QUARRY (16)
Preparation For the Repairs
When the attendants came to prepare Rhys for his shower, he immediately came to attention again but found his situation in that respect totally ignored. One-use metal rings were fastened around Rhys’s wrists and ankles. These were fairly flexible, light devices which had a hollow end with constrictions at frequent intervals and a slightly narrower serrated end that fed into it. The ring was slipped over a limb and the ratchet device so formed held it in place once it had been tightened by hand. If the wearer was lucky, it would then be crimped with pincers and a hammer to stop it being “accidentally†tightened any further. Rhys was in luck!
The straps holding his wrists were removed along with the ones around his waist and Neck and Rhys was doubled up so that his wrist rings could be padlocked together. He felt something being padlocked between his ankles that pushed against his straps, forcing his feet slightly further apart. Once the straps had been released, Rhys realised that a bar had been fitted that stopped him closing his legs. When he was pulled off the surface, and forced to bend over it, his worst fears surfaced again. I’ll skip the details but a clinical internal massage was administered to facilitate an internal cleansing. There had been quite a back-up. Enough said.
Rhys was wiped clean and taken over to the corner where he felt himself standing on a grid. He was anticipating the forthcoming onslaught of freezing water with very little pleasure while his ankles were padlocked to the grid and a chain fastened around his neck and tightened enough to prevent any evasive manoeuvres but, as long as he kept his chin up, not tight enough to strangle him. The expected deluge started and every muscle in Rhys’s still athletic frame tensed and his body became one extended shiver. The water stopped and the soaping down and scrubbing started. The attendants set about the front of Rhys’s torso and the non, lacerated aspects of his limbs with gusto, a gusto not much diminished even on his more delicate parts. They were a bit more careful around the sutures and the cut on his leg but Rhys was still left feeling that he’d just been skinned. A further bone-chilling downpour rinsed the helpless HC who found difficulty breathing once more due to the cold and the gag digging into the sides of his mouth.
The water stopped and Rhys was towelled down vigorously causing the customary embarrassment which was, as usual, ignored before he was left for longer than he was expecting without anyone paying him any attention at all. Then he heard someone approaching, obviously preparing something. Once he felt the pressure against his right pectoral muscle, he steadied himself just in time before he felt the thump and the accompanying sharp pain as his fifth tally mark was tattooed into his flesh.
When the chain was unlocked from around Rhys’s neck, he managed to keep his feet without assistance but he was certainly glad that he wasn’t being stretched, scoured and stabbed any longer. It was almost a relief to have the chain replaced by another, larger and rather more substantial ring than those around his limbs, which was crimped none too tightly round his neck. The ring was complete with a dog-tag with Phys324 inscribed upon it, a number which Rhys then had written on various aspects of his body every few days for the duration of his treatment. He knew by now that that was the nearest thing to a name that he would be allowed.
Once more Rhys was left in his aching, lonely darkness, unable to move his feet and unwilling to sit in case he was either punished for it or unable to rise again if he needed to. Eventually the physio returned and gave Rhys another extensive prodding.
At last, he saw fit to speak to his charge. “I am going to do your essential biometrics. You will have only your wrists chained as long as you co-operate. If you chose not to co-operate, you will simply be returned to the sales centre as you are now. I doubt that you would attract a sale. Do you understand? Good. Will you co-operate? Good, I’ll free your ankles now.â€
The next procedures were somewhat mysterious as Rhys was given minimal instructions as the physio measured weight, height, oxygen absorption (difficult for a subject who is blindfolded, has his wrists chained behind him, and is trying to run on a treadmill) and various expansions and strength measures. Before arm, strength and bicep expansion could be measured, the physio reminded Rhys of the consequences of any lack of co-operation. Rhys was a model subject until his wrists were locked in place once more. This time, instead of being left in his lonely darkness, Rhys felt the customary metal noose slipped over his head and did his best to follow where his silent handler was leading him. He noticed that he was being lead rather more mercifully than he had been initially; the slave had taken the “no more damage†instruction to heart.
New Quarters
Rhys heard a door being unlocked and felt himself, presumably, being led through it. He could hear noises that he could not identify but some of them seemed to be muffled voices and, if they were, then some of the others might have been people moving around. If Rhys was right about that, some of them at least must have been chained. As he became used to his aural environment, Rhys concluded that not all those around him were comfortable with their lots as there was certainly a lot of moaning and even the occasional artificially suppressed scream. Christ, what sort of place was this? Had he been abandoned after all? Had all his suffering so far been for nothing? His raised levels of anxiety and anger at least helped to dispel any potential resignation to his fate and Rhys, who’d always had a stubborn streak, re-discovered his determination to survive.
Oh fuck, why did he carry that knife? That alone was enough to gain him a “3†tariff even if he hadn’t been found near the scene of the robbery. Why did he even hang around with the other two? He knew they were no good.
The noose was removed from Rhys’s neck and he was pushed forwards until he collided with a wall. The extension to the tongue of his gag pushed the already too tight bit even more painfully against the corners of his mouth and he quickly turned his head sideways. Although he had received no instructions, Rhys tried to stand still (the best course of action in his opinion) as he felt his ankles being forced together and what seemed to be a padlock. It was only then that he realised the floor on which he was standing was no longer hard but he couldn’t identify it via the soles of his feet. He felt the relatively flexible flooring shift slightly as someone was obviously moving on it before he heard a door being locked. He maintained his pose for some time before realising that he had been left alone in a cell.
As he stood there, he tried to make sense of his surroundings. The noises were now obviously being made by restrained people and someone in particular did not seem to be enjoying a particularly pain-free existence. Rhys was becoming used to the sound of tasers and cattle prods; he thought the sounds might have even been added deliberately to put the fear of god into potential recipients of their ministrations.
Eventually, when it became obvious that he had been caged, Rhys pulled away from the back wall and tried exploring his cage. It didn’t take long. He’d already felt the breeze block wall at the back of the cage and soon felt two others that formed the sides. Shit! They were close! Not much further away from the back wall, Rhys could feel iron bars that seemed to form the front of his tiny cage. He slid down the bars as despair started to resurface. At least he could stretch his legs. As he pulled himself together, he tried to stretch out and found that he could lie at full stretch without touching the back wall or the cage door but, as he wriggled towards the back of his cage, he realised that it was a close run thing. In effect, he was in a cage measuring about one metre by two and at least tall enough to stand in.
As he lay there, he heard various instructions being issued and the subsequent efforts of his fellow prisoners to comply with them as well as the repeated muffled cries of a person who was obviously being treated even more severely than everyone else. The over-riding noise, however, was a repetitive mechanical sound that Rhys could not identify. Rhys’s mind started wandering and, whenever he managed to pull himself back to full consciousness, his aural analysis of his environment continued. He had no idea how long he had been left but, as well as becoming desperate to use a toilet, he gradually constructed a fairly good idea of what lay ahead for him.
TBC