At some point in the night the torture of day 8 had ended, the rain changed from the mixture of lemon juice and salt to plain water, it washed off the mixture that had rained down upon them for hours the previous day; but the effects that it rendered upon the people of the room lingered. The captives of Cipher's 'expedition' laid about the room, curled up and spread throughout, some on top of one another to shield what they could, but the attempt was futile at best.
The lights turned on in the room and the drains sucked down the remaining water on the floor. They awoke from what was their worst nights sleep since the very first day. This physical torture was the worst they had experienced yet, all emotionally drained and mentally ripped apart but they were far worse physically than either of those two things. Their bodies ached and were stiff, cracked and bruised they could barely stand to gather into the center of the room, even Judy Castle who was number 8 and ready to leave could barely gather the strength to move to the position and raise her tag to the air.
The monitor comes on and Cipher appears. “It would appear the events of yesterday were a bit more trying on this group than I had predicted them to be, that disappoints me,this is due to the actions of two of your group the previous day setting off the mines far more often than I thought they would be. Because of these two gentlemen...”
“Rashaan and Jay!” Jim yells out. “While their actions very well may have caused us all physical pain we knew them, and we know why they did what they did. We've all felt that urge, that pain calling out to us to just quit, I only wish we could have talked to them more before it would have all went down, maybe we would have been able to save them.” he bows his head and moves back into the group.
“Ahhh, Jim, I see your spirit is not yet broken, good, I'm glad, it would be far to soon for it to happen at this juncture. As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted by the idiot, because of Rashaan and Jay” he says their name with distaste. “You are all far more injured than I need you to be, therefore let us move on with the parting of our number 8 and on to the task of preparing you for the next day. Number 8 please.” he awaits for Judy to approach.
She steps forward, the others help her stand and even raise her hand, she has bruises, welts and cuts up and down both of her arms. Her face is painted with tears and pain, she looks as though she's been in that room for eighty days not eight. The light comes on guiding her to her exit and she attempts to move towards the door but stumbles to the ground.
"Can we help her?" Liz shouts to the monitor.
"You may." Cipher replies. Liz and Jim grab her and help her to her feet. "What part of 'YOU may' did you not understand?!" Cipher raises his voice.
Jim lets go and has Liz take Judy's full weight. "I got her, don't worry." she puts her Judy's arm around her neck and begins to walk/drag her over to the doorway."What part of WE didn't you understand?" Liz says it aloud but doesn't look at the monitor, to say she doesn't care if he heard her or not wouldn't be 100% truthful.
"Why?! Why do this?! You're in charge here, what could we do? What would I do?! You just won't let me help just to be sick and controlling. Why?! Answer me!" Jim shouts out and shakes his fist at the monitor.
"I'm in charge, I make the rules, I say whats what. You are merely the Shrew and I am here to tame you. You don't question me, you just do as I say, you are the pawns in this game with limited mobility, I move you, you go where I say. Understood?" Cipher started angry but composed himself at the end of his tirade.
"I just want to know why. We all want to know why." Jim responds unnerved by Ciphers words.
"Jim.... you ask to much." Cipher turns and on his console presses a button. The P90s drop boxes onto the floor and as they hit bandages and medical supplies spill to the ground. "You have 1 hour to get cleaned up, I was going to help...but now, well you can thank Jim for that."
The group rushes to get to the medical supplies and begin to dress their wounds. Music starts to play softly completing the motif of an old doctors office or low cost hospital. They do the best they can with what they have, and help each other out, as they have since day 3.
"Does anyone else recognize this song? I swear I know it, but not like this, not this 'muzac' version" Ross looks around, scratching his head trying to figure out what song has been transformed into this easy listening piece of garbage.
"I know this song." Jim says...
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