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