The Oasis (9 page)

She wondered what he meant by that, then realized that he meant to give her to the
other
men in his company. The idea of being passed around to the
others
made her cry out. “No!” she shouted. Her thoughts went to the other woman in her cell. Rachel had been transformed from a normal woman. Now everything that had been human about her seemed to be gone. Lena could only imagine the same fate lay before her now.

While she struggled, the free man merely watched her, his hands traveling down her body. In a momentary slip, she was able to pull her legs from beneath him and took advantage of it by kicking wildly. She managed to strike his groin with her foot and he bent over in pain. She quickly kicked him off her, pushing him off the bed. Continuing to struggle she tried to get her hands free from their binding. But no matter how hard she struggled she couldn’t get her hands through the ties.

Within seconds she knew it was hopeless. Still, she was determined to fight him until the end.

Pulling himself back up, the free man grabbed himself in pain, and she knew that was going to be the last time he let his guard down around her. His face was red but he managed to right himself quicker than she hoped. He struck her across the face. When her vision returned, she felt his hand on her face, rubbing across where he had assaulted her. He leaned down towards her, ready to assault her body again.

Just as he pressed his hands to her breasts, something came crashing into the room. One of the
other
soldiers entered, looking unruly. His eyes never even went to her. Lena couldn’t tell if this was a scene that he had seen a dozen times before or something incomprehensible to him.

The free man looked towards the intruder, rage in his eyes. “What?” he shouted.

The man seemed a little out of his element and had trouble gathering his words and thoughts. “There is…” He stumbled over his words. Pointing behind him towards the other rooms, he tried again. “There’s…” He stopped again, seemingly unable to catch his breath.

“Out with it!” the free man yelled.

“Fire!” the
other
finally yelled frantically. His hands twitched as he tried to explain what he’d seen.

Lena listened intently, almost feeling sorry for the poor man. It was clear that he was scared of what he had seen and that he was unable to explain it. The free man pushed off her body and left the room with the crazed man. There was no other way to describe the man—his actions and vocal monosyllables showed that he was so afraid of something that he had lost control over what little humanity he had left. The result was a poor soul who could only emit grunts and guttural noises, resembling an animal more than a man.

Lena’s nostrils flared as they left the room and she smelled smoke through the open door. Struggling, she continued to try to release the ropes holding her hands. Her thoughts went to Jasper as she silently prayed that it was he who had started the fire. All she could hope for was a fate other than lying on this bed at the free man’s mercy.

The free man entered the room again, his mood significantly altered. The same man who had interrupted them followed behind, his behavior more controlled now. The free man grabbed her wrists and pulled them free from the wall. He threw her at the
other
man, who grabbed her silently and powerfully.

“Take her back to her room,” the free man said. He turned his back on them and left the room.

The man holding her pulled her back into the other room and she was able to look out the windows of the skyscraper. Smoke billowed up into the sky and she could see an enormous fire. Smiling to herself, she watched as the free man began spitting out orders frantically. He was clearly thrown by the situation. Praying silently, she hoped that this distraction could give her enough time to get out of here. She was going to get out of here no matter the cost.

She stared up at her new assailant, his face calm and peaceful now that he’d been given clear orders to follow. She wished she could convey to him the treachery that the free man had committed. He had poisoned their minds into thinking this kind of life was good for them. Instead of trying to show them his humanity, the free man had used them for his own ends.

“Get her the hell out of here!” the free man yelled.

The chaos in the room erupted and Lena could hear some of the
others
commenting nervously on the fire. It seemed that none of them had seen a fire so big, and a strange man had been spotted near the fire. This man seemed to be some kind of apparition and the
others
were unsure of who or what he was. Lena smiled to herself. She knew it had to be Jasper and she laughed as she imagined the free man trying to tell these poor people that it was just a man and not some evil spirit.

“Free man, we cannot leave this alone,” one of the
others
shouted. The
others
were in a panic and the room was filling quickly with fear and anger.

“It’s just a fire, people!” the free man shouted, trying to calm the chaos. She could hear him trying to convince the
others
that it was nothing to get into an uproar about, but Lena was sure he knew the same thing she did. If his “soldiers” were beginning to panic, then the people down near the fire were almost certainly in a panic. If he didn’t take action now, he would quickly lose what little control he had over these people.

“Watch out for the fire spirit!” Lena yelled wildly. A few faces turned towards her with renewed panic. “He will kill you all,” she said and smiled. “He has been angered!”

“Get her the hell out of here!” the free man repeated as chaos erupted.

She laughed to herself as with a brisk tug she was pulled out of the room. She knew that she was going to get out of this place one way or another. As she was dragged she could hear the uproar that she had caused and she silently hoped that she could find a way out of this place before she was left alone with the free man again.

The man of the
others
tightened his grip on her arms as he pulled her down the hall. The bustle in the halls was very different than when she was initially brought through them. Although she fought ruthlessly against the man, he didn’t loosen his grip. His height was astounding, but his strength was unprecedented.

“Don’t you understand what’s going on?” she shouted over the chaos of the hallways. The man didn’t release her hands. Before she could shout again they reached her original cell.

He tossed her inside and shut the door quickly, and Lena was struck with a strange sense of ease. Although her safety was still in question, her innocence was still intact. Unlike her cellmate, Lena still held on to her sanity, even if it was only for another day.

Rachel sat in the corner, unfazed by the activity going on just outside their door. Lena pressed her ear to the door. The ruckus outside was easily heard but her goal was to try to catch some news of Jasper.

“He didn’t lock the door,” whispered her cellmate.

Lena’s eyes shot from the knob to Rachel’s face. It was inconceivable that she had missed such an important action. Gingerly, she touched the knob and felt it turn under her hand. “Why?” she started to ask Rachel, but decided now wasn’t the time to discuss it—or why Rachel hadn’t rushed the door. There was no way of knowing how long she had been in that cell. Her spirit was lost and so much of her sanity had been taken from her that she was almost at the same level as the
others
. Lena silently prayed that she would never be put into a situation where she would become what Rachel had.

Cracking the door open, she saw some of the
others
rushing the hallway in a panic.
Leaning against the door, she stared across at Rachel whose back was again towards her. At first anger filled Lena as she wondered why Rachel wasn’t trying to escape.

Suddenly it hit her. “This isn’t the first time they’ve left the door unlocked, is it?”

Rachel shifted her weight uncomfortably. She sighed so quietly that if Lena hadn’t been leaning in to hear her answer she would have missed it.

“No.”

Rachel stretched out her leg, lifting the fabric of her dress as she stretched. Lena could see old scarring under the layers of dirt that covered her body. The largest of the marks led up the side of her knee, where the bones had clearly been broken several times.
So that’s why she limps,
Lena thought, fresh tears coming to her eyes. Slowly, Rachel lifted her leg back up and covered it with her clothes. It was evident that Rachel had tried her own escape before, leading to her current physical state.

“But, this time…” Lena started to say, but Rachel was already shaking her head.

“Some things don’t change,” she whispered. “I don’t think I will ever see the sun again.”

Hesitating, Lena pushed the door closed and shuffled over towards Rachel. Although the woman shied away from her at first, Lena wrapped her arms around her. She was hugging her to provide more than just comfort. Lena was sure she was hugging the woman for the last time as well as the first. She suspected that if Rachel didn’t come with her now she wouldn’t survive much longer. It broke her heart to think of everything that she had seen so far, but she also knew what it was like to need to survive. A part of her wanted to grab Rachel’s arm and drag her down the stairs, but she knew that Rachel was right. For once, she was in control of her own destiny. She had accepted her fate with open eyes and her bravery astounded Lena.

Lena slowly let her go. It was now or never. This was her moment and she was going to take it. Rushing towards the door, she looked back.

Giving one final look at Rachel, Lena brushed away tears as she rushed out of the door. She only made it a few feet before she rushed back. Searching the floor quickly, she found an old lead pipe on the wall across from their cell. She grabbed it and brought it to Rachel’s side. Pressing it into her hand, Lena held Rachel a second longer before she left for the last time. Her mind raced quickly, but she couldn’t leave Rachel without some kind of defense. There was no way of knowing if Rachel would be implicated in her escape, but there was one thing that Lena knew and that was that she was not going to let the free man take away her humanity. If she could, Lena would go in and take Rachel away with her, but in her heart, she knew that the woman was right. She had lived too long in such horrible conditions and for too long she had been taken advantage of. Everything had been taken from her and she needed to have the strength to let it all go and the courage to be able to control her own destiny.

Grabbing some debris from off the ground, Lena dragged it over and placed it in front of the door. If anything, she hoped that it would deter anyone from going inside, even if it was for a short time. There was nothing left to do there so Lena silently prayed for the woman she knew she would never see again.

Lena rushed down the hallway, avoiding everyone she could. Although her clothes were tattered and covered in blood, she didn’t want to draw attention to herself. Most everyone was outside, but there was the occasional
other
lying on the ground, scrounging for one thing or another. As she heard rushing footsteps ahead, she cautiously threw herself against the wall. Looking down at her feet she saw a pile of garbage and started rummaging through it as if looking for some kind of meal. She watched as a group of men came running down the corridor. They were not normal men; she could see in their faces that they were clearly afflicted as all the
others
were. They said nothing and ran as if they were not even aware they were running.

Looking up from her trash, she watched as they passed her. One of the men caught her gaze and slowed his pace. His eyes scanned hers and Lena panicked. She hesitated for a second, then chose to run in the opposite direction. She knew she couldn’t outrun one of the
others
, but in the disarray of the corridors she might be able to lose him, or at least find something she could use to defend herself from him. Quickly looking back over her shoulder, she checked to see how close the man was. To her surprise, the man stood over the trash pile she had been rooting in. He started digging in the pile. She couldn’t help but laugh as she slowed her run.

She smiled at the situation, but thought how much she must stand out among all the
others
. She had no idea how much they were aware of. Moving forwards, Lena kept her face down, trying to push her blood-covered hair into her face. She also tried to conceal her body by slumping over. Eyes on the floor, she saw a pile of rags on the ground and quickly picked them up and threw them haphazardly on her body. The smell from the rags was abominable but she needed to hide at least until she got out of the building. She knew that she only had as long as that fire was going on outside. Once the free man could get his people under control there was no way of knowing how long it would be until they discovered her escape and came after her.

Pushing her way through the hallways, she finally saw a door labeled “Stairwell”.
Almost there,
she thought. She had just grasped the handle when she looked to her right and saw a small room that had once been someone’s office. Her eyes were fixated on the large window. She gently released the door handle and slowly walked into the room. Outside she saw the fire that had terrified so many. The fire was bigger, and closer, than she’d imagined it would be. The flames were consuming a rather large tree in front of the office complex. Smoke billowed far beyond where she could see. Down below, cowering away from the fire, she could see a group of
others
dancing wildly in a panic around the base. She knew what they must be thinking. Their minds were probably lost as to how or why the fire started. It wasn’t hard to think their minds were now too primitive to understand what had happened.

Lena sighed. It broke her heart a little to see the
others
suffering so. As she stared out the window, she let her mind wander somewhere that it hadn’t been in a very long time. She wished for a minute to have the understanding to know how or why things had happened as they had. If only there was a way to know that what had happened to these people could somehow be reversed.