Chapter 39

Nora was almost afraid to ask what she meant, but Audrey went on anyway. She had probably tried to avoid saying this all evening. She started crying again as she told the story of the man caught stealing. How he had continued fighting until he died, and how Audrey had been the one to cause him to be held back. Nora embraced her and Audrey sobbed into her sweater. That muffled the sound, which was probably a good thing.

"I didn't even feel bad when he died. I felt that he deserved it. He didn't know when to quit. And that, combined with being mean to Kaneez the first night she was here, and I got stuck in the stretch-neck with her, got me free from the shackles and the gag."

"And later my face was completely blank as I watched the pigs we later ate devour human bodies. I've watched dozens of people die, and I was always able to make myself believe they deserved it. You mentioned you found two bodies, one of them named Karen. Was the other one a man without a head?"

"Yes. They found his DNA on file. What did they do to the head?"

"It's probably the same man. The Lady said it was probably not the first time he had tried to steal. His head hung on the wall of the burh, but it's not there now, so I don't know what happened to it later."

Nora wished she hadn't asked. How could anyone do that to other people? No wonder Audrey felt bad about it, she had probably been reminded of his fate every day while on tour, seeing his head on the wall.

"It wasn't the first time, but how would she know that?"

"She knows everything. Most of it probably from that extensive form we had to fill out. Did you do that again now?"

"Yes, but not with my own name, in case they checked that. I used the name of one of my cousins but left my own phone number. My phone is with Bryan, he knows that if anyone texts that phone, then I'm taken as well."

"So, you didn't bring a phone?"

"Of course I did. A new one. They took that, and the camera. They didn't take this though," Nora held out the GPS tag. Audrey looked at it questioningly.

"What is that?"

"A GPS tag."

"That small thing?"

"A lot of things have happened since you were around technology. Mostly, everything has become smaller."

"What does it do?"

"It tells the person with the tracker device where you are. I already have one, I'm hoping you will agree to have another, somewhere you don't take off often and that would return to the base with you."

"Why would you want that? You can't go there! They will kill you!"

"We wouldn't go there alone. But if we can show the police what happens there, they can storm the place and arrest them all. Don't you want this to end?"

Audrey looked skeptical. Then she nodded and pointed to her collar.

"This hasn't left my body since I got it. Remove one of the studs and put that on instead. Preferably behind my neck, so I couldn't have done it myself."

Audrey was tense as Nora attached the small tracker. If this made her worried, she wouldn't like the next thing she asked about.

"There is another thing you can do. There is a new thing called a body-camera. If you wear that or place it somewhere that captures some of the illegal things that are happening, we can use that as evidence against them."

Audrey said nothing for a few minutes. When she spoke, her voice was even lower than it had been. She had curled herself up into a ball, a very protective stance.

"You don't understand what it is you're asking me to do. I know now that they're all liars and abuse us, but they are good at it. Up until an hour ago, I believed them and refused to see or hear anything that didn't fit with that picture. You're asking me to betray my liege and risk death or worse. And for what? A chance that this might end someday?"

"Do you really rather everything stayed like this?"

"What is it out there in the world for me, Nora? I've lost everything. My family is gone, my job is gone, my house is probably also gone by now. What else can I lose? I think that's why I started to go along with this, even before I lost my memories. If they had asked me if I wanted to join them, I would have said yes in a heartbeat. They didn't even have to force me. If it wasn't for the slavery and abuse, I could have happily lived like this forever. Far away from the world that pities the man who killed my family, but barely spared a second thought for me."

Nora sighed. She knew what she meant by that. How her hometown had fought hard for the man who killed her family in a drunk driver accident to go unpunished, or just lose his driver's license. That had wounded her deeper than Nora thought, if she still felt like that all these years later.

"But I can also see, just from how you behaved today, that this isn't healthy." Nora said. She had to make Audrey realize this. "Besides, what about all the people out there who don't want to be here? Can you live with yourself if you let this continue, when you have a chance to stop it?" Audrey didn't respond to that. Nora didn't dare to break the silence, but she had to make Audrey see that this was their only chance!