5.
Barb moaned softly, opened her eyes ... then quickly shut them. She felt woozy. It was a struggle to orient herself. All she knew for certain was that she was lying face down on a hard metal surface, and that surface was in motion. She opened her eyes again, but couldn’t really see much because wherever she was, there wasn’t much light.
Then, suddenly, it all came rushing back to her. Yes, of course. She knew she was lying on the floor of an FNPA procurement van. They ... that is, those dreadful FNPA people ... had come to her home earlier that day because it had been her fate to be among those chosen to be taken for the year’s national cull. It had been a nightmare. The FNPA officers had forced her to strip naked in the family living room and submit to a humiliating examination in front of her own family. Then after shackling her, they had marched her outside, thrown her in this van, and injected her with a drug to knock her out.
As she lay there, taking stock of her situation, she also became conscious of the fact that it was suffocatingly hot in the van, and that she was sandwiched between the naked bodies of two other girls and pinned beneath the dead weight of yet another girl lying on top of her.
Twisting to one side, she managed to relieve herself of the weight ... the girl on top of her sliding at least partially off into the narrow gap opened between her and the girl on her left. One of the fallen girl’s large breasts nearly covered Barb’s face. She had to struggle in order to move her head enough to avoid being smothered.
“Hey! Watch it!” hissed the girl on Barb’s right. “You just jabbed me with your friggin elbow!”
“Oh, sorry. It’s awfully cramped in here.”
“Can say that again. They’ve thrown eight of us in here and there’s really only space for five at the most, so the most recent ones they simply piled on top.”
“And still sedated,” remarked someone to Barb’s left.
“Ummm. I’m Barb.”
“Elise here,” replied the girl on her right.
“I’m Megan.”
“And I’m Kathy,” added a new voice from the far left.
“None of you sound familiar to me. What school are you from?”
“We all graduated this spring from Grainger High. And you?”
“Hamilton High,” replied Barb. “And the others?”
“Don’t know. None of them have come around yet. But they must have been picked up after you were, Barb, since you’re awake and they aren’t. So they might be Hamilton High girls, like yourself,” said Megan, because Elise, Kathy and I were the last to be culled from Grainger. Not that any of that really matters. Fact is, we’ve all been culled no matter where we’re from. We’re just meat now and and we’re all going to die!”
Everyone was silent for awhile.
“You three must have been in the van then during the protest and battle,” said Barb “Could you hear what was going on?”
“No, I think we were all drugged,” replied Elise. “What exactly happened?”
“Well, it’s rather sad. A bunch of people ... mostly former classmates of mine as well as a lot of older Hamilton grads who came over from the college to join in ... decided to stage a demonstration protesting the FNPA procurement laws. But it went very badly. The FNPA and police arrived in force and attacked the protesters.”
“Oh no!” gasped Kathy. “Anyone badly hurt?”
“Worse than hurt. A good many were killed. Most gave themselves up and were arrested, but not before they were beaten up. Some were even raped. All were carted away in police vans. Who knows what will happen to them.”
Another long silence.
“I think we’ve arrived,” said Kathy. “We’ve stopped and i thought I heard the driver ... that guy they called Jake ... get out and talk to someone.”
Everyone listened.
Then the cab door slammed, the van lurched forward, drive for a distance, stopped, backed up and came to rest.
“Shit!” breathed Barb.
The back doors were suddenly thrown open and figures bounded into the van, their steel-toed boots banging on the metal decking.
A bright, blinding beam of light illuminated the interior.
Megan screamed.
“Quick, get these sows out of here,” shouted a commanding voice. “There’s more van-loads coming through the gate.”
Barb felt Elise’s body pulled away from her own.
Kathy cursed.
Someone grabbed Barb by the ankles and abruptly dragged her backwards. A hand grasped her by the arm, pulling her sharply around. She caught a blur of a face as she was thrown over someone’s shoulder and carried from the van. It was dark out. Barb figured she must have been in that van for a very long time.
She was carried across a large open space, past a snarling dog restrained by a leash, to a fenced area under an arc light. There she was set down amongst a crowd of girls, naked and shackled like herself.
Megan, Kathy and Elise soon joined her. The four of them were made to squat on their haunches over an asphalt pavement still warm from the day’s heat, arms wrapped ‘round their shins.
They watched as the other girls from their van, who were still drugged, were thrown together in a heap just a short distance away, and as more and more girls were extracted from arriving vans and carried or driven into the compound.
It was impossible to know how many there were all together, but Barb guessed it might have been a couple hundred, perhaps more, and a chill went through her body when she became aware of the floodlit sign over the nearby cinder block building. In large letters it read, ‘FNPA Goose River Center’, and beneath in smaller letters, ‘Intake and Processing, Unit 2’.
Time passed slowly. Barb studied the growing heap of still comatose girls across the way, picking out two she recognized from the four unknowns in her van. Both were from her graduating class.
One was red-haired, Sue McDonaugh ... class valedictorian, brainy and a bossy, condescending pain in the ass, who delighted in snubbing Barb. The other was the ever popular, vivacious blond leader of the Hamilton cheerleader squad, Kristin Magruder. Not one of Barb’s favorite people either.
“I think I need to pee,” whispered Megan, who was squatting next to Barb. “What should I do?”
“Let it go,” replied Elise. “But move a little farther away first, ok?”
This can only go downhill from here, thought Barb. And sure enough, across the way, Barb noted that Sue McDonaugh was showing signs of shaking off the effects of the sedative. She had sat herself up and was looking around.
Oh shit,” muttered Barb under her breath as the redhead spotted Barb and a look of recognition crossed her face. She immediately stood up and hobbled over towards Barb, large breasts bouncing and swaying from side to side.
“Barb Moore! It is you, isn’t it?”
“Yes, Sue, it’s me alright.”
“Well, makes sense, doesn’t it? If they were going to cull the best in the class ... valedictorian and senior class prez, like me ... to be democratic they’d have to balance that with a low-life rebel and rabble rouser like you, wouldn’t they?”
“If you say so, Sue.”
“Tell me. How‘d you fare in the meat grading?” she asked, crouching down and facing Barb. “They gave me an overall ‘FNPA Prime’, of course.”
“I’m not sure that’s anything to brag about, Sue. You do know that they’ve brought us here to be spit-roasted, right? It’s not really about grade competition.”
“Well, one never knows, does one, Babs? Are you going to tell me what kind of grade they gave you, or not? I bet that tight little ass of yours cost you points.”
“I really can’t say, Sue.”
“Whatever. What’s your number, Barb?”
“My number?”
“On the disc. You know, the one attached to your collar.”
“I don’t know.”
“Well look. See! They’ve tagged you as 7284CB5534. And me, I’m 7284CB5535.”
“So...”
“Don’t you see, Babs? These FNPA guys are obsessed with order. Everything is regimented, catalogued, accounted for. Look at how systematic they were about the cull, about procurement, even the meat grading system. They’ll keep us together, you and me, because they’ve assigned us consecutive numbers. And Kristin over there ... you did notice they culled her too, didn’t you? I’ll bet she’s number 5536, and your friends here ... you’ll need to introduce me ... I’ll bet they’re numbers 5531, 5532 and 5533! We’ll need to work together to find a way to beat the system, right? There’s got to be a way. Just stick close with me, follow my lead, and try to keep your rebellious nature and smart mouth in check.”
“Sure. If you say so, Sue. By the way, I bet that was you they threw on top of me back in the van, wasn’t it?”
“Barb, I’ll always be on top of you.”
TO BE CONTINUED
(GIF)
