The Pain Colony

by Shanon Hunt

  “No, silly, they’re not taking the blood. They’re circulating it through the mature adult. It’s all very humane. The juveniles feel nothing. They’ve been purpose-bred for this by our young ladies right here at the Colony. They’re genetically engineered to have no pain and sleep most of the day. They’re—”

  “Babies,” Allison whispered.

  “What?” The woman seemed confused.

  “They’re babies. Babies!” She had to restrain herself from grabbing the woman’s frail shoulders and shaking her.

  “Not really.” The old woman chuckled and slapped her arm good-naturedly, as if they were arguing over whether vampires were real. “They’re hosts.”

  Allison gaped at her. “They’re babies! They’re not juveniles or hosts. They’re—oh my god—they’re human babies.” This was what Austin was doing. This is why he created the Colony. All those young kids out there had been brought here to breed babies to rejuvenate old people. This whole day had been a lie. Her stomach heaved, and she hunched over until it passed. “I need to get out of here.”

  “I don’t understand why you’re upset,” the woman said. “They’re not real babies. They’re laboratory humans, no different than laboratory dogs or primates. They don’t know a different life—”

  Allison hobbled as fast as she could down the hall back to the elevator.

  Chapter 84

  Malloy declined another call from Cramer. Jesus, what could be so important?

  “Tell me again what Allison Stevens said.” Malloy kept his eyes forward, scanning the desert along the service road.

  “She was upset by a phone call to a vic, I can’t remember which one. Said they blamed her and threatened her. She said Austin Harris was trying to frame her for his fraud with that bank account. She got the victims’ information from Chambers’s office—his secretary, I think—and she had a bank statement proving that payment to the vics came from an account under her name at Delbarton. But she said she had no awareness of the account. She never mentioned Tyler, though. She didn’t know about him.”

  Malloy chewed the inside of his cheek. He felt the familiar tingle of being on the cusp of a breakthrough. His intuition told him he had all the pieces of the puzzle, and now he needed to get them into the right positions.

  “Okay, fast forward. Wang calls my cell phone just before he’s killed in front of Allison Stevens’s apartment. She disappears. Where does she go?”

  Garcia shrugged.

  “Put the relationships together. Let’s assume Austin Harris set up the Delbarton account in Allison’s name, hoping that would give him some separation if he came under investigation. He must have known it was only a matter of time, right? That account paid the vics, and the vics were patients of Dr. Chambers.”

  “Yeah?” Garcia didn’t seem to be making the connection.

  “We know that Chambers is associated with the Vitapura. They have a lot of space here. What if Chambers offered Harris a hideout in this place, maybe in the employee housing? And Allison Stevens by now would have been on the FBI’s radar. She might have disappeared before she could be arrested. Maybe she made her way here—hiding out with her lover, Harris.”

  “Listen, boss, that’s a lot of what-ifs. Aren’t you the one always telling us not to speculate on—”

  “Stop here,” Malloy ordered.

  Garcia hit the brakes. There was nowhere to pull off the road, so he simply put the truck in park and turned off the engine.

  “Look up ahead.” Malloy nodded to an entrance about a hundred yards up the road. “Some delivery gate?”

  Garcia shrugged.

  It was difficult to see, but it appeared to be a wrought-iron gate in the same decorative style as Vitapura’s front gate, complete with intimidating spikes at the top of the iron bars. He wasn’t surprised that he could spot two cameras aimed at the road in front of the gate, and he wondered if there were more. He eyed the long cement brick wall. He didn’t spot any cameras, but he did notice something else.

  “How tall do you think these walls are?”

  Garcia squinted. “Ten feet, maybe? Twelve?”

  “The walls at the entry gate were barely taller than me. Certainly not ten or twelve feet. Same with the gate.”

  Garcia eyed the wall in front of them, and then followed it as it ran parallel to the service road as far as they could see. “Maybe they built them taller out here because of the ATVs. Noise pollution.”

  “To protect the fragile ears of the help? Doubt it.”

  They surveyed the gate a minute longer.

  “Wanna go poke around?” Garcia asked.

  Malloy heard the impatience in Garcia’s voice, but he didn’t care. He was the boss. “We’re at a bad angle here. Let’s get a little closer but stay out of sight.”

  He opened his door and stepped out. A snake slithered between his legs and he yelped, jumping back against the door. Jesus Christ. This place really gave him the creeps.

  Garcia reached under the seat and pulled out a shoulder holster.

  “Jesus, Garcia. We’re just looking around.”

  “This wasn’t my idea.”

  Malloy picked his way through cacti and sagebrush until he reached the wall. It was easily double his height, and from where he was standing, he couldn’t see the end of it. This was one expensive wall. But for what? Were they hiding something in there?

  A burst of walkie-talkie static startled him, and he flattened himself against the wall. Probably a security guard stationed inside the gate.

  They inched along the wall away from the gate and back toward the truck. Garcia jogged ahead of him, but Malloy continued at a walk. It was nearly noon, and the heat was wearing him down. His raspy breathing burned his dry throat. Garcia was right. They shouldn’t be doing this right now. A much better approach would be to go back to the office and see about getting the case reopened. Maybe once he told Cramer his theory, he’d help them get a search warrant.

  He stopped to catch his breath, bending over at the waist, when Garcia called out.

  “Over here.”

  Garcia was peering through a two-inch separation in the cement wall. Of course. A cement wall this size couldn’t be erected in a single slab. And although they appeared to have filled the spaces between slabs with mortar, the crack had dried and crumbled under the blazing Arizona sun, leaving an opening.

  Garcia tramped over some sagebrush to get out of the way, and Malloy leaned in. He couldn’t see anything through the narrow slit. “Shit. This is no good.” Disappointed, he stepped back and inspected the wall, looking for a larger crack.

  Garcia reached down and picked up a pile of dust left by crumbled mortar and spread it across his hands.

  “What the hell are you doing?”

  Garcia reached up as high as he could and pushed his hands as far into the crack as they would fit. He angled the toe of one sneaker, shoved it into the crack, and lifted himself off the ground. Hand over hand, toe over toe, he climbed the crack until he was high enough to peer over the top. He flung one hand over the top to brace himself, keeping the other hand firmly jammed into the crack, and straightened his legs to push himself up a couple more inches. He panted hard as he peered over the top of wall.

  “Jesus.” Garcia was a complete mystery to him. “What do you see?”

  He didn’t answer.

  “Garcia!”

  Garcia watched for several seconds before lowering himself halfway back down the wall. He jumped the rest of the way.

  He dusted off the thighs of his pants. “Boss, that ain’t no staff housing.”

  Chapter 85

  Allison locked the restroom door and clutched the pedestal sink with both hands. Her legs trembled and she heaved again.

  It almost worked, Brad, you son of a bitch. You almost had me. You and Mia and your perfectly planned recruitment day. He’d promised that their work was noble, creating a better world, and she’d fallen for it. God, how could she have been so stupid? She should have trust
ed her instincts; she’d known there was something dark and wrong about this place. She’d felt it from the start. Her emotions had fucked her over again, just like they always did.

  She growled and shook the sink as though she would rip it from the wall.

  “So what do I do now?” she whispered to her reflection. “What am I supposed to do now?”

  The muscles in her face tightened as the realization hit her with full force. No one in the Colony is forced to do anything, he’d said. She wouldn’t be leaving the Colony, not after what she’d witnessed. No one left the Colony. Ever. The room seemed to darken around her, and the air thickened.

  One … two … three … four. Exhale.

  She wiped her eyes and face and took one last, deep breath. She opened the restroom door and surveyed the hall. The elevator bank was deserted. She glanced over at her wheelchair, still parked near the bench.

  Screw it.

  She hobbled quickly across the lobby. Once outside, she looked left, then right. She braced herself for the pain and sprinted toward the outer wall.

  There had to be a way out.

  Chapter 86

  With perfection comes purification. Layla delivered her chant one last time, then opened the door and stepped into the room.

  “Oh,” she breathed. She’d never seen such a beautiful bedroom in her life, at least not the life she could remember. The floors were wood, real wood, unlike the marble and cement she was used to. The bed was centered on a wood-paneled wall, lit by overhead lighting. It was at least double the size of any bed she’d ever slept on, and it was covered by a thick fluffy blanket and four pillows.

  Next to the bed on either side were two brown leather armchairs with matching ottomans in front. Would someone be here with her during her procedure? The medical monitors and IV tubing was built into the wall behind the bed, giving the room a very tidy look.

  Out the window, fluffy white clouds shrouded the tops of the majestic mountains in the distance, and the long grass on either side of the river below waved softly in the breeze. She loved their new home here so much better than the last one. She hoped they would stay here forever.

  She removed her shoes and set them in a corner, then lowered herself into heel-sit position. Her shins no longer hurt, and the pose no longer felt befitting for meditation. She repositioned herself into a perfect plank, which she held for a full minute before starting her chant. By the time Dr. Jeremy entered the room, the burning in her wrists had turned to numbness.

  “You, young lady, are supposed to be relaxing, not exercising.”

  She lowered herself with slow, measured control until she was flat on the ground. She curled into child’s pose and then stood up.

  “That’s how I relax.” She gave him a good-natured smile.

  “Up on the bed, under the blanket.” He opened a door in the wall next to her bed and began typing on a computer keyboard.

  She climbed up onto the bed and closed her eyes, sinking into the pillowy mattress. She didn’t ever want to leave. The head of the bed inclined with a low buzz until she was seated comfortably upright. She felt like a queen.

  Dr. Jeremy rolled over to her on a stool. He attached a blood pressure cuff to her arm. “How’s that?”

  “Pretty amazing.”

  “Good, good.” He put his stethoscope in his ears and listened to her pulse. “Okay, everything looks fine from my end. I’ll be back shortly.”

  This was it. She was finally here. Thank you, Father. Thank you.

  A minute later, the door opened again. She was expecting Dr. Jeremy, but it was someone else.

  He closed the door and strode over to her with confidence. With purpose. Although he wore the same white linen pants and tunic as everyone else in the Colony, she knew the instant his eyes met hers who he was. Her voice seemed to have disappeared, and she could only whisper.

  “Father.”

  He walked to the side of Layla’s bed and sat on the edge. Putting both hands on her shoulders, he leaned in close to her face, so close he might have kissed her. Instead, he closed his eyes and pressed his forehead against hers.

  She exhaled as she felt his purity pouring into her like an electric current. She closed her eyes. I want to be like you, Father.

  “Thank you,” he whispered. “Thank you, Layla, for your sacrifices.”

  He stayed in that position, with his forehead pressed to hers, eyes closed, for several minutes. He didn’t speak, and Layla wondered if he was reading her mind. In case he was, she began chanting. With pain comes perfection. With perfection comes purification.

  At last he pulled away, but his hands remained on her shoulders. His intense gray eyes were hypnotic, and although she wanted to show respect by looking down, she found she couldn’t break his gaze. She couldn’t even blink.

  The Father took a deep breath and lowered his hands from her shoulders. “Thank you for coming to us, Layla. Thank you for bringing all the beauty of your impure life to our Colony and for allowing us to make you pure. You have so much to give.”

  She was so captivated, she didn’t know how to respond.

  “Today, I bestow upon you your callings, and I bring you your gifts.” He smiled, radiating a warmth that seemed to pulse through her entire body. “I’ve been waiting a long time for this, dear girl.”

  “Me, too.” His smile was infectious, and she smiled back. She didn’t feel intimidated or afraid, as she’d expected she would. She felt … well, she felt like family.

  He collected both her hands in his own. “Let’s begin. I have two callings for you. The first is something I’d been hoping for. I’ve been watching you to see if you would develop as I’d expected, and indeed, you have not disappointed me. In fact, you’ve even surprised me.”

  Layla’s stomach fluttered with anticipation.

  “Your first calling is one of leadership. I will ask you, alongside Brother James and Sister Mia, to lead our colony. For some time now, I’ve been intricately involved in the operations of this colony, but now I must spend my time developing the other colonies throughout the world.”

  She wasn’t sure she understood. “There are others?”

  He smiled. “Of course. Spreading purification through the world is a big job.”

  “Oh, sure.” She felt dumb.

  He looked at her sternly. “Leadership is not granted, however. It’s earned through service, trust, and kindness. It comes from within you. I’ve seen your potential, and I want to see you grow and mature every day. I want you to apply those qualities to build on our core values here at the Colony.”

  “Yes, Father.”

  “This is a significant calling. So as a tool to help you be successful, I’m giving you the wakefulness treatment. I am trusting you with this tool because I know you will use it wisely. This elixir will allow you to live comfortably on three or four hours of sleep every night, which will afford you additional hours during the day to accomplish all you need to do, including your physical, emotional, and educational development.”

  He closed his eyes. Layla was unsure if she should speak or thank him, but he opened his eyes and continued. “In addition, I’m giving you the intelligence treatment panel. I reserve this elixir only for the most dedicated of our colonists. It’s a powerful tool. It will allow you to learn at a rate significantly faster than other people. I’ll expect you to apply what you learn about effective leadership and the psychology of people. You’ll need to understand how to foster confidence in others, how to engage our young people in our community. You’ll get to know each and every member of the Colony, and you’ll be a mentor and teacher to them. Do you understand?”

  “Yes, Father.”

  “Brother James will discuss this with you in more detail, and he’ll work with you as the elixir takes root in your genes. It’s not an overnight miracle, and you’ll need to continue to exercise your mind, just like your body and spirit.”

  She nodded. Her mind was racing. Leader of the Colony. Leader. Of. The. Colon
y.

  “My second calling for you makes me the happiest, and I hope it makes you happy as well.”

  She leaned forward.

  “We have perfected the genetic formula to create the first pure generation, the saviors of the human race, a necessary evolution of our species from its current impure state. As you know, impures are weak and fragile, susceptible to disease and infection, and intellectually inadequate. The pure generation will have higher intelligence, stronger bodies, longer lives, and greater empathy toward others. Imagine a world filled with pures, Layla, people like you and me and Brother James and Sister Mia.”

  Just like the flowers. She imagined the earth covered in beautiful roses and beautiful people.

  “It’s a vision I’ve dedicated my life to achieving. We still have a long way to go to propagate purity throughout the world, but now we must take this necessary first step. We must begin with a single child. I would like you to bear this child.”

  “Oh.” She felt the blood drain from her face, and a tingling sensation washed through her. She would bear a child. She was going to have a baby, a pure—the first—pure baby.

  “You’ll be our Eve, and your offspring will begin pure life here in our own Garden of Eden. The first of the F1 generation. What do you think, my dear?”

  “I’m … I’m honored.”

  She couldn’t help reaching out and wrapping her arms around him, and when he hugged her back, all she could think was that there was no place in the world more wonderful than the Colony.

  “Excellent.” He held her at arm’s length and looked into her eyes. “I’m so proud of you, Layla. You’ve become an incredible woman. Truly exemplary.”

  As the Father walked toward the door, her head stopped swimming and settled on three words: As you wish.

  “Father, will there be an Adam in our Garden of Eden?”

  He looked confused. “My dear, in this age, a conjugal arrangement isn’t necessary for conception or childbearing.”

  Her heart sank. Of course the work of the Colony was far too important to tolerate foolish brainstem emotions. Fairy tales weren’t practical—