His Favorite Girl (8 page)

"Why don't you just wait for him?  He'll be here in half an hour."

She was right.  I would have to postpone talking to Judy.  It would be better to wait until she got off work anyway.  We would have more time then.

"Okay," I said, taking a long, deep breath, trying to calm myself.

"What's so important anyway?" Liu asked, her cynicism cutting through my patience like a razor blade.

"If you could show yourself as trustworthy,
" I said, "maybe I would tell you."

"Whatever."

She went back to eating her biscuits and gravy.

Flora still stood there looking timid and nervous.  Her intelligence and intuition had no end.  Completely dumb to the circumstances, she could
still sense the gravity of the situation.

I walked over to her, forcing a smile, and brushed a crumb from the corner of her mou
th.  "Finish eating.  Everything's fine."

"What's going on, Melissa?  Can you tell me?"

I gave her a furtive nod, hoping Liu wouldn't see it.  "Eat your breakfast.  We'll talk later."

The next thirty minutes crawled by.  Now that I had time to sit and think, I started to get scared.  I didn't like being alone with Sean.  Once he had me on Level E, I would be helpless.  Not even Patton could save me.  He might well decide to strap me to the same pole to which he'd tied my first Flora and Mr. Moses.  Slit my throat just like he'd done to them.  And I would die looking at his pale, black-eyed, grinning face.

Tattooed irises be damned.  Sean was a fucking alien.  I was convinced.

While I waited for Patton I started thinking about the party.  All those powerful men, business executives, politicians, high-profile religious figures . . . all at the behest of Mr. Shriver, the CEO of a sex slave operation that--I was learning lately--was so much more.  These were men who made me more uncomfortable than I'd ever been in my life, and yet Mr. Shriver had captured them all like flies on a sticky strip.  With his power and Brian's technological innovations, Your Favorite Girl, Incorporated might actually take over the world.

So where did that leave me?

Hopeless.  Futile.  Dead.

This train of thought tamed my eagerness to talk to Patton.  Yes, Sean would be escorting me to Level E in less in four hours, but what good would it do?  What information would I possibly gain from the experience that would help our cause?  Bringing down this company was tantamount to the concept of bringing about world peace.  A nice thought, sure, but reality argues against it.

When the knock came, Liu displayed more excitement than I did.  She answered the door for Patton, who arrived in his usual
suit with an unbuttoned collar.  I was delighted to see him peering over Liu's head, searching me out despite her attempt to steal his attention.

We met eyes and he smiled.

I pushed myself off the couch, ready to cry, and went to him.

"I need to talk to you."

"Okay."

"Outside.  Now."

I pushed him into the hall, closed the door behind me.

Before I could speak, he put his arms around me.
  I hugged back, but I was so weak from sleep deprivation that I hardly had the strength to hold my arms up.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Just tired."

"Did you get any sleep?"

"Not much."

"I can tell.  What's wrong?"

I leaned against him, trusting him to hold me up.  "Sean is taking me to Level E at noon."

He pulled away.  I staggered.

"
What
?"  His voice echoed down the hall.

I held onto him to balance myself.  "He's taking me up to see the soldier."

"Why?"

"I asked him to."

"And he agreed."

"Yep."

"That's . . . unusual."

I looked up and found a strange expression on his face, brow curled, corners of his mouth hooking slightly downward.  Confusion, concern--jealousy?  Whatever his emotional state, he was cute enough to bite.

If only I had the energy.

"
I wanted to tell you about it first," I said, burying my face in his chest.  "To find out what you need from up there.  What are you looking for?"

With my ear pressed against him, I could hear his lungs filling with air, then deflating.  "I don't know," he said.  "Nothing specific just yet.  I just have a feeling he's got something we can use against him.  Otherwise, why would he be so guarded?  None of us can get to Level E without his invitation, and even then our access is limited.  But now . . . now Sean gets the key to the whole floor?  Something bad is happening.  I don't think you should go up there."

Listening to his voice lulled me into a dreamlike state, and while I caught everything he said, it took a moment for that last sentence to hit home.

When it did, I jerked away from him.

"Oh, I'm going," I said.  "I
have
to."

"Melissa, Sean is dangerous."

I gave him a mean look.  "I believe I fucking know that."

He nodded
and spoke softly.  "Then don't go.  For me.  Please.  If you get hurt, I don't know what I'll do."  He reached up to caress my cheek.

I pulled away.

"Either I'm in this or I'm not, Patton.  You need to make a decision.  Am I supposed to sit in this room all day waiting for you to come and fuck me?  Is that the role you envisioned for me?"

"No, of course not."

"Then you do want my help."

"Yes."

"Can I ask a question?"

"Go ahead."

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why do you want my help?  What good could I possibly do?  I have no power over anyone--besides Flora, until the money runs out."

"You have more power than you think," he said.  "Let's just leave it at that.  I have to get to work."

He kissed me on the forehead and stepped past me, opening the door.  "You ready, Liu?" he called.

Liu popped out almost instantly, which meant she was probably standing on the other side of the door eavesdropping.

"I'll come see you before noon," Patton said.

"Good.  This conversation isn't over."

I stood there with my arms crossed and a bulled-up expression on my face, watching Liu skip like a child next to Patton, trying to get his attention.  He didn't so much as glance at her, but then they turned the corner and suspicion swelled like a malignant tumor inside me.

He could be
pushing her against the wall and ripping her panties off right now, an earshot away.  She could have her hand on his dick, her tongue in his mouth.

He might just be using me.

It wouldn't be the first time.

Stop it, Melissa.  Stay focused.

I went back to the room, where Flora was stacking food trays neatly on the cart.  I thought about the Flora from last night, wheeling a similar cart in her server uniform.  My Flora had done the same, worked for Patton as an extracurricular activity in the months leading to her graduation.  So had all the ones before her.

I helped her clear the table and wheel the cart out the door.  Then I called James to come pick it up.

"You're nervous about something," Flora said.  "I can tell."

For a moment all I could do was nod.  Flora waited patiently for me to fulfill my promise to tell her what was going on.

"Would you like a glass of wine?" I asked.

She laughed.  "In the morning?"

"Screw it.  I need to simmer down."

I grabbed a random bottle from the wine cooler, popped the cork, and poured two glasses, bringing the bottle with me when I returned to the table.

Flora sipped modestly, but I downed my glass in two large gulps.

As I refilled my glass, Flora
tipped her head back and drank all of her wine.  Then she set her glass on the table and put her hands in her lap, looking guilty.

"That's the way to do it," I said, refilling her glass.

She looked up and smiled.  "Sorry."

"Don't apologize to me.  You can have as much as you want."

We killed the bottle in less than an hour, and soon I popped open another.  I can't recall how the conversation led to me telling her about my meeting with Patton and Brian, Mr. Shriver's business trip, the bruises on Judy's back, Brian's efforts to eliminate me.  I even told her about the vents.

"You can't tell anyone," I reiterated for the fifth time, "and you have to promise me you won't go in those vents.  If
Clifton finds you, he'll rape you."

"I've never met
Clifton."

"Trust me, you don't want to."

At this point we'd moved over to the bed.  We lay on our backs on top of the comforter, staring up at the recessed lighting.

"I want to help," Flora said
after a few minutes of silence.  She'd been playing footsy with me, her bare foot nudging my tennis shoe.  "I'll do anything to help the other girls."  She paused and I turned to look at her.  A tear streaked down her temple.  "They all have it so much worse than we do.  The Doll Girls especially.  We were always told when Doll Girls turn fourteen, their bodies shut down on their own, they stop growing, they can't speak anymore."  She turned over to face me.  "That's not true, is it?  They do something to them, right?"

Yes,
I thought,
but how do they make them stop growing?

I nodded.  Flora sniffled.

"And the Frog Girls . . . they're not born that way either, are they?"

"No.  Surgery."

"So all the girls are made a certain way.  The Vampire Girls are made to be angry and mean.  It's not their fault."

"It's not."

She scooted close to me and wrapped her arm around my chest, sobbing into my neck, her whole body shaking.

"I'll do anything," she mumbled, her voice going high as the crying overtook her.

"I know, I know.  It's okay.  We're going to put an end to this.  I promise."

She pulled away suddenly and put her forehead to mine.

"Please," she said.  "Please let me help.  I'll die if I have to."

Then she kissed me.

─Inventory─

I SAT in the lobby and stared at my watch as employees filed past me to the cafeteria for their lunch break.  Three minutes till, two minutes, one.

"Melissa."

I looked up to see Judy standing before me.  She looked as nervous as I felt, despite my half-drunkenness.

I jumped to my feet and almost threw my arms around her, but when she recoiled I remembered the bruises and stopped myself.  Then I came in slowly, putting my hands on her shoulders. 
"I can't talk right now,"
I whispered. 
"Meet me in the cafeteria when you get off work."

She looked confused, but she nodded and walked away just as Sean stepped out of the elevator.

When he saw me coming towards him, he stopped and waited.

"Ready when you are, boss," I said.

Without a word, he turned and got back on the elevator.  I followed, stepping behind him to the corner, where I turned and put my hands on the rails.  Sean inserted a key into the panel and turned it.  The doors closed, muting the patter of feet on the lobby floor.

We rode in dead silence, save for the soft chime as we passed Level D--and the sound of my blood pumping.

A second chime and the elevator stopped.

"Here we are," Sean said as the doors retracted.

I followed him into the lobby or den or library or whatever the hell this room was supposed to be.  Bookshelves on nearly every wall, high-back leather chairs encircling a small stage with a stripper pole, the grand piano around the corner.  Two doors, one behind where the bar had been during the party--the prison where decommissioned Favorite Girls were kept--and another in the back left corner.

"Want another drink?" Sean asked.

"Another?"

He smirked and looked at me.  "Yes.  Another."

He could smell the alcohol on my breath.

"Sure," I said.

"What's your poison?"

"I don't care."

He went to a small oak liquor cabinet near the stage where Mr. Shriver had delivered his speech prior to unleashing the bed of Favorite Girls, and while he poured two glasses of what looked like scotch, I wandered over to the circle of chairs and stepped up on the platform.

Putting my back to the pole, I reached up behind me and grasped it with both hands to imitate being tied there.  Like Flora.  Like Mr. Moses.  I closed my eyes and tried to imagine the horror of watching Sean walk around me, disappearing from sight, reappearing.

When I opened my eyes, he was standing before me.  I jumped.  I hadn't even heard him coming.

"You definitely need this," he said, handing me a glass.

I drank hesitantly.  Not a scotch fan.  Yet when it touched my tongue I poured the entire shot down my throat.  It was delicious.  Smooth, sweet, no bite whatsoever.  I didn't know scotch could taste so good.  It must have been very expensive.

"Again?" he asked.

I shook my head and handed him back the glass.  "I'm ready."

"Good," he said.

What he did next shook me to the bone.  He pitched both glasses across the room, one after another, and started walking before they hit the floor.

A cold chill hit me when they shattered, followed by an incredible urge to run for the elevator.

"You coming?" Sean called.

He was already standing at the door to the prison cells.

"Y-yes," I said, stepping slowly off the platform.

He looked me up and down as I came up to him.

Patton was right.  I'm going to die.

"After you," he said, gesturing with his hand.

I opened the door and entered the short hallway, at the end of which was another door leading to the corridor of cells.

I walked fast, wanting to get away from him, but I could hear his footsteps gaining in frequency.  He was right behind me as I stepped into the cold, dang corridor, where Patton had taken me during the party.

This time, each cell was occupied, all of the decommissioned Favorite Girls returned to their cells.  They were all naked, shivering.  A few cells away I could hear someone humming.  I wandered past Frog Girl, who looked up at me and mumbled, "Heddo."

Then a Doll Girl, lying flat on an army cot, motionless.

Then a Vampire Girl, who stood clinging to the bars.  I stopped to look at her pale, naked body, her protruding ribs, her implanted fangs.

"What the fuck are you looking at you stupid bitch?"

She reached through the bars, grabbed my arm, and tried to pull me to her, hissing like a bat.

I struggled to free myself, but her grip was so strong it hurt to resist, sharp fingernails digging into my flesh.

Sean jumped between us and swiftly punched her in the face through the bars.  She sailed backwards, crying out and clutching her nose. Blood gushed through her fingers as she collapsed to the floor, sobbing.

"You don't want to get close to her," he said.  "This way."

I waited for him to pass and then knelt down, cupping the scratch marks on my arm.

"Are you okay?"

"Fuck you!"

"Don't waste your time," Sean said without turning.  "Come on."

I stared at Vampire Girl, hoping to make eye contact, but she wouldn't look up.

"I'm sorry," I said.

"You will be."  Normal volume this time, until she started cackling. 
"You will be, dumb bitch!  Stupid cunt!  He's gonna fuck your ugly twat with his knife!"

Down the hall Sean was giggling.

Vampire Girl looked up at me, grinning with bloody teeth.  She spread her legs, ran her hand down her abdomen, painting a red streak all the way to her vagina.

I stood and walked away as she started to finger herself.  It was too much.  Like a bad acid trip.  This couldn't be real.

Sean was at the end of the hall, leaning against the last cell on the left.

When I came close, he pointed into the cell, where the one-legged soldier
was strapped to a chair, naked, his entire body marked with cuts and bruises, his right eye swollen shut, his lower lip split in two.  His mouth hung open and bloody drool seeped from the wound.  His eyes were closed.

Sean slapped his set of keys against the bars.  "Hey, wake up!"

The soldier's head lolled to the side and lifted slowly.  He looked at Sean first, then me, and his butchered mouth formed into a painful smile, accompanied by a low-pitched laugh.

"You," he said, guffawing.  "I should have listened to you.  Should have listened.  Should have.  Should.  Should.  Say it over and over and it sounds weird.  Should.  Right?  Should."

"Right," I said.

"Should have listened," he repeated.

I turned to Sean.  "Why don't you just kill him?"

"Right!" the soldier cried.  "Right.  Right.  Right."

"In time," Sean said.  "No need to rush."

"No need," said the soldier.

"Why make him suffer?" I asked.  "You got the information you need.  Just end it."

"He's not suffering."

"No, no," the soldier said.  "I feel
great
."

It hit me instantly.  The painkiller Patton told me about at the party. 
A chemical that tricks the brain into perceiving pain as pleasure.  Mr. Shriver was supposed to be signing a deal with Mr. Partridge to release it as a prescription drug, but that had just been a decoy, an excuse to gather all those powerful men and steal them from the world.

I didn't get it.  What was the point of torturing someone who enjoyed it?

At least he doesn't know he's suffering
, I thought. 
Unlike them
.

I walked away from the soldier's cell, wandered down the corridor.  The smell of mildew and body odor made me queasy.  I studied the Favorite Girls in their damp, concrete cells.  Mostly Floras, all of them young and pretty and hurting.  I started to count them.  Flora, Flora, Diamond, Flora, Giggle, Diamond, Flora, Flora.

Before I knew it I'd walked the entire length of the corridor.  Fourteen Floras, all of them identical.

Identical.

Seven years worth of Floras.  And none looked older than any other.

"No."

"What's that?"

I turned to Sean, and all I could think about was what Brian had said at dinner, the thing that had pissed Patton off.  He was telling about Mr. Shriver's will, how it was designed to put the other brothers in prison in the event of his death.  Until now it hadn't seemed strange.

Everything we've been doing for the past fifty years gets shipped straight to the FBI.

The past fifty years.

Why hadn't I seen it sooner?  Even if the Flora I'd bought for Ted was the very first one, Brian had to have invented the Libido Drug at least eighteen years ago.  When he was a teenager.

"How old are you?"

"Thirty-nine," Sean said.

I approached him, studied
his face closely.  "You look thirty-nine.  How old
are
you?"

His maniacal smile confirmed it.

"I'll be ninety-three next month," he said.

A lump formed in my throat.

"And P-Patton?"

"He's eighty-eight.  He was thirty-five when he started taking the Longevity Drug."

Libido, Love, Longevity.

That's why Patton didn't want me to know.  I was fucking someone old enough to be my grandfather.

"Jesus," I said, clutching my stomach.  The smell was overwhelming.  The stench of suffering.  These girls didn't even have death to look forward to.  They were being preserved.  "Are you immortal?"

Sean laughed.  "Fuck no.  I wish.  The Longevity Drug extends life by slowing the process of cellular decay.  Brian thinks we'll live
about two-hundred years."

"And all you're doing is selling sex slaves?  You mother fuckers.  You're sitting on something that could change the world!"

"Right," he said.  "Just dole out a long life to every worthless piece of shit on the planet.  We're overpopulated as it is."  He shrugged.  "Fuck 'em."

I had to resist the urge to attack him.  I couldn't even speak.

Sean jangled his keys, looked to his right.  Then he sorted through the keys and unlocked the cell next to him.  He opened the door.

Vampire Girl immediately sprang out and did
exactly what I
wanted
to do.  She jumped at him, clawing and gnashing her teeth, trying to sink them into his meaty shoulder, but Sean spun her around swiftly and locked his arm around her neck.  She struggled, but it was pointless.  He was too strong.

"Way overpopulated," he said, petting Vampire Girl on her head as she hissed and kicked and tried to claw at his face.  He squeezed her neck, cutting off her airway.  I could see the fear in her eyes.

"Stop it," I cried.  "Please.  Leave her alone."

"You're right, you know.  Selling Favorite Girls is no longer a viable business model.  We're moving on to something much, much bigger."

"
Please.
"

"Mr. Shriver is striking a deal that will soon make us the most powerful company in the world.  In the meantime, he's left me to clear out old inventory."

I saw the flash of the knife as he pulled it from the holster on his belt.  He twirled it skillfully in his fingers, then brought it around and sank it effortlessly into Vampire Girl's chest, twisting and then yanking it out.

Warm blood splattered my face and shirt, but I didn't move.  I was in shock.  Sean loosened his grip on Vampire Girl's neck and hugged her around the chest with both arms, almost affectionately.

She no longer struggled.  Soon her body went limp.

He let her fall to the floor.

"Old inventory for now," Sean said.  "Soon?  Inventory still in production."