Lifers 7

The following morning Martins woke suffering an insufferable headache, delicately he touched the gash on the back of his head to find it very swollen, and very sore. Even so, he knew his efforts were going to be worth the forthcoming outcome.

After going into the bathroom to wash and shave he went down to his basement to see how his overnight guest was doing. On reaching the locked door leading from his kitchen he put his ear to it expecting to hear some kind of noise, but he heard absolutely nothing.

He unlocked and opened the door descending the half dozen or so stone steps that led into the basement. As Lucy turned to see Martins she began screaming, and although the gag over her mouth decreased the decibel level considerably, it didn’t stop her from trying to be heard.

He picked up a wooden chair from inside the kneehole in his desk and placed it beside the gurney; there he sat in silence waiting for the noise to abate.

After two or three minutes Lucy completely wore herself out, her shoes fell from her feet during the tantrum and Martins had picked them up and tossed them into the fireplace behind him. In one corner of his basement he’d built a small cell, two sides of which were steel bars and the other two being the brickwork of the foundations.

He’d placed nothing in the cell for her to sit on, and only a thin sheet lay on the cold stone floor.
After clearing his throat and sitting back in his chair he finally spoke. ‘Have you settled down now?’

Lucy closed her eyes nodding.

He pointed to the cell. ‘That is where you will spend your foreseeable future, which I might add will be as long as I deem feasible. The more you cooperate the longer that will be, but if you give me any kind of trouble, you will be severely punished. Do you understand?’

Lucy crooked her neck to look at the cell and looked away again, once more focusing on Martins she nodded blinking rapidly .

‘Okay, I am now going to remove the gag from your mouth; do not ask me any questions, that is not the reason you are here. If there is something I need to know, I will ask and you will answer. That means you will only speak when you are spoken to, if you scream or shout out no one will be able to hear you. However, should you choose to do so, you will leave me no other choice but to do more of this.’

He casually took hold of the still heavily blood-stained little finger on her right hand and bent it back until the nail pressed hard against the back of her wrist. The crack of breaking bones echoed off the bare stone basement walls, as did Lucy’s screams.

Although this time they were not in anger or fear, but in sheer agony. Two minutes elapsed before she stopped making any noise, and now she just sobbed.

Martins untied the gag and removed the rag from inside Lucy’s mouth. ‘Now, do you fully understand that what I say, I truly mean?’

Lucy’s eyes reddened and her make-up was running down the sides of her head in a flood of tears. Sniffing a runny nose she nodded once more.

Unbuckling the straps he released her from the gurney, and as she cradled her broken finger in her left hand he helped her to sit. Taking hold of her left elbow he walked her over to the small sink in order for her to wash candidate number two’s blood from her hands. Martins knew this would be very painful for her but cared very little nonetheless.

After a minute of running them under the tap he was satisfied they were clean. He looked down at the blood that stained her dress, and although both were red the blood had dried darker. However, he chose to ignore the dress and walked her into the cell. He knew it would be coming off soon enough anyway. Once she stepped inside he closed and locked the door behind her.

Martins sat once again in his chair. ‘Are you hungry?’

Lucy stood against the wall in the corner of the cell clutching herself; she shook her head but without raising her eyes from the floor.

‘Then are you thirsty?’

At this she nodded, although still looking at the floor.

Martins moved over to the sink and filled a glass with water passing it through the bars. While she drank he lifted his journal and a pencil from within a drawer in his desk and sat once again by the side of the gurney.

‘I’m going to ask you some questions now; I would prefer it if you answered them all truthfully, is that clear?’

Lucy again nodded holding out the now empty glass which Martins took from her. Once more resuming his seat beside the gurney he began his questioning of Lucy. ‘How old are you?’

‘Twenty-nine,’

‘What is your height?’

Still staring at the floor she shrugged. ‘Five-seven. Five-eight maybe.’ Lucy’s voice sounded softer than the night before, even more child-like.

Martins looked studiously at her. ‘Stand up straight.’ She simply raised her head. ‘Five-six,’ he decided. ‘What do you weigh?’

Lucy frowned. ‘I’m not sure; it’s been a long time since I saw a doctor.’

Sighing heavily he told her to remove her clothing, he knew she would not have a problem with this; she’d probably been doing it for fifteen-years or more.

Lucy hesitated a little but eventually put her hands around her back; she tried to undo the buttons that held her dress together but couldn’t. ‘My hand is sore,’ she said. ‘I can’t manage to—’

Martins slammed his journal down hard on the leather gurney creating a loud slap. ‘Turn around,’ he snapped moving to the cell.

Lucy slowly turned as Martins reached through the bars unfastening the buttons, when he'd done he allowed the dress to fall to the floor. ‘Do you think you can you do the rest for yourself?’

Lucy let out a dutiful ‘Yes,’ and nodded.

When she was completely naked he told her to turn around to face him, which she did. She held her arms over her breasts and stood slightly cross-legged.

‘Please lower your arms and stand with your feet apart, and I do urge you to remember what I said earlier. Because if you don’t cooperate fully, the feasibility of your stay will become shorter. And by that... I’m not talking of your release.’

After doing as she’d been ordered Martins looked her up and down; he decided she weighed somewhere in the region of 135-140 lbs.

Rising from his seat he walked over to a tall cupboard in one corner of the basement and returned with a set of white cotton overalls.

‘Here, put these on,’ he said passing them through the bars. ‘They fasten at the front with snap-studs; you should be able to use them just fine. And pass me your clothes.’

Lucy passed her clothes through the bars and Martins put them straight into the small fireplace on the dividing wall and set fire to them, along with her shoes. He watched as Lucy struggled with the overalls but eventually pulled them on, and although her hands were shaking violently she managed to fasten each of the snap-studs.

After writing a few more notes in his journal Martins left the basement reminding Lucy that, “Making any noise would be detrimental to your health.” He locked up and left the house.

It was close to mid-day and he’d an errand to run, in two days time he hoped to deliver an earth-shattering speech to his Collective, so he wanted to be sure he had positive results from his tests with the woman.

He could then move on to the next stage of his plan; convincing his entire Collective he’d found immortality and have them join him forever. He now felt his dream almost becoming reality, there was absolutely no reason to suspect he was going to fail.