There was only so much work that she could do on it, she told herself, forcing herself to stand up and stretch, a loud yawn escaping from her mouth. It was past time for some sleep, especially after such a strange 24 hours or so. While she had been trying to avoid it, the thought of returning to their suite and dealing with William was low on her list of things to do. Once again, she wished that she had somewhere else to lay her head, even if it was just a mattress on the floor in her workshop. With a deep breath, she locked up her workshop and headed towards the elevator. The hallway was quiet, unassuming, but images of the previous night flashed in her head, reminding her of all the horrors that lay beneath the surface at Branch Tower. She walked a little bit quicker towards the elevator, remembering the dismembered body from the prior night and a chill running down her spine. The elevator felt like it took longer than usual, but after an eternity the "ding" startled her into quickly jumping into it, pressing in her floor and mashing the "close" button.
Her anxiety was far from lifted, though, when the elevator spat her out on the floor of their suite. Will had been an ass before, this wasn't anything new, but he had never been so humiliated. She knew a lot about Will, but this was virgin territory and considering how enraged he got over some schlub in the arena getting a few hits off on him tended to leave him, Gabriel using his ring and defeating the Crusher would definitely have an adverse affect on him. It was late, which meant that everything was quiet on her way to the suite. The keycard slid in; the light turning to green with a click only for her to open the door to total darkness. Like she had thought, it was late. Hopefully she could just slip right in and avoid any sort of confrontation.
"You done fuckin' 'round, then?" He was drunk. Very drunk.
"Goddamnit, Will," she said. "You scared me."
"Oh," the sound of bottles clinking. "I thought you was Jenna."
"Will," she said, flicking on the light to see him slouched over the table, his kimono hanging wide open. "You are very drunk right now. Where is Jenna?"
"With Chip or Chad or whatever," he slurred. "Branch's fellas. She's gonna be a singer at the arena or sumpin'."
"Wait, what? Jenna, a singer? Have you ever heard her sing, Will? She's terrible, even by end-of-the-world standards."
"Well, she's gone, isn’t she?"
"Did you say Branch got to her?"
"No," he said. "Well, I dunno. Branch's people. Buncha poofters."
"Okay," she said, taking it all in. "So she's not here and you haven't seen her all night?"
"Jus' flirting around with those two cunts is all."
"Shit, I'm sorry, Will. I told you that Branch wasn't a trustworthy guy. I didn't think that he'd act this quickly, though. Wow, he's really losing it."
"He's losing?" He slammed his fist down. "I'm the one that's lost."
"Okay, okay, calm down big guy," she wrapped her arms around his large, sullen shoulders. "C'mon, let's get you into bed already and get you on your side so you don't choke on your own vomit or something."
"Oh, fuck off already."
"Take it to bed, Will," she admonished the brute. He shrugged and stumbled to his feet, letting her help guide him to bed. "We'll talk more in the morning, but things aren't looking too good right now. We need a plan."
"A plan, here? We're fucked!"
"Just lay down," she pushed him down onto the mattress, his body lightly bouncing before his head hit the pillow. It wasn't long before the rumbling of his snores filled the room. There had to be a way to outsmart Branch at his own game, but she wasn't sure how deep his deception truly went. Jenna was, if anything, a "gift" from Jordan for Will in the first place, so her being snatched away made a lot of sense. As annoying as Vera found Jenna, though, she would miss her if she didn't come back. Vera suspected that Jenna would find her way back to Will, this being more of a show of power by Branch, and that he could easily take everything away in the blink of the eye. This was Branch showing that he was still in control.
Vera sat on the edge of the bed, staring at his gauntlet that laid on the floor, power pack next to it. She kneeled down and checked the charge on it, showing it to be almost empty. He must have been sitting there all night, leaving it on, stewing, drinking himself into a stupor and thinking about knocking someone's head off. If Branch kept playing these games, the chances of Will lasting much longer was almost nil; he was going to break, and he was going to break soon, she just had no way of knowing when it would be. She picked up the gauntlet and sighed, knowing that she had to go lock it up and charge it, keeping it well away from a drunken, wounded puppy that was Will.
She was exhausted, but she knew that Will with access to weapons, booze and his thoughts could only mean bad things. In fact, they were lucky that nobody ended up dead already. It was back to the basement, back to the workshop with her, even though she was feeling rather foggy herself. The elevator was once again crawling, which she just chalked up to her impatience. The trip down was fine, until the door zipped open and she found herself face-to-face with Jordan Branch, along with his goons Stuart and Viktor in tow. She groaned, and Stuart shot her a look, his eyes widening.
"Oh," she said, looking away. "Excuse me."
"Vera, isn't it?" Branch asked.
"Um, yes," she said, trying to force a smile at him. "Sorry, Mr. Branch, I was just returning this to my workshop is all..."
"Why, no problem at all," he said. "We were just working on a few things down here ourselves, burning the midnight oil, as I see that you are doing as well. By the way, how is old Will doing?"
"Tired," she said. "He's fine, just a little tipsy is all."
"That's good." The smile he bore resembled that of a reptile, not a man. "I heard his lovely girl Jenna sing tonight. There really is a future for that one, I believe. Shame, though, she truly does seem attached to you two."
"She's a good kid. I'd hate to see anything happen to her, Mr. Branch."
"Oh, as would I. She told me about Will's temper, although she downplayed it a bit. She's very talented, you know, those lips of hers could drive a man wild."
"So I've heard," she was still pinned in the elevator, Viktor's foot planted in front of the door, keeping it open.
"We have a responsibility here at Branch Tower to make the best use of our resources we have at our disposal. While her companionship to Mr. Farrington is quite useful, I'm afraid there might be better ways to utilize her talents. Speaking of," he looked down at her hands, "you created Mr. Farrington's, erm, contraption, did you not?"
"Correct," she said, waiting for the inevitable.
"Quite fascinating. In fact, Stuart here was just explaining that to me. I had thought Mr. Harrison—you know him as Bill, I presume—had worked on it, but no, Stuart explained your talents to me."
"Just doing my part." She shot a glance at Stuart, who turned away from her. "I wanted to help Will, is all."
"You were an engineer of some sort, correct? That took some ingenuity."
"Yes, well, not mechanical or anything like that, aerospace. Not much use for that here, I suppose."
"I suppose not," he said, absently tapping at his chin. "Although, you have adapted these talents quite well. Maybe we should be utilizing these talents a bit better, don't you think? I'd hate to think of one of the premier minds of our troubled time wasting away as a simple fucktoy for some brute, eh?"
"With all due respect, sir." Rage bubbled up in her. "I'm nobody's 'fucktoy,' I'm the one keeping him alive out there. Jenna was the… what you'd call 'fucktoy' that you gave to him. I came with him. Stuart can vouch for that."
"Ya," he said. "This'uns mighty vicious, sir."
"Fascinating."
Twelve
The Doctor
Walking back to the suite, she had almost entirely forgotten about poor little Elsie, which made her pace quicken. There had been so much going on that she had completely lost herself in the madness. Everyone within Branch's realm had succumbed to the visceral games that he played for them, but e
ven having lived in what she had considered Hell itself after the fall, this was more grotesque and she was playing a part in the whole, sick perversion. Tom had survived, which was good, but Branch was not pleased with his performance and there was no way of knowing how he'd handle such a public display. Dr. Faraday wanted herself and Elsie to be invisible, to be outside of his reach, but somehow leaving seemed like it was outside of their reach.
Throughout her short stay at Branch Tower there had been no departures outside of the dead. That deeply troubled her and raised some serious questions that she knew better than to go around asking about in public. Stuart had seemed like an alright boy; a bit twisted and demented, but there was still something left alive inside of him beneath that shell of violent fantasies. When the elevator gave the ding for her floor, she squeezed herself out from the two couples that were inside; they were still going up a few floors, and it showed in their clothing, demeanor and conversation that she had mostly been tuning out.
The floor that Elsie and herself were on seemed posh enough, but this lot were clearly a cut above a lowly doctor and were obviously a part of Branch's elite upper-floor dwellers, far beyond those that had to work for a living to earn their keep in his madhouse. She fumbled in her pocket for her key card, thinking about poor Elsie, trapped inside of that room all day with no one to talk to. She would have to put on a brave face for her after what she witnessed throughout the day, but that poor girl had been through so much, all that she needed was for Dr. Faraday to be there for her. That's it.
With the keycard now in hand, she jammed it into the locking mechanism, waiting for the light to turn green when she heard a man's voice from the inside, followed by the unmistakable sound of Elsie's squeal. Her stomach dropped and her heart raced; something was wrong, something was very, very wrong. What was she thinking, leaving that poor girl alone in this house of horrors? With the green light staring up at her, she scanned the hallway looking for something—anything—that she could use as a weapon to help fend off whatever was attacking poor Elsie. The only thing that was in view was a cart with a meal tray with a lid. The lid was too clumsy, so she grabbed the embossed-metal tray and clutching it in both hands while she nudged the door open. Elsie's screech rang out again, this time louder, hardening Dr. Faraday's resolve while she pushed through the heavy door and charged into the room with the tray at the ready.
"You get your hands off of..." She paused at the scene before her, dropping the tray and feeling the tears welling up in her eyes.
"Ya okay, doc?" Stuart looked up at her from his seat at the small table, a smattering of playing cards laid out on it with Elsie sitting across from him in the other chair with a pillow underneath her, a big smile on her face.
"Elsie, my god," she cradled the girl in her arms. "I thought that something was wrong."
"Oh no, Auntie Ruth, Stuart was just playing Go Fish with me. I'm winning."
"Ya, the brat here's cleaning me out. 'Fraid she might be cheatin', ya see," he reached over and tickled the girl, her screeching out again before swatting his hand away.
"This is how he tries to beat me, Auntie Ruth. He knows that he can't beat me fair and square, that's why."
"Oh yes, my dear, you sure are good at that, aren't you?" She motioned to Stuart. "Dearie, would you excuse us for a minute?"
"Mhm," she mumbled, staring at the cards before her.
"Ya better not be cheain'," Stuart snarled. "I got my eye on you."
"Uh huh, sure you do," she said, sticking her tongue out when he turned his back to her.
"What's the matter?" Stuart asked.
"I just, well, I wasn't expecting you to be here is all, but I greatly appreciate it. Shouldn't you be with Branch?"
"Eh, VD has been takin' care of things for me today. I figured you were down there helpin' my boys out as best ya could, someone had to look after the girlie here."
"I appreciate it, I just don't know what to say. I didn't take you for the type, is all."
"Just becoz a guy knows his way 'round a gun don't mean that he don't care 'bout 'lil ones."
"Oh no, I wasn't implying anything, I just…" She embraced him and whispered, "thank you so much. Thank you, really. Thank you."
"Oh jeez," he pulled away, brushing off his jersey. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. My brother is right upset I reckon, gotta smooth shit out with 'em before he goes mental."
"Oh, right, TK with his ring and all of that."
"Ya saw it? I didn't, I just heard on my walkie here."
"I did," she said. There would be no shaking what she had seen in the arena that day from her mind. "Quite the scene."
"Things are 'bout ta get ugly in a hurry, let me tell you. Branch don't like being shown up by no one, especially not some fancy Hollywood type. My brother? He's gonna be crazy for a few days. This is all bad, really bad. I dunno what Branch is gonna do, but I'll try to remind 'em that ya helped out and weren't a part of Gabriel's shit."
"What do you mean?"
"Boss has a tendency to make some.... extreme decisions. If I were ya I would run, but no way they'll let ya outta here like that, not after today, damned straight."
"What do you mean, we are prisoners here?"
"No, I mean…" He paused, deep in thought for a moment. "I don't know, but if I were you, I wouldn't try ta leave."
"Okay, but what about Tom?"
"If I were him, I'd get the fuck outta here and not look back, but he's gotta escape first, which ain't easy, let me tell you."
"Someone has to tell him."
"I won't be me," he said, holding his hands up. "I'm stayin' outta this. I'm here to survive, along with my brother, nothing else. I say you focus on yourself and the girlie there. Stay outta it. He's a big boy, and he dug his own grave, you two still got a life here."
"I suppose that we do."
"Ya do, I don't want anything happenin' to her, ya hear?"
"I know, neither do I."
"I'll be back in the mornin', hopefully everything will be alright. Holler if you need anything."
With that he was gone, leaving her feeling more uneasy than she had when she entered the room, thinking that someone was attacking Elsie. That boy had a good heart, which struck her more and more with each interaction. In a way, it gave her hope for the future. He seemed like a cold-hearted killer, but there was more to him, much more. That was important to remember in a world that had frozen over with fear and hatred; there were still good people there, beneath the surface. They all wanted to survive, to forge their own paths, but were continual victims of circumstance. In a way, he was just as much a prisoner as they were in the tower. He just had a job that afforded him more freedom than the rest.
Elsie was still at the table, fiddling with the cards. Dr. Faraday sat down across from her and looked over at the girl who looked so innocent and sweet. She had to keep it together, for Elsie, if anything.
"Auntie Ruth," Elsie said. "Where did Stuart go?"
"Oh, he had some work to do, sweetie. How about I take over for him?"
"Okay, let's reshuffle and start fresh, then."
"Let's do that, did you have a good day with Stuart?"
"Oh yeah, Auntie Ruth. We played cards, watched a movie, and had lunch together. It was fun!"
"Good, good," she said, trying to keep her composure.
A sharp knock at the door stirred her from her slumber, but it didn't seem like morning yet. She looked around the room in a stupor to see that it was only 3am, taking the briefest of moments to contemplate how ridiculous it was that they were still keeping time after the fallen of humanity, before she remembered what had woken her up; the door. Elsie was fast asleep, but the knock came again. With a sense of resignation, she picked herself up and rummaged around for something to carry with her, finding the discarded tray that she had charged into the room with before and picking it up yet again. The view through the peephole took her off guard—Tom was standing there, fully decked out.
"Tom," she whispered, opening th
e door, "you half-scared me to death. We're sleeping, what are you doing?"
"Getting out of here," he said. His eyes scanned the hallway, and he kept his voice low—lower than usual. "C'mon."
"What? Are you kidding? Stuart told us that..."
"Stuart is one of Branch's toadies, he can't be trusted. We need to go. Now."
"If we run, they'll chase us, though," she said. Stuart told her to stay and that he could try to protect them, but she knew that right answer was for Tom to go.
"We don't know that."
"Stuart told me they would, that we are prisoners. He said that he could protect Elsie and I, but for you... Well, he said that you should try to run."
TK paused, swallowing hard.
"I know that this isn't ideal, but I think that we should stay. For now."
"There's no later, doc. It's now or never. I'm leaving, you can come with me, but I understand if you don't want to."
"It's not that I don't want to, it's Elsie. Tom, the girl has seen enough. What are we going to do, hitch onto the back of your bike and hold on for dear life while we run from this place? Then where to? There's nowhere else to go. This place isn't ideal, no, but until we have a plan, I'm afraid of what will happen out there."
"Be afraid of what will happen here."
"I just... Tom, thank you for everything. Please, if you find something, come back for us. Please?"
He nodded and turned his back without saying goodbye, striding down the hallway until he rounded the corner for the elevators. Like that he was gone, just as unceremoniously as he had entered her life. There he was, leaving it. She didn't want to think this encounter would be the last she saw of him, but something about it felt final. His words nagged at her. This was a terrible, terrible place full of terrible, terrible people and he needed to run. But she felt so helpless, so trapped and alone.
The Tower Page 12