It's My Party

Jenaro was trapped! What was the danger here? Was there only one door that was trapping Jenaro? What about this entrance door, or the other doors Diego would have to pass through to get to his former compadre? Diego could try to wedge them open of course, but that trick certainly wouldn't work back at the home hexagon. Would the servos allow it here? Why the hell should Diego expect that? In his heart, he knew what he had to do. Diego let the door close from the outside. He then walked back and signaled to Jenaro that he was going to stay outside and search for help.

The man's reaction was about what Diego had expected. Jenaro looked horrified, and then the horror turned to fear, and then the fear to hatred. No sound was penetrating the clear wall separating them, but Diego could see the man screaming at him. Diego shrugged his shoulders and tried to wave Jenaro a pleasant goodbye. Hr felt his decision was sound. Where was the value in both of them being trapped in this building? With a group of people to guard the wedged doors, Jenaro could be rescued easily. Diego's job was to find that group of people, at least that's what he told himself as he walked away from the screaming man.

And even then the conscience of Douglas Meyers was beginning to reemerge. It had been a faint voice for the last year and absent completely these last few months. Was Diego really searching for people to rescue Jenaro, or was he just taking the easy way out? At the time, Diego's mind had swatted down any feelings of guilt about leaving. His decision was practical and sound. If someone were trapped in quicksand, just jumping in and getting stuck too made no sense. Especially if the stuck someone were Jenaro, a person who would gladly stand on your corpse to keep his head above the quicksand a few minutes longer.

So over the next several weeks, Diego searched for people in the great buildings around him. He stayed outside, never once venturing into a closed building but gratefully bedding down at night under the many sheltered overhangs that protected him from the spring rains. And he would occasionally find outdoor fountains as he traveled, the shallow ponds filled with clear sparkling water. Dying of thirst was not a concern.

Food though was another matter. It was surprising, he had to admit. After the abundance of food at the home hexagon and the great mall below, he had assumed food would also be plentiful about the surface, and he had packed weeks of rations never really thinking he'd need them. On that point he had been grossly mistaken. The open surface areas outside the buildings were devoid of anything he could eat. In the end, would he risk going inside rather than face the certainty of starving to death?

At the beginning of the journey, Diego would have given an immediate yes. But a transformation had occurred in the solitary weeks. Diego began to feel whole again, purified and cleansed of his many sins. The persona of Douglas emerged after its long sleep, first to discuss with Diego and then to dominate. Diego saw nothing of value in the empty wanderings and disappeared without a struggle.

And Douglas by contrast saw everything. His body and mind had regained its soul, its nobility. He was not excusing his past behavior, far from it, and he would try to make amends if he ever got the chance, but for now he had to play the hand he was holding. Douglas might die out here, in fact he probably would die out here, but he would die gracefully as a free human beneath the stars, not as a prisoner trapped and discarded in some unknown room that would serve as his death cell. Douglas had thought the issue carefully, and his heart was at peace with his decision.

And his death was not imminent. Douglas was stretching his food, dropping to half rations almost immediately after his encounter with Jenaro and even more severely in the last several days. He still had food for another two week, perhaps even more if he limited himself to one small meal per day. He wasn't maintaining his weight on such a diet, but he thought he be okay for at least another couple of weeks. After that though, after the food ran out, he had no illusions of what would come next. He just wouldn't have the energy to explore.

And there was so much still to see! In the last few days, Douglas had finally charted the extent of his bounded area. It was huge. He estimated 300 square kilometers, in a rough diamond shape with the flat facets pointing north and a sharper spike to the south. It was a great area surrounded by a imposing perimeter wall and a moat of the strange ivy.

Douglas wanted no part of challenging the ivy or the wall, and as one person he could never explore all the niches of the surface in time. But he would do the best he could, and success would be fabulous and failure would be met with dignity. Douglas studied his handmade charts for a moment and wrote the date Thursday, March 28, 2019 in the margin next to the area he would search today.

He took a moment to admire the speed of the seasons. The day without sun had occurred in mid January. Just a few days after Stan-the-man Santos and his team were killed at Rabbies Dram. Douglas shook his head at the memory. From what they knew now about the census counter, they might have been the largest party of the six, and perhaps the one with the best ability to get quickly organized. All of the frat brothers knew each other. While the other parties were still struggling to get to know each other, Beta Sigma Rho could have displayed true leadership. Instead they spent all their time getting drunk and force fucking the women who were trapped with them.

Diego sighed. It was water over the dam now. Perhaps someday he'd get the chance to ask someone for forgiveness, but for now… He stared briefly at his backpacks. The food would be very welcome and he knew breakfast was the one meal he should not skip. But he decided to wait a bit anyway. Instead he drank his fill from his canteen, and then headed off to a nearby fountain to refill, a short detour before today's exploration.

Six hours later.

Time: Thursday, May 14, 2019 8:51 AM

Ricardo was sitting by his console in the underground monitoring room, and his mouth was beginning to salivate. At last! Jenaro looked as if he was at last stopping his insane wanderings, and of all places, he had chosen to bed down in the kitchen area near the far west end of the great building. Perfect! The room had cooking facilities, freezers, knives for butchering, everything that Ricardo would need. Jenaro was bedding down in the one place that would make it all possible. Ricardo no longer had the strength to drag a corpse anywhere. He was so weak, he could barely walk himself.

Ricardo had found this observation room a week ago, after several days of wandering more endless corridors and stairwells. At first the controls were difficult to understand, but once mastered revealed incredible power and versatility. It wasn't input from fixed camera locations. Rather there was a 180-degree array of monitors circling the front half of his head, and Ricardo could use a joystick to position a virtual observer at any point he wished.

The power was astounding and more than a bit frightening. In his first days of exploration with the device, Ricardo positioned the probe to observe himself. He saw the back of his head in real time and the view of his monitors on his monitors. Ricardo used the joystick to zoom in to eye level and just two meters in back of himself, and then he slowly turned around to see what the probe looked like. He couldn't stop himself. He began to wet his pants as he realized there was nothing there.

After considerable effort, he convinced himself he was not going insane. And over the next several days he experimented with the probe and learned to limits of it use. Playing with it was addictive. Ricardo felt like a god at the controls, and he was bitterly disappointed he had no people to spy upon. But it was still a marvelous tool for reconnaissance. He spent days meticulously tracing all the corridors and closets of the underground clothes storage facility. He was looking for Jessica, both to confirm her death and also perhaps he had a faint hope he would have a use for her body. And the probe was allowing him to search for her, to examine the polygonal rooms and the corridors and the closets far faster than he could ever do on foot, even if he were healthy. What might have taken many weeks, Ricardo did in a few days. The probe was wondrous, but it did have its limits…

Oh, the irony of it! It would not let him see inside the drawers! Ricardo admitted that seemed reasonable. There was no light inside the enclosures, and the probe did not seem to have the ability to illuminate its target area. But why would the console blink what looked suspiciously like an error message whenever Ricardo attempted to penetrate a drawer? Most of the symbols were completely unfamiliar, but there was also a pale pink notice in a black background that read "time = 0."

Time equals zero? What the hell could that mean? There seemed to be no way to puzzle it out without more clues, and that was all he would ever get. Exasperated, Ricardo parked the issue and continued his search outside the drawer areas.

And he found nothing. Jessica had either crawled into a drawer to die, or the servos had disposed of her remains. Ricardo had to admit the second scenario was more likely. Why was he so fixated on her? He had this awful nagging doubt that he was still overlooking something, but what? Once again he had to force his mind to abandon lingering doubts and move on to more immediate concerns. What was in the rest of the building, and was there a way out?

The invisible probe could not be moved outside the building, but inside Ricardo continued his exploration with godlike powers of observation. And late yesterday it had paid off. After days of virtual wandering through art corridors so vast they would dwarf the Louvre, Ricardo gave a hoarse gasp as Jenaro calmly wandered across the monitors' field of view. Jenaro! He was here! And like himself, Ricardo was guessing the former compadre was trapped.

Given his situation, Ricardo's goal seemed obvious. The only major point of consideration was whether to try to pump Jenaro for information first. But what could he possibly know that Ricardo didn't? Ricardo guessed his prey must have wandered into the building complex through another door shortly after he ran off with all the food. All the food… All the food! And then he found he was trapped. End of story, end of Jenaro. Ricardo didn't need to speak with him, and in Ricardo's weakened condition, why take the risk? He just hoped he'd have the strength for the initial work with the knives. After the first few meals, things would be a lot easier.

And Jenaro was being so considerate! He was bedding down in the one room where Ricardo needed him to be. Ricardo giggled as he left the command chair and shuffled over to the backpacks where he kept the guns. So heavy! The guns felt so heavy now! The simple pistol felt as heavy as a big bag of salt. Ricardo was horrified. There was no time to waste!

From his time with the monitors, Ricardo knew exactly the path he needed to take, and he walked through several doors unconcerned about the possibility of return passage. The mortal threat before him overrode all such concerns. In less than an hour of slow shuffling, he was outside the kitchen door. There he paused briefly for one last exam. He had a full clip with the first round chambered and the safety off. Gun in hand, Ricardo slowly and silently pushed the door open.

Perfect! The idiot Jenaro was snoring away. This was almost too easy. Ricardo slipped into the room and walked up to Jenaro until he stood just five meters away. At this range Ricardo could put a bullet through a hole the size of a quarter. Where to aim? Ricardo decided on the head, no use screwing around and besides, he didn't want to damage the other parts of Jenaro's body with gunfire.

Ricardo looked around the kitchen for a moment, and he allowed himself a wide grin. The setup was just as his magical monitors had shown him, large stainless steel sinks and counters. There were even curled edges to the counters that would guide the waste fluids of the butchering into the sink. This setup was perfect! And the side wall had a superb collection of hanging carving knives. The cleaver in particular would be very handy for separating the joints of the bones.

Ricardo's eyes then caught sight of Jenaro's open backpacks, and for a moment a fiery stream of pure hatred pulsed through his veins. The motherfucker! The pisser! He had eaten up all the food, all of it! No wonder he looked so fat! For a moment Ricardo wondered if his first shot should be in the groin, shoot off a nut as punishment for Jenaro's damning lack of obedience. Ricardo almost lowered the pistol from his intended head shot, but then he reconsidered. Jenaro's nut sac would provide a far more delicious revenge if left undamaged. Yes, that's where he would start. Ricardo had once sampled Rocky Mountain oysters, and he found the taste intriguing. He had also enjoyed eating deer testicles and had wondered what the sperm factories of other animals would taste like. His chance to find out had finally arrived.

It was a pity Jenaro would be dead when this happened. Ricardo felt a bit cheated that he had to be giving up the pleasure of torturing the sleeping man. Pain and humiliation were such tried and true methods for administering justice. But they were not the only way, and in his weakened condition, Ricardo just couldn't take the risk.

And perhaps Ricardo could even get Jenaro to cooperate and help with the work Ricardo had to do before his first meal. After all, cooperation can be a beautiful thing sometimes, and be even more valuable than pain. Ricardo sighed deeply as he gave up the pleasure of torture, and as he hoped the sound roused Jenaro. The man blinked his eyes open, and his first sight was that of the pistol, its barrel centered on the bridge of his nose. "Time to be disciplined compadre," Ricardo whispered in a flat voice.

"Jesus! Oh Jesus! I surrender," Jenaro whispered back, his eyes searching for Ricardo's so that he could plead for his life. "Please Ricardo, I surrender!"

"Surrender accepted," Ricardo replied calmly. "Now obey me."

Jenaro began to shake with uncontrollable relief. "I'll do absolutely anything you want."

"Stand up," the man with the gun commanded.

"Sure, Ricardo sure, anything you say." Jenaro complied immediately, stealing shy glances at his master as he did. The man looked so thin!

"Strip naked Jenaro. I have to be sure you're not packing anything."

"Sure, absolutely!" Jenaro fumbled as he tore off his clothes. He was mad with worry and super eager to please the man before him. He also tried not to reveal his shock. His master looked so incredibly thin, everything except his head! Ricardo's head looked huge now in comparison to the rest of his body. His clothes were falling off him.

"Now lie down on the counter there." Ricardo gestured with his hand. For a second he felt a bit dizzy, and he did not trust himself to gesture with the gun and show Jenaro how weak he was. The gun might wobble.

Fear returned to Jenaro's face. "Uh…"

"Lie down on the counter Jenaro. Do it now. Face down, feet together, hands behind your back. I'm going to tie you while I search your gear. Later you can have some clothes back."

Jenaro gasped, a second wave of relief washing over him. "Oh. Yeah, sure man, okay. Thanks Ricardo. I really mean it." He heaved his fat body on the stainless steel counter with a bit of difficulty and then asked meekly, "This okay?" He then shivered. "Brrr! This is cold!"

"Shut up!"

"I'm sorry."

"Wrists together! Ankles together!" Ricardo shouted, though he had no intention of binding Jenaro. The man quivered and obeyed. He even closed his eyes and kept his head pointing straight down in submission, the cold steel pressing into his nose and forehead.

"I'm so sorry Ricardo."

"I told you to shut up! And keep absolutely still."

A moment of silence followed. Jenaro felt the barrel of the pistol nestle into the back of his neck, just where the base of his skull met the top vertebra of his spinal column. He trembled and couldn't hold himself. His bladder valve released and he began to urinate uncontrollably, the piss running down between his legs and draining into the large sink just beyond his feet. Jenaro could feel the liquid hitting his toes.

Ricardo nodded in approval at the direction of the fluid flow. This was going to be so easy. In his former life, Ricardo had often hunted deer, and he was well versed in how to gut and bleed a kill. He probed the compadre's naked body with a finger of his free hand. "Jenaro, you're a fat pig." He pinched the naked man's ass cheeks, and then his hand forced its way between the man's shivering thighs and cupped the scrotum. Jenaro felt Ricardo hefting his testes, as if judging their weight.

"Yes," Ricardo thought silently as he twisted the floppy sac back and forth. "This will be my first cut. It's the right amount of food for a stomach unused to digesting." So easy, one quick slice through the tender skin and connecting cords with a sharp carving knife, that's all it would take. Ricardo would have something in the frying pan in minutes. And the cut would help bleed his kill. Some work would have to be done immediately. The kill had to be bled before the blood coagulated.

But afterwards Ricardo would be busy with a frying pan. He'd pan fry the scrotal skin too, nothing would be wasted. Ricardo thought the fat content of the testes would be very high. Jenaro's hefty two nuts would provide all the grease needed.

Nice beefy orbs, so big and tender hanging between Jenaro's legs, so deliciously plump and fat. One quick slice, right here, starting just below the anus and cutting down. Ricardo would make his first cut from the rear, the body would already be positioned for it, maybe slice off the penis too once the scrotum was detached. But he would save the real butchering work for later. First things first. Ricardo needed to get some strength back.

Stiff fingers returned to probe deeply into the scrotum, measuring the line and angle with a thumbnail where the carving knife would separate the sac from the muscular abdominal area above. Then his fingers ran along the connecting cords, back and forth, probing the succulent cord meat, it would be so nice and chewy. Ricardo paused to make one last gauge of the testes. The left orb felt just a bit plumper. Ricardo grinned as he decided to remember that when the oysters were all fried up and steaming and ready on his plate. It always pays to know what you're eating. And oh, the smell would be so nice!

Jenaro didn't mind what Ricardo was doing. In fact, he welcomed it. He took it as a sign Ricardo was trying to humiliate him. The barrel of the pistol digging into the back and top of his neck, that was still terrifying of course, but damn it, Ricardo was trying to humiliate him! Didn't that prove Ricardo still needed him?! Of course it did! And it made perfect sense. Jenaro would be much more useful alive than dead. Surely Ricardo realized that. Surely!

"Fat," Ricardo whispered as he squeezed the plump left testis between his thumb and forefinger. His hand became a vise and his mouth was drooling in anticipation.

Jenaro grimaced at the pressure and then replied. "I know, I know I'm fat." He continued to whisper meekly, totally misunderstanding. "I ate up all the food. I'm so sorry. I was hungry and there was nothing else to do." And then Jenaro quivered as he remembered Ricardo had ordered him not to speak.