Beyond the Rim

I sobbed in pain as Seethe sliced into me. My vision swam, sickness writhing through my stomach.

The soles of my feet were the latest target and raged with agony after Seethe had just gotten through with them. He was cleaning his knife, my blood staining the cloth red.

Rock was silently crying; tears glistened down his cheeks. He had stopped speaking at all once they’d gotten to my legs; he’d nearly lost his voice from screaming at them.

I’m sorry, Rock, I thought, though I couldn’t think what I was sorry for at the moment.

“Clean him up,” said Ed.

A damp cloth dabbed at each of the wounds, sending fresh waves of pain through me. Then FoamGro was sprayed on the wounds, and blessed relief washed over me. The pain faded to a memory, though still a vivid one.

They sedated Rock and took him out of the room. I was barely conscious enough to register this, and by the time they closed the door, oblivion had gathered me in its arms.

When I awoke, I was sitting in a metal chair in the middle of the room, my wrists strapped to it. My wounds were still numb, my mind fuzzy from the drug. The room echoed with emptiness. Where had they taken Rock?

I don’t know how long I sat there until the door slid open again. Ed walked in; fear struck my heart. Another man followed. He was tall and muscular and moved with a peculiar grace. He wore a white cloak and red, faux-leather pants.

Behind him a man crawled, pulled by a leash. Disheveled black hair. His strong back covered with welts.

My heart twisted in horror. Rock. What had they done to him?

“This is Kaza,” said the Educator. “He has been training your friend to do everything that’s asked of him. But the one thing he hasn’t done is tell us what we want to know.” Rock’s chest heaved, his skin glistening with sweat. His head hung, his hair no longer spiky but plastered over his forehead.

Kaza tugged on the leash. Rock didn’t move. “Up,” said Kaza. Rock rose to his feet. But his eyes stayed focused on the ground, as if he were ashamed to look at me.

Seethe came in and stood next to the door with his arms crossed.

Ed stepped in front of Rock. “Are you ready to answer? You know what we talked about.”

“I…can’t.” His voice was barely a whisper. Broken, but still with a strength to it.

“Very well.”

Kaza handed the leash to Seethe. He then stepped toward me and pushed something on the back of my chair.

With a sudden lurch, the chair rose from the floor and morphed into some kind of frame, pulling my arms up with it, my feet dangling just above the floor. Kaza’s eyes focused on mine. “Yes, you are an ideal specimen, like the boss said. But of another type.” He touched my cheek, running his finger along my jaw. “An almost feminine beauty, but with very masculine characteristics…” He touched my chin, ran his hand down my chest, as if taking inventory, and finally brushed my hip. I shivered and flinched away. He smiled. “I’m not sure I could make a choice of which one I’d want.” He looked at Rock. “He was very good. But you—how do you taste? Have you ever been…tasted?”

“Leave him alone!” growled Rock. Seethe jerked him to his knees. “Do anything you want to me.” He sounded like he was half-choking now, but he kept speaking. “But don’t touch him. Don’t you dare touch him.”

Kaza turned, sharply. “You know what you have to do.” He walked over to Rock, his strides long and elegant. “Though I don’t know why you’d want to deprive him of a pleasurable experience of the kind that we shared.”

Rock let out an inhuman scream. He tore away from Seethe, dashed toward me. He stood in front of me, arms spread out. “No one hurts him!”

“Ahh, I see,” said Kaza, advancing on him. “You want him all for yourself.”

Rock spit in Kaza’s face. In a flash, Kaza whipped a cane from his hip and stabbed it into Rock. He collapsed, electricity writhing over him. His body convulsed on the floor.

Seethe snatched up the leash, then dragged Rock over to the wall and tied him to a ring there.

As if nothing had occurred, Kaza stepped back over to me. His large brown eyes gazed into mine; I looked away. He cupped my chin in his hand. “Now, now. Don’t be shy, my pretty boy.” He turned my head to the side, and stroked my ear. I jerked away. Kaza smiled. “You have some fight in you too. It took a long time for that one to cooperate. Will you resist, or will you comply with everything I say?”

“I…I will not comply. You hurt him…” Horror washed over me. I couldn’t believe what Kaza implied he’d done to my friend.

“It might have hurt, but that did not mean it was not pleasurable.” Kaza ran his hand down over my chest. “Such smooth lines—merging seamlessly with each other. A work of art, you are.”

His hand fell lower, searchingly, as he looked into my eyes. I kicked out, struggling wildly. Kaza stepped back, face amused. “So, if you want it the hard way…”

He brought up his cane. He flipped it, and a whip snapped out from the end of it. He braced his boots on the floor, and with all his strength, lashed it into me.

Pain tore across my chest. Shocks, that felt both hot and cold, lanced through me.

“STOPPPPPP!”

At first, I thought the long, anguished scream was mine. But it was Rock’s. “Don’t hurt him. I’ll do anything you want—only don’t touch him again.”

“Will you answer our questions?”

Rock hung his head. “Yes.”

Ed, who had been lurking in the shadows, marched forward. “Are you a spy?”

“Yes. I am a spy.”

“Is your friend a spy?”

“Yes. He is a spy.”

Something in me protested at this betrayal, yet I knew that he was doing this to save me.

Kaza disappeared as if by magic, and Seethe laid Rock back on the slab, now behind me. I hung there, as if forgotten.

“Now, I will put the truthteller back on,” said Ed. “You must tell me the truth.”

“What—what truth do you want me to tell you?”

“The only truth there is.”

“I am a spy… aaaghh!” He screamed as if something had shocked him.

“That was a lie. Tell the truth and you will feel better.”

“I am not a spy.”

“There, you told the truth. Isn’t that better?”

A few moments later, they took him out of the room, and left me alone.

And I hung there for a long time.