The Thorns Upon the Roses Ch. 09

Chapter 9

All of Week 6 - Part 1

Monday

"Keep up!" Kripke shouted from ahead, and my legs were struggling today. "The work is more fun if we do it together! Not a mile apart!" The noon sun wanted to bake us alive, but it was already much cooler out during the day thanks to autumn showing her face throughout the mountains.

I had started my job with a familiar face, Kripke, but not before having had a conversation with the Doc this morning.

We were together for only a moment, but she explained how the work placement would be carried forth. Depending on who required assistance, I was to report to them for my shift. The projects could be as short as they need, or even span multiple weeks if needed. Luckily, Kripke needed a hand with some work around the compound, so my first day was spent with her outside.

"See where the road turns off into the treeline?" Kripke pointed ahead another few hundred feet. "That's where we will set up the first station." She forced herself ahead, pulling a cart behind her that carried various boxes and sets of supplies. I struggled from behind, carrying a backpack and a duffel bag, both were obnoxiously heavy.

As we arrived, I let everything drop to the ground and collapsed in the grass against a large grey tree. "Avery," I said in between panting breaths, "what the hell are we doing with all of this?"

"I told you that I would tell you when we got here. Well, now we are here!" She pointed at the duffel bag, "Open that and take out one set of the broadcasters."

Similar in size to a Roomba, these black cylinders were extremely heavy, and they were laced with small faces that seemed to contain hundreds of smaller compartments. I didn't know enough about robotics or engineering to begin to understand how this worked.

Kripke did understand, however. With ease, Avery reached over and pulled the broadcaster from my hand and walked over to the trees. "The Doc has been requesting these little monsters for a while! It took a few months, but they have finally arrived. Today, we are going around our perimeter and setting these broadcasters up. It shouldn't be too much work." She set the cylinder down and pressed a button on the side. The cylinder began to form limbs of wire-framed legs that came together to form a point. The shape was now a cone. Kripke lifted it up, turned it so that the point was facing the ground, and slammed it down! "This will help anchor the broadcaster into the earth. We have to sit by it for a few minutes while it boots up and runs a few programs, but that's our job for today."

I wiped off a bead of sweat from my forehead. "And why is the security guard tasked with this? Doesn't seem like there is much to protect out here."

Kripke patted the rifle on her back.

"Black bears start to come out and forage a bit more before hibernating for the winter. I've only ever spotted them from afar, but I don't feel like being eaten alive out here today."

I nodded in agreement, and a light clicked green on the gadget in the ground.

Kripke said, "The hard part is over. Help me out at the cart and we'll be done in a minute or two while this starts sending relays to the manor."

The machine blipped and bleeped while Kripke and I began to unpack the cart. A few other anchors, and a small trail camera to fasten onto a nearby tree. We positioned the camera and tested the feed on a tablet that Kripke held onto. A few minutes later, the broadcaster chirped out a successful alert.

"One down, 11 to go!"

I groaned as we began packing up our things and started further down the trail.

---

"Despite your sarcastic attitude," Kripke said as we began to head south toward the fourth spot, "you are still more fun to work with than Blair."

"It's not sarcastic," I moaned. I was covered in bug bites. Sweat poured down my back. I chipped a nail pulling out the third broadcaster. My butt plug was starting to become a little too much for me to handle. "I'm genuinely not enjoying this all-day hike."

"But you get to skip class." She tapped a finger to her head. "Think of the positives."

"I'd rather be there today, learning about some god-forsaken obscurity that the Doctor believes to be important."

"You all do learn some odd things. What was it that you were all talking about at breakfast the other day?"

"Colombian obleas. Little treats they have that are filled with this caramel-like filling."

Kripke laughed.

"Yeah, I don't know either," I said.

"Sometimes I think it sounds fun," Kripke said. "It's like turning on the television to some random channel and just watching the documentaries that are on for the day."

"I think it'd be more fun if you weren't also a prisoner at the same time."

There was a silence that Kripke didn't push through. It had been weeks since my arrival, and I still echoed the words she told me on my first few days.

"Between us girls, you're kind of making them freak out. Keep it up. I like it."

But I was hitting a wall for myself. It was harder to find the sarcasm and optimism in something that no longer had a shock of arrival. I had been living here for six weeks, and it was truly sinking in that I had almost 16 more months to go. Nearly 68 more weeks!

With those that were closer to me, I had begun letting my guard down, and my insecurities were starting to bottle up less and less. I knew without a doubt that this was a result of the Doctor's new trial that I was partaking in. I could guess that my estrogen levels were starting to override my testosterone with fury, and it lead to me feeling weaker physically, and more emotionally vulnerable. I would find myself getting thoroughly upset with myself over simple things, and I couldn't figure out which emotions I was actively feeling. It had only been a few days of the new prescription, and my body was being ravished from the inside out.

It wouldn't take much to look at me and notice a change, but most people kept their observations to themselves. All of the other women in the compound had been experiencing my effects already. It was nothing new to them.

Kripke however seemed more alerted by this change, and I could tell she felt something toward my inner conflict.

"Hey, Jess," she started.

But her role in the compound kept her bound.

"...We should keep moving. Think you can push a little faster? I think there are some clouds up ahead that aren't going to be very nice to us."

---

The rain arrived in light taps as we finished the seventh broadcaster.

"In the bag!" Kripke said, "There should be a poncho for each of us."

"Got it!"

We were farther south than I had ever been before, and the trek had taken us down the steep hills. The cart was left behind at one of the broadcasters that was still near the trail. Now, we pushed on through wild countryside as Kripke navigated through her tablet.

I said as we pulled the ponchos over our heads, "I see now why Blair wasn't so interested in this work."

"Oh, she was just a baby! She would have the worst attitude from waking up early. I made sure she worked with me as little as possible."

As Kripke pulled her poncho on, I watched her rifle with a curious hunger.

She pulled the gun over her shoulder and nodded again. "Let's push out to the eighth. Almost done!"

We trudged further down the mountain.

The rain stayed light and manageable for a while, but in pockets of random chance, a brief downpour of hard raindrops would slap our faces or poke our eyes. With a flash of lightning illuminating the afternoon outside even more, I noticed the beam reflecting off of something to the left ahead.

"Hey, Avery," I patted her shoulder and pointed, "what's over there?"

"It's a property-line fence. We have these pretty far out to keep outsiders from poking around. I wouldn't touch it, though." As we got closer, I could see the high voltage sign hanging among the wires. "We have these signs out here as our property starts to approach some of the other nearby occupied properties." The lightning flashed again off of the sign, and it shined directly into my eyes.

---

"So, are you joining us?"

Avery slammed the 11^th broadcaster into the ground as she replied, "I don't think I was really invited." She wiped sweat off her forehead. "And I was never any good at slumber parties." The rain had stopped, and now the humidity was casting layers of water across our bodies.

I rolled my eyes. "You have to come! Chelsea's birthday is an open-invite sort of party. We will just plan to spend the night at the lake house on Friday. And also, it is impossible to be bad at a sleepover."

"I just wasn't invited to them as a kid. Okay, maybe once, but even then, it was with my cousins." Avery laughed, "There is something truly traumatizing about sharing a sleeping bag with your older brother when you are fifteen and he is sixteen."

"I didn't know you had a brother."

She nodded, "Yeah. Issac lives in Ireland now, so I don't see him often. We talk pretty often though."

I asked her directly, "Does he know what you... do... for a living?"

"Sure. Parts of it." Kripke bit at her lip before looking up at me. "When I started, I had to sign various NDAs, so I tell him that truth and key him into bits of my job. I tell him I work security for a research company within the Appalachia, and that's pretty realistic." She pointed at the duffel bag. "Hand me that screwdriver. This one has a piece stuck."

With a click, a twist, then a beep, the broadcaster chirped to life. We sat in the grass and waited for the signal to connect.

Avery looked to me, "What do you guys even do at sleepovers? Just trash the Doctor and this whole thing?"

"Oh sure," I said. "I've only been once, but we also just talk a lot about whatever. Once Abby came down from her latest batch of pills, she just vented about everything. Blair usually just sits nearby quietly. Maddie and I will usually press Chelsea to drink a little more than she should, because when Chelsea drinks, she starts telling us stories."

"What kind of stories?"

"Chelsea worked on a lot of smaller film sets and studios when she was in college, so she met a handful of actors. When she is sober, she won't talk about them all. When she drinks... she tells us which ones are into WEIRD stuff behind the scenes."

Avery laughed. "Like whom?"

"You'll have to go!"

We both laughed before I said, "But be ready. We drank a lot last time. Something tells me it'll be even more this time."

---

Tuesday

"None of you have heard from Blair?"

We sat in the class shaking our heads. Class had started twenty-five minutes ago, and Blair was still absent.

Our first lesson was ending, and as much fun as "The History of the Stick Shift" had seemed, we were all hoping for something to show up and interrupt the lesson. Chelsea was the first to help with the distraction.

"I was talking to her last night. Everything seemed fine then. I'm guessing she overslept."

"With Blair, perhaps." The Doctor said, "I think that girl needs a proper reminder of how schedules are the lifeblood of a successful character."

"Maybe just a few more minutes," Chelsea added. "I bet she will show up soon."

The Doctor breathed out heavily, and she began to prepare her notes for our new lesson.

"It's a shame Abby is under the weather today. She would have enjoyed today's lectures. Have any of you checked in on her today?"

"No," I said. "I imagined she needed to sleep it off."

The Doctor nodded as she continued to rifle through her papers.

Maddie said to me, "Jess, you wanna come over after classes and stuff? We could try and beat a few more levels today."

"Count me in." I looked over at Chelsea, who was halfway listening in on the conversation. "Chels, you wanna come?"

"I was going to be offended if this little club you two made didn't send me an invite soon enough."

"Club?" Maddie laughed, "We just hang out and play some video games."

"Gross. I'll be there. Want me to bring some food? I can ask Jacques to fix up something!"

Maddie looked at me with a huge display, filled with dramatics. Her eyes rolled, she bit on her bottom lip, and made a show with her hand as if she were covering the sound from going in Chelsea's direction. "I bet Jacques can fix up something for Chels!"

Chelsea played the ignorant card and acted as if she didn't hear anything.

I also feigned ignorance and returned with a face of confusion and shock. My jaw dropped slightly.

The Doctor cut us off. "Ladies, quiet down. It's time to begin discussing the culture that has begun trending around crystals and the powers that some believe to be within these rocks."

"I'll fill you in later," Maddie said as we flipped to a new page of notes and began writing alongside the lecture.

"To preface, this is all nonsense. There are no powers within crystals, nor is there anything to obtain beside a nice set of jewelry, or perhaps a solid paperweight. Yet, some foolish people believe that there is something—"

The door to the class creaked open as Blair appeared like a phantom in the doorway. "Sorry I'm late, guys."

I gasped. Maddie gulped. Chelsea was frozen.

The Doctor's mouth formed the sinister shape of a lioness, snarling at an oncoming threat. Her teeth were bared, and her lip curled up. "What did you do?"

"Me?" Blair asked with a terrifying smile.

Standing in the spotlight, Blair was no longer Blair. Overnight, she had given herself a haircut. A shortened buzz across her head gave herself a crude, yet unmistakably, men's haircut with the front gelled up at a small point. Rather than wearing anything remotely feminine. Blair wore some athletic shorts and a t-shirt. And to top it all off, Blair had acquired a five o' clock shadow that was thick and dark. If someone had told me that this man standing in our lecture hall could be Blair, I would have laughed at them for hours.

The Doctor continued, "Blair, go back to your room, and fix yourself."

"Blair? I don't see Blair anymore." With a confidence and rebellious gesture, Blair - or whoever this was - walked over and sat alongside me at our table. They placed their notebook down and added, "My name is Blake. I don't know anyone named Blair."

Maddie gasped, "Oh God, no." I looked over and there were tears welling up in her eyes.

The Doctor pulled out a phone. "Yes, Miss Kripke. I need you in the lecture hall immediately. There is some unpleasantness taking place this morning."

"Blair," Maddie hissed out, "go back and fix yourself. What are you doing!?"

Blair, or Blake, looked over at us and smiled as wide as one could. In fact, I had never seen Blair smile before, not without some sorrow tucked away in her eyes. In front of me was undoubtably Blake, and he smiled with a radiance that was genuine.

A moment later, Kripke appeared.

Blake didn't put up a fight, and the two left immediately into the hallway.

The Doctor said, "I think that is enough for one day. Class is dismissed."

Maddie jumped up, "Please don't hurt Blair. She is just going through something. Let me talk to her!"

"Blair isn't in any danger." The Doctor grabbed her things and walked to the door. "Didn't you hear? Blake is the one who is in trouble."

---

"What do you mean you don't want to talk about it?"

Maddie paced around her room with gasoline in her steps, speaking aloud to anyone who would listen. Chelsea laid on her bed eating bites of bruschetta as she read a graphic novel. I sat in the bean bag, wondering what would happen to Blair.

Maddie continued. "Chelsea, what is the matter with you?"

"With me? What can I even do? We all knew Blair was the black sheep of this group. There was no way she was going to stick it out. In fact, I thought she lasted longer than I originally expected."

I interjected, "Wait, lasted longer? They won't... Blair will be back, right?"

Maddie sat down on the bed and whimpered. "I don't know, Jess. They don't usually come back to the program after this."

"Usually?" I asked, "Have there been others that did this?"

"I'm almost done. I have two months left and then I get to go home, or wherever I return to. But, in my time here, I've seen a handful of girls go through that sort of breakdown. I haven't seen them come back. Not a single one."

Chelsea turned on her side away from us. "Remember Rachel?"

Maddie nodded, "She was so cool. I came in just after her, and for about five months we were as thick as thieves. Then, one day Rachel showed up to dinner with this attitude that was so fierce and... Chelsea had only been here a week or so."

I was in shock. Subconsciously, I knew that there a looming veil of lethality if we fell out of line, but it seemed like a dream, something far away behind my sleep. Now it felt like I was starting to wake up.

"Madeline, I'm sure there's something we can do. We could go talk to the Doctor and—"

She shook her head. "Chelsea is right. We just need to... We need to just push on and keep our heads low for a while." Nodding to herself, Maddie convinced herself, "Yeah, you know what? We have one another, and that's all that matters. And there is still something we need to discuss." Maddie pushed one of Chelsea's legs. "How's the food? I'm so curious about how you and your friend Jacques are doing?"

"For starters," Chelsea rolled over and wiped back some tears from her face. "We are just friends. And the food is magnificent."

To the girls, this was nothing new. Grief was hidden in their humor, but there was also a pale numbness that they clearly had chiseled into some wonderous façade, because I was almost unable to take a deep breath.

I started running everything through my mind. Every action I had taken. Every sarcastic word I had said. Every night of sleepless frustration, taken out through mumbles or sprawled notes that were torn to shreds in the morning. Had I been close? Had I done just enough that I hadn't crossed that final line, but teetered over it blindly? Then I thought about my night in the woods, spying on the Doctor and Maddie. Had she seen me? Hadn't she?

Chelsea noticed my expression, or lack thereof, and said, "Jess, take a deep breath. You're okay."

"Yeah, but," I stammered, "what if I'm not?"

"What do you mean?"

Even though the rooms were bugged, I started talking.

"I'm constantly pushing and poking the Doc, and I never thought it would be any sort of problem. Then today happened, and I am not so sure that these have been smart decisions. I can tell the Doc doesn't like me, and I have to be one smartass move from being taken care of by Kripke."

Then I thought about Kripke. I couldn't possibly picture her as a friend after realizing what she might do to Blair.

Maddie giggled softly, "Hey, relax chica. I can assure you that all of your little comments are just scratching the surface compared to what would really piss off the ole Doctor. When we all show up, that sarcastic personality is a natural coping mechanism for plenty of us. For most of us, it goes away over time, but there is no harm in it sticking around. The staff here expects hostility, but they also demand some cooperation." She leaned back and grabbed a snack from Chelsea's plate. "Plus, we all get punished for being naughty." She winked as she popped the piece of bread in her mouth."

Chelsea chimed in, "And I'm guessing your punishments are getting more intense?"

"What," I asked?

Chelsea said, "You are totally right. The Doctor has it out for you right now, but that's probably just because you are a bit of an asshole to the staff. Kudos for that, by the way! But with being in danger, you're only real fear should be of what brand-new sexual torture idea the Doc and her team come up with. We've all been there, and I noticed you had a lack of a... bulge during the last few days." She chomped away on her snack. "Can I see what they have you wearing now?"