One... Day 20 part 3 End Volume 1

He sits and strums his fingers on the arm rest waiting, for what feels like hours but he has no way of knowing for sure. Daniel, when he first entered the room had the excitement of a child running down the stairs on Christmas morning. Now he feels like a kid sitting in school waiting for the day to end so he can just leave and go be with his friends. "This was a mistake." he mutters out loud, growing more bored by the minute he realizes trusting Cipher with anything was dumb, but his rage and wanting for retribution blinded him to what he should have done.


Just as he decides to close his eyes and take a nap the monitor in the room comes on. "Are we all calmed down now?" Cipher is on screen. "I mean I had stuff to do first, but there was no way I was coming in there when you were in no state to just talk, and that's all I want to do, is talk."


"So come in here and we'll talk."


"Oh I will, but first you'll do something to ensure both your safety and mine. Under the monitor here there is a small drawer, inside it is a bottle of glue, careful, its been used a bit so there may be some on the edges, get the glue then go back and sit in your chair." Cipher waits, Daniel gets up and walks over and grabs the bottle of glue and heads back to his seat.


"Okay, now what?" he shakes the bottle at the screen.


"Now, place a good portion on each arm rest, don't be chincy, cover it good."


Daniel can see where this is going, but he complies, he pours the glue all over the arm rests, making wavy lines up and down the length of them. "There, done."


"Okay, now put your arms on the arm rests with your wrist just hanging off the edge, so your hands are not in the glue, just your forearms." he watches as Daniel does as he says. "Good, very good, now rock your arm back and forth a bit, press it down good, we want you stuck and safe." again Daniel does as he says. "Good, now push down real hard with your arms and count to ten." Daniel just stares at him, Cipher can see he's pushing down, his body stature has changed, but he's not counting out loud. "Don't you know how to count to ten? I know you do, come on, with me...1..2..3...no? Okay fine, that should be ten anyway, give a little tug up." Daniel attempts to lift his arms but the glue pulls at his skin and it hurts as he stretches his flesh slightly upward. "Okay, looks good, gimme one minute."  and the monitor shuts off.


Is this really going to happen? Is he coming in here? He said he wanted my arms down for my safety and his, and all he wants to do is talk, he has to be messing with me again. Daniel's mind races and his nerves build up. Then behind him he hears a door open. "Who's there?"


"It's me." Cipher comes walking around from behind, he's wearing dark pants and a dark sports jacket with a long sleeved dark shirt under it. His mask covers his whole head like a Mexican Luchador and it extends to under his shirt. Goggles with very thin lenses cover his eyes and reflect Daniel's scared image back at him.Standard gloves cover his hands and his shoes are very plain, nothing in his attire gives any hint to whom he is, his ethnicity, age or anything. He strolls out in front of Daniel and stands there for a moment looking him up and down, inspecting his glued forearms. "Who did you think it would be?"


"What's up with your voice?" Daniel looks around the room as Cipher's voice seems to be echoing all around.


"Ah, that, well the mask makes it difficult to speak clearly and this obviously isn't my real voice so I have a mic inside the mask to skew it and broadcast it through the speakers of the monitor so you can hear me better. Now, lets talk." Cipher crosses his arms and stands in front of him.


"Why are you doing this, this is insane, let us go, you're going to get caught!" Daniel looses his cool and shouts at Cipher.


"That's it, that's what you've been wanting me one on one in a room for? To plead for your release. I'm disappointed, I thought more of you." Cipher paces back and forth in front of Daniel. "All that bravado every day and when it comes down to it, you're just like every other man in America, you beg. I plan on fixing that, I plan on making us a country of prideful fighters again. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to fight you, you and I need to work together." He motions with his hands as if to calm Daniel down. "We're going to make it like the good ol' days when men enlisted freely and couldn't wait to defend their countries honor, I'm going to bring that back, and you're going to help me." he begins to walk circles around Daniel.


"You keep saying that stuff, is that what this really is? Is this is political? Well I don't give a crap about politics, so you picked the wrong guy to help you." Daniel spins his head around the room to see where Cipher is standing.


"No, see that's it, that is why I picked you. That's why you're Mr. 100 Days. I'm going to turn you into the poster child for fighting for whats right, for loving your country and being dedicated to my cause, I know you have it in you. I've been watching you for years. Five years ago... those were some rough times, huh? You fought through that so hard." Cipher steps back in front of Daniel, his face white as a ghost. "Why did you tell the group you have to get back to your wife and kid? Were you looking for sympathy or did you mean you needed to get out to honor them? Or is it to take care of their graves maybe?" Cipher stops, he acts confused and looks about the room.


"I just...I just never really think of them as gone." his head hangs low, ashamed to even look at Cipher.


"It's okay Daniel, I understand. But remember that fire you had in you after they died, the fights you would get in,looking for their killer, demanding justice,  that rage? Where is that? What happened to you? I guess time heals wounds; I just would think a man who lost those he loved so much would forever be scarred."


"I AM!" Daniel screams back. "Don't you dare diminish my pain!"


"I wouldn't think of it, in fact I want it back. I want to give it to you again. You'll need it to survive my 100 Days, I chose you, I got you that tag, you're going to be the one who helps me save this country." Cipher paces back and forth in the room.


"Wait...did you say give it back again? As in you gave it to me the first time? What did you do to my wife and son!" Daniel's eyes well with tears. "How long have you been after me? What did you do to my WIFE AND SON!"


Cipher takes a step back again motioning him to calm down. "That's it build up that rage again, let it fill up inside you and push you through these next 80 days and maybe you'll find out what happened to them."


"AARRRGHHHH!" His scream is primal, spit and phlegm shoot from his mouth, he pulls at the chair and the flesh peels from his arms leaving most of it behind he jumps on Cipher and grabs him by the throat driving his head to the ground. He pounds it up and down hammering the ground with his skull. Daniel's right arm arches back behind his head and he sends it drilling into Ciphers face instantly breaking his nose. The crack is loud and the blood under his mask wells up and begins to seep through, as do the muffled noises of Cipher trying to breathe.

25 MINUTES AGO

"Finally, with all your whining I couldn't think. Here's the deal Dalton, I know a lot about you, I know you will survive here, but it might very well drive you nuts in the process. I also know you are into something called Cos play, where you dress in costume and go to conventions and act out some of your favorite characters." Cipher speaks to Dalton who stands there with his mouth glued shut dreading that he's even entered this room. "So all you have to do, to get your early release is dress as me, I'm your new favorite character. You're going to go in a room and you're going to convince Daniel to behave. I'll do the talking you just act out what I'm saying. He'll be secured, there's no way he'd be able to hurt you. You try and show him its you at any point and not me I'll kill you both in that room, you have my word on that. Do we understand each other?" Dalton nods and acknowledges Cipher. "See I told you it was something you've done before, no big deal, you do this you save yourself and you save Daniel." 

A P90 enters the room, he hands Dalton a dark suit, a long sleeved non button up shirt, boring plain shoes, and the mask. He puts on the outfit and the P90 assists him with the mask, attaching it to his shirt and zipping it sealed. He adjusts the goggles so he can see and he leaves the room following the P90. "Come on now Dalton, lets see your best performance."

NOW

Punching and whaling into his face, pummeling harder and harder, with flashes of his wife's grave, his son's small casket, he can't even tell if he's screaming any more, there is just a high pitched whistling in his ear. P90s bust in the room and grab the back of him tossing him to the side with ease. He pants and shakes, his arms and fists trembling the P90s stand with their guns pointed at him and one walks over to Cipher's body and checks for a pulse. He puts his hand to his ear, touching his ear piece and says "done".

The monitor turns on. "Daniel... what did you do?" Daniel begins to shake even harder and the P90s start to move back from him, hovering on the outer rims of the room, he stares at the monitor in shock. "I said I just wanted to talk, look at the blood you have on your hands now. It was just one meeting, just one, and this is what you do to your friend?" Daniel scurries across the room and grabs the body and rips the mask off tearing the seal from the shirt. Dalton's lifeless eyes stare at him, with the mask off the blood begins pooling around the back of his head and it drops back to the ground with a thud. "Don't worry Daniel, I won't tell anyone. We're in this together you and I, I meant what I said. I always do." his words dripping with sincerity. 

"What did you do to my wife and son?!" it screeches out of his sore throat.

"Nothing, I had no idea who you were up until a year ago, I read about your wife and child, the court cases, the investigations, the evidence, your arrest afterwards for the fights, that's all. I said to you I wanted that fire back, that vengeance, I got it. I told you that you would get what you wanted and what you deserved, you did. You will survive these next 80 days. You will help usher in a new America that is like the old America. You are my Mr. 100 Days, the world is rooting for you."

"You said you gave me the tag." Daniel closes Dalton's eyes and moves his head so he can't see his face.

"I did, I had help, but I did. How? Well that's a secret. I wont tell anyone about Dalton or your wife and child, and that will be our secret. I'm good at keeping secrets. You'll stay here away from the group for a couple of days, in those days I even promise to go easy on them. But when you get back, it starts again. Do you understand."

Daniel nods, he puts his hand on Dalton's chest. "I'm so sorry." 

"He was getting 50 days off of a sentence here, that's why he did this. I couldn't tell if he was going to use it for himself or if he was going to give it to you. I guess it doesn't matter." Cipher shuts off the monitor.

The P90s pick up Dalton's body and drag it out a door on the right side of the room, they grab Daniel under his arms and drag him to the left. The two limp bodies staring at each other as they go their separate ways, the doors shut and Day 20 ends.

End of volume 1

One.... day 20 part 2

The door shuts behind him and the room goes dark, Daniel stands there waiting for something, cracking his knuckles and nervously moving around the room. The light comes on above and another door opens to his left, was this the way people went when they left the room to go to the outside world? He knew those who left came into these rooms before supposedly getting their freedom, would that be where he was going, outside?

Carry Each other. Day 20 part 1

 It was dawn, the moment when the lights began to slowly illuminate the room, some of the group had picked up on that Cipher had gotten into the habit of slowly turning on the lights, simulating a sunrise. The group had moved to the far wall away from the large fallen weights and metal beds after their torture of Day 19 had ended. In the hours that they slept and rested, while the lights were out everything had been cleared away under the cover of darkness. Once the entirety of the group had awoken they moved to the center and waited for the monitor and for Cipher to release number 19. 

Jessica Sherwood, a child therapist had been trying to analyze her time in the room as she would any bad environment that a child patient of hers had been a part of, but could not wrap her mind around such a task. This time here was horrible, but she knew kids who had been through horrible situations and she watched them grow. She watched them forgive and reach out to bullies who had hurt them; she saw compassion in a face that the previous weeks were stained with tears. She knew she would take this experience and grow from it in some way. She clutched her number 20 tag and rocked in place, a habit she wasn't sure if she had picked up from her kids or if it was just the natural thing we all do to find a happy place in our minds. Rock back and forth to remind us of those times we were swaddled in our favorite blanket and held so close and protected, we were innocent, we felt safe, and we were happy. Cipher called out her number and she stopped rocking and began to cry, she was scared she'd never feel safe again, but she would leave and she would try.

"Good morning all." Cipher stayed on the monitor and the group reluctantly listened awaiting to hear what the torture of day 20 would bring. "I have a proposition for three of you, Dalton step forward, Scott step forward and Anne step forward." the three did, Dalton and Anne looked back to Liz and Jim concerned what their fate might be, they didn't want to be like the others who ended up flat on the beds yesterday. "I have a proposition for each of you, I do not plan on doing you any harm, I will not hurt you, and so rest assured this is not like yesterday." The three stood their, still not relieved and waited for the second part of Ciphers so called offer. One of the other three doors opened and everyone turned to see what would come out. "Scott, if you want to hear my offer. Enter that room." Almost without hesitation Scott goes to the room and the door closes behind him. "Dalton..."Cipher pauses and another door opens, Dalton paces back and forth and he to begins rocking as he does, he clenches his fists and goes to the room, the door closes behind him.”And finally, since I'm and equal opportunist, Anne..." A third door opens.

"Go to Hell." Anne turns her back on the monitor.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me, go to Hell, I want nothing from you, I have my number, I'll wait my turn, so unless Ross and Daniel are in that room and the thing you need me to do is help them come in here you can go shove it." Anne she walks over and stands with Liz.

"Whoooo, you are a fire cracker. I like that and apparently you're psychic." Everyone just looks around, Cipher as well waiting for some sort of acknowledgement. "Really, you don't get that one? You're psychic, as in you guessed it.....nothing." he sighs. "Wow, okay I'll spell it out, Ross and Daniel are in the room and you should go help them out."

"Yeah right, like I said, go to Hell."

"Okay fine. P90s." out from the last room two bodies come falling through the door way as if two drunks were being tossed out of a bar, Ross and Daniel hit the floor.  "If you people don't want them, I'll put them back, that's fine."

A massive amount of the group run over, Liz and Anne leading the pack as they get to them and begins to lift them off the floor. Anne gets Ross to his feet; he is bruised and appears to be slightly out of it. "I thought you were dead." Anne holds his face and looks into his eyes.

"But then I thought I was dead myself. Is everything sad going to come untrue? What's happened to the world? - Gandalf, Lord of the Rings, priceless stuff." he smirks

"You're priceless, he looks like hell and he's quoting Tolkien." Anne smiles with tears in her eyes happy to see her friend.

Liz leans down to pick up Daniel with Jim, "I got this, I got this." he says as he tries to help himself up.

"Oh, you're a tough guy. Get on your feet pal. Let’s find out how tough you are." Liz laughs and grabs at him.

"Liz, what's wrong with you?" Jim grabs Daniel under the arm and lifts him up.

"What?! That's from a movie. Come on seriously, are we only allowed to quote books or something today." she grabs Daniels other arm.

"Breakfast Club... you come at me with Breakfast Club?" Daniel gets to his feet and hugs Liz.

"See, he gets it."

"I got it; I just didn't want to ruin the moment." Ross smiles and everyone for a second seems to have forgotten again where they are.

"Well then, allow me to ruin the moment." Cipher, still on the monitor interrupts. "Daniel, I have a proposition for you if you’re up for it. You and I in a room, no P90s, what do you say?" a light comes on above the door Daniel was just tossed out of. He lets go of Liz,  stands up straight and rolls his shoulders to crack his back and moves his way back through the crowd to go back in the room he just left.

"Wait! Don't do it, it has to be a trap." Ross shouts out.

"You just got back, stay, don't go, please." Liz goes after him. "Don't do it, listen to Ross."

"No. I'm not listening to him this time."

Ross turns away from him and hangs his head down; Anne pulls him in and hugs him, confused why Daniel would hurt him like that.

"You just got back to us, we need you, you always help carry this group." Liz holds his hand and tries to get him to walk back with her.

"You'll have to carry each other, I have to do this. He told me I'll get what I want. I want this." Daniel slides his hand from hers and turns and goes into the room. The door shuts and the light turns off.

"I'll be right back; I have a few things to attend to." Cipher shuts off the monitor and the room seems so much dimmer.

"Did he really tell him he's going to get what he wants?" Anne walks with Ross

"Yeah, but he also told him he's going to get what he deserves." 

Day 20 begins

We have to carry each other day 19 part 3

Its late, they've been holding the chains all day and into the night, the fatigue set in hours ago and at this point they're basically using their dead weight to keep the chain from moving. The four remaining people on the table all have gone through the full spectrum of emotions. During some points they told the team to let go, let the weight fall and go help one of the other groups. This inspired others to angerly scream in hopes to motivate their team to never let go and in fact to hoist the weight higher. They thought of maybe lowering the weight the lowest possible point to see if that would eliviate the tension. Could they pull the chains close enough together to latch them to one another? Would that be breaking the rules? It was a lot of talk, and very little action, the ideas were flowing but there was not strength left in their bodies to do anything with it.

Meanwhile upstairs Ross and Daniel felt the same way, questioning why they were even holding the wheels. Was it making a difference, and if so, for the good or the bad. There were two other wheels they weren't holding and they weren't moving, they were doing just fine, so what was the point?

"I'm letting go." Ross panted. "I got nothing left. I need to rest. They'll be okay."

"What if they're not." Daniel responded, but didn't look up at him.

"Those two wheels haven't moved, and with all these gears we can't even tell what we're doing. At any given point he could break the gears like he did that wheel and the weight falls, this is just another one of his stupid tests, he's torturing us physcially and mentally on this one, I got to hand it to him, this one is good."

"Don't compliment him."

"Why not! I mean come ON! The man pulled off a kidnapping of 100 people! He set up this friggin' house of horrors, he's got soldiers at his command, cool monitors that he talks through, tell me Daniel, what is not cool about this guy?! He is a legit super villain. Okay, we're talking James Bond stuff here, like a bad guy with a lair, and henchmen, and stuff. We're not in some psycho paths basement chained to the wall out in the middle of the woods. This guy is for REAL, so you know what, I'm done, I'm finished. if this weight falls, its not my fault, its his, he did all this, we won't be tried for any of this, this is ALL ON HIM, and i'm DONE." Ross lets go of the wheel and drops to the floor. It rocks briefly for a moment, but that's it, its barely even noticeable that he let go or was ever even holding on. "SEE! Its all a god damn mind game!" Daniel looks at him and then looks at his wheel, waiting for something to happen, for Cipher to do something to make it that I told you so moment, but nothing. "Just let go, Daniel, it'll be fine, its late, we'll go to sleep and wait for day 20."

Daniel nods, he's so tired and locked into place that he has to actually think through how he's going to let go. He shifts his body from pushing on the wheel to more of a carrying position but he notices the wheel doesn't even slip when he makes the adjustment. He pauses, takes a breath and lets go, nothing happens. He walks over to Ross slams his back into the wall and slides on down to the floor until he's sitting next to Ross. "Thanks man, you know.."

"Yeah I know." Ross pats his knee as the two of them let their heads bang into the wall behind them, staring up at the ceiling, starved, thirsty and utterly drained of everything. The silence is almost loud, with just their breath being heard for almost a full minute.

Click, a humming and a clank.

The wheel Daniel was holding whirls and the gears spin, the chain starts lashing through as the weight in the room below falls. Daniel dives from where he was sitting and tries to grab the wheel, Ross right behind him, he falls towards it hoping to slow or stop its descent but instead the force of the wheel slams hims square in the chest and sends him falling backwards into the oncoming Ross. The chain comes through the wheel as if it had reached its end or snapped in half, it cracks like a whip at the two of them, striking Daniel ripping open both his shirt and his chest. He screams as the two of them fall back into the wall and the wheel stops spinning, meaning the weight below has crushed another occupant of the room.

The Monitor comes on. "Boys, what are you two doing? What did I say? I said the both of you had to hold on to the wheels and now look, another one down and two people dead. Daniel, you're hurt; what am I going to do with the two of you, I had planned on putting you back in the room tomorrow, but now I just don't know." Cipher talks to the two of them as if he were a disappointed parent.

Daniel clutches his chest, his wound is throbbing and growing more purple by the second. "You did that on purpose, you killed them!"

"Daniel, you let go of the wheel, and.... well you weren't really nice to me. Ross had all those nice things to say, uhh... complimenting my lair, all my hard work, this isn't easy you know, this took a lot of planning; and what did you say about me? Nothing, and you said before you want me one on one in a room, you threatened me, you called me names. That's just not nice." he rants like a child, but then changes his tone to a more dark vicious one. "So I wasn't nice to you. You're both done for the night, with that wound your useless in this test, I'll send the P90s in tomorrow to attend to you and dress the wound, in the meantime I don't want to hear anything from either of you. Daniel, tomorrow, you and I are going to have a talk, I'll give you what you want and then I'll give you what you deserve." The monitor clicks off.

"Its my fault, I told you to let go." Ross whimpers and pulls Daniel back towards the wall with him so they can lean against it again.

"Its not your fault. Its his, and tomorrow I'm going to show him."

10 MINUTES AGO IN THE ROOM BELOW

"This can't go on all night, I can't even feel my arms any more, and I'm so thirsty."

"We're all thirsty Jim, we all can't feel our arms, just shut up and hold on to the chain." Scott agrivated as to how this day has gone has had his fill.

"Hey.." Liz shouts out. "Did anyone feel anything? I feel like our chain just rocked a bit back and forth."

"Does it feel lighter?" Kara from one of the other groups of women shouts back to her. "Because ours didn't move and it feels the same I think."

"I don't feel any difference." Chuck, an older gentleman in the group across from Liz's shouts back.

"Just don't let go." Gus, strapped to the middle bed looks over to Chuck. "Please  just hold on."

"Don't worry Gus, we got you, that's what this group here does, its what that idiot has trained us to do, we'll carry each other or any weight we have to." Chuck smirks as the sweat drips off his brow.

"I know, I know, I'm just scared that's all, that weight looks shaky." he stares at the massive cube above him.

"I got you, no worries." he makes a double clicking noise with his mouth and winks. But then another click is heard, a loud one, then the hum, then the clank.

The group of men holding the chain collapse to the ground, they feel the chain snap and scream as they watch the massive cube fall. Chuck managed to keep himself standing looks at Gus, who's been frozen with terror. His eyes wide he has only a moment to look at the cube and then back at Chuck. Chuck takes that same moment to look at the cube and then attack the latches that are holding Gus to the bed. He frantically fondles with them pulling with all his might, his sweaty hands slipping and pulling with no results. All he can think of is to do one thing. He puts himself over Gus as if to shield him or stop the weight with his frame.

The cube slams into him crushing him right through Gus, the weight and the velocity compressing the two men together in a disgusting mess. The group on the floor turn and cover their eyes, trying to hide and escape from the horror before them.

The monitor comes on shortly after in a minute. "I am so sorry about that, totally not your fault. I feel so bad I'm going to let you rest for the remainder of the night. All you need to do now is trust me for a moment, you can all let go of your weights and they will stay in place, they've been locked down." he waits. Scott and Jim's group are the first to let go, nothing happens and they look to the others. "I'll unlatch everyone from the beds as soon as you all just let go and give me a moment of trust."

The remaining people on the bed begin praying and panting and breathing hard, going back through that range of emotions, screaming and calling out wondering if this is the moment they die, or if they live. The groups one by one let go of their chains and Cipher keeps his word and those laying down are released. "Who's responsible?! You said it wasn't our fault!" Scott shouts out.

"You'll find out tomorrow, and then we'll see how well this group 'carries each other'. Get your rest, day 19 is over." The monitor shuts off.

End of Day 19