When the metal instrument moved quickly and precisely into position exactly two inches above the pubic bone of the prisoner about to give birth, Julia held her breath. As the instrument cut back the flesh and made a horizontal groove all along the lower abdomen, its victim didn't even flinch. She was under deep anesthesia and continued to sleep ever so peacefully. With the incision made, a second arm appeared. It also came down from the top of the chamber and was holding two surgical hooks. The hooks came into position at the opening of the cut and widened it so that the first arm with the surgical knife could cut open the uterus.
Julia, who couldn't stand the bloody, gynecological spectacle any longer, crumpled to the ground and spit out some of the food in her stomach. She had dribble on her mouth and was doing her best not to collapse. Half-conscious, she watched the rest of the surgery taking place. Once the uterus was open in an unending flow of blood, the scalpel-hand withdrew and with a rotation became something that looked like forceps. The forceps penetrated the gaping hole in the future mother's stomach, then took hold of and delicately removed the child. Every bit of the tiny being's body, as it slowly came into the open air, was covered with a thick, white, waxy substance which, inside the small space made it shine like ugly gems.
Once the newborn had been completely extricated from the bloody mess, the arm that had been keeping the passageway to the inside of the abdomen open, withdrew. Now free, the hand became a pair of scissors and was used to cut the umbilical cord that nicely protruded from the mother's womb. For several seconds more before being taken away, the newborn was being shown to its mother, who was still unconscious. The scissors at the end of the articulated mechanism's arm now turned into a plastic stylet with a chrome tip. Once it was in contact with the baby's skin, the stylet delivered a light electrical charge that forced the newborn to wake up. With its respiratory tracts cleared, the baby's strident cries now filled the room.
In the enclosed space of the chamber and because of how the light played and due to the strong effect of the barbiturate she had been administered, to Julia the birth seemed like one of her dreams all dressed up in white. When the newborn was finally taken away through the top of the space where it was given life, Julia lost consciousness and fell into a world of illusions haunted by a child's visions. This dream, which was clearer and didn't have the slight haze that made things difficult to see, seemed to take place shortly before the conclusion to the preceding one where Julia's look-alike as a little girl was kidnapped. Imagining herself as an onlooker to a reality she could have no influence over, the young woman was walking in a perfectly outfitted kitchenette. There, two unclear silhouettes, of a man and of a woman, both in their 40s, were going about preparing a meal.
An unusually long beep coming from the oven indicated that a dish had finished cooking. Julia, who took a few steps and left thoughts about the couple behind, was now in the living room next to the kitchen. In the middle of the room, a little girl with red hair and emerald green eyes was waiting, seated at a large oval table.
While nothing seemed to be able to disturb this perfect family portrait, a flash of light from the hallway caught everyone's attention. Inside the home, the cooking element's characteristic "beep, beep" now in an atrocious way sounded the pace of the action that was to follow. Julia, who was still trapped in the imaginary construction, helplessly, could only watch the scene unfold.
The little girl was facing the door when it was suddenly blown up by an explosion. Her cheerful face took on the look of terror that accentuated as the imposing silhouette of a man got closer to her. The stranger threw himself on the child. His shadow covered her juvenile shape.
With a start, Julia took herself back to the small, enclosed space inside the chamber where she had found refuge. Her mouth felt pasty. She raised the upper part of her body to be able to lean against the inside of the chamber. Across from her, still restrained in the all too familiar metal shackles, Julia saw the young mother who had just given birth. Of the cut several inches long that had been made in the woman's rounded abdomen, all that was left was a slightly shiny scar and for her stomach to become flat again. Since the time Julia lost consciousness, it seemed as though nothing had spared the woman. Tiny uncontrollable tremors running through her appeared to have drained all life from her body. A system comprising two suction cups that resembled electric teat cups was massaging her nipples to remove the milk contained in her breasts.
Now that Julia had her wits fully about her and despite the fact that the wound to her thigh was painful again, she managed to stand up. Once standing, she was finally able to grasp the full atrociousness of this stage of imprisonment that she might have endured. The mind-boggling process that made her sick to her stomach forced Julia to consider a much more horrifying vision. Penned in, every prisoner she encountered in the time she was imprisoned and every woman harnessed inside the individual chambers was doomed to give birth that way.
After spending a few seconds observing the thing without ever before having taken the time to look at who its toy was, Julia stepped back when the suction cup mechanism that was drawing the milk disconnected and disappeared up into the ceiling. The breasts of the young mother, now free, seemed as though they were emptied of their contents and had shrivelled up like two pieces of dried fruit. Julia had barely made that edifying observation when, to the sound of repeated banging, the stranger was set free from what had been holding her up until then. When Julia saw the woman slide to the ground, she rushed over to cushion her fall, pressed against her, and hugged her tightly. Now finally looking at the stranger's stupefied face, Julia recognized the features with the almond eyes that revealed an Eurasian background.
Inside the room that had become dead silent, Julia nonetheless seemed to be part of a diametrically opposed reality. She still had a perfectly flat stomach with no scar and couldn't understand how her former cellmate could have reached the term of her pregnancy when they were separated at the same time.
Devastated by a terrible sense of anguish, Julia started imagining the worst. Maybe she lost her child? Not knowing which way to turn, she started choking and at that moment, Sally managed to partially open her eyes.
"M...My baby. Wh...where's my baby?" stammered the mother.
But inside the chamber, the words were barely spoken when a sound of gears could be heard and the floor suddenly gave way from under the feet of the two friends. In a reflex reaction, with one hand Julia grabbed the mechanism of the gynecology examination chair that was suspended in the air and with the other hand, by performing an astounding contortion, managed to grab Sally's forearm. She kept the young woman's inert body from falling and she watched the weapon she had grabbed from the articulated tentacle drop into the depths of the meanderings of the pit.
For Julia, the clammy hold she had on her friend's arm was soon going to be impossible to maintain and, despite her efforts, she felt it slipping down to the end of her fist.
"Sally," Julia screamed in a voice strained with tension, "Wake up. I'm begging you. I know you can hear me. I won't be able to hold on much longer. Do something," she sputtered, along with a final muscle contraction.
Sally, who was regaining consciousness, looked up at Julia but didn't appear capable of doing much of anything.
"Jul... Julia," she managed to stammer.
Having twisted her arm so much that it was painful, Julia let go. Screaming the name of this new human loss until it broke her vocal cords, she watched Sally's body that she used every means to try to hold on to disappear into the bottomless hole.
Now alone in the open space of the room where a child was born, with an umpteenth effort, Julia managed to use her other hand to strengthen the grip on the metal contraption. Suspended above darkness, she had a brief respite. Looking all around her and seeing no other way out, she started working her way further up the metal structure of the gynecological yoke, but she simply couldn't make it, weakened as she was by everything that had happened. Without an ounce of stren
gth left, she let herself hang there, with her feet dangling above the abyss. As large drops of sweat formed and dripped down to her hands and feet, Julia could feel fine particles of water getting into her eyes. The salt in the particles interfered with her vision and prevented her from seeing correctly. Blinded and her muscles tensed to the max for several minutes now, it wouldn't take long for her to reach the breaking point. In the wink of an eye, she let go.
She disappeared into the darkness where it was impossible to estimate the depth. Knowing Julia, this umpteenth tumble would lead to more terrible torment.
To be continued...
Of Meat And Bones - Episode One Page 7