Shifting Dimensions: A Military Science Fiction Anthology

by Justin Sloan

  Riot and Jessup looked at one another, stunned. Slade had not shown the slightest hint that she had much going on behind her eyes, but just like that, she had provided the final puzzle piece Riot needed.

  “Move along, move along!” chattered an excited voice behind them. “It’s red pill day. It’s red pill day.”

  Riot turned to see a man in his late fifties with drool trickling down his lips. His hair stood on end as if a baton had just electrocuted him.

  “Easy, Michael.” Jessup smiled at him. “We’re moving.”

  Riot shuffled along, her mind working overtime on exactly how she was going to pull off the escape, when the answer met her at the front of the line. The dispensary was actually just a circular office with a glass window and a slot for the warden on duty to slide the appropriate medications to each patient. Luckily for Riot, the warden performing this task was none other than her new friend, Ashton.

  “Next.” Ashton waved Riot forward. His eyes were down on a sheet where he’d added a check mark next to the last patient who had just received his medication.

  When he looked up, his mouth fell open. The area around both of his eyes was bruised, making him look like a raccoon, and a heavy, white bandage had been placed on the bridge of his nose where Riot had broken it with her head butt.

  “Ashton, buddy.” Riot leaned on the countertop, giving him a winning smile. “So, tell me, how’s the nose?”

  “IT HURTS because you broke it, and my name’s not Ashton, it’s—”

  “I’m just going to stop you right there. Save your breath, because I’m going to call you Ashton anyway. How about paying it forward and letting me pass on my special pills today? Come on, what do you say?”

  “Are you kidding me?” Ashton shook his head and reached to his left where a tray of pills stood ready for deployment. He chose a small, clear cup of water and a smaller paper bowl filled with brightly colored tablets. “No way. You need these drugs more than Michael, and that guy says he sees unicorns burying rainbows.”

  “Really? Nothing? No sense of you owing me for saving your life from Ray and his two love partners?” Riot leaned so close to the glass, her breath fogged up in front of her. “I’m just going to be honest with you, here. If I didn’t help you, you’d be filling out paperwork to join the unsullied army right about now. What did you do to piss them off so much anyway?”

  “Hey, what’s the hold up! I need my red pills!” Michael screamed, so loudly, he sounded like a child. “I needs them!”

  Riot could see the hesitation in Ashton’s eyes. He needed one final push to send him over the edge.

  “I’m not going to do anything crazy … well, too crazy,” Riot corrected herself. “Just let me have a clear head for once. I was dart roofied for you—twice.”

  “Fine. But after this, we’re even. And I didn’t do anything to Ray. He was acting up, so I put him on restriction from his favorite TV show. How was I supposed to know about his weird attachment to the six million dollar man?” Ashton looked around nervously. “I’ll help you, but at least pretend you’re taking them.”

  Riot grabbed the tiny paper bowl of red pills with her right hand. She pressed the paper to her lips and threw back her head, then slammed the bowl back down onto the counter and slid it across to Ashton, who covered it with his hand. Riot did the same with the small cup of water.

  “Hey, who wants more red pills?” Riot turned around to address the other patients in line. “I said, who wants it to rain red pills like dolla bills, ya’ll?”

  There was a manic roar of approval from the patients in line, with a scattered round of applause.

  “What are you doing?” Ashton whispered behind her.

  “Move aside.” The two wardens maintaining the line of patients approached her cautiously. Once they saw who was causing the disturbance, one of them reached for a radio at his waist.

  “We’re going to need backup at the dispensary.”

  Riot licked her lips and beckoned with an outstretched hand to the two wardens.

  The warden clicked his radio again. “Send everyone to the dispensary. She’s not going down easy.”

  “What are you doing?” Slade asked Riot out through the side of her mouth. “I can help.”

  “You will.” Riot looked over at her friend with a wink. “But not now. Jessup will fill you in.”

  “Get out of line.” The wardens took a step closer. “Put your hands on your head and get on your knees.”

  The sound of running feet filled the room as the other wardens came to aid their counterparts. Patients, including Jessup and a reluctant Slade, moved to the side as the promise of the fight grew.

  “There you are.” Riot pointed to Warden Chambers, who rounded the corner, his electric baton held firmly in his right hand. “I have a can I’ve been waiting to open for you. Should we open it together? I think everyone wants to see what’s inside.”

  Five wardens were in the room now, including Warden Chambers. More feet slapped down the linoleum halls running toward their direction.

  Riot was one of the very best hand-to-hand fighters in the corps, but she also realized she was only human. Five on one would be challenging enough; there was no need to wait for every single warden to join the fight.

  “Oh, I’ve been waiting for this.” Warden Chambers pointed his baton at Riot, his face twisted with rage mixed with pleasure. “Get on your knees, we’re going to—”

  Riot was done waiting. She closed the gap between herself and the wardens so quickly, they were taken by surprise. Riot zeroed in on Warden Chambers. She didn’t know how much time she had before she was overwhelmed, and he needed to go first.

  He was a large man carrying around his fair share of muscle and fat, which made him just a bit slower than what was required to fend off Riot’s attack.

  Riot struck Chambers in the jaw and temple before he could switch on his baton and bring it up to defend himself. Unlike Warden Chambers, Riot didn’t suffer from the same stereotype that haunted soldiers of her stature. She was a thick girl, but she could move with the best of them.

  As soon as the warden staggered back, Riot finished him with a shot to his groin.

  “Uhhhhhgggggg…” The sound, like a small girl pushing some large piece of furniture, escaped from the warden’s lips as his face turned red and he crumpled in on himself.

  “Ohhhhhh!” All of the patients witnessing the fight roared in approval.

  To Riot, this was all background noise. The other wardens were already on top of her, trying to tackle her. Riot caught the first one with a kick to the inside of his kneecap. A satisfying crunch preceded the warden falling to the floor, howling in pain.

  Adrenaline raced as Riot absorbed a blow to her own face. Someone grabbed her from behind. She ignored the person behind her for a moment, focusing on the man who had struck her across the jaw. The metallic taste of blood filled her mouth and awoke the warrior inside.

  There were hands everywhere now as they tried wrestling her down. Riot walked backwards, forcing them to follow her instead of pinning her to the ground. She pushed back, faster and faster, until she and the group trying to contain her were at a near run. A moment later, everyone involved in the skirmish slammed into a wall.

  Riot’s teeth chattered. For so long, she had trained herself to ignore pain, that when it did come, it was an afterthought, a distant voice somewhere in the background, easy to block out.

  With her right hand, she grabbed the throat of the man who had punched her in the face. “You should have hit me when I was down, not while I’m still on my feet. Bad move, Buttercup.”

  The man’s eyes went wild with fear, and he clawed at her grip, to no avail. There were so many wardens now, Riot lost count. She still held on to her unlucky victim with her right hand, striking out with her left at whatever she could.

  The next few minutes passed in a grayed-out, dreamlike state. Fists were striking her from all directions, but Riot couldn’t let herself slip into unco
nsciousness. Not yet.

  It took another two minutes and a dozen wardens to wrestle her into submission. It seemed the wardens weren’t going to simply roofie dart her again. They wanted their chance to land a few shots of their own before she went down.

  Once they were able, they tied her hands behind her back and dragged her down the linoleum hall. She was covered in her own blood and that of the men she had injured.

  They dragged her into a seated position by the shoulders of her white shirt, now stained red. Riot caught Slade’s concerned look as she was taken away, and Riot smiled through a blood-stained face, giving the girl a wink.

  “Oh, you think you’re being cute, huh?” Warden Chambers filled her view. “We’ll see how funny you think it is when we throw you in solitary for the next month.”

  Riot would never win an award for her acting skills, but in that moment, she called in every ounce of dramatic muscle she had. “Solitary? Put me wherever you want, as long as it’s not with that monster, Ray. I don’t care about solitary.”

  Riot swallowed a mouthful of saliva and blood as she watched her prey grin with malice. The next moment her suspicions were confirmed.

  “Throw her in the cell with Ray.” Warden Chambers’ grin widened. “Maybe he’ll teach her a few lessons.”

  “What?” Riot struggled as the wardens dragging her came to a stop. With rough hands, they lifted her to her feet. “You can’t do that!”

  “I can do whatever I want.” Warden Chambers sneered down at her. “You’re in my world, remember?”

  Riot got a sense of her surroundings. The wardens who had dragged her to solitary removed her handcuffs. They were in a narrow hallway where white steel doors with meal slots lined either wall.

  Warden Chambers struck out with a right hand that hammered into Riot’s stomach. Riot’s knees went out on her as she fell to all fours, gasping for breath.

  “Please.” Riot crawled up Warden Chambers’ pants legs. She grabbed the small key ring off his left belt hoop without anyone noticing and palmed it. “Please, no more. I’ve had enough. Just put me in my own cell, not with Ray.”

  The two wardens who had dragged her this far grabbed Riot from behind. One warden unlocked the door, and Riot was thrown inside the small chamber.

  “Do me a favor and just kill each other.” Warden Chambers slammed the steel door shut behind Riot.

  Riot smiled at Ray, who stood in a corner gawking at her. “Hey, long time, no beat. Remember me? Want to be friends now? Good, let’s get out of here.”

  RAY STOOD BLINKING AT HER, like she could very well be a figment of his imagination. His cell was small, with nothing but a toilet and a sink on one side of the room. A bright light shone overhead; no windows, no bed.

  “Are you kidding me?” Ray clenched his fists and growled at her. “You put me here. Why would I help you?”

  “Because”—Riot opened her hand to reveal the keycard she had lifted from Warden Chambers—“I can get us out of here. I’m guessing we have sixty seconds or less before he figures out his keycard is missing. Maybe another sixty seconds before he realizes I took them. What do you say, Ray? Let’s bury the hatchet and get the hell out of here.”

  “You electrocuted me, and that really hurt.” Ray frowned. “But I guess if you’re sorry for that, I can forgive you.”

  Riot walked over to the clinically insane patient of the Institute and placed her right hand onto his bony shoulder. “Ray, as God is my witness, I promise you: I will never knowingly electrocute you again. Now, let’s get out of here. I need to know how you planned to escape the first time.”

  Whether Ray had a split personality or some other psychotic issue had taken over, he didn’t seem at all like the hard-nosed man Riot had met, the one trying to kill Ashton.

  “I’m in.” Ray took the offered keycard. He went to the meal slot, pushed it open, knelt down, and began the process of reaching the outside lock with the keycard. “We’ll need a distraction while we hit the armory. Then it’s out the front door.”

  CLICK!

  “Ah, there it is.” Ray stood. The door swung open.

  “Really, that’s it?” Riot exhaled, shaking her head. “That’s your grand plan? A distraction, an armory run, and leave through the front door?”

  “Yeah, we get extra points if we can avoid having the alarm go off.” Ray grinned and tiptoed out of the room. “I’ll free my friends and start the distraction. You get to the weapons. They’re on the opposite side of the Institute, so you’ll have to be fast. Wait for my signal.”

  “What’s your signal?”

  “You’ll know it when you hear it.”

  Ray left the room, unlocking the solitary confinement cells where he shared in hushed whispers the plans with his two friends. A moment later, they were gone.

  “Great,” Riot whispered to herself as she moved right outside the cell door. Standing in the hall, she would be able to get a clear view of anyone running to her location. “I’m counting on a sociopath to get me out of here.”

  In the brief interim before all hell broke loose, Riot allowed herself to consider her physical state. Her white uniform was stained red in numerous spots. Her ribs were bruised, her bottom lip split open, a few other aches and pains riddled her body, but nothing serious, nothing she couldn’t handle.

  A rogue thought, about where she really was and what she was doing here, entered her mind. Priority one had to be escaping from the Institute, but immediately following that had to be digging for answers as to what had happened to her and finding out where she actually was.

  A moment later, red warning lights flashed and a voice came over the speaker, but not the prerecorded female voice Riot was used to hearing. Smiles’ manic voice penetrated the speakers. “Patients of the Institute, it’s time for everyone to go home. It’s release day, and we ask that you act as crazy as you possibly can to give us a chance of getting out. I have a song I’d like to dedicate to a very special Warden Chambers who made this day possible.”

  A moment later, the same rap song from Kris Kross blasted over the speakers. The song’s recurring line of “Jump! Jump!” was perfect for Riot’s run. Without overthinking what she had to do next, Riot took off at a sprint.

  Already yells and applause could be heard all over the Institute; shouts from patients and screams as they sang along with the song.

  As Riot turned the corner from the solitary hall wing, a scene of pure mania welcomed her. Every patient was doing his or her best to add a little chaos to the world around them. Wardens ran from area to area as their radios went off with a dozen different requests at once.

  Riot was doing her best to remember the directions to the armory. It was on the east side of the Institute; she had made a mental note of the room when Jessup and Slade had taken her for her tour of the building.

  “Make it rain! Make it rain!” Michael was screaming as two of his fellow patients threw red pills in the air. The crimson tablets fell all around Michael as he tilted his head up and opened his mouth with his squirming pink tongue flailing from side to side, trying to capture the medication.

  There were so many yells, so much disaster taking place, Riot had to remind herself to stay focused. To her left, Michael and his friends had broken into the dispensary and were having a pill smorgasbord. In front of her, a number of patients had ripped open pillows and were having a massive pillow fight with the wardens. Feathers cascaded all around them, making them look as though they were in a giant snow globe all of their own.

  Riot ran past the dispensary and cafeteria, all the time wary of any wardens who had witnessed her appearance. Thus far, everyone was too busy with his or her own task to notice the rogue escapee from solitary confinement.

  Riot breathed deeply and evenly as her legs pumped underneath her. All the hours spent training were more than adequate to prepare her for the run, despite her wounded state.

  As Riot passed the section of the Institute that held the dormitory wing and showers, the ha
rsh odor of smoke hit her nose. Searching for the cause, Riot nearly collided with Slade, the girl’s arms loaded with plastic cups of green jello.

  “Oh, hey, Riot.” Slade smiled, dropping a handful of cups as she fished into her pocket with her right hand. “Jessup told me to give you this.”

  Slade dropped a heavy key ring in her hand.

  “Where did you get these?” Riot asked, checking her surroundings again. The last thing she needed was a group of wardens catching her now.

  “Jessup lifted them off a guard while he was busy trying to calm a group of patients.” Slade dropped even more of her green jello cups as she chose one, opened the foil lid, and sucked at the contents. “Where are we going now?”

  “Anarchy, anarchy!” Jessup came down the hall, carrying a flaming wad of bed sheets in his hand. The older man had a wild look in his dark eyes. “Come on, hurry!”

  “Pyro.” Riot shook her head, following Jessup’s lead. “I should have known.”

  The trio of unlikely comrades ran down two more halls and rounded yet another corner before coming face to face with a white door that read: Wardens Only.

  The smoke from Jessup’s makeshift torch was thick. Heavy tendrils set off the closest fire alarm, and with it, a shower of water as the automatic sprinklers erupted into life.

  “No, no…” Jessup whimpered as he witnessed his flame die. “It was so beautiful.”

  “It’s okay, Jess.” Slade smiled, extending a green container to her friend. “Jello?”

  “Hey! Hey, you three, stop!” a voice reached them from their left.

  Two wardens, who had more than likely been making their own run to the armory, were already reaching for their radios.

  “No time.” Riot looked down at the handful of keys on the ring. Unwilling to try them all, she reared back with her right foot and slammed her heel into the section of the door right next to the handle.