Absolution

by Mark Campbell

  Between the strange signage and the exposed pipes and ductwork along the ceiling, Teddy figured that whatever the place used to be it was never intended to be a hospital.

  Navigating the maze on his own would prove difficult.

  Teddy remained silent and tried to create a rudimentary mental map of the location since he’d have to return for Ein. It was no use—the corridors and vanilla walls of the rooms blended together in his mind.

  At the end of hallway, they arrived at an elevator that had a bunch of mop buckets stacked next to it.

  The silver doors slid open as soon as they got close.

  The officer rolled Teddy inside and then pressed his ID badge against a reader. The reader looked sloppily attached next to the buttons—almost as an afterthought.

  The doors slid shut and the lift ascended.

  Teddy glanced at his reflection and had to quickly avert his gaze. He looked as if he had aged ten years over the course of the last few months.

  When the lift came to a stop and the doors slid open, Teddy found himself inside a lobby reminiscent of an old office building.

  The rectangular lobby had an abandoned reception desk in the center along with two unmanned metal detectors covered with cobwebs. Darkened office suites were on each side and a row of tinted glass sliding doors took up the entirety of the wall across from the elevator. Just half of the overhead lights were on, but the vast majority were burnt out. Dust covered everything and fluttered out of the vents, and did little to improve the building’s barrenness.

  Teddy craned his neck over his shoulder and saw that the elevator he came out of was part of a group of four others. The single lift appeared to be the only one that functioned.

  Above the lifts, there was a faded United States Border Patrol emblem with ‘Midwestern Regional Detention Division’ embossed underneath in tarnished brass letters.

  A few yards ahead of Teddy, just past the empty reception desk and in front of the entrance doors, Lt. Hock stood leaning against one of the entryway’s marble pillars with his arms crossed over his chest. A military dress cap with a patent leather peak shrouded the upper portion of his face in shadow. He stared down at the ground and appeared deep in thought.

  The fact that the lieutenant looked troubled wasn’t lost on Teddy.

  Hock wore a snow-dusted peacoat and jack boots, but the meticulous attention to detail just wasn’t there—his boots were caked with grime and his insignias were notably absent from his lapels.

  Behind the lieutenant stood a black man who wore a tan overcoat and jeans. His head was lowered and covered underneath an orange knit skullcap. The top part of his left arm had a red band wrapped around it.

  It took Teddy a few moments before he realized that the man wearing the armband was Perry.

  Perry’s gut was gone and his face had sunken in. It looked as if he had dropped at least twenty pounds since Teddy last saw him.

  The officer stopped the wheelchair a few feet away from the lieutenant.

  Teddy turned his attention back towards Hock.

  “Not much to look at, is it?” Hock asked as Teddy was brought closer. His voice echoed off of the walls and reverberated down the empty halls. “This building was part of the original immigration detention camp—nothing more. I’ve heard the rumors, but people tend to have overactive imaginations when it comes to things that they know nothing about.”

  Teddy kept silent.

  “Once things settle down, I’m going to convert the old offices upstairs,” the lieutenant continued. “I’m moving my men out of those cramped military dormitories and into their own suites.”

  Teddy said nothing.

  “That doesn’t sound appealing to you?” the lieutenant asked.

  “That sounds just fucking peachy except for the part about the secret lab,” Teddy countered.

  “It’s a basement,” the lieutenant casually dismissed him. “That doctor believes that a few renovations has turned a derelict basement into a modern laboratory… Once we’re settled in, I’m moving his whole operation to the old dormitories.”

  “I’m sure he’ll object.”

  “I’m sure he will, but I don’t take orders from men like him,” Hock said indignantly. He glanced over at Teddy for the first time and appeared alarmed by his appearance. “Christ, son… What did he do to you?”

  “You already know what he did to me,” Teddy replied flatly as he stared up at the lieutenant.

  “I don’t.”

  “Bullshit.”

  Hock studied him in silence for a moment. “Believe it or not, I’m not as callous as you might think. I’ve made a conscious decision not to get myself involved in his work… I tolerate him because circumstances force me to do so—that’s all.”

  “Yet your soldiers and trains bring him the bodies he needs for his little sadistic experiments,” Teddy said. “There’s a difference between tolerance and enabling.”

  “That’s just another circumstance forced on me… It was a compromise. In order to get my initial troop numbers up, I was forced to agree to work at a camp that participated in the government’s on-going vaccination research program.” Hock reached up and rubbed the bridge of his nose, closing his eyes. “I know—it’s a bullshit explanation, but bullshit compromises become second nature when you’re in the military.”

  Teddy kept silent and watched him.

  Hock sighed and raised the peak of his cap. He stared down at Teddy with tired eyes. “When I was deployed in Iraq so many years ago, we had a group of militants that had taken refuge in a small village outside of Kirkuk. I’m not sure how many there were… It was probably close to one-hundred, but they really gave us hell. A decision was made by the brass to use a series of GBU-43s to eliminate the enemy threat…”

  “What does that have to do with anything?” Teddy asked with some annoyance.

  “It was a bullshit compromise,” he answered. “In order to kill one-hundred militants, close to two-thousand innocent villagers were considered collateral damage and were deemed to be an acceptable loss.”

  “That’s horrible.”

  “Yes, but it’s the truth,” the lieutenant admitted. “The mission always trumps common decency and most of the time it even trumps common sense… Their lack of foresight is the reason we’re having the trouble we’re experiencing right now. They’re too focused on their medical mission and not focused enough on law and order.”

  “What trouble?” Teddy asked.

  “Patience is wearing thin,” was all that the explanation that the lieutenant offered.

  “Why? What happened?”

  “Exactly what I thought would happen,” the lieutenant shot back. “I took it hard when I lost Parham,” he continued without addressing the question. “Like I told you earlier, he was a good soldier who handled the bullshit compromises handed down to him with ease…”

  Teddy said nothing.

  “Ever since, I’ve been forced to recruit from within. I’ve hired cowards, thieves, and half-wits who’re unworthy of wearing a uniform,” the lieutenant said as he gave the officer behind Teddy an icy glare.

  The officer shifted around uncomfortably and looked down at the floor.

  Hock brought his attention back to Teddy. “I know you’ll be different—I see the same potential in you as I did in Parham.” His expression hardened. “So what will it be—will you join me or not?”

  Teddy’s first impulse was the same as it was the day when the lieutenant had initially made him the offer. Not only did he want to blatantly refuse, but he also wanted to inform the man exactly which orifice he could shove the offer in question.

  However, after seeing Ein, his initial stance wavered.

  He knew quite well that he’d never be able to storm the castle, guns blazing, and walk out with Ein unscathed.

  At best, he’d get killed.

  At worst, he’d get Ein killed along with him.

  If he had a uniform at least he’d be able to come and go without raising
too many eyebrows.

  As much as he hated to admit it, the lieutenant’s offer might be the only way inside.

  Teddy couldn’t speak aloud—he knew his tongue was too sharp and his emotions were too raw.

  Instead, he nodded.

  Hock gave a thin smile. “I’ll be glad to have you.” He glanced down at the wheelchair. “You can still walk, right?”

  “Once the drugs wear off,” he answered in a more caustic tone than he intended.

  Hock didn’t seem bothered by the tone and simply nodded. “Given your current state, you won’t be much use to me right now. Rest and get your strength back first.”

  Teddy frowned. How could he rest when he knew that Ein was stuck in that hamster cage? “If it’s all the same to you, I’d like to get started sooner rather than later.”

  Hock seemed pleased. He rubbed a finger under his chin as he considered his options. “Do you think that you’ll be okay after a good night’s rest?”

  “I do.”

  Hock smiled and waved Perry over.

  Perry obediently complied.

  “Help Sanders get changed into something suitable and take him back to the dorm,” the lieutenant ordered Perry. “I’ll send some men to retrieve him in the morning.”

  “Yes, sir,” Perry said tiredly.

  Teddy stared up at his face and noticed just how malnourished he appeared to be. “What happened to you?”

  Perry simply pulled his cracked lips into a forced, tight smile. “Can you stand?” he asked as he extended a helping hand.

  Teddy took the boney hand extended to him, and pulled himself up off of the chair. It felt like every nerve in his leg was protesting as a wave of sharp, stabbing pain radiated up his legs and into his chest, but miraculously he was able to remain on his feet.

  His knees started to buckle, but Perry grasped his wrist and drew his arm around his neck to support him.

  “I hope I got your size right. I picked out something a little warmer than last time,” Perry said. “Weather took quite a turn since I last saw you.”

  As he was led across the lobby towards one of the empty offices, Teddy couldn’t help but wonder what else had changed outside aside from the weather.

  CHAPTER 16

  A sharp, icy wind whistled throughout the camp and blew snow off of the dormitory overhangs. The setting sun was shrouded by dark dense clouds which brought the promise of even more icy precipitation throughout the night.

  Perry led Teddy along a slick footpath between the dorms with the man’s arm draped over his neck.

  Teddy wore two sweat-shirts, layered pants, and a thick jacket but the frigid air still pricked at his skin and made him shiver.

  Indeed, the weather had changed, but to Teddy the other changes he noticed since he had last walked the camp, were much more striking in comparison.

  The make-do tent cities, vendor stalls, and clotheslines that were once erected in the alleyways and used to spill out into the footpaths had been abandoned and were now half-buried in snowbanks. All of the old steel drums that were once used for fire pits were either toppled or overfilled with debris. Graffiti covered most of the walls and was sprawled across some of the dorm’s doors—slogans like DEATH TO FACISTS and NO FOOD NO WORK were commonplace.

  The most haunting change to Teddy was the lack of people. Despite the fact that the sun hadn’t even properly sunk yet, the pathways and alleys were entirely devoid of civilians. The old community once comprised of laughing children and folks gathered around fires swapping the day’s gossip, had been replaced by small patrols of jackbooted officers.

  Even the mangy mutts and stray cats were gone.

  Teddy bleakly wondered for a moment if everyone was dead. As if to support his dark thoughts, his eyes happened on the frozen skeletal remains of a dog half-buried in a growing mound of snow. He thought of Roger’s dog, Zoey—of the goofy smile that had seemed to be permanently fixed on her furry face, and then quickly looked away from the corpse.

  “Where is everyone?” Teddy asked.

  As if on cue, a recorded announcement played over the camp’s PA system and reverberated down the empty streets and pathways: Attention, due to terrorist activity, curfew is in full effect. Any resident caught outside will be subject to arrest.

  “That doesn’t apply to us orderlies and it doesn’t apply to you since the trip is authorized,” Perry assured. “I’m your escort—you’ll be fine.”

  Teddy gave him a questioning glance. “What terrorist activity?”

  Two officers hurried past them, rifles ready, and quickly turned the corner onto an adjacent path.

  Perry remained tight-lipped until he was sure that the officers were well out of earshot. “I’m not sure. While I was waiting for you with the lieutenant, I heard that there was some sort of fuss near dorm eight.”

  “How?”

  “They were blabbering over the radio before the lieutenant figured out that I was probably listening and turned the volume down,” Perry explained. “I don’t know the details… We’ll see soon enough since we have to pass that dorm.”

  “How long has this been going on?”

  “Ever since they started getting stricter with the rationing.” Perry frowned and shook his head. “It’s a shame how folks have been acting… They’re frustrated and are taking it out on the uniforms and even on our own home. Bunch of damn fools if you ask me.”

  Teddy remembered the incident at the dining hall on the morning that the rationing was announced—he wasn’t surprised that the violence had escalated. “A long time coming if they still ain’t feeding folks properly.”

  “It’s uncalled for and barbaric,” Perry argued. “If people would calm down and do what they’re told, we wouldn’t have so many problems.”

  Teddy rolled his eyes. “It sounds like you’re the same old pacifist that I remember.”

  “Old Perry is a survivor… I never bite the hand that feeds me.”

  The word coward seemed more fitting, but Teddy didn’t argue the point.

  “If their hands still fed, it sounds like most of the trouble would go away,” Teddy said.

  “It’ll pass,” was the curt reply.

  “What about the work crews?”

  “They stopped those a while ago… Security concerns both inside and outside the camp.”

  Teddy was led around the corner and down the path towards the direction that the officers were headed. He knew the pathway because it led from the dorm towards the dining hall and passed the gallows. The walk was arduous and slow as the cold seemed to stiffen his joints and slow his wobbly gait. A few more officers jogged past him and they all seemed to be headed in the same direction.

  As they neared the gallows, the recording repeated across the camp’s speakers: Attention, due to terrorist activity, curfew is in full effect. Any resident caught outside will be subject to arrest.

  When they walked past the gallows, Teddy found himself once again surprised by what he saw. The gallows’ scaffolding support pillars had been hacked apart and the platform had caved in. The gibbets on top leaned askew in every which direction and their empty nooses swung lazily in the freezing breeze.

  Perry followed Teddy’s gaze towards the wreckage and a wry expression came over his face. “Goddamn animals… No respect for the law… A mob did that a week ago. They had us on a lockdown curfew for two whole days thanks to that little stunt.”

  “Are they any worse than the animals who strung up folks there in the first place?” Teddy asked.

  Perry toned down his indignation and looked over at Teddy. “Thanks to their actions, the authorities have been taking harsher measures. I lay that blame at these ungrateful people’s feet.”

  “What sort of measures?”

  “Before your accident, did you meet anyone from dorm thirty—the place where the woodworkers were housed?” Perry asked.

  “No clue.”

  “Well, in either case, you won’t anymore—they executed the whole dorm for that
stunt.”

  Teddy, visibly shaken, looked at him, mouth agape. “An entire dorm? You’re bluffing.”

  “Wish I were… Men, women, and children all paid the price just because a few idiots from their dorm decided to act up.”

  “Those tactics are going to come back and bite them in the tail,” Teddy said with a sneer. “Folks won’t stand for it.”

  Perry shook his head in disagreement. “After they took out that dorm, things quieted down for a while… It started getting bad again just a few days ago. They’re going to force the authorities’ hand again—wait and see!”

  Teddy found the man’s apologist attitude towards their captures disgusting, yet he knew better than to continue to argue against the very people he was about to be employed by if he wanted his cover to be believable.

  Two-hundred yards past the ruined gallows, they came across a line of officers holding riot shields who were cordoning off an alleyway between dormitories eight and nine. Droplets of fresh blood peppered the snow at their feet.

  Both Perry and Teddy slowed as they craned their necks to peer down the alley. A look of sickly horror washed over their faces as one of the guard tower’s searchlights revealed the gruesome scene.

  Four officers, faces battered beyond recognition, were strung from the dormitory roof. The orange extension cords cut into the flesh of their swollen necks and created a web of ruptured purple veins just under their skin. Their uniforms had been stripped of weapons and a spray-painted message was scrawled on the wall over their heads: you take ours, we take yours—oink, oink.

  Another group of officers were on top of the roof and hacked furiously away at one of the cords with a dull pocket knife. After a few moments the cord snapped and one of the bodies struck the ground with a meaty thud.

  Perry recoiled with revulsion.

  Teddy kept staring at the dangling corpse and fear created a lead ball in the pit of his stomach. Was that the fate waiting for him when he took the uniform? Would his would-be attackers even give him enough time to explain why he was doing what he was doing—would they even care?

  “Keep it moving!” one of the officers holding the riot shields growled.