Children's Games: A Story of Modern Consequence

Chapter 53

~Joshua~

In his file, he saw pictures of himself half naked and strapped to a metal table in a bright room. In some, his back was exposed to show smooth skin, while others showed the area to be patterned with the familiar bleeding patchwork of scars. Most of them showed him biting down on a mouthguard as electricity blasted through his temples. There was a drip tube snaking past the mouth guard and into his mouth, most likely depositing drugs or poisons. Another large picture showed a device keeping his eyes open as he watched a screen. An electroencephalogram looking cap dug into his head with electrodes stabbing directly into his brain to burn and strengthen certain choice areas.

The extensive writing that held all the pictures together went on for pages and pages. Key words and phrases stuck out; sleep deprived for 96 hours, administered amphetamines during indoctrination therapy, nootropics administered during electrocution, subject keeps remembering, subject keeps failing, subject's emotional state unstable, one meal every two days to initiate starvation.

There was nothing that talked about what was clearly inserted into his arm. Whatever the device was, he was sure that he could find it there. There were so many possibilities; tracking, an identifying barcode? Or was it something else entirely to stop them from trying to get away? He wasn't too sure, but he knew that he needed to remove it.

Joshua had snapped the file shut, shaking everyone else in the room from their focused analysis of their own file. By the looks on their faces, he could tell that they had read enough to realise how true it was. They had time, but they didn't have that much time to dwell on their gory past.

"Come on, let's take these with us. Theirs as well," he had said, picking up Dominik's and Alice's. "We can read them later. For now, we need to work at getting out of here as soon as possible."

They each grabbed a few files but left the sickening evidence of cannibalism behind. He would be lying if he hadn't already suspected that these people were involved in creating the market for human flesh. But it was still a surprise to see how apposed they were to human trafficking. Hypocrites.

He closed the door, trying to make it look like it hadn't been disturbed, just in case.

Sitting on his bed that he shared with Ivan, Joshua delved into the memory that had struck him as soon as he opened his file. It was of a child version of him, sitting on the hot tin roof of the Wilson family home. The hot sun burned his skin, but it was a welcoming feeling as it had been the perfect hiding spot from his mother as she called out for him below. Her voice was high pitched and scratchy with annoyance, as she had needed his help to look after his twin siblings. She needed to go into town, and Joshua was the usual babysitter.

In the memory, he had been very annoyed, and stayed on the roof until she eventually looked up and threw her broom up to clang against the roof to get his attention. She had crossed her arms at him when he jumped down and landed right in front of her. But when she saw her son's face, a young boy barely a teenager, her face softened, and she kissed the top of his head. He couldn't remember what she said, but he had remembered in that moment to wanting more than anything in the world to be able to leave.

I wish that I had never left, mum. Her hand caressed his cheek as he closed his eyes.

"Ok, it's 11pm, but I think we can be out of here in twenty minutes. It should be plenty of time before the others return, and plenty of time to pack our things. I'm going down to the armoury to sort out what gear we can use. Matthew, I want you to start packing food, enough for a couple of weeks at least, so only pack the non-perishables... and absolutely no meat." Matthew nodded authoritatively, and Joshua was glad that no one was willing to talk too much about the cannibalistic crimes in the next room. "Florence and Emilia, I'll get you two to sort out our things up here. We'll need clothes for all weather, blankets, and anything else you can find. Then start slowly travelling down the house with our bags to pack the food with Matthew, then the weapons down with me."