1 "This compound is now under full containment," the voice boomed out of
2 the loudspeaker. I continued along the path through Forest Meadows
3 Park where it felt like 10 degrees, the gravel crunching beneath my
4 boots. "Any personnel attempting to leave the compound, including
5 those found within the compound without authorization, will be
6 terminated immediately" the voice boomed loudly.
8 I get to the barracks just past midnight and walk in to the main door.
9 The guards are there. There's a bunch of guys standing around in
10 uniforms, their faces covered by bandanas and ready to go on shift
11 with a few people getting off shift. Without missing a beat I look to
12 the officer that's working the front desk. He's a middle aged guy with
13 a beard and thick black hair who looks like he's been through a lot. I
14 notice at least two men talking to him. He nods to me and I continue
15 on to the central area.
17 Grabbing a towel, I toss it over my shoulder and push past the
18 officers. Walking in to the shower I take a seat in the corner to
19 relax and let the water wash over me. It doesn't feel right to be
20 lying down at a time like this but my head's full and pounding after a
21 two day shift and I'm looking forward to a few hours of
22 unconsciousness. Freshly cleaned, I make my way to my bunk.
24 I bunk with four of my teammates in a room with a chair. They're all
25 standing around talking about playing some football in the middle of
26 the night when I arrive. "Not me", I tell them, "I've made two runs
27 around the compound and I'm beat." Still, I take a few minutes to walk
28 outside with my teammates before going to bed. I can't sleep because
29 my head feels like it's going to explode any minute but I can see my
30 eyes glazed over. I tried a few different pills to bring some relief.
31 It was hard because while they certainly helped not all of their side
32 effects were worth the trouble.
34 "The perimeter has been breached," I heard the voice saying urgently
35 over the radio. It felt as it my head had just hit the pillow but
36 looking at the clock I see it had been about 5 hours. "The area has
37 been secured. No movement within the vicinity." They were ordering me
38 to report to Area 26. In my grogginess I thought it might be a drill,
39 but quickly realized it wasn't.
41 I walked past four or five of the five guards stationed at the
42 perimeter. It was a large steel fence, and when I reached it, I saw
43 nothing but a red line going leading up to it. "What's going on?" I
44 asked them. The guards stared at each other for a while before one
45 eventually said "That was Rodrìguez sir. They drug him out through the
46 fence." I felt the sting in my stomach. Rodrìguez was my best friend.
47 We've known each other our whole lives. I had to be the one to tell
50 Before that could happen my squad leader arrived in silence, looking a
51 little uncomfortable. It took him a few minutes to work up the nerve
52 but he broke the silence. He said we needed to go to Central Base to
53 meet with the Lieutenant Colonel and then he'd take me back.
55 "I can drive" I offered as we approached the vehicle. "Leave me the
56 wheel," he laughed and we zipped through the desert air and down the
57 compound's tight, gravel trails.
59 Pulling up before the entrance to Central Base half hour later I got
60 out and went around the gravel parking lot. I had to walk through an
61 armed gate in order to approach the the door. I nodded and waited for
62 the door to be opened.
64 The Lieutenant Colonel turned to face me as I walked in to her office,
65 smiled, and shook my hand. "I'm glad to meet you", she said. I nodded
66 and then realized I had to sit somewhere. In front of the door was a
67 vinyl chair and while I sat down, I felt my arms burn up. My squad
68 leader remained standing near the door.
70 "When did you last talk to Rodrìguez?" she asked.
72 "I haven't spoken to him since I left him in the detention center," I
73 told them. "He called me this morning."
75 In that moment the office door opens and in comes the General, who
76 promptly orders me to come with him.
78 We walk down a guarded hallway to a large white box marked "Isolation
79 Cell", the exterior of which which was decorated with two small
80 paintings and flowers on the walls. It had "1.0" written next to the
81 sign by hand. The door was closed so that I couldn't see what was
85 Copyright (C) 2019 Jason Self <j@jxself.org>
86 You can redistribute and/or modify this under the terms of the GNU
87 General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation,
88 either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later