Free Suffer the Flesh by Monica O'rourke Page B

dried cum and crusted blood from their bodies. They weren’t allowed to shower at night and were forced to sleep in the filth and fluids that clung to their bodies like second skin.
    Guards watched them shower.
    “Do a good job now,” Tony said. “We’re having visitors.”
    They were handed clean towels and T-shirts as they left the shower area.
    At breakfast, Zoey pushed her food around on the plate and was experiencing a new breed of anxiety. “Is it bad?” she whispered to Kim, sitting beside her. “These people?”
    Kim nodded. “Sometimes. Depends on who you get.” Eggs spilled off her fork. “Or how many.”
    The eggs suddenly looked revolting, quivering mounds of embryo. Something else had been bothering her. “Kim … I should have had my period by now. Do you think I might be …?”
    “No, and you won’t get your period. They put birth control in the food.
    Eyebrows raised. “What?” She glanced down at the food. “But sometimes I skip a meal. What if—”
    “They put it in all the food, at every meal. The chance of getting pregnant is almost impossible.”
    “Comforting.”
    Janice sat across from them, dropping her tray on the table in disgust. “Good morning. My, don’t you all look sparkling clean?”
    Kim smiled. “Special day. We even got the good soap.”
    “Eat up, Zoey,” Janice said. “You’ll need your strength.”
    She shook her head. “I can’t. It’s making me nauseous.” The coffee went down okay, but she refused to put those eggs near her mouth. “Janice, how long have you been here?”
    “Five months, more or less. I was pretty big when they brought me in here.”
    “I guess you must have been,” Zoey said, pushing her tray to the center of the table. “You’re thin now.”
    “Almost. A few more pounds.”
    Zoey planted her face in her palms and rested her elbows on the table. “What do you suppose happens?”
    “When?” Janice chewed on a piece of bacon and pushed her too-long blonde hair off her face.
    “You know, after you’re done. After you—”
    “What? Lose the weight? They let you go.”
    Zoey stared at Janice. “Just like that?”
    “That’s what they say,” Kim said, shrugging.
    Zoey said, “But why would they?”
    “Because no one talks. Because this is far-reaching, Zoey.” Janice picked up her toast, took a bite. “You don’t know what goes on outside this place.”
    “How do you know?” Zoey asked.
    Janice shrugged. “Like I said, I’ve been here a while. I hear things. The guards say things, other subjects who have been here a long time.”
    “Subjects?”
    “She means prisoners, Zoey,” Kim said. “Janice has a unique perspective.”
    Janice used her toast like an extended finger and pointed across the room. “See that guard by the door? That’s Robin. She used to be a subject.”
    Zoey’s jaw dropped. Robin was the one who had brutalized her with a nightstick. “My god … you’re kidding. They made her stay?” She wondered how a former prisoner could perpetuate the torture.
    Janice laughed, spraying crumbs across the table. “Not at all. She chose the job.”
    Robin leaned against the door, arms crossed over her chest. She yawned.
    Zoey looked back at the women at the table. “She chose it? Why?”
    “Not everyone hates it here, Zoey. Some of us actually enjoy it. Usually.” Janice grinned, forked eggs into her mouth.
    Zoey glanced at Kim. “What about you?”
    “Me? I’m just killing time. I’m anxious to leave. Unlike Janice here.”
    Janice licked her lips, wiped her mouth on the back of her hand. “What can I say? I like to fuck. This place is like Nirvana for me. At first I hated it, being forced to do this stuff. But then I decided to pretend it was my choice. I got into it, you know? After a while it got better. And now … well, now I just go out there and enjoy myself.”
    “You’re seriously disturbed, Janice.” Zoey shook her head and dropped her napkin on the plate. “What I want to know is