Cats In the Cradle

44. Daniel

I literally vomited after having to burn Emma.

Multiple times.

Then I vowed once again to help pay for her therapy, because lord knows we were both going to fucking need it after this ridiculous week.

Lars was still pretending to guard me until my trial, for whatever reason. It's not like I was a flight risk, seeing as how the entire community was guarded and fenced in. But I guess Orion liked him there as a reminder that he hadn't forgotten that I'd nearly broken his penis, and I was going to be fucked if this hearing actually happened.

Emma drifted in and out of consciousness the next couple of days, barely rousing enough to be fed and to take her antibiotics.

Lars and I discussed possible plans amongst ourselves while Emma recovered. Luke was involved at first, but eventually decided that it might be best for him to keep an eye on things with Orion. We were able to quickly call Kayden again, but Luke warned that Orion sometimes checked his phone records, so we weren't able to speak for long.

I guess a long conversation to an unknown number would look more suspicious than a shorter one? I think Luke was just scared and probably wished he didn't even know what was going on. So the plan was still a little haphazard on Kayden's end, and I was pretty concerned about our inability to coordinate further.

But if all went smoothly, we'd be out of there in minutes—long gone by the time anyone even noticed.

And Luke and Kara—and now Lars—would have to spend the rest of their lives pretending that yet another daughter of theirs had "somehow" managed to escape.

Lars was able to convince the witch (or whoever it was who made the tea) to make it a little stronger for tonight, claiming there had been complaints about its potency. Apparently this had deeply offended the witch (Wizard?), and he'd begun mumbling angrily about how he couldn't add too much of the GHB, because it could cause adverse side-effects when mixed with the Viagra, and Orion had just ordered him to increase the amount a few weeks ago.

I was terrified to find out what else was in that tea, and I only allowed Emma to drink it sparingly for pain relief after that.

But at least we knew two of the ingredients. And Lars was able to get enough GHB to make sure Orion passed out for a good, long time. He said he was pretty easily able to obtain some GHB at the medical center. (And I didn't really want to think about why it was so easy.)

I genuinely hoped it would kill him, but Lars wasn't allowing me to go near the tea he planned to give Orion.

It baffled me that he still wouldn't allow me to kill Orion. Even Luke, who could easily take over for him, was vehemently against it.

I asked him if he wanted to try to free everyone, but he refused to even consider it. He actually seemed horrified by the suggestion, reminding me that he'd have nowhere to go.

And he said he was pretty sure most people in the community would likely feel the same.

They were essentially living for free, albeit in a communist society, under a manipulative, hyper-sexual dictator. But none of them had any money, since every penny they made from what they grew and raised was used to fund the community. They had homes big enough to support their giant families here, no bills, free food and necessities, and monthly orgies.

Plus, they were convinced that The Great Spirit was protecting them from all the terrible murderers and rapists in The Outer World.

Lars told me it would likely take months to convince most people to leave, and if I were to try now, word would spread quickly.