The Watch – Part 233:

(Tom’s perspective)

The door opened and in stepped Carl, followed closely by another man, who I can only assume to be Bernard.

‘Tom,’ Doctor Amanda said, turning around to face me once more, ‘this is Bernard. He will escort you to your cell. How long you will be there is up to you, but bear in mind that we do want any and all information you have before long,’ she explained. I guess I had better get up from this still very comfortable mattress and make my way over to a place that will probably have a piece of wood compared to what I’m lying on now.

I sat up, swung my legs around and placed them on the floor before standing up. My head started to pulsate and soon a small dizzy spell had hit me. It wasn’t enough to make me lose my balance but it did make the room spin ever so slightly before settling back down again. Even though I have become immune to them once more, I must be still recovering from when I wasn’t when I was shot by the Tasor. Amanda, Carl and Bernard just stood there, waiting for me to recover and be ready to leave this room and walk to my cell.

‘OK,’ I said after the dizzy spell had completely gone, ‘I’m ready whenever you are.’

‘Right this way, please, Tom,’ Bernard said, opening the door and allowing me to step through first. I did just that, but because I have no idea where I’m going, I waited for Bernard to take the lead and soon we were making our way down the corridor towards a blue door. Bernard opened it, walked through, held it open for me to step through and we continued onwards.

I knew that it was pointless to try and engage Bernard in any conversation as he stayed a good couple of steps in front. I could say that he is under orders not to communicate with me, but somehow I don’t think he needed to be told. He had grey hair that had been combed back. He had a long beard and a moustache set that was well kept. He was also wearing a very expensive-looking suit. He must have been in this organisation for a long time. I would be fascinating to hear what he has to say about life from the perspective of being in a secret organisation for years.

We walked down quite a few corridors before finally reaching my cell. This place was cleverly designed to not allow any people who they don’t want to see any of their headquarters not see anything of the sort. On the other side of the door, a classic prison scene met my eyes. Cells on both sides, some on the ground, and some on an upper level. I walked past five before Bernard stopped at the sixth cell, opened it and waited for me to step inside. I don’t have a choice but enter the cell and wait there for further instructions. Without looking at Bernard, I stepped inside and he closed the door behind me. Then he walked off without saying a single word.

There were two beds in here. One against the wall on the left and one against the wall on the right. They were both empty, so it didn’t matter what one I chose, so I went and sat down on the one on the right.

Now what’s going to happen? How long am I going to stay here for? Is this their plan, keeping me here until I don’t want to stay here any longer? They said that if I don’t cooperate, then they will make me. Little do they know that at any moment, someone’s going to appear right in front of me and take me from here, and no matter how much they search for me, I will be nowhere to be found. I looked around and as expected, I found a camera in the corner, pointing down at me. I would love for that to happen, but alas, it might not for a while yet. The best thing I can do at the moment is lay here and wait.

To be honest, I was expecting something a bit more to happen other than being escorted to another bed. It could be because I am not cooperating as much as they would like me to. I’ve already told Tim everything. Well, almost everything. I know he doesn’t have unlimited resources at his disposal, but when I’m gone, there is no reason for me to care about this world anymore. Once I’m gone, I can forget about this place. Any and all information that I will give them, they can use, but what they will do with it won’t actually affect me in any way. And once I’ve given them what they want, they may actually give me at least something in return. I know they said that they won’t be compromising any time soon, but it doesn’t hurt to try.

What if I word my answers in a way that will force them to have to compromise? That sounds interesting. But what do I say? Well, that all depends on what they ask. And I know pretty much what they are going to ask, because if I were in their position, I would have the same questions, and then some. I think I can get away with that. It does sound very tempting.

The sudden change of events, from being in a campsite to laying in a cell in the middle of a secret organisation is something that I’m still struggling to comprehend. I do wish I was able to get to know more of the people there, but I guess that wasn’t how it was meant to be. There’s nothing I can do about it, so I shouldn’t dwell on it. Instead, I should focus on moving forward, and that shouldn’t be too hard…

TO BE CONTINUED…

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)