The A-genda

Assembled for transportation, the detainees waited to see who they would identify as. The detainment unit was dank, with grey concrete walls, it was a stuffy, airless space where every sound reverberated. Occasionally there was a metallic sound of metal scraping, usually another detainee moving around.

‘Next!’ barked the desk officer.

Slowly, each young detainee shuffled forward. The officer had a gruff manner, with an urgency in their voice. They forcefully grabbed the next detainee by the wrist.

‘Hold still so your ID tattoo can be scanned. Okay, now confirm your date of birth?’

‘June 26, 2036.’

‘Oh, three sixes… do hope you aren’t going to be any trouble!’ the officer sniggered.

The petrified detainee shook their head.

‘Shame, little thing looks like a frightened rabbit caught in the headlines right before – splat!’ they laughed sadistically.

The officer looked down the list on the pad. Scraping across the surface of the screen they made an amendment. The sound of the pen against the battered screen set everybody’s ears on edge.

‘So, for your time at the Facility, you’ll reside in tower Block E and identify as Eden. See what we did there, 6.6.6?’ they laughed again.

The newly named Eden put their head down.

‘What’s wrong, Eden? It’s all right for you, they only identified you as a garden. Could be worse, someone in C Block identifies as a Carrot.’

‘Quiet! This is what we call the process and are just assigning names – nothing else.’

‘It was a joke, don’t say it’s another A-genda update. Or is humour stripped from our curriculum too?’ the outspoken detainee asked.

The desk officer scowled across the desk.

‘Of course, they never removed humour, the place was always as amusing as swallowing broken glass. What’s taking so long, should have been on the road ages ago,’ the detainee thought.

A guard entered the room.

‘Are the next batch processed yet? They are expecting us at the Facility!’ said the guard angrily.

‘We’re ready, aren’t we, Eden?’ declared the detainee pulling Eden towards them.

‘Hold on a second, you are not processed yet.’

The detainee held out their wrist to scan. The guard and officer looked suspiciously at one another.

‘It doesn’t take that long to process somebody, been there before… well?’

The detainee was nervous, awaiting a decision. The officer stared at their pad.

‘Okay, you’re right. You have been there before, five times before… you will be in max security Block A and identified as Ardenne. We’ll see if they can properly correct you this time?’ they smiled.

‘Not a chance… Ardenne, really? WTH,’ they whispered to themselves.

The officer nodded to the guard. Ardenne turned to Eden and winked.

‘Ardenne, what a name… still, could have been worse could have been something else beginning with Ar…’

They were escorted out into the rain. Ardenne and Eden were bundled into the last cages in the rear of the waiting security van. The guard slammed the door and hurriedly sped away. Ardenne and Eden slammed against the cage.

‘Somebody’s in a hurry. Forgot to tell you to grab hold of something.’

Eden was shaken, on edge and pressed themselves against the cage. In comparison, the outspoken Ardenne appeared extremely unfazed.

‘Thanks.’

‘So, Block E, your first time at the Facility, eh? You do look terrified, but not surprised. Those 5 oppressive round towers, being judged and watched every single minute,’ Ardenne shuddered.

‘Is it as bad as they say?’

Ardenne sighed, then moved closer to the cage.

‘Worse! What you are not warned about is how it sets your teeth on edge or affects your hearing. Have been left with permanent hearing loss,’ they said, pointing to their hearing implant.

Eden cringed and shuddered at the prospects.

‘But what if you could make this all go away?’ Ardenne waved their hand in a goodbye gesture.

‘How?’

‘Imagine the van stopped and the doors opened with us in the middle of nowhere. Would you run?’

‘Hypothetically?’

‘Of course!’ Ardenne smiled.

‘Then, hypothetically speaking, like a shot! Yeah, if only…’ Eden thought for a moment, then shrugged.

The van’s engine noise changed. Ardenne’s eyes closed, and they listened. Eden watched as Ardenne appeared to mentally recite directions.

‘Well, consider it…’

The van turned right off the main road. Apart from the red rectangle rear reflectors of the van disappeared into the darkness. There was only a narrow, single-lane track hidden in the woods to the Facility.

‘What are you doing?’ Eden enquired.

Ardenne’s eyes opened, and they smiled.

‘Remembering. So, do you know why you’re here? What was your crime?’

‘Because we’re not learning enough at school to turn into a good citizen. How about you?’

‘Is that what you’re told? Well, you might say I have the opposite problem. I know too bloody much!’

Eden’s expression changed to curiosity.

‘I know what came before the A-genda. There used to be two genders, called male and female.’

With their index finger raised to indicate a male, then made a circular shape with their other hand to suggest a female. Eden looked on…

‘No, seriously?’

‘Seriously!’ their eyes lit up. ‘We used to refer to ourselves with I, me and my… as you notice, I still do,’ they laughed. ‘But since everything had to be harmonised and controlled including human beings, we must conform to the A-genda…’

‘First person to ever say that, though would explain a lot of things,’ Eden thought.

‘And every young person that doesn’t is sent to be… oh, what’s the term? Reconditioned… at a Facility, ironically in of all places Middlesex,’ they sniggered. ‘Of course, it used to house a women’s prison.’

‘Pardon?’

‘Oh sorry, that was one of the genders, they used to separate men and women; in toilets, changing rooms and prisons.’

‘Seriously? How did they forget about all that?’

Ardenne’s eyes rolled, and they shook their head.

‘They didn’t, they ditched history because it referred to one of the genders and its replacement, theirstory is still being – decided,’ they winked.

Eden seemed amazed by this new outlook.

‘Is this one of those so-called initiations we were warned might happen?’ they thought.

The security van began to slow. They looked at each other as Ardenne’s cuffs dropped to the floor.

‘Oops, how did that happen?’ they smiled. ‘So, have you decided if you’re coming with me?’

‘You’re being serious then?’ there was panic in Eden’s voice.

‘Either way, head down and mouth shut!’

The van came to a stop. Ardenne’s eyes closed, and they remained silent waiting for something to happen. Suddenly, there was a sound of glass breaking. There was shouting but couldn’t make out what was being yelled.

‘What’s going on?’ Eden asked.

Ardenne flashed a wide grin and tapped their nose with their index finger. Next, there was a chinking of keys before a masked figure opened the doors.

‘Now that’s what I’m talking about. My, my, aren’t you a sight for sore eyes!’

‘Ready to go… is it just you?’ asked the figure.

Ardenne paused, looked towards Eden and motioned to join them. Eden curled up and slunk back into the shadows.

‘Just me… come on!’

‘Which key is it?’

‘Who knows? FFS, just hurry up!’

The figure disappeared before dragging a guard to the back of the van. The guard had a black eye and was visibly shaken.

‘Here are the keys, we can’t figure out which one it is, so you open the cage.’

‘Not sure either…’ the guard muttered.

The figure had hold of a large batten which was bloodstained.

‘Don’t you dare piss me about!’

The guard, while shaking, they tried two or three keys before the cage clanked open. Ardenne leapt from the van and hugged their liberator. But with the two of them distracted, the guard seized their chance. They snatched the bloodied batten, swiftly broke up the embrace and proceeded to garrotte a startled Ardenne.

‘Easy, easy… let us go, and we’re out of here no more trouble.’

‘Trouble? Bloody trouble? Nobody was meant to be injured, this eye is killing… not to mention the nasty gash the other guard received. The price just doubled!’

‘Get stuffed!’

The guard pulled the batten even tighter against Ardenne’s throat.

‘Let them go!’ cried Eden as they threw themselves from the back of the van into the guard who collided headfirst against the door. Eden then grabbed the door and thrust it against the guard again. Ardenne got to their feet.

‘Where did that come from? You appeared to be possessed! Though, must say, very grateful Eden. You must come with me now,’ they said fist-bumping their chest.

Eden knelt beside the unconscious guard. They felt the grass between their fingers. Eden’s eyes closed as they took a breath. Ardenne looked down and smiled.

‘You know what that feeling is… freedom!’

‘What should we do? Stay and take the punishment. Or run away and look over your shoulder for years…’ Eden thought.

‘Thanks, but no. Running away scares us more than the thought of the Facility.’

Ardenne took Eden by the hand.

‘What a strange feeling,’ Eden thought as they trembled with excitement.

‘Okay then, be strong, don’t show them you bleed. Never give up and never give in. Even if you keep it to yourself – question everything. Best life!’

They bumped elbows before Ardenne left.

‘Best life…’ Eden trailed off as Ardenne swiftly disappeared into the dark, haunting backdrop of the woods.

Later That Evening

Sometime later the bruised and bloodied guards pulled themselves together. They locked Eden in and completed the journey to the Facility. The van doors opened; Eden’s eyes needed time to adjust to the limited light. Then suddenly, as the cloud broke the moonlight picked out the sheen of the brick on the Facility’s 5 towers.

'Oh, it’s even more awful than Ardenne said, or we could have imagined,’ Eden thought.

Eden was escorted towards the fifth oppressing round brick tower. There was a huge black 10-foot E painted on the wall. They entered through a set of doors. In the middle of the tower was a central watch console with guards and cameras. Above that was a raised glass dome that Eden could see the night sky through.

‘What happened to you? We expected this individual hours ago,’ a guard asked as they approached.

‘We’ll just say, not everybody transported actually made it as far as the Facility,’ the guard muttered.

The guard grabbed Eden’s wrist and scanned their tattoo.

‘Awww, that’s hot!’

‘Quiet, we’re waiting for your information…’ the guard momentarily glanced away from the screen. ‘Ah, Eden, welcome! So, it says your group were reassigned to this country to work the land, is that correct?’

‘Well, eh…’

‘Eden! A straight yes or no. And address us correctly! Yes, Handler…’ they boomed.

‘Okay, yes, Handler. And we were…’

‘Tattoo activated!’ the handler muttered.

The handler took a step closer to Eden. They grabbed Eden by the chin, tilted their head and sniffed.

‘We can smell you.’

‘Well, it was a long journey…’

The handler's gaze was chilling.

‘Handler,’ Eden smiled.

‘What is that? Can we smell blood?’

‘Not ours.’

‘Really? You are an unusual specimen. Blue eyes,’ they paused. ‘Those are extremely rare these days!’

‘Please stop staring at me…’ Eden thought, shuddering.

The handler appeared to lose interest and walk away. A siren sounded; Eden looked to the right and left as people hurried past. Another boarder bumped into Eden and winked before thrusting a blanket and pillow into Eden’s arms.

‘That siren means 15 minutes ‘til lights out. Pleased to meet you…’

‘And you. The name’s Eden, apparently.’

‘Ejiofor.’

‘Would bump elbows but these arms are full,’ Eden laughed.

Next Morning

At the crack of dawn, there was that shrilled siren again and the lights all switched on together.

‘Oh, jeez!’ Eden exclaimed as though in pain. ‘Why are those lights so bright? That siren is ringing in our ears! Let us guess… 15-minute warning?’

The other person in the cell, Emila, stared at the ceiling blankly.

‘What was that?’ they muttered.

Eden’s eyes rolled, still a little dazed.

‘How long do we have?’

‘Oh, quite a while actually.’

‘So, half an hour?’ Eden enquired.

‘No, not that long. Just about 30 minutes…’

‘This is going to be a long day,’ Eden groaned.

Thirty minutes on and everybody was assembled on the ground floor of E block.

‘Now everybody is accounted for. We have a fresh new face this morning. Before heading for the showers, let’s go over the rules,’ the handler stated.

The boarders shuffled about uncomfortably.

‘Eden, you are looking at your Handler, what we say goes!’ they said pointing to themselves. ‘The rules are simple and are written around the walls to reinforce the A-genda. We prefer to think of this as a boarding, educational facility… see,’ the handler pointed:

SAVED FROM IGNORANCE BY THE A-GENDA.

‘Re-educational facility,’ somebody muttered.

Eden looked around at the slogans.

‘All of you are here to forget your pasts, theirstory will not be spoken about – ever. Only the A-genda, the present and future exist in these walls. You are centralised here so your progress can be monitored.’

The handler pointed towards Eden.

‘Eden, do you know what the central tower is for?’

‘Obvious, isn’t it…?’ they mumbled.

‘Well, in case it isn’t. Everybody is being watched 24 hours a day.’

‘What about at night?’ Emila asked.

Ejiofor elbowed them in the ribs.

‘Aww!’

‘We’ll have silence! You’re all being watched, day and night. Even the rather half-witted, Emila, should be able to understand that. Now, all of you line up, take a porridge ball and head downstairs to the shower block!’

As they made their way through sections of the building checkpoints beeped. Eden looked on curiously. Another boarder pointed to the tattoo they all had.

‘Oh, right,’ Eden smiled.

Everybody congregated outside the long, thin shower block.

‘Remember, as per the A-genda’s rules, once in there look straight ahead at the face of the person in front of you, nothing else!’ boomed the handler behind them.

Down the centre of the room was a long, frosted glass divider. On either side were small partitions to stand under the warm running water. As instructed, the boarders stripped and took turns before moving aside.

‘Three minutes each, wash and get out… hurry!’

Momentarily, Eden lost concentration and dropped their towel. Suddenly, a figure towered over Eden as they recovered their composure as well as their modesty. Afraid, Eden slowly peered up at the intimidating figure.

‘What’s that? Never seen anything like that between somebody’s legs before…’ Eden thought.

Eden’s eyes got a bit further up to the chest area.

‘What are those swellings?’ Eden thought.

Then the individual grabbed Eden forcefully by the cheek.

‘Had a good look, fresher? The A-genda promotes the strongest specimens,’ pointing to themselves. ‘So, we’ll devour weaklings like you!’

Eden could feel their heart pounding and was visibly shaken. The intimidating other boarder looked Eden up and down before running their hands inside Eden’s towel.

‘Please don’t…’ Eden nervously whispered.

‘Shhhh! That’s why they call you freshers… fresh meat,’ they said sniffing as they licked their fingers and glared intimidatingly.

Trembling, Eden was frozen to the spot.

‘You are a nervous little thing… BOO!’ the boarder laughed.

Eden’s eyes pricked with tears. They pulled their towel together, pulled away and fled the shower block. Eden raced back up the stairs to their cell, slammed the bars shut, kicked off their shoes, threw down their towel, threw themselves on the bed, kicked the wall and began to cry.

‘Ah, our bloody toe!’ they said rolling into a ball and clenching their foot.

Emila, drying their hair, looked across with a twinkle in their eye.

‘Good shower, Eden?’

‘Oh shit, seriously?’

Emila stared back with a vacant expression.

‘Emila is as thick as the ball of porridge they gave us for breakfast,’ Eden thought.

‘Good shower? Good shower? Oddly enough, no it bloody wasn’t. Everything about it was even more horrific than we could have imagined this bloody Godforsaken hole to be.’

‘Shhh… be quiet, fresh! There’s no saying the G-word or you will lose social credits,’ said a voice from the next cell.

‘Social credits?’ Eden mouthed to Emila, who nodded.

‘It’s the incentive part of the…’

But Eden would not let Emila finish.

‘No, please don’t say it… if we hear the A-genda once more today we’re going to scream. And to think Eden, we could have avoided all this by following Ardenne out of that bloody van,’ Eden said grabbing their hair in both fists.

‘But Eden, you just said it.’

‘Yes, we know… just, you do you, if you must. But get lost and leave us alone!’

As they lay in bed, Eden could see another of the slogans painted on the wall opposite:

THE PAST HAS NO RELEVANCE.

‘What are they on about? We can’t get lost in here, somebody always tells us where we should be. Eden seems strange – but nice. We do hope they are okay,’ Emila thought while drying their hair.

Lunch Time

Eden had been to their first classes. They were in line waiting for their first meal. With their tray in hand, Eden was looking for somewhere to sit. Then, in the sea of faces, they spotted Emila wave over.

‘Is it okay to join you all? Apologies if we upset you earlier…’

Emila shook their head quite oblivious.

‘Oh, Eden these are Efe and Ejiofor. What Ejiofor says, goes they are Guardian around here.’

‘Everything okay? You look rather flustered,’ Ejiofor enquired.

‘Like what you saw in the showers? That’s the reason we’re strictly meant to look ahead!’ Efe laughed.

‘Seriously? What were we meant to see?’

‘Well, before the A-genda they allowed everybody to fancy who or whatever they liked. Now, we're on the next phase, where there is no difference, we're all the same and all meant to be bleeding asexual and not fancy anything...' Ejiofor explained. 'Fancy? What do you mean by fancy?'

‘Oh, come on, fancy... to really, really like something. How else can we explain it?'

‘Eden, do you enjoy eating?' Efe asked.

‘Of course.'

'Shame, you'll not enjoy eating anything in here...'

'Thanks, Efe. The point is, you like some foods more than others, right?'

'Oh yeah, could always gobble up...'

Ejiofor slapped their hand across Eden's mouth.

'Well, whatever you do, don't tell us what the dish is. We'll all become nostalgic... so anyway, in the past, as with food, some people liked other people better than others. Understand now?'

Eden nodded.

'What? And Eden would gobble them up you mean?' Emila asked.

Ejiofor began to cringe.

'That all depends...'

'On what?' Emila queried.

BANG!

The table shook as the handler slammed something down in front of them.

‘What do we have here?’

‘Nothing much.’

The handler leaned over and gave Ejiofor an icy stare.

‘Oh, sorry. Nothing much, handler.’

Everything appeared to stop when they were around.

‘Just finding common ground.’

‘That’s funny, so no handlers were mentioned?’ they said pointing to themselves.

‘Hard to say really… did you hear the word shithouse mentioned?’ Efe muttered.

The handler sneered at them from the corner of their beady eye.

‘Your social credits are dwindling by the hour, Efe. So, if we heard correctly, you know what will happen.’

‘What’s new?’ Efe thought.

The handler turned tail and walked away. They marched away and headed for the doors. At the door, they brushed shoulders with another border. It was the person from the showers, Eden shuddered. Emila looked on curiously.

‘Who is that?’

‘Oh, that’s Ebola…’ Emila scowled.

‘Ebola? Are they as terrible as their name suggests?’

‘No, no, they’re not. They’re quite a nasty piece of work!’

Eden’s eyes rolled.

‘That means terrible, WTH, Emila,’ Eden thought.

The siren went to alert them that it was time for the next sitting. They got up and cleared their tables.

‘So, Eden, how’s it going?’

Eden shrugged.

‘Got a good cellmate. Emila’s good company, but a bit infuriating. Put it this way, it’s like the lights are on but there’s nobody on patrol.’

‘Can say that again,’ Eden thought.

For the first time since their arrival, Eden smiled.

Later That Week

Eden returned from the exercise yard. They collected a cup of tea before Efe waved them over to the table. Eden lifted their cup and stopped mid-air.

'That's strange... listen!'

'What is it?'

'Can you not hear that? The tea is making a crackling sound.'

'Oh, that? Funnily enough, you stop hearing that after a while.'

Eden stirred the tea but continued to listen.

'It's the controlants they use,’ Efe emphasised.

Eden looked on curiously.

'Of course, we can't be sure if it’s the drugs,' Ejiofor pointed to the tea.

'Or the low-frequency sounds they bombard us with? But we become desensitised in these round walls – perfect acoustics.'

‘Seriously? Ever thought of forming a band?’ Eden laughed.

‘Sure. Then we break out of here and call it Band on the run, perhaps?’ Efe smiled.

‘Been meaning to ask, did you see who escaped?’

Reluctantly, Eden nodded.

‘Who was it?’

‘Seriously? We’re all assigned names. You wouldn’t know what they were identified as anyway…’ Eden paused for a moment. ‘Though it was their fifth time here if that helps?’

A broad smile spread across Ejiofor’s face as they looked around the table.

‘Well done, Sam! Sorry, that’s their name outside of here. They said no matter what, they wouldn’t return.’

All the boarders knocked on the table while Eden looked on.

‘In here, Sam was a rare soul. They’d seen, felt and done things most of us couldn’t possibly imagine. See what that says?’ they pointed to words on the wall:

THE A-GENDA, BALANCING THE THREE E’S.

‘A balanced world, that is at the expense of everything else. It includes freedom which will be lost in time, like pebbles on the beach.’

They saw the handler approaching, and quickly everybody got up and left the table. The handler stepped in front of Eden and circled, making them uncomfortable. Now and then the handler began jabbing Eden with a finger.

‘Please don’t!’

‘Don’t what?’

The handler stopped parallel to Eden and stared intensely. They jabbed Eden over and over.

‘Pardon? Somebody wants you…’ the handler gestured.

Eden turned quickly as the handler pulled out an injection. Swiftly, they stuck it into Eden’s arm.

‘What was that?’ Eden scowled.

‘Just a bit of a prick,’ they said before walking away.

Eden rubbed their arm.

‘We know you are, but we asked what you just did?’

‘Okay, Eden?’ Efe asked.

Eden nodded.

‘Don’t worry, the handlers purposely unnerve us, especially that specimen. Stay clear of them. It feels like a shark circling, looking into your soul with their cold, psychotic beady eyes. Can’t stand them, shifty bugger!’

‘Talking about the handler?’ Ejiofor enquired.

‘How did you guess?’

‘Probably the term psychotic beady eyes…’

‘And the rest!’ they laughed.

‘It seems as though they stick close to us to feed off our pain. Don’t let them get to you too much though.’

‘Why?’

‘Because they’ll sense if you’re not tough enough to survive this place. That you don’t have the balls for it, as the old saying goes.’

‘Not to worry, was never a very sporty person anyway,’ Eden said with a straight face.

The other two borders looked at one another in disbelief.

‘Hope Emila isn’t rubbing off?’ Ejiofor muttered.

‘What was that?’

They both looked across at Emila.

‘Been meaning to say, Emila wasn’t always like that.’

‘Seriously?’

Ejiofor nodded.

‘Seriously! They were the brightest, most inquisitive, and most beautiful human beings you could imagine. They have been here since they were young and naïve. But the beady-eyed snake over there made Emila their pet to do with what they pleased. Emila broke down and was about to tell everybody.’

Eden shuffled about uncomfortably.

‘What happened?’

‘The handlers said Emila tried to take their own life. But in fact, that bastard left Emila with brain damage. They’re lucky to be here.’

Eden could feel a lump in their throat. Emila looked over, forever keeping a concerned watching eye over Eden. They smiled reassuringly towards Emila.

‘Poor soul,’ Eden thought.

Next Morning

The siren went to herald another day. Eden sighed and stretched.

‘Oh, that bloody time again. Another horrendous day awaits,’ Eden thought.

Like clockwork, everybody lined up to shuffle downstairs to the showers. They were all still rather sleepy when the normal murmurs were shattered by the handler.

‘EDEN, COME HERE!’ the handler bellowed.

Block E fell silent. The other boarders looked along the line.

‘Yes, handler?’

Eden trembled ever-so-slightly. They did not dare look the handler in the eye. Instead, they stared at the menacing-looking stick tightly gripped in their hands.

‘Do you know what this is about?’

They shook their head.

‘It has come to our attention that you were part of an escape attempt on the way to this Facility. Is this true?’

‘Seriously?’

‘Oh, believe it, this is extremely serious. Well…’

‘No. We remained in the van the whole time.’

‘So, there was no talk, no thoughts of escape?’

Eden hesitated, knowing the next few words and they could be condemned.

‘There was nothing like that.’

The tension in the room was building. Nervous eyes darted towards each other. One or two boarders faintly touched the person next to them for some comfort.

‘Good, that’s what we hoped you would say,’ the handler smiled. ‘What are you all standing around for? To the shower room…’

As instructed, they all made their way to the shower block together. Ejiofor patted Eden as they passed.

‘That was close, we were worried for you…’

‘That makes two of us,’ they thought.

Just as every other day, everybody lined up and stripped for the shower. But the handler had a sadistic look in their eye. They produced a wicked-looking tool of punishment. The handler passed it to Ejiofor and pointed. Ejiofor shook their head. Eden had their back to everybody.

‘Anything but that…’

‘Do as you’re told!’

Ejiofor put their head down and sighed in resignation. They approached Eden from behind with the vile instrument.

‘AH!’ Eden cried out in agony as the electricity surged through them.

The handler crossed their arms with a satisfied expression.

‘Tell us again about not thinking of escaping… no?’

Emila pushed between Eden and Ejiofor.

‘Leave Eden alone,’ they begged.

The handler sneered.

‘Sticking up for your cellmate? Okay, you’ll both be punished; Eden first, Emila will go second. But first, listen to this…’ they said starting a recording of Eden.

‘No, please don’t say it… if we hear the A-genda once more today we’re going to scream. And to think Eden, we could have avoided all this by following Ardenne out of that bloody van,’

‘Is that you?’

‘Can explain.’

‘IS THAT YOU? If so, you appear to refer to yourself…’ they asked in an almost demonic tone.

‘We were thinking aloud.’

‘You know what thought did? Again Ejiofor!’ the handler commanded.

‘Sorry’, Ejiofor mouthed.

‘AH!’

‘And again!’ the handler demanded.

‘AAAHHHHHH!’

Eden was curled up and twitching in agony. They had tears streaming.

‘Okay, again…’

‘What?’

‘Do it again! Use the shocker on them again. Are you as deaf as Echo?’

Ejiofor shook their head in disbelief. They kicked the shocker towards the handler and began to walk away.

‘Ejiofor! We said to do it again!’

‘Tough! Eden’s had enough, leave them be.’

The handler scowled at the other boarders watching.

‘Ejiofor, take the shocker; otherwise, everybody will suffer.’

Ejiofor folded their arms and shook their head. The rest followed the guardian’s lead.

‘No one will follow your bleeding despicable orders.’

The handler began to laugh. The other boarders looked curiously at one another. There had been somebody lingering behind them in the shadows.

‘Ebola, will you do the honours, please? The rest of you will lose all your social credits.’

Ebola took the shocker and swung it around at the other boarders. Then Ebola turned towards Eden and sniggered. The look on their face seemed to beg for clemency.

‘We’ve been waiting for this moment,’ Ebola declared.

They pressed the shocker to Eden, who cried out in agony. Ebola didn’t wait for another signal. They pressed the button again and again. Eden shuffled towards the corner and curled into a defensive ball.

‘Stop, please will you stop?’ Eden pleaded.

The handler looked at Ejiofor and pondered a moment.

‘Again!’

‘No, FFS, leave them alone!’

The handler sighed, clicked their fingers, and pointed to Eden. Ebola released them from the restraints.

‘Now Emila is taking their place.’

Ejiofor stormed back. They pushed past Ebola as though irrelevant and looked the handler in the eye.

‘What, just because you are the Guardian, are we meant to be intimidated?’

‘You’ve had your fun, leave them alone.’

The handler didn’t back down easily. The handler grabbed Ejiofor by the arm forcefully.

‘There’s that cold, calculating beady eye,’ Ejiofor thought.

‘Yes?’

‘Is that hurting you? It’ll probably bruise too.’

‘We’ll live…’

‘Sure will, you’re the Guardian, head boarder. But for how long? At least Ebola followed our orders and gained extra social credits.’

‘Of course, that’s because they’re a bleeding psychopath.’

The handler released their grip and punched Ejiofor in the midriff. They turned to Eden with a menacing stare.

‘From that recording, it seems that you passed up freedom. Just so you know, that was your last chance of escape.’

They pointed to the words written on the walls up the corridor:

ONE WORLD, ONE ORDER, ONE A-GENDA.

The handler held back while all the boarders dispersed. Last to leave the showers as always was Emila.

‘Emila, you were trying to get in the way. Why?’

‘You were just trying to hurt Eden, weren’t you?’

The handler’s eye twitched.

‘WTF has it to do with you?’

‘Eh?’

‘What the f…’ the handler trailed off. ‘What has it to do with you anyway?’

‘Well, we may not be the brightest. But then we know who to blame for that,’ Emila stared at the handler. ‘And we won’t let that happen to Eden, not while we’re still breathing!’

The handler scratched their nose and thought for a moment. They then produced the shocker from behind their back.

‘Fair enough… if you’re going to stand in our way, we’ll need to do a better job this time,’ they said sparking the shocker into life.

Emila’s eyes closed. The handler grabbed Emila by the shoulder and clenched tightly.

‘Awww…’

The handler then booted Emila’s feet from under them and struck them with the blunt end of the shocker. Emila’s eye began to pour with blood.

‘You think this will be quick? No, we’ll teach you to question us.’

The handler then kicked them in the mouth.

‘Awwww!’

‘Don’t get any of that blood on me,’ they said striking Emila repeatedly.

Emila coughed up quite a lot of blood.

‘Now for the lightning. You know, some cultures used to say that lightning was the anger of the gods. We wouldn’t usually mention that, but you’ll not tell anyone. Think of this as our anger!’ they stated pointing at themselves.

The handler pressed the shocker to Emila’s midriff.

‘Awwwwwww!’

‘Now, are you still going to protect Eden?’

Emila was in agony and cowering, they thought for a moment.

‘Absolutely,’ they groaned. ‘Not leaving them to you or that sick, psychotic biatch, Ebola. Besides, you can’t kill us – too many questions.’

The handler grinned, sparking the shocker noisily into life.

‘Are you kidding? That’s the good thing about the A-genda, no one questions the death of a stupid, pathetic little crook like you. That doesn’t shock you, does it? At least not as much as this!’ the handler sadistically said approaching with the shocker again.

‘Ahhhhh!’ Emila cried out again collapsing to the ground.

BANG!

The handler flew across the room and collided with the wall. Ejiofor threw the dinted metal bucket down.

‘Surprise, Handler! We just know how you like shocks, thought we’d give you your own,’ Ejiofor laughed along with Efe.

‘We thought there was something wrong when Emila didn’t return. Okay, time to get up now Emila,’ Efe said tapping their lifeless foot.

There was no movement, Efe knelt beside them. They stroked Emila’s face.

‘No, surely not,’ Efe thought.

‘We’ve got a problem.’

‘If that stupid beggar doesn’t get up, we’ll drag ‘em out of here.’

Emila’s pupils were blown, and there was blood trickling from their ears. Ejiofor raised Emila’s hand and let go. It dropped straight to the ground. Efe looked at Ejiofor with a resigned look in their eye. Then, a shadow appeared over them.

‘Pair of bastards!’ the handler bellowed.

Efe jumped into action and pushed the handler back before they could shock Ejiofor.

‘You’re the only bastard here. Emila is dead, thanks to you,’ Ejiofor said with their eyes filled with tears.

‘Oh, right. So, Emila kicked the bucket before hitting us with one,’ the handler laughed.

‘Where’s that bloody bucket gone?’ the handler thought.

They examined where they had been hit. Then, they rubbed their hands.

‘So, who’s next?’

Efe rushed at the handler but was struck across the face by the shocker. They fell against the partition of the showers. The handler charged the shocker again.

SPLASH!

‘Oh, SHIT!’

Blue sparks flew in all directions as the handler collapsed to the ground. Eden had thrown a bucket of water over the handler with the shocker in their hand.

‘Wow, talk about perfect timing!’

‘Is the handler dead?’ the ashen Eden gasped.

Somewhat dazed, Ejiofor nodded.

‘Must say, shocked! Really am… but then, they’re always warning people not to take your taser in the shower with them.’

Efe looked at Ejiofor for answers.

‘Turn on the showers. When the other handlers arrive, they’ll just see a terrible accident. We’ll sort out the cameras and find where Eden went?’

Efe shrugged.

‘Wherever they’re headed, it has to be better than this.’

Ejiofor and Efe checked the coast was clear. They returned to E block. Ejiofor looked around for Eden. They pointed to Efe upstairs.

‘Please, please be alright Eden,’ Ejiofor thought.

There was a blanket over the cell. Ejiofor’s heart was in their mouth. They hesitated before pulling back the cover. Eden was strewn on their bed with their wrists pouring of blood.

‘Oh, Eden WTH have you done?’ Ejiofor thought.

‘Help! Get the medic!’ Ejiofor cried.

Eden’s eyes opened. There was a smile on their face.

‘You know the handler was quite wrong…’

‘Really? Can’t believe you’d listen to them. They just try to get to us,’ Ejiofor smiled.

Eden yawned; their eyes grew heavy.

‘So, sleepy… they said we’d missed our last chance to escape, they were wrong. There’s always a way out, and this is it! Best life…’ they gasped.

Eden’s breathing suddenly became shallow while Ejiofor looked on.

‘Eden, stay with us!’

Ede n shook their head, then patted Ejoifor’s hand.

‘It’s time, it’s time…’ they said, closing their eyes.

‘Okay, Eden, best life!’ they whispered before gently kissing Eden’s forehead.