank you, sir."

"Damn straight. Now sit down."

She sat, immediately.

He yanked the bowl of crusting stew back to her place and then took hold of her roll of bread, showing it to her, "This is mine. You eat that. Hear me?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good. And you keep your mouth shut 'til you're out of here. Completely silent. Now get on with it." He walked off, cursing her to his officer friends, still shaking his head, incredulously.

Blade cleaned off her cheek, wiped her hand on her trousers, and then picked up her fork. She hesitated for less than a second, then speared a small chunk of meat and put it into her mouth. It took everything she had not to retch. She hadn't eaten anything that was once a living thing for more than fifteen years. When she was homeless, of course, she ate whatever she could get. It was when she moved to Bower Lake that she made the choice. The taste was... horrific.

She forced herself to chew. The meat was so salty, so sharp; there was something about it that turned her stomach. It felt like she was eating a carcass, chewing on raw flesh. She kept going, choking the stew down. She could feel Bob's eyes on her. She felt his emotions. Guilt, pity, pain. A much dulled spark of anger. No matter. She had known they would get caught eventually.

She finished her meal, silently. She placed her fork down on her plate, silently. She paused for a moment. She got to her feet, slowly, not saying a word. And then left the room at a completely calm, completely normal pace to be sick.


"Time for round two... 'Blade'."

She closed her eyes for a second. Again. They had to try this again. Hadn't they had enough? Hadn't they learned their lessons yet?

Blade turned round, silently, waiting for the three officers to get level with her. The first came right up to her face, a man she was very much familiar with, Officer 198. The second she'd met before, but she didn't know his number. The third, however... he was a newcomer to this game. But he was still very familiar, and not for the same reasons as the others.

She looked at him for a second, cocking her head slightly to one side, "I thought I recognised you. You're one of the ones I came to the Spire with. We were on the same boat. What's your name - 267? 270?"

"265."

"Close enough." She moved her gaze, "And Officer 198. To what do I owe the pleasure of your company."

"The Commandant sent us."

"Ah. Of course. What have I done this time."

"You remember a coupla days ago? He ordered you to beat a worker and you refused? He's decided it's time for a little punishment."

"He kept that grudge for all that time? I admire his persistence." Her eyes moved over them, slowly, and then back to him, "But I am not to be graced with his presence, I presume?"

"He's busy with his little sorcerer at the moment. So..." he paused, and gave her a small, twisted smile, "We got you all to ourselves."

She looked at him for a moment, "Tell me, 198. Were you this fucked up before you came here or did the Spire do that for you."

He smiled again, "Wouldn't you like to know." Then he jerked his head, gesturing to the path behind him, "Come on. Let's get moving. We've got so much to talk about."

Blade looked at him for a second. She had the sense of mind to almost feel sorry for them. These people knew her only as 'Blade'. They didn't know she had ever been anything else.

They didn't know she didn't need a weapon.

She brought up her hands and clicked her knuckles, then her wrists, and then last her neck. Her eyes didn't move from his. Then she gave a small smile, "No."

This was going to end in blood.