Layers of stratus clouds made a thick shell around the earth. The light of the sun was mellowed and grayed, shifting through the sparse seams like water through the stones of a river. A certain, dewy mantle of apprehension seemed to hang over everyone’s head. The looming tower in the far Eastern sector had left many feeling uneasy for weeks. Ever since they corralled her into the damn thing. No one ever talked about it. Things were easier that way or, at least, that’s how it seemed.

I kicked the white dust up as I walked around the camp’s perimeter. The air still held the chill of morning in it. It was noon now. I left the facility shortly after Vera stopped screaming. It seemed wrong to leave her like that. However, I decided it was best to give her some time and space. After a meltdown like that it would be unwise to intrude. People often did crazy things when they knew their end was near. I’d hate to walk in there only to have Vera flatten me with her hand. No, she needed space. Maybe I’d see her a bit later.

For now, I would wander. I passed portions of the camp I’d never been to before. Most of it was just rows of green tents, old makeshift aluminum structures, and dilapidated militia posts. As I drew closer to the northern sector I saw a strange shape looming over the tilted tent posts. It consisted of a collection of overlapping, curved plates, faded by rust and accented by brilliant lines of verdigris. It looked strangely familiar.

Once I could see it in its entirety I realized that this was one of the outlying garages. A couple jeeps waited outsides its row of open doors with their guts spilled out over the dirt. My head swiveled about as I surveyed the garage and its immediate vicinity. It seemed completely abandoned. I grew curious. Where was everybody?

A barely audible creak snuck out of a cracked metal door. I approached. After pushing past some rolling carts laden down with battered tools of all kinds, I ducked down underneath the sliding metal door. Inside the garage was a myriad of other strange relics. Old drones, sentry guns, computers, and countless other devices which I’d never seen before all lined the tables, walls and floors. A dented metal capsule stuck out to in particular; so I decided to get a closer look. As I leaned in to inspect a row of faded black words imprinted on the sphere’s side a gruff voice from behind startled me.

“An old time capsule…”

I nearly jumped out of my shoes. Spinning around I found myself face to face with a squat man of medium build. A pair of grease speckled glasses hung loosely on the bridge of his fat nose. His black hair was slicked back down to the nape of his neck. He looked like he had just crawled out of an oil refinery. In his hands was a soaked rag which, despite his incessant scrubbing, failed to remove any of the excess filth from his skin.

“Sorry, I was just curious!” I quickly responded. “I’ve never been to this part of camp before.”

The stranger chuckled and tossed his rag aside. “Its alright, no need to get your panties in a knot. The name’s Zinc!” he roared with enthusiasm as he extended his right hand.

“Uhh Ellis,” I replied as I warily grasped his palm. He gave a hearty handshake, leaving behind a coat of oily grime on my fingers.

“Ahh, sorry about that...sometimes I think I bleed gasoline...ahaha! Anyway what can I do for ye?”

“Oh just curious, looking around is all. I needed to get some air.”

“Cooped up inside all day? You must be one of those officer types up at the main branch.”

“Well not exactly, I’m a consultant”

Zinc removed his glasses and wiped them on the sleeve of his white shirt. Once he was satisfied with their cleanliness he slipped them into his pocket.

“Consultant eh….Wait a second!”

Oh boy, here it was. Just what I needed, another person on this base to hate my guts.

“You’re that guy who’s been talkin’ to the big ‘un, right?”

Painfully, I nodded in affirmation. With what had been happening to me recently, I half expected him to immediately sock me in the face. But, when I looked back over to him he just nodded. His expression was difficult to read. He wasn’t angry, but he didn’t seem quite so excited as had been before.

“Well that’s something else. She tellin’ ya what you want to hear?”

“No, not exactly.”

“Shit man, I could never do something like that. I felt the damn earth shaking earlier. What happened? Did she give you that?”

Zinc pointed to my black eye. I quickly shook my head and drew in another long, painful breath. Unfortunately Vera’s handling left me with other lasting injuries.

“No, that was...a completely different incident. She’s just had some problems recently.”

“I can imagine as much. Bein’ trapped in there like that…” Zinc paused for a moment and took a seat on a stool which had been hidden beneath a torn tarp. As he leaned over I could hear his joints crack. He wasn’t particularly old, probably no more than 35, but he seemed to have aged beyond his mortal years.

“She’s not so bad. Honestly she’s not the one we need to be worrying about…”

As expected, Zinc stared back at me with skepticism.

“You sure about that? She seemed pretty dangerous when they brought here. Plus all that shakin’...well, lets just say I’m glad she’s in there and not out here.”

Well he wasn’t wrong. Vera even admitted that she wasn’t sure how far she’d go if freed. Nothing riled her up more though than knowing she was to die in captivity at the hands of humans. It drove her crazy. Perhaps it was best she did die. I wouldn’t feel right about it though. Gaaah, I was so indecisive and her recent outbursts were not helping me in the least.

“You alright there?”

Damn. Daydreaming again. My gaze shot back up off the ground to meet Zinc’s inquisitive expression.

“Yeah, sorry just...lost myself there for a moment.”

“Its alright man, it happens. So what’s it like in-”

Zinc was cut off by a loud beeping from a device hanging on his belt. With a flick of his wrist he snatched it off his person and inspected it. After flipping a few switches on it he turned back to me and said:

“Sorry, I have to go. Duty calls! But listen, I’d love to hear more about this, what do you say we meet up tonight? Central Mess?”

To be honest I didn’t want to do anything of the sort. However, I couldn’t help but feel pressured. After all, I needed to converse with people my own size every once in a while too! With a passive jerk of the head I nodded.

“Sure, what time?”

“Hell any time man, I’m there from eight till one, I’ll see ya there!”

And just like that he was gone; disappeared into the back somewhere, leaving me alone in the metal graveyard. Well, at least I was being more social. I got to my feet and started trudging back out to the bleak world outside. The stale air made me think of home. The gentle breeze made me think of my summers in Virginia. The vast stretch of clouds made me think of my time on the road in Missouri, and the ants I saw trailing in front of my shoe made me think of Vera.

Hours laters I was back at the monitoring facility. A long, shiny chrome table served as my temporary foot rest while I waited for the Constables to return. My attention was fixed on the surveillance footage along the wall. I could see Vera sitting with her back against the left side, just out of the path of the stream of water pouring from the massive spigot. She didn’t really do anything, she just sat there. Since my meeting with Zinc I had occupied my time exploring the rest of the camp where I was relieved to find that most all the non-military personnel had no idea who I was. When I finally did return everyone passing me gave a slight sneer. So it goes...

Luckily, none of that mattered now. For the time being I was content to sit back and wait. I observed my subject as best I could, but it's hard to perform any serious analysis when they don’t DO anything.

Finally, after some time, I could hear the orderly clatter of boots echoing down the hallway. Just in time too, my legs were starting to go numb. Pushing myself off the table, I wheeled around and waited for Treble and his retinue to round the corner. Much to my dismay, however, it was the the leering face of Constable Grim that appeared before me.

“You!” Grim bellowed through the doorway. The team behind him behind him looked peculiar. They lacked the usual dark blue uniforms and instead were dressed from head to toe in a dull grey. I had seen uniforms like this before...but where?
“Constable Grim!” I cried as I shot to my feet. There was an urge to salute, but I managed to keep my arm down.
“I ought to wring your neck right here, right now! You hear me?”

“Sir its not  my fault. The psychological trauma she’s endured has just-”

“Shut up or I’ll rip your goddamn tongue out of your mouth! ‘Psychological trauma’ baaah, you really think she gives a damn about you or anyone else? She’s a killing machine, that’s all she was, all she was ever meant to be!”

I’m not sure if it was my own continuous mental strain or the sinking sense of doubt that spurred my next action but all I can say for certain was that I was done with Grim’s bullshit.  

“NO! You’re wrong. You’ll see too! Don’t go interrupting my-”

“I’m what? We’ll see how tough you think you are when-”

“You’re the one putting this camp at risk, ‘Constable’!”

“That’s it you want to-”

The yelling continued. Neither of us could actually hear what the other was saying, we just kept amping our voice higher and higher. I took a step closer, then Grim took a step closer. The situation was escalating quickly and, had it not been for the frantic voice of Constable Mica, I am sure that Grim would’ve have wrestled me to the ground.

“Gentlemen what is the meaning of this?”

“You can’t protect him any longer Mica, he’s mine.”

“Go ahead, hit me! See if I care. I’ve been through worse!” I screamed back.

“Constable, Ellis, calm yourselves! This is a place of order!”

Grim slumped back and fell into line with the other assembled officers. The group glared at him. It would seem they had already sensed his incompetence but only now saw it first hand. Mica brushed himself off and turned back to me.

“As I said before, I can only protect you for so long…” he whispered to me. I gave a nod. My behavior was inexcusable, I was just glad Treble wasn’t here.

“As for you Constable Grim, I’ll be making a full report to Constable Treble by the end of the day!” as Mica barked at Grim his foggy eyes finally noticed the grey-clad troupe waiting in the hall. “And what is the meaning of this intrusion? Who are these men Constable?”

“Hmph, our new management!”
Mica looked flabbergasted. For a moment I thought he was going to faint. One of the grey figures stepped forward and held his hand out politely at his side.

“Well Constable Grim, you’re getting a little ahead of yourself. I am Lieutenant Colonel Corinth, Psyn Corps.”

That was it! These were Psyn Corps officers, I recognized them now from my brief interlude in their ranks. They were a tough bunch. To be honest they made me pretty nervous.

“What do you mean Psyn Corps? Taking over? Taking over what?” Mica continued.

“Come now” Corinth confidently replied. “You don’t honestly think that you all were able to build this place by yourself. By right and law this a Psyn Corps facility. We built the chamber and now we’re looking into acquiring the rest of this camp as well.”

Mica was speechless and I sensed that my purpose was elsewhere. Mica quickly tried to piece together a response but only managed to stumble over his words. In the meantime I took my opportunity to slip back down the hall toward the ground floor. Vera was calm now and I felt compelled to speak to her again. As I fled the scene the calm exchange between Mica and the Colonel grew more and more heated. Thank god I got out of there when I did.

The ground was wet again. The usual crack and hiss of the doors didn’t phase me. The warm wave of misty air did however. In spite of the heat, a fierce fit of shivering spread through my limbs. This was an innate fear. A deep evolutionary resistance to the pressures of those hungry things in the forest. A primordial inner awareness welled up inside my stomach. I was the prey going to face its own predator. A sapling ready to face the fury of a hurricane. I only hoped I’d remain standing after it was all said and done.

When I was finally in the main chamber again I found Vera had not moved. She remained in the same position she had been in for the last two hours. I assumed she heard me enter.

Initially I thought she was going to start crying again or perhaps turn away from me in shame. As soon as I stepped out onto the ledge of the outer rim her head shot up. Our eyes met and when I peered back into the dark abyss of her pupils I saw no fear, no pain, no anger. What lurked about inside was instead a strange medley of curiosity and disgust.

“Oh, you came back…” she said in a hushed tone.

“Yeah, I wanted to talk a little more...is that’s alright with you?”

The mask of aversion on her face melted away into one of concern. She rocked forward onto her knees, colliding with the streams of water that crashed down from overhead. Large trickles seeped down through her hair and across her face. Both hands slammed down onto the ground below. The resulting tremor set me sprawling off the ledge onto the floor five feet down. The ground shook more and when I managed to roll onto my back I found myself staring up at Vera’s mouth. She had lowered herself down onto her stomach and now lay directly in front of me with her chin resting on her folded hands. Initially almost wet myself, but when I looked up further into her eyes I saw that the dim light of sympathy had returned.

“Are you ok?” she muttered. I pushed myself back to put a little more space between the two of us.

“I should be asking you that…”

“I’m fine. Just...been in here too long, you know?”

“Yes of course. I’ve been hoping to talk to you about that!”

Vera’s eyelids fell. With a cynical squint she tilted her head forward.

“What, you got them to agree to release me? I doubt it…”

“No, well not exactly!”

“What is it then?” she grumbled. Oddly enough she seemed to have become more impatient in the last few hours. I guess when you begin to count down your final moments that’s not terribly atypical.

“Well, I don’t know if I should tell you…”

Now, before I continue, I would just like to say that what happened next taught me something that I think all men should understand. When you have a woman, especially one prone to outbursts, mood swings, or homicidal behavior, you should never, EVER, start to tell her something and then recant your statement. Somewhere between the the sight of Vera’s hand rearing back and the immense concussive force that vibrated through my body when it slammed down on top of me I learned that.

When I did open my eyes I was in complete darkness. Was this death? I didn’t feel dead...I still felt warm. I could tell I still sat just as I had before. My clothes were still soaked. There was even Vera’s familiar scent still lingering in the air. Suddenly, light flood back in through angled slits. The dark cover around me steadily began to lift.

Vera drew her hand back and she looked furious. This wasn’t going to be good.

“Ellis…” she began quietly.

“Yes…”

“I have two days to live. What is dying two days early? I don’t care if they gas me or not but you listen here...I have nothing left. So I think its in your best interest to tell me what you know. For your sake and mine. I’m sure you don’t want to die...and honestly I don’t want to kill you so if you don’t mind… JUST FUCKING TELL ME!”

The power of her voice left me deaf for about a minute. Vera apparently could tell and patiently waited for me to regain my senses. When I did, I noticed she had grown a little more relaxed.

Now I was faced with horrible dilemma. If I didn’t tell her, she would most likely hurt me. But, at the same time, if I did then I would surrender all of my bargaining power. Ughhh I was terrible at making decisions. I could try calling her bluff, I mean maybe she was just trying to scare me. Hmm, could I really risk it? What if I lied again?

“Ellis?”

I looked up back up at her. Vera leered down at me the same way one would their disobedient pet. My mouth was dry, I...I had nothing to say.

“Don’t make me do this Ellis…” she said. There was pleading in her voice; raw emotion that she tried to hide behind her angry eyes. Was she serious?

“Ok!” I found myself screaming. Amongst all the tension I failed to notice that I had twisted myself into a cowering posture with my arms locked down around my head. Like that would do me any good.

“Ellis, as odd as it may seem I do not want to hurt you, but I will not be denied, not anymore!” Vera went on.
“Ok, but...I wasn’t supposed to tell you this…”

“What?”

I cleared my throat, shuffled my legs, and averted my gaze. I could not bare to look up at her. The usual wave of hot exhalations stopped as she held her breath.

“Well, I did...manage to get us a few days.”

Vera suddenly released the airin her lungs all at once. The blast made me grimace. When I lifted my lids I found Vera face down with her forehead resting on her arms. Was she relieved? It was too soon to tell.

“Vera? Are you...ok?”

A long muffled groan followed.
“Vera, what’s wrong?”

A rumbling disrupted my thoughts and another groan chased after it.

“I don’t know if I believe you!” her dull voice droned.

“It is true! I swear it!”

“I’d like to believe you...but I don’t know if I should.”

“Why would I lie about this?”

Her head shot back up. Strands of hair danced about for a brief moment before falling back into place. I could see her teeth were clenched and a nervous sweat was beading up along her brow.

“To make me feel better. You want me to think I’ve got all the time in the world.”

“Its true! We don’t know when we’ll be able to…”

“Don’t know when to...when to what??”

“I mean, that’s not what I was trying to say-”

“You’re lying!” she started to roar.

“I’m not!” I managed to scream back at a volume just barely audible over her own.

Much to my chagrin Vera decided to get even closer.Using both hands she pulled herself toward me, lowering her head so that it hung directly overhead. The rest of her hair deposited itself around in a circular curtain, cutting off all avenues of escape and casting me in a darkened umber shadow.

“Why would they do that...It doesn’t make any sense…”

Once I expelled the lump in my throat I was able to respond. I leaned back until my shoulder blades just barely touched the wet ground beneath me.

“You’ve been very cooperative.” I managed to squeak out. The question now was whether or not I could be convincing under such pressure. The weight of my conscience and Vera’s own hardened resolve was slowly suffocating me. A lie was a lie. But then again who’s to say she hasn’t been lying to me this whole time. I know I certainly told my fair share.

The look in her eyes told me she wasn’t buying it. I needed to give her a line. A single thread of hope that she could tug on in the last failing days of her life.

“It may not seem it but they’ve actually been very pleased with you. The more you help us the longer you’ll have. They even considering letting you go!”

“Now I know you’re lying…”

“Vera, no listen, you don’t understand. We’ve just-”

“Also, what was that about not knowing when you’d be able to...able to what?”

Shit, she was catching on to all my little slips. I would need to respond quickly. It needed to be believable otherwise I was dead. God damn it I was not trained for this!
“Look the truth is…”

“Well?”

“The truth is that they can’t decide!” The awkward cadence of my answer made it obvious that I was lying. I didn’t even have to look at Vera to know that she was already trying to figure it out for herself. When I did meet her narrowed eyes again I could feel them burrowing into my very heart. Had it not been for the half scowl on her face I would have felt strangely calm. But no, instead my mind kept flipping between images of my own gruesome death and Vera’s arduous asphyxiation.

“You can’t kill me can you?”

“What?

“I can see it in your eyes…”

“You’re crazy!”

“Well Ellis, believe it or not while you’ve been studying me I’ve been watching you. I know when you’re scared and when you’re not. Usually your panic comes and goes, but it's been consistent today. There’s some immediate danger for you.”

“No, look I don’t know, they don’t tell me these things!”

“That’s it isn’t it? They can’t gas me?”

Without hesitation I got to my feet. I was going to need to stand my ground. Reverse all her assumptions, even if they were correct.

“So have I just been rotting away in here, waiting until they starve me then?”

“Vera, please you’re not making any sense…”

“You know they can’t save you now!”

“I’ve known that for a long time.”

At the time I thought it was all over. Vera would pluck me off the ground and hurl me against a wall. She would not tolerate liars, and I had just been caught in my own web of deceit. To her, whatever I was before was now gone. I was something else entirely. Like a broken mirror, showing only a few clear images loosely held together.

Vera smiled, but it was not a cold smile. No, it was real, and unnerving, and comforting, all at the same time.

“Does this change anything?” she cooed.

What was I to say? My hand shot to my chest in a futile attempt to ease it hasty rhythm.

“Not for me…”

The corners of her mouth spread further apart for a half second. She pushed herself off the ground and back up against the wall. Water crashed down all around her, leaving only the rushing torrents to banter with one another.