A Darker Plan

1. The Collar

"Hold him down!"

"You fucking bastards! You know what we're doing!"

Two rows away, inside our government jumbo jet airliner three men pulled at my colleague Juergen, trying to force him past the second class bulkhead door. Juergen shouted at the top of his lungs a long string of obscenities - while holding them off at thirty nine thousand feet. Four men, werewolf
raging in the middle aisle of our airplane.

"... all of you! All of you! We're all going to hell for this... all of us!"

Juergen succeeded in getting his hands around an officer's neck. The other two officers became desperate, pulling frantically at Juergen's arms to free their colleague. It was a wild tangle of pulling and grunting for leverage.

You see, this current "correction" happening in front of us is reoccurring. They enjoyed their sick and violent way of handling us... so it happens a lot. I'm in bio-engineering, and like many in this company... I had become suicidal. Sixty three percent of the population is suicidal! The majority is. So actually I'm not the crazy one - you're the crazy one if you're not suicidal.

I suddenly giggled quietly like a tweaking junkie with all the excitement going on, it infects us, creeps up on you. I took deep inhales trying to get control over my wave of anxiety. I can only imagine what my co-workers were thinking. This terror remains in your being. The knowing that death was only moments away all the time, your mannerisms become skewed, twisted. I used medications. I giggled again, hearing them yell. It was the fact that the struggle was active and so very very close. Their intensity was leaking a mania that was urging me on while I was so high on government drugs.

Juergen's last ditch attack. This was his part. It's all going as it's supposed to go. It was a final act. The part where Juergen dies at the hands of the enemy that had employed us.

"I will fucking kill you now!"

Juergen yelled out then, sounding like somebody else altogether - as if possessed. His tone was so low... I giggled a bit then, nodding along with his anger. He spoke with such intent, primal.

"I-kill-you!"

Murder, here, now, is what he meant to do and he would do it. He can do it.

"Do it..."

I heard myself say aloud, then covered my mouth.

Juergen had his hands firmly around the officers neck, the man was losing his strength. One of his arms fell to his side then the other.

Juergen will take one with.

In that moment one of the officers pulled a Collar from his bag.

Also known as a lock-trap for the mouth. The Collar was a type of automated helmet. It's spider-like black legs darted outwards gripping Juergen's head. A square shaped steel lock was positioned where your mouth used to be. It had round steel, saggy black cheek plates, overall it was sculpted to look like a baby's face, but with an expression of insanity if there is such an image. It's eye openings also had an odd shape. Though you can see out of the deeply shaded green lens, it kept us from seeing in. I kept my eyes on those lens because my friend Juergen was in there now. Spiraling out of life. He deserved to see me, my eyes at least. I'd hoped that I would have had that last bit of contact with him before my end came. At least i could give him a last acknowledgment in the eyes. A final moment of moments, before he's left... into the abyss, The Great Went.

They knew we were close. They may as well get rid of his co-conspiring friend. Me. "No doubt he knows everything." they'd say.

There's a special terror delivered by the Collar that we can't see. It's inside.