Free Everyone's Favorite Girl by Steph Sweeney Page B

seen.  I just…I don’t know.  I don’t know what to say.  I feel really weird all of a sudden.”
    Then the sobbing set in, and he took a seat at the table, covering his face with his hands.  After a moment he began to hiccup.
    I was lost as to where to go from here, so I stalled by running to the closet for a pair of pants, bringing some for Flora, too.  She accepted them graciously and eagerly.
    With my legs and ass warming up I was able to collect my thoughts.
    I approached James, who sat there mumbling apologies into his hands.   Good thing I hadn’t used enough to render him comatose like they did to me once a week.
    “James.”
    He looked up.  “I’ve done so many things to you and Flora.  Cruel things.  I’ve had cruel thoughts, intentions…I don’t know why I’ve been like this.”
    Flora took a seat next to him.  “What intentions?”
    He turned to her and without delicacy told her that he’d planned to rape and murder her.
    “Why would you do that to me?”
    “Because,” he said, “it would have been exhilarating . . . then, not now.  I don’t want to hurt you anymore.”
    “Do you want to help us?” I asked.
    He straightened his back like a soldier and nodded emphatically.  “Whatever you need—just tell me and I’ll do it.”
    This was much less complicated than I imagined.  If only I’d sliced open Flora’s arm months ago , when they first gave—loaned—her to me.
    I had plenty of instructions to give, but first and foremost I craved information.
    “What are they doing to me?”
    He cocked his head.  “Who?”
    “Patton!” I shouted without thinking.  Then I added, “And Mr. Shriver.  And Sean.  Kate—all of them.”
    “They’re brainwashing you,” James said.  He sounded timid now, very much out of character for him.
    “ Why are they brainwashing me?”
    “So they can make you production manager.”
    “Production manager?”
    “In the warehouse.  You’re going to oversee the pre-production Favorite Girls, as long as Judy’s theory proves out.  About the Love Drug.  Some of us think she’s full of it.  It was her idea to keep you alive.  She actually convinced Mr. Shriver that you’re the perfect subject, being Your Favorite Girl’s worst nightmare and all.”  He chuckled a little.  “Now Mr. Shriver’s convinced you were meant to work for him.   He thinks you’re his lucky charm.”
    “How are they?” Flora asked.
    “The girls?” James said.  “I don’t know.  Right now Sean’s guards are running things down there.  Don’t worry, they’re on strict orders not to lay a finger on the girls—though I do hear they’ve been verbally abusive.  Threatening and so forth.  I’ve only seen them in passing, when they were being escorted back to Level D for the night.  They all looked tired and scared.”
    Now I wanted the job.  As production manager in the warehouse, I would have an open dock to the outside world, with most of the Favorite Girls at my disposal.  Then again, if the brainwashing did take root . . .
    “What’s it like outside?”
    “Weather’s nice today, I hear.  I haven’t been out.”
    “I mean after what Judy did.  What state is the city in?”
    “Oh,” James said .  “Order has been restored for the most part.  Everyone’s in a big uproar about it, though.  Imagine all the crime committed that day.  How can a police department deal with that?  A few government agencies have been investigating.  We’re taking care of that next week.”
    “What happens next week?”
    “A meeting with the president.”
    “You mean Mr. Shriver?”
    “Mr. Shriver is conducting the meeting, yes, with the president.”
    “The president of what?”
    “The United States.”
     
    ~ ~ ~ ~
     
    It could only mean one thing.  Mr. Shriver was making his move.
    I sent James to speak with Judy.  It was a big risk clueing her in on my activities, but I had nowhere else to turn.
    While we waited, I removed Flora’s