Justice In The Barrel

Justice In The Barrel -- part 2

I was right about the questionnaire we would receive. The next day, we were called one by one to the main office to meet with the big boss man. He was a rather unpleasant person, with a balding head and a belt buckle that didn’t quite seem to be doing its job.

They were simple questions, designed to play those psycho mind-games on you and make you tell them everything you knew. “Have you noticed anything suspicious these past few days?” Sir asked. He had a real name, but no one ever used it. He was always Sir. Yes, sir. No, sir. Quit being such a jackass and give me a raise, sir.

“No, Sir, has something happened?” I was dying to tell him about Kale. What would he do? Fire him? Have him sent to jail? Both? Surely Kale would be sent to jail. Selling biological weapons to enemies had to be some kind of federal offence.

Even that didn’t seem like enough, though. Jail; please, it was a free pass through life. Kale didn’t deserve jail. It wouldn’t do justice.

I knew I couldn’t tell, though. It was too risky. I would lose my job, and so would Trey (even though I was still ignoring him, he didn’t deserve that) and anyone we associated with on a daily basis. I couldn’t sentence everyone to that.

“Just standard employee check up. We have to make sure everyone’s following the rules.” He paused, scrutinizing me with those beady eyes. He asked a few more questions, about my work, before finally telling me I could go.

“Have fun.” I teased the next person I passed in the hallway. She sighed, and I offered her a small smile.

The rest of the day passed by turtle like. I didn’t talk to Trey, or Kale, or anyone really. In fact, no one really talked to anyone. They were all too thrown off by the interrogations. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that they were searching for a mole, and now we had to be careful who we spoke to.

I just happened to know more than everyone else.

So I stayed in my station, observing how rats reacted to being injected with various viruses. Science was cruel. Those rats never did anything to me.

When the end of the day came, I didn’t linger. I was one of the first people out, not bothering to stay and chat with the others. I beat Trey home. I was cooking myself an omelette when he finally stepped inside. He muttered a hello, and got the same half-hearted response from me. I wasn’t interested in talking to him, or seeing him, or breathing the same flippen’ air as him.

As soon as I was done eating, I went to bed.

“Taylor, look, I’m sorry. I hate fighting with you.” Trey said, blocking my way to the door the next morning. I sighed. No, I wasn’t angry anymore. I didn’t blame him for not wanting to believe his best friend was Mr. Evil. But I did need to get to work. It was Friday. Nerves ran up and down my spine. I was going to tell someone about Kale. I had thought about it all night. I was being selfish. I was worried about my job over the human race. Literally, that’s how big this weapon was.

“Me, too.” I said, smiling slightly. He grinned, and dipped his head down to kiss me.

“And I’m going to talk to Kale. Today.” he added when he pulled away. “I’m sure there’s a rational explanation for what you heard.”

I forced a tight smile, “Yeah, probably just my imagination.” Part of me was glad. Maybe I wouldn’t have to be the one. Trey would figure it out. He was smart. I moved around him to get to the car, trying not to let the thoughts overwhelm me. “I’ll drive.” I said, jumping for the distraction.

Trey and I talked happily the whole way to work. I didn’t once bring up Kale. When we finally arrived, I rushed a goodbye to Trey before quickly leaving. I didn’t want to run into Kale. I couldn’t face him.