Redemption Lost

by Cindy M. Hogan

  Christy nodded and stared at her clunky boot. Yay.

  “I got some pretty good pain pills for you, but you shouldn’t take a full dose or you won’t be able to think clearly and all you’ll want to do is stay in bed.”

  Her body didn’t tolerate pain pills well anyway. If she didn’t eat food before eating one, she’d be incoherent. Tammy’s eyes went wide. Christy knew she thought that meant a big dent in the plan, but to Christy it meant more time to think and figure and scheme. Artificial insemination would not be happening on the third day—they’d be long gone by then.

  “I filled up this little dish with candies. Your meds are mixed in. The large one is your antibiotic. You take that twice a day. The smaller ones are the pain killers. Take them as often as you’d like, but not more than four a day. Understand?”

  “Yes.”

  “It’s extremely important that Matron Mara believes you are sick. She’s a hard-core woman, not much different than Matron Georgia. Mara just has a bit more control. She’ll come and check on you for sure. She hates illness, though and if she believes you are ill, she will stay away until I tell her you are well. Remember, if you are feverish, you don’t move or talk a lot, so don’t engage her when she comes in. We will get food to you, and I’ll send the girls to keep you moving.”

  “Why are you doing this?” Christy asked.

  “I’ve seen this place break a lot of spirits. I don’t want yours broken.” She patted Christy’s hand and stood up. She took about ten different pictures of Christy in bed in different positions.

  “If she decides to look in on you after her initial check, she’ll do it using the camera. She’ll never know it’s not a live picture she’s seeing. Keep your door locked so that she can’t come in without you knowing. Now, get some rest.”

  Winifred held the door open for Tammy, who mouthed, “I’ll be back” before walking out the door.

  Christy settled into bed, intending to work on their escape plan, but exhaustion took over only minutes after they left and she didn’t wake until Lyssa showed up. Christy opened her eyes blearily, only to shut them immediately after as Lyssa sprayed her face and along her hairline with some water.

  “Don’t wipe it off,” she whispered, then left as quickly as she’d come. Christy blinked, confused. A few moments later, she heard the door knob turn. She faked sleep, but peered through almost closed eyes to see Matron Mara walking quietly toward her. Mara crossed the room brusquely until she was standing over Christy. She felt a shadow over her face. Christy fought to keep her body lax, despite the fear coursing through her. If Mara felt her forehead for heat, she would know Christy didn’t have a fever. But the hand never landed. Christy heard her mutter under her breath, “Great. She’s sweating like a pig.”

  So, that’s was Lyssa’s errand, to prevent Mara from touching her. Christy celebrated silently. A win for the good guys. Mara backed out of the room and left. Christy knew she’d probably tell everyone in the house to stay away from her. But she needed Tammy.

  As if she’d heard Christy’s summons, Tammy showed up with a glass of water and some real breakfast. She ate as quickly as she could, then asked Tammy to help her get out of bed. Christy needed to walk—she needed to build up her tolerance for pain. It wouldn’t be any better in two days when they were going to escape. She simply needed to learn to work with it.

  “Matron Mara isn’t in the house right now so,” Tammy said. “If you need to yell out or anything like that, feel free. The only thing you can hurt is my ears and they’re pretty tough.” She raised an eyebrow.

  Christy wanted to scream and yell, but she held it all in. She needed a distraction, to keep her mind off the pain, so she asked Tammy questions about the store, the infirmary, the electricity, and the laundry. Unfortunately, the laundry was fully staffed by girls in the named houses. Many of the nurses lived off-site, but Tammy was convinced that the only one she ever ran into with a sympathetic bone in her body was Winifred.

  “Why do you need to know all this?” Tammy asked.

  “Our plan is to create chaos. We’ll use the chaos as cover to escape.”

  “Oh.”

  “I need to know where the main breaker boxes are for the compound, not each individual house. Those are easy enough to sabotage, but it would be better to have the power for the whole place switched off in one place.”

  “I can see what I can find. It seems like whenever there’s a major problem, the workers head for the general store and the offices. Maybe it’s in there.”

  “Maybe.”

  They kept talking for a while, Christy trying to learn everything she could about the place—especially the emergency protocol.

  Deep in conversation, they didn’t hear Cindy until she’d burst into the room, breathing hard. “Mara’s on her way back.”

  Christy was a couple feet away from the bed. Tammy looked at her with wide eyes. “Get in the bed.” Christy dove forward, bracing her hands on the bed, then dragged her leg closer and slump-rolled onto the bed. It had hurt, but she was glad she’d been able to do it on her own.

  Tammy tucked her in like a caring mother would and took the dishes from the room. Christy’s mind spun with the new information she’d gleaned from the conversation. Now, she could plan more effectively. And yet, she fell asleep again. Lyssa woke her after lunch.

  “I’ve come to torture you,” she said, a big grin on her face. “Things are going really well. Mara said that all of us should stay away from your room because you had a fever and only nurse Winifred was allowed in here.”

  “Good.”

  “Thanks a lot, by the way.” She narrowed her eyes like she was mad.

  “What for?” Christy asked as she sat up.

  “Today was my day to be artificially inseminated, and now I won’t be.”

  “I’m sorry. I guess no one in the house can be sick for that to happen?”

  “Yep.”

  “But the cool thing is that we get to be inseminated on the same day. So all is not lost.” She handed Christy another dowel.

  “Another dowel?”

  “It’s to bite down on as we do your physical therapy. Mara is in the house and would hear if you cried out.”

  “Okay.” Christy put the dowel between her teeth and they began, the boot clunking on the foor. It seemed like she was getting worse. The pain was worse than terrible. After too long of the pain, she removed the dowel. She needed to talk, ask questions. “Tell me all about this place. You can keep my mind off the pain by talking to me. The dowel makes me focus on the pain.”

  “All right. What do you want to know about?”

  “Tell me about the store. Describe it to me as if I were walking in there for the first time. What would I see?”

  She laughed. “I can take you there next week. We can get a treat for going through the surgery.”

  “Distraction.” Christy took a step and rolled her eyes in pain. Treat for getting pregnant. No way.

  “Okay. Okay.” She started with general description, but with a little guidance, Christy got her to focus on specifics. In the end, she thought she had all the information she needed on that building.

  “Tell me about working in the factory,” she said.

  Lyssa started right off on telling her about the products they made her about the products they made, but Christy brought her around to describing how they got over there, how many guards there were, where the entrance was, and how wide and tall the tunnel was. In the end, Christy decided it wasn’t a viable escape route. It was too well guarded.

  Lyssa’s alarm chimed. “I’ve got to go. It’s been fun. Can’t wait for my shift tomorrow. You really are amazing. That was a terrible break. How you’re already walking on it, I don’t know.”

  “Thank you for reminding me.” Christy scowled, then smiled at her.

  She chuckled. “Sorry. I wasn’t thinking. I’m supposed to take your mind off it.”

  “Honestly, you helped me a lot.” Christy walked by her
self the rest of the way to the bed. She waved Lyssa off as she tried to help her. She was getting better at hiding and fighting the pain.

  The plan took shape as each different girl came and gave her perspective on different things about the compound. She needed Tammy. After everyone had gone to bed, and the clock showed eleven o’clock, Tammy snuck into the room. Finally. Now she could bounce the ideas she had off her. And she hoped Tammy had good news about electrical systems.

  “I brought you dessert,” Tammy said, offering her a plate of amazing-looking chocolate cake.

  “You’re the best,”

  Tammy sat on the edge of the bed and launched into what she’d learned. “From what I could tell, the conduit containing the electrical wires is all underground until it comes up in a couple of different places. There’s some kind of panel right beneath the fifth guard stand. There’s another inside the general store. And of course all the lines that come up to the houses. Only problem is, there’s no exposed wire. It’s all covered in conduit.”

  “That’s okay, we don’t need any exposed wire. You’re going to get me what I need to create three different charges to blow up the three spots.”

  “Hold on. I don’t know about bombs.”

  “They aren’t going to be big. They’ll be only big enough to explode the conduit and the wiring. Unless someone is looking directly at the explosions, they won’t be noticed.”

  “I don’t think you understand. It’s not like flimsy metal. It’s hard metal. They used heavy duty stuff.”

  “I don’t doubt it. My little bombs will take care of them. Don’t worry.”

  Her mind felt a bit muddy from the last pain pill she’d taken. Each different line of thought was a struggle to keep in focus. “The plan—you sneak into the general store and get me what I need to cause the power outage. With your help, we can create the three bombs in twenty minutes flat. You attach the bombs, which will be on timers to the electrical boxes. While you’re delivering those bombs, as soon as the bombs detonate, I will rig the fire alarm system to go off, making everyone evacuate their houses, causing more chaos.” It shouldn’t be hard to manipulate the wires. They are similar to a regular alarm. “They’ll call the backup guards in. We’ll use the ensuing chaos to exit through the back door of the general store.”

  The floorboards creaked. They froze. Christy motioned for Tammy to climb under the bed. She did. She was quiet. Christy rolled over as the door opened and mumbled something as though she was talking in her sleep. Mara flipped on the light. Christy mumbled again for good measure, playing up the fever-dreams act. Mara flipped the light off and shut the door.

  Tammy stayed hidden for another twenty minutes. Twenty excruciating minutes. When she popped up, Christy said, “Tell me you faked a body in your bed.”

  “I did. I’m no novice at this.”

  “She’s getting suspicious.” Christy tapped her fingers on the back of her hand.

  “I think you’re right.” She paused, then looked at Christy with worry in her eyes. “What are we going to do about the plan? We need more people.”

  “Can we bring in the other girls?”

  Tammy shook her head. “Too risky. We don’t know who of them would be loyal and who would turn us in. They all act like they love it here, and it may be true. The way things work around here, you can’t ever talk about what you really think.”

  Christy nodded. Tammy was right—they needed to stick with a small circle of people they could trust.

  “Carrie, I mean Bridget, also knows about it. I think we could pull it off if the three of us worked together. Less than three and we won’t have enough distraction. We have to have enough chaos that they bring in more officers. More guards.”

  “Tomorrow night, we strike.” Tammy grinned.

  “Wait,” Christy said. “I know that was the original plan, but I’m not sure we can wait that long.”

  “What are you thinking?”

  “Tonight. We move tonight.” It was late afternoon already.

  “I don’t know.” She grimaced.

  “You say you’re not new to this sneaking around. Does that mean that you could sneak over to Primrose house and get Bridget?”

  “Sneak across the courtyard?” She gave an incredulous face.

  Christy bit her lip. “I know I’m asking a lot. I’m sorry, I was hoping you could handle it.”

  A huge grin broke over Tammy’s face. “Of course I can. I could get across the courtyard blindfolded. I’ve done it plenty of times.” Christy slugged her.

  “You have not.”

  “I have. More times than you would believe, but I went in the opposite direction from the named houses to the numbered houses.”

  “Are you serious?” Tingles spread up Christy’s arm.

  “Yes. My best friend, who went to detox with me and everything, got chosen, so I would come over and visit her.”

  “In the middle of the night?”

  She nodded. “We couldn’t really be together during the day. People are crazy here. You stay with your house. It was the only way I could see her.” A dark cloud slid over her face. “When it came time to have her baby—she changed her mind. She didn’t want to give him up. At first they told her she could keep him, but she’d have to pay back every cent from her detox. She was going to do it. She was saving everything she earned. But then—she had her baby, and—” Tammy turned away, but Christy saw the tear that ran down her face. She cleared her throat and continued. “They told her the baby died. But it was a lie—I saw them take him away alive. They didn’t even pay her.”

  Christy squeezed Tammy’s hand. “I’m sorry.”

  She shook her head. “I never saw her after that.”

  They sat in silence, and Christy thought about Tammy’s story. How awful to lose a friend like that. Something niggled at her, though.”

  “Wait,” Christy asked, at the risk of being insensitive. “Where did they take the baby?”

  “Through a back entrance in the infirmary. It’s where all the nurses…” she paused, realizing what she was saying—that there was another exit.

  “We could have Bridget pretend to get ill tonight. Soon. So that she’s brought to the infirmary.”

  “We’ll trigger the bombs, and then I can use my lock picking skills to sneak in and hide in her room until the coast is clear. She can pull the fire alarm in the infirmary.”

  Christy felt a little disingenuous not admitting she had skills in that area too, but it didn’t really matter. They had a concrete plan. A plan that would work.

  “It’s perfect. Be careful. Matron Georgia is not someone to be messed with.”

  She flashed a peace sign. “If she sees me, I’ll just say peace Matron Georgia. And after she beats me, I’ll crawl to the infirmary.”

  Christy chuckled, the slight movement sending spikes of pain up her leg. She’d stopped looking at it. At lunch, Nurse Winifred had come and cleaned it and rebound it. It was so swollen, she thought her skin might begin to tear, and all around the wound, the skin was fiery red. The whole rest of her leg was black and blue from the three blows Matron Georgia had inflicted. Her finger was also super sore, but was the least of her worries since it wasn’t an open wound. Winifred had splinted and taped it tight to the finger next to it, and Christy took care not to knock it into anything.

  Would she even be able to make it to the infirmary? She had to believe she could. She couldn’t let Tammy know of her misgivings either. They hammered out the final details of the plan with timing and everything else in less than ten minutes, and Tammy disappeared into the early evening to get the bomb making supplies they needed and to tell Carrie the plan. She’d need to get into the infirmary as soon as possible. Christy was exhausted, but her desire to be free of this place and save all these girls was greater than any pain she was feeling.

  She readied what she could, scavenging wire from the outlets so that she could create the bomb, grateful to Nurse Winifred for diverting the security cameras in
her room. She studied the ankle bracelet and decided all they would need to remove it was a screwdriver, something that Tammy was supposed to bring back with her to help them make the bombs. An hour passed and Tammy still hadn’t returned. Major nerves set in. Finally, after an hour and a half, when Christy had just begun to panic, Tammy came back with everything needed to create a few rudimentary bombs.

  “Bridget is nervous, but excited too. She can’t wait to be out of here.”

  “What took you so long?” Christy took the bag of goods from her and spread it out on the bed, surprised when two sets of black clothes spilled out onto the bed.

  “Where’d you get these?” Christy beamed up at Tammy.

  “That’s part of the reason it took me so long. I figured it wouldn’t be good to be running about the compound in white on a night with a full moon. I got these from the pile of intake clothing.”

  “You’re brilliant. Seriously resourceful.” Christy stopped what she was doing and gave Tammy a smile. She’d peeled back the comforter just in case Matron Mara showed up and they had to cover their goods up quickly.

  “On top of the clothes, it took me a bit longer because Georgia does rounds every hour, checking on the girls. No wonder she’s awful. She never gets any sleep.”

  “You’re kidding,” Christy said as she organized the things Tammy had brought.

  “Nope. She happened to start rounds right after I got into the house. She is one thorough son of a gun. I spent a little time teaching Bridget some tricks on acting sick. Oh, and I set the time frame forward a half an hour to compensate for the time it took me to get to her.”

  “Thank you. I owe you so much.”

  “No. I owe you. If you hadn’t come here, I wouldn’t have this chance of escaping now and I’d be on my way to being pregnant.”

  “Let’s call it even then.”