Chapter 4

“I’ve lost track of the log or the date. I know we’re still in August, maybe twenty-something? I need to have a conversation with Ellie. Something terrible has happened.

“We had planned on doing a test on Imelda this afternoon, but when Ellie had brought her in, she was completely unconscious. I don’t know what happened before she was brought in, but she was bruised like no tomorrow. A-and I wasn’t with Ellie when she collected Imelda, mainly because I haven’t left my office and retrieved anyone for tests in a long…time. Oh my goodness, when was the last time I saw people outside the testing room? It’s been forever since I have been outside the flat, our labs, the operation rooms, or the testing room.

“Well, Ellie startled me today when she came into the testing room dragging Imelda by her arms. She put Imelda into the chair, and I asked her why she was unconscious. She wouldn’t respond. She seemed rather frantic, rushing around to get the test started. Ellie strapped Imelda down to the chair with her belt and then requested mine. I refused at first and asked her why she needed it. She said the last time she ran a test on Imelda, she squirmed too much, and the only way she would sit still was if we restrained her. I thought about it and told her that was, please excuse my language, but bullshit. I asked her about what was going on. Why she had been so angry with me recently? Why is everyone so nervous? Why haven’t we had the routers fixed? Yet, she just kept requesting the belt. I wouldn’t give it to her, and she began to yell at me. Ellie told me we needed to get as much data as we could out of her chip while she was unconscious. Imelda’s chip is part of the o’-nine series, which has been relatively successful up until now. I’m not sure why she was panicking to extract her chip’s information if testing has been going so well. I refused to continue forward with the test unless she told me what was going on. Ellie ignored everything I was saying and told me she would be ok with one belt.

“I kept trying to talk to her, but Ellie continued to ignore me and started putting the tester on Imelda. All of a sudden, she woke up in a rather vicious manner. Imelda immediately reached for the belt and undid it in an impressively short amount of time. Then she launched at me, and punched me in the face, sending me to the floor. Next thing I knew, she got on top of me and wrapped Malva’s belt around my neck, threatening Ellie that she would kill me! She said something along the lines of ‘this needs to stop.’ I-I couldn’t breathe, and everything was a haze. Actually, right now, Ellie is on the lower floor, getting me ice from the cafeteria for the relatively large bruise she left. That’s why I’m recording this currently. I-Imelda. Why? Why did she have to do that? E-Ellie saw what was happening and took out her gun. S-she s-s-shot her in the shoulder.

“I c-couldn’t believe it, I nearly screamed. Imelda fell right in front of me, begging for Malva to not kill her. I-I didn’t know what to do. H-her blood was on my clothes. On my hands. On my face. I-I tried to help her, but she kept ignoring me.

“I-I watched Ellie aim the gun at her, and I don’t want to say that she was trying to kill her but… I stood in front of them and yelled at her to stop. She told me to move, but I couldn’t allow her to hurt Imelda any further. We needed to stop the bleeding immediately or else she would….she would’ve died. Ellie, she looked so…I can’t be thinking straight. She looked as though she was set on killing Imelda, but I convinced her to take Imelda to the infirmary. She’s our most promising candidate, and if she died with that chip, we would be back to square one. Ellie finally agreed, picked her up, and held the gun to her head. I refused to let her walk away with Imelda, so I followed them all the way to the infirmary and helped Ellie patch her up. I suppose adrenaline can only last so long because I suddenly went loopy from a concussion. Now I’m here, lying on the bed waiting for Ellie to come back. She told me she would take Imelda to the detention center we have in case of emergencies. Ellie also told me Imelda had a knife in her b-back pocket, and was afraid she would do something to me. B-but oh god. Imelda. I-I don’t understand what’s going on. I’m still in a state of shock, I suppose. This happened not even a couple of minutes…maybe even hours ago.

“Why would she do something so awful? She was such a kind soul, and now she tried to kill me? And Ellie. She looked so…I don’t know. Desensitized? She acted like nothing happened, like it was not a big deal. But she shot someone who was trying to kill me! And Ellie wanted to kill her right after! How can she be so calm after something like that?

“Something terrible is happening. I’m going to try to talk to Ellie tonight and see if she knows of anything that’s happening to the soldiers. Dr. Lilywise, logging off.”

As Malva and I stand next to each other in the enormous elevator, her murmuring sneaks into my ears. “Oh my god.” Malva whispers, “I did it."

I, on the other hand, am having a crisis as I stand in the lowering elevator. What am I? I'm human still, right? Where was I? Am I some sort of superhero? Does this mean I can leave? Am I free? Is she going to let me go? No, I’m not going anywhere. Maybe this is why she hesitated the first time she nearly shot me. I must be important to her, somehow. But what else does she have planned? How many more tests and operations does she have designed for me?

Imelda. I just can’t stop thinking about the idea of having another person in my head. I suppose Imelda answered a good amount of my questions when it comes to these weird feelings I get, but now I have more. How did she get in there? Why is she in my head? What is in my head? Will I see her again? I’m not sure. I’m just happy to know at least I have someone in my corner. Is she even human? I need to stop overthinking this.

I barely notice the elevator door sliding open and find myself back in the long hall of lockless rooms. My feet mechanically follow Malva’s steps as my train of thought stays the same. Since I’m thinking of what will happen to me, I notice I should be saying “us.” Not only do I need to worry about Imelda being a secondary person living in my mind, but Coroz and I are in the same boat. God, that bastard, if the rest of my time here is going to be next to him, then I might just try to get shot on purpose.

"Jada."

I look up to see Malva and Coroz staring at me, Coroz's cheeks puffed with laughter as he stops spinning the office chair. "Does she space out often?" he asks.

"More than you know." She sighs, unclipping the zip ties from my wrists and attaching a new one to the bedframe.

“ ‘ey Malva!” yells Coroz, Malva shoots a nasty glare at him, but it doesn’t faze him. He gets up and strolls over to Malva, “Could ya’ pretty please re-shuffle my cube?”

“You’re not even finished with it,” Malva says.

“I know, I just need a fresh start!” He sticks the cube into Malva’s face, and she quickly rips it out of his hand. He sweeps next to her, analyzing the cube now in her hand. “I’m stuck on how to get this last color in the right place, and ya’ see, the algorithm I used didn’t work. I tried ta’ do the C-F-O-P method, but I messed up on one step, and now I can’t remember how to fix it. And the corners first method don’t work ‘cause all the corners are already solved except this one! And I completely forgot how to do the ZZ method ‘cause I think the first step is-”

“Coroz,” Malva sighs, “I don’t need you to explain your methods, now could you-“

“Aw, c’mon!” Coroz interrupts, “Ya’ asked! Plus, the spring is ‘about ta kill itself! It’s too hard ta turn!” Coroz exclaims.

“No, it’s not,” Malva says, looking between the cube’s grooves. Coroz slips his hand into Malva’s coat pocket as he pretends to analyze the cube, pointing between the crevasses.

“Yeah it is! C’mon don’t-cha’ see that rusty spring? At least try to turn it! It takes so much energy just to move it!” As Malva slides the cube around, Coroz quickly pulls out a pair of scissors and slips it into his pocket.

“Coroz, your cube’s fine. I need to get your test set up.”

“Ya’ sure ya’ don’t got some WD-40 to loosen it up?” Coroz pouts. Malva completely ignores him, slaps the cube in his hand, and walks out, slamming the metal door behind herself. Coroz and I awkwardly look at each other in the quiet room.

I sit on the single lone bed, staring down at my beaten hand; all of this fighting has to get me somewhere. As long as I listen to Imelda’s instructions, I should be ok. But even then, can I trust her completely? Am I being stupid? I just met this woman face-to-face five minutes ago, and I’m running my escape plan on her word. Then again, what other plan do I have? I can either take my chances with her or wait and see Malva’s schedule for us.

"And there ya’ go stargazing again!" I look over to see Coroz gently fidgeting with the Rubik’s cube as he pushes the office chair back and forth. He doesn’t know what he’s doing with it or how to solve it, but it still intrigues him. Disgust is an understatement for how I feel about this guy. On top of Imelda’s hatred for him, I have my reasons too. He's the reason why I'm here in the first place, or at least one of the reasons, and now I'm stuck in this tiny cell with him.

"What? Ya’ lookin’ at me like I killed someone."

My blood begins to boil. God, I just want to grab him by the throat and choke him till he turns blue; or beat him over the head with that stupid kid’s toy. I know I couldn’t, I don’t have a good enough reason to, and I want to leave here without blood on my hands. Well, I do have a good reason to. This idiot helped with my kidnapping, but he’s not doing anything dangerous right now, so I can’t really pin his death on self-defense.

"Is playing with a Rubik’s cube a crime now or somethin’? Am I disrespectin’ your religion?'' he lets out a slight chuckle in an attempt to get me to join him, “What, what's goin' on?"

The cell quiets down as his fun giggle turns into an awkward attempt to keep the place from going silent.

“Oh, come on! Do you say anythin’? Hello! Can ya’ say hello? Hello? Such a simple thing. Heah-low? C’mon it’s so easy! Or did the doc cut ya’ tongue off? Doc’ got’cha tounge? Did she cut ya’ vocal cords?” I shuffle further away from him to the other side of the bed, leaning as much as I can on the railing without breaking it, observing his sly grin.

“You upset that you’s goin’ die here without eva’ sayin’ a word?” he chuckles, his broad smile straining to stay on. “C’mon that was funny; I’m just jokin’! What can ya’ say that I understand?”

I think, what can I say to him that he would understand?

“You should flip him off,” says Imelda’s thought.

It’s weird to hear a thought that feels like my own address me as “you,” but after figuring out the truth, it only fits that she doesn't pretend to be me. Out of all of the ideas that Imelda has given me, this isn’t the worst of them. It would be pretty funny, after all. Without even looking at Coroz, I give him the good old middle finger.

“Oh wow, look at ya’ being so smart! Hey! Guess wha’ princess!” He throws it right back at me. “I can do it too!” He rolls his eyes and tosses the unfinished Rubik’s cube across the room, letting it roll and land at my feet.

Getting up from the chair, he puts his thumbs into the front pocket and follows the cube, sitting right next to me on the bed; I’ve never felt this genuinely uncomfortable next to someone. I’ve been cut and tortured beyond my wildest dreams, but this discomfort is different. For once, I’m not filled with fear; it’s just straight-up repulsion. Throughout all of the things I’ve experienced and could have expected from this place, feeling like someone is invading my personal bubble because this jackass doesn't understand the definition of personal space was the last thing I ever expected. This bastard thinks we can be cell buddies, huh? What next? Will Malva force us to make friendship bracelets and hold hands while doing karaoke? If he thinks we’re going to be best friends after tossing me into this damn situation, he may as well go into the insane asylum right next to Malva; maybe they can have matching pretty, pink, straight jackets.

“Why ya’ so salty? Like I get this place ain’t Disneyland, but jeez wouldn’t cha’ be happy to at least have some company?” I roll my eyes around the cell, holding out my arms to try to get it through his thick skull that he’s the reason why I’m here! His smile fades as the gears in his head turn the dust off, his eyes narrowing as he looks around the cell. He rubs his light facial hair with his thumb, almost picking the little hairs with the tiny leftovers of the nails he must have chewed off. His face lights up, finally yelling out, “Oh! You’s salty about me grabbing ya’, is that it!”

Finally! I jerk my head up and down. In an explosion of anger, I slap my palm across his ignorant, smiley face, letting my nails lightly scratch him. Coroz furthers himself away from me on the other side of the bed as he keeps his face locked to the side. Coroz grabs the cube off of the floor, his jaw going back and forth as he rubs his face. “Ok, I might ha’e deserved that, but le’me explain myself.” He gets up to walk around with the Rubik’s cube, only to flop back on the other side of the bed. His hands fidget with the cube, rubbing his fingers around the ridges. Clearing his throat, he releases a devil-like smirk.

“Alright, alright. So I know ya’ don’t see me as the sweetest suga’ bear, but I just wanted to get outta here like ya’. And if ya’ wonderin’, yes, that doc took me, so I see why you’d be pretty pissed.

“Basically, I thought if I offered those crazy ladies my assistance in trade for my freedom, I’d leave sooner! So Malva told me I only needed to help them pick up a few, oh, I don’t know, two, maybe three people. My dum’ass took the offer thinking this psycho would keep her end of the bargain, so we went out to ya’ little community college not too far from here and picked up you and you’s, oh what? Two friends. Once we got back, I asked her for the key for the exit, and you know what this crazy lady told me? She was afraid I was gon’ snitch! Ya’ kidding, am I right? And then I got my throat sliced like a fish because someone got a bit pissy towards me!” He lifts his neck so the rather large scar is clearly visible, “So ya’ wanna know what I got instead? I got to be her little pet, oh she loves me! Wheneva’ she finds something, as she calls it ‘groundbreaking,’ she always grabs me to check it out before puttin’ the new shit on ya’. Oh! She is in love with our chips! So much so that apparently I, or should I say we, became her ‘successes'! Oh, the grand series o’nine! That’s what she always says.” He points at himself with pride, “Ya’ know we the good ol’ subjects 209 and…” Coroz ponders for a second, beginning to re-shuffle the Rubik’s cube “Well actually you’re 209 now and I’m 309. Now that I don’t get! Cuz last time I checked the first number is like how old ya’ chip is. Ya’ know, first is 109, then it’s 209, then it’s 309 for the three subjects of a series. And like, I have been here longer than you, yet I’m 309? Like c’mon Malva, get your shit together on your numberin’. Well actually there’s not three subjects anymore, at least I think not? Who knows, maybe she got a replacement or somethin’. Anywho, that’s probably not that importan’. But that does explain why the bitch burned the shit out’a our hands. She went on some sorta’ rant ‘bout how this ‘wasn’t my own doing’ and ‘she won’t run from what she made’ or somethin’ like that. I don’ know, you know Malva she a bit…well she’s a bit cuckoo?”

If Malva finally finished her task with Coroz and I, then that means we’re in the clear; but, what does that mean for everyone else? What does that mean for the little girl I saw? She was only twelve or thirteen. Maybe that’s why Imelda urges me to save her so much, just in case Malva chooses to leave everyone dead except us.

“Ah, I’m getting’ way off topic. Anyways, I got fed up and asked her how many times I needed to do pickups,” Coroz continues, “She said only one mo’e time. Now I’m sitting in this cell waiting for the next time we go to that stupid college and pick up some mo’e friends. Hell, I don't even know if there are any more pickups ta’ do. But now, every time she comes into my cell, it’s just for another stupid ‘test.’ Ya’ know those sessions where she connects us to her lil’ beepin’ machines, and then ya’ get those weird migraines later? I’m gon’ be real honest. I ain’t too big of a fan of those either; just don’ tell Malva. Well you’s probably not tellin’ anyone anythin’” he chuckles to himself.

It seems like Lily wasn’t the only person Malva double-crossed in this place; I almost feel bad for the guy. Yes, I still hate him for what he did to me, but he’s just desperate to get out. Hell, if I was offered to help kidnap people for a chance to escape, I’m not sure if I would turn away from the opportunity without a second thought. I’m not even sure if I would turn away at all. The cell falls to dead silence, with only the humming of the AC fan’s white noise.

“I know it’s stupid, but I’m still waiting for that final pick up; and tryin’ to stay on her good side, so she don’t kill me like my other cellmate. Now that poor fucker! I felt bad for ratting her out, but I needed to, or else Malva may as well would’ve put a bullet through my head too!”

My blood boils as Imelda’s rage pulses through my veins; the urge to slap him again is unbearable. Coroz pauses for a minute and then lets out a subtle laugh, scooting closer. I try to distance myself from him, but he closes the space, trades the cube to his other hand, and pats me on my shoulder. “Oh man, I’m surprised she didn’t kill ya’. Ya’ wanna know what the fuck she did to my last cellmate? Ya’ see, she was smart, and we made our own plan to get out’ta here. I was already beginnin’ to become buddy-buddy with Malva, and she already knew where e’vrything was. Considering how she was some sorta’ military gal, she had wander’d around a bit more than me. So, I got her some sorta’ keychain outt’a Malva’s pocket. This lady started gettin’ all pissed off at me. Tell’n me I got the wrong keychain for the ela’vator and that we ain’t gettin’ out of here.

Imelda’s thoughts echo in my mind, “I told him to get a singular large key, not a ring of small keys. I still don’t understand how he could mess up such simple instructions so easily.”

“I told ‘er that I wasn’t gon’ get another key,” Coroz continues “ ‘cause I ain’t riskin’ gettin’ caught by that crazy lady, makes sense, right? Well, this lady thought she was som’ sorta’ hero, said she was gon’ destroy the other chips layin’ around!” Coroz lets out a chuckle, sending Imelda into a furious rage. My brain begins to pulse with a migraine, but I resist the urge to listen to Imelda’s thoughts as she tosses every swear word in the book out at Coroz. Her screams ring through my ears, but I do my best to hide the pain.

“She thought she could get past Malva and get to the lab by ‘erself! I told her she was crazy, but she said if she couldn’t get out, she might as well stop the experiments. I couldn’t believe that gal could become so stupid so quickly! Ya’ wouldn’t believe what this girl try ta’ do!”

My hand uncontrollably curls itself into a fist. I hold my arm down, trying to fight the muscles pulling themselves off my lap. Imelda needs to calm down before she does something impulsive.

“She was in that detention hall with me. That gal was smart enough to find out which one of those keys was one for the door. She punched me on the jaw, tellin’ me that if I wanted to live, it would need to look like she escaped from ‘Malva’s minion.’ That stupid motherfucker ran into the hall to become Superman or somethin’. Now when I say Malva was pissed, I mean she was pissed! She came to check in, and that stupid gun came out b’fore I could even say anythin’! She poin’ed it at me! I told her where that military gal went ‘cause I didn’t want a bullet in my head! I felt bad for my buddy, but damn I wasn’t ‘bout to cover her ass when I was already on Malva’s good side!”

My nonconsensual arm swings up , crashing my fist under Coroz’s jaw. Every muscle in my body begins to burn as my fists curl so tight the white of my knuckles begins to show. My head pounds with a blistering migraine as another fist swings out, but I gain enough control to barely steer myself away from clashing into Coroz again. His eyes blink rapidly, trying to understand what happened as he steps away. My legs begin to kick, lunging for him with all my might with only the zip ties keeping me at bay. A guttural scream of grief, no, of rage tears through my head, finding its way out through my ears. As I begin to lose my breath, the rage begins to subside as I regain control over my body.

A laugh escapes from under Coroz’s breath as he rubs his jaw, and gently grabs my hand, re-reading the tattoo spread across my hand. “Nah,” he begins to laugh in shock, “Now, I know that punch wasn’t ya’. That…that might explain ya’ number.” He gives me a deep stare, looking beyond my eyes, “Hey, Imelda,” he sighs.

My stomach drops, but the blood in my veins still races with fury. How? How could he have possibly known that punch was Imelda’s? I guess we can call this a trade-off. Coroz knows I have Imelda, and I know he probably killed her.

“Lily was talkin’ about a possibility that ya’ lived, but honestly, I didn’t believe her! I still can’t believe it! The woman who thought she was a hero lived at the end of the day. Say, how did ya’ little plan go? I’m guessing not too well since ya’ know?”

I don’t dare to answer him, and Imelda’s thoughts disappear entirely.

“Ya’ know, ‘cause of ya’ stupid hero plan, now me and Malva are on thin ice. Ya’ wanna know how I know?” He vigorously grabs my face, brushing my teeth against my cheeks, “She made an example outta ya’. Tossin’ ya’ body in this bed with a hole in ya’ head for five days. Lem’me tell ya’, that body fuckin’ reeked. Ya’ head was all spread open with ya’ brain all picked apart. I mean, she shaved ya’ down like a fuckin’ animal and didn’t botha puttin’ ya’ skin back together. Now that’s a disturbin’ image!”

Another memory begins to play in my head, though it’s more of a feeling. The top of my head goes cold in a foreign way. As I try to find a source for cold wind within the memory, it becomes apparent that it is not a wind source that is causing this chill but rather the thin blade of a scalpel. It makes a linear puncture from the tip of my hairline to the nape of my neck, then pulls itself out from under my flesh. The blade punctures a few more times, creating more canals until the skin loses enough tension and sits loosely upon my head.

As a single tear falls from my eye, and the memory abruptly stops.

I try to pull Coroz’s hand off of my face and push him away from me, but he only grabs my face harder.

“No, tell me. How many of them chips were ya’ able to destroy?”

It’s impossible to pull his hand off of my face as his grip digs deeper into my jaw.

“Zero,” Imelda thinks. I show Coroz a zero with my hand, and he lets go of my face.

“Zero!? Nah, ya’ jokin’! Ain’t no way she told ya’ that!” I nod my head. “She really ruined our plans, left me behind, and got nothin’ done? Actually ya’ know what! Nah, I’m actually not that surprised at all. Ya’ wanna know why? Jada, when I tell ya’ Imelda was impulsive, I mean she impulsive! And look where that got ‘er! Can she hear me?”

I nod my head, and Coroz springs off of the bed. “Well, in that case, you stupid bitch!” He waves his finger in front of my face, scolding me like a dad, “I told ya’! I told ya’ not ta’ go through with that plan, and what did she do? Goddamn!” Imelda’s rage finally calms down as it turns into embarrassment. Coroz jumps around the cell, releasing all of the energy out of his system. He swipes the Rubik’s cube off the floor once again, shuffling it out in the awkward silence as the gears in his mind begin to turn.

“So, she can talk to ya’?” Coroz asks. I nod my head. “Did she evea’ explain what those crazy scientists did to ya’?” His mischievous eyes look at me, but his face is still oriented toward the cube, it’s getting closer to being solved, but a couple of colors are still out of place. I need to keep my distance from him, but he’s caught my curiosity. “Oh! I’m guessin’ the communication a bit hard? Well, you’s so invested into finding out what that trippy place was, aren’t cha?”

So he does know about that weird world; maybe this is the similarity we have. I would like some answers, and Imelda can only tell me so much with how we communicate. Perhaps this guy can explain things more clearly. For him to have worked with Malva for a bit, he must have some information. If I don’t take this opportunity now, who knows when I’ll be able to figure this out. I nod my head.

“Here’s the thing. I, personally, don’ think Imelda and I had the best relationship. No offense! But I have a feelin’ that we could do somethin’ here. My plan with her may not have gone anywhere, but it wasn’t too shabby of a plan if it had gone right. So how ‘bout this. Ya’ wanna know what’s goin’ on, and I wan’na get outta here. If I explain the whole chip thing, ya’ help me with my plan. How does that sound?”

It sounds like a deal for an idiot to fall for. This guy gives me the information I want, but I have to help him with a plan that he won't explain to me? And the last time they attempted this miraculous attempt, Imelda got killed doing my part. As desperate as I am for answers, I don’t think I can take his deal. I shake my head no.

“Alright. Then I guess we’ll just sit here and wait for Malva. I’m not in too bad of a spot; it’s not like she wants my head on a stick. I just wan’na get outta here to not be so cramped up in this stuffy facility. But I guess ya’ chose ya’ choice.” He walks towards the door, opens it and walks back and forth in front. “Ya’ see, I may not be chained up, but I definitely ain’t goin’ anywhere. We need keys to get out’ta here, and even then, we can’t fight her alone. Well, I know ya’ can’t.” He grabs the top of the door frame, leaning his weight against his arms and staring at my bullet wound. “Listen, I know ya’ hate me, and I ain’t sure if Imelda’s on the same page, but Im’ma guess she is. I’m ya’ only chance of getting out of here alive. I know how this lab works, the halls, and guess what? The exit. So if ya’ wanna rot here, be my guest, but unless we work together, we’re fucked. And if you’s get even more on her nerves, you’s gon’ end up just like that poor gal stuck in ya’ head for all of eternity. Or just straight-up dead, you and Imelda both. Don’t think just because you’s important to her doesn't mean she won’t kill ya’. I can always be ya’ replacement, so you’s not outta the woods yet. Got it? So jus’ listen for like a couple more minutes. As long as we against each otha’, we ain’t goin’ anywhere. I’ll continue bein’ her lap dog, and you’ll be her lab rat. So if ya’ wanna continue playin’ this game, let’s play. But if not, I would reconsider ya’ decision.”

I hate to say it, but he has a point. I don’t trust him one bit, but what other choice do I have? Just run through this place until I hit the exit? No, I think a bullet will hit me before I can even get close. I’ve tried it once, and look where I got with it. I stare at the deep scar on the back of my leg, the wrinkly skin tightly folded into the grotesque hole patched together by dried-up blood.

“Do it,” says Imelda’s thoughts. I spring back in shock for a moment, but the idea continues, “Our plan only went wrong because I didn’t listen to him. Just make sure that if anything goes wrong, toss him under the bus before he can turn you in.”

I don’t necessarily think it’s a good idea to rely on this guy as an escape, but it's not like I know more than Imelda. If she agrees that this guy’s crazy plan can work, then I should just trust her. She’s the only reference I can genuinely lean back on right now. Plus, I can gladly make a deal with Imelda’s ideology, knowing those same thoughts of betraying me are running through Coroz’s mind too. I nod my head.

Coroz jumps back into the small room, slamming the door behind him. He springs around the room a bit, getting his excitement out. “Great! Alright, Where do I start?” He quickly swipes up the Rubik’s cube from the floor, tossing it between his hands instead of solving it, “Malva went on a pretty long rant a while ago, so sorry if my memory is a bit off. I’m gon’ keep this short and sweet for ya’. For starters, let’s go over some vocab’ for ya’. That weird place was ya’ chip, ya’ know the thing that Malva put inside our brains.”

Is that what this scar is? I feel between my hair to find the lumpy scar from when she messily stitched me up after shaving me. “Yeah, that’s where they cut us open to stick it in. I got it too, if ya’ don’t trust me, come check it out.”

I just want to make sure the things he’s saying, for now, add up. He walks towards me and bows his head down, continuing to shuffle the Rubik’s cube around; my hands dig through this brittle bleached hair, finding the same large hairless scar on his scalp. His story is adding up by far, but that’s not a valid enough excuse to fully trust him yet. I pull my hand out of his dried hair, and he shuffles it around to cover the hairless patch. “Did ya’ find what ya’ needed?” he asks.

I nod my head. He places the nearly solved cube down and paces around the cell in front of me. “It’s hard ta explain everythin’, but I can go into ya’ chip if I wanted to, and ya’ can go into mine if ya’ wanted to. We’re interlinked, almost like a chat room. What did Malva call it? Interpolation? Interlation? Somethin’ like that. It would just look like I paid ya’ a little visit in the weird foreva' land, but I wouldn’t do that, mainly because ya’ leave ya’ body without a consciousness. If ya’ body, ya’ know, bit the dust; then you’s kinda stuck in whoeva’s chip you’s in. So I wouldn’t recommend it; unless ya’ wanna get brutal and fight ova’ control. Whoeva’s less of a bloody pulp gets to walk around in ya’ meat suit. Am I right, Imelda?”

Despite getting mentioned, there’s no response from Imelda. Coroz stops his rapid pacing for a minute, letting a thought boil in his mind. He takes a good long stare at my tattoo, scratching the scar on his head as he ponders. “One-o’-nine, two-o’-nine...” He says, looking at my hand. Then he looks at his own. “Three-o’-nine. That don’t make sense. Ya’ need to be conscious to do a transfer from one chip to anotha’, or at the bare minimum alive. So, how did Imelda get into ya’ chip if Malva put a bullet into her head?” I shoot a perplexed look at him. “I don’t think ya’ understand Jada,” says Coroz. “Imelda died before ya’ was even in the lab. Well, her body died out here. It’s different if you, or I suppose your ‘consciousness’ as the docs’ call it, die in the chip-” he slides his thumb across his neck- “it’s game over out here too. It’s just instant brain death, quite scary when ya’ think about it. Do ya’ think that if a forensic scientist were to see someone who bit the dust like that, they’d even consider murder by brain tech? Well, I don’t even know if it was intended to be that way. And don’t even ask me ‘bout how it works! I don’t know the science, but I know nobody would evea’ expect someone to have died in a piece of hardware that Malva stuck in ya’ brain-folds. That’s why they don’t want to tell ya’ about a lot of it. Everyone has a consciousness inside their chip, and everyone here has a chip; but only we can control things like object appearances and floor moldin’. Besides that e’eryone else just walkin’ round with nothin’” He sits next to me, and his jaw drops to his floor as he once again repeats, “Everyone has consciousness in their chip. Is it possible to live on in a chip once the body dies? There’s the rule that if our consciousness dies, so do the body. But what if it was the other way ‘round? What if the body dies, but not the consciousness?” The room goes silent for a good minute until Coroz pops up on his feet again. “Anyways, it ain’t important how Imelda got in there, we just know she there. Back to chip one-o’-one, we can go in there when we’s asleep, but only if we’re connected to one of those testers. Ya’ remember that weird ear-thing that Malva’s constantly stabbed our backs with? Yeah, those activate us. If ya’ got cha’ hands on one of those testers to activate ourselves, from either Malva or Lily, let me say it would be game over for both of those assholes. Killin’ them in their chip is just as easy as killin’ a baby in a crib. I remember Malva once pulled a test with me on some guy’s chip when he wasn’t active, and when I got to his chip, he was just sittin’ around like a lifeless husk. And then when he got activated, boy oh boy was he confused when he saw me. Oh! And when I pulled that gun on ‘im, did he run for his life! Malva was a bit pissed at me, but I lived so it don’t matter. Now do I got’ta explain why we’s considered ‘weaponized humans’?”

I shake my head, no. Now it makes sense why they would keep us in the dark for so long. This opens up so many questions, how is this possible? What if this got out to the public? Can we affect people who don’t have chips? Why did she even create this in the first place? This was a horrible idea. If Malva put this sort of weaponry into the wrong hands, who knows what horrendous incidents could happen? The ability to murder without evidence is a nightmare, but now we have the tools for it.

“Hey.” My attention snaps back to Coroz, and he’s snapping his fingers in front of my face. “I’ve filled my end of the deal; now it’s ya’ turn.” I slap his fingers away from my face. “Before we get started, I’m just curious. Ya got family waitin’ for you out there?” I look up at him, and he takes a couple of steps in front of me. “Cause I got an older brother. I know, crazy to think I’m the younger sibling.”

Coroz’s eyes go blank as he rummages through his memories. His smile dissolves away, almost as though a mask had been taken off and replaced with another. He gets down on one knee in front of me, holding me in his sight.

“Well…I had a brother. That was before he ran away. But to be fair my fatha’ was a bit of…well a bitch. When he cut his hair short, and my papa…well he didn’t react too kindly. Nah, didn’t even botha’ to get the belt. He just started swingin’ like ya’ wouldn’t believe, just his bare fists. I remember walkin’ into the bathroom and havin’ to pull that asshole off of my brotha’. I’m pretty sure he broke the poor guy’s nose. I won’t be surprised if I found out that the douchebag was tryin’ to kill him; if it weren’t for me, I think he would’ve.

“That night, my brotha’ said he was goin’ to go get more groceries and neva’ came back. I eventually packed my bags, ran outta that shithole, and lived on the streets, ya’ know? Lived my life expectin’ someone to kill me durin’ a mugging, always carrin’ a knife and livin’ between whoevea’ would let me into their house. Made my money off of sellin’ whatevea’ my friends had in stock: meth, heroin, even sold ketamine once! Not my most proud moment, but hey it brought me good money. Most of the time, I sold to the guys and occasionally the girls at like a nearby community college.

“Malva took me because just so happened to have been on my way to sell that night, and she found me alone on the side of the road. And ya’ know what’s fucked? This is the best thin’ that’s eva’ happened to me. Only because if I get out, it would be like a hard reset on my life.” He chuckles, “There’s a joke for ya’, two disappointed kids run away from a shitty household on their own. What do ya’ get? I’ll tell ya’ what’cha get. Ya’ get a brother who takes the family pickup truck in the middle of the night to drive off to god knows where, another brother that gets used to kidnap a bunch of people!” He takes a seat next to me on the floor; I move a good distance away, but not nearly as far as I used to. “When I say I got nothin’ to go back ta’, I mean it. But these chips,” he taps his forehead, “They can be a real game-changer. Once they get caught, and those psychos go to jail, what do ya’ think is gon’ happen to this technology? Ya’ think big tech guys are just gon’ let the idea go to waste? Nah! They gon’ want to look deeper into this, make somethin’ out’ta it! That’s where we come in. We can make a profit off of it! We can make somethin’ out’ta this sob story! But there’s no way to prove what this thing can do if we only got one successful chip. It’s like tryna’ show off a phone without any internet or cell service! In that case, it’s just a fancy brick. Ya’ see where I’m goin’ with this?”

So, this guy is using me to get some cash off of a bunch of people’s murders after being Malva’s accomplice? After all of this, his master plan was to use me to make a quick buck and live a prosperous life. I would hate to deal with him after we got out, but what choice do I have? Then again, maybe I don’t need to follow through with his entire plan.

“Ya’ probably have more to go back to than me. Do ya’ have some sorta’ siblin’?”

I nod my head yes.

“Oh! A brother?”

I shake my head no.

“Sister?”

I nod my head yes again.

“Ah! See! We got somethin’ in common! And Imelda’s family would appreciate to know that they can at least talk to her through ya’. So listen, if ya’ wanna go back to ya’ normal life, let us just work together this one time. And then we each go our own way. Deal?”

He is, once again, right. I do have people who care about me out there. For the first time in months, I wonder how my mother is doing. I wonder if my father is still looking for me or if my sister has anyone to talk to. I feel something inside me break. Out there in the real world, I’m probably considered dead. Hell, I’m confident my dad has already hosted my funeral, and my mom has a memorial of me in the house next to her candles of La Virgen Maria, La Virgen de Guadalupe, and Jesus. I imagine my mom and dad crying night and day, my sister sitting alone all day in her room. Everything must have changed up there, my dad has probably retired already, and my sister is now in her senior year of high school. She was never the kind of person who could make friends, and neither was I. It was hard to do so when you could only understand each other, and the other kids made fun of us for not talking. So we always had each other, even after I graduated. I hope she could have made some sort of friend at school, someone who could have replaced me.

I wonder how Imelda’s family is too. Now that I can recognize these thoughts as Imelda’s, other memories from her life have begun to appear too. I wonder how her husband is and how I’m going to break the news to him. They never had kids, not because they didn’t want to. They tried and were going to continue trying after this project was over. She was close to her own family: her nieces and nephews, her mom and dad, and siblings. Her brothers were a bit mean, but a family nonetheless. They need to know what happened to her, and at the bare minimum, get as much time with her as possible. It would be awkward to get to know them, but it’s an effort I need to put in for the woman who’s trying to save my life.

If this guy is not bullshitting me, and he actually has a plan on how to get out of here, maybe it’s not too terrible of an idea to work with him. I look back, and his large puppy eyes try to trick me into doing something stupid, begging for my trust. I still don’t trust him, there’s something more to this guy than just the faces he puts on and the heartstrings he pulls; but I don’t have a lot left to lose. I nod my head, yes, and the mask changes once again back to his Cheshire smile. I know I just made a deal with the devil; his sharp grin sends a chill down my spine.

“Alright! Let's get started.”