Island of the Unemployed

NO MERCY

Two days later...

The sound of clanging steel rang out as the door swung open and hit the side of the container. Sunlight blasted into the dark space, while fresh, warm air swept out the stench that had built up over their two-day journey.

"Get out! You have two minutes to vacate!" yelled a surrogate, before moving on to the next container. Most of the occupants were too mentally incapacitated to even react to the command.

Boden slouched against the wall of the container shielding his eyes, trying vainly to see the world outside. After two days of darkness, it was going to take some time for his eyes to adjust.

"Some things just don't change, do they Bonehead?" He was talking to Marcus. The grace period had expired. It was time to give him a nickname. Marcus didn't mind. In fact, in an odd way, he liked it. It gave him some semblance of normalcy, acceptance. "I thought maybe a change of scenery might cheer these boys up a bit."

"What could have possibly given you that impression?" Marcus made a failed attempt to stand.

"I'm just the optimistic type," Boden replied facetiously. "I'll tell you one thing. It would have been nice if somebody warned me what would happen if I sucked that crap out of those damned tubes." Boden was the only one hungry enough to suck on the tubes, putting his digestive tract to use for the first time in his life. "That would have been nice!"

"Oh well. That's what you get for sucking crap out of tubes," Deja replied. "The smell in here was bad enough before you had your little accident." Even the socially reluctant Deja opened up a bit after being locked up for two days with Boden and Marcus,

"No big deal! I fixed the problem. I switched pants with one of these zombies when everybody was sleeping," Boden replied, pointing out the unfortunate individual wearing his soiled pants. "I figured he wouldn't know the difference anyway."

"Very classy, but it smells bad no matter who's wearing it." Deja groaned as she attempted to stand. Her eyes began to adjust, and she got her first good look at Marcus. His appearance was a bit of a shock. He had a large bony mass jutting from the right side of his forehead, and a massive balloon-like structure growing out the back of his head. It was going to take some time to get used to the sight of him.

"What happened to your face there, Blondie? Get in a fight with your boyfriend?" Boden asked. Deja's right eye was blackened, and her left cheek bruised. There were several bruises hidden beneath her clothes

Deja paused before realizing her face must have been a mess. "No. Not a boyfriend."

Marcus tried to get up, but his body was having none of it. His lower spine stung terribly every time he tried to move.

"Better get up before these thugs come in here and start bashing heads," Boden said to Marcus.

"Could you give me a hand?" Marcus raised his good hand. Boden took hold of it and pulled, causing Marcus to yelp several times as he got to a standing position.

"Geez! Are you going to make it?" Boden asked.

"LET'S GO! DON'T MAKE ME COME IN THERE!" A surrogate at the door yelled.

"Come on! We need to get out of here." Boden pulled on Marcus' hand. Marcus didn't budge. "What are you doing? Come on!"

"I can't. I need to take him with me." He nodded toward River. After sitting next to River for two days he felt like he had made a connection. At some point, he made a promise to himself that he would look out for River no matter what the cost to himself.