NORAD Black Site Sierra 7, CO
“Come on, get up, you maggots!”
Dwight’s head pounded with a migraine, so the voice tore through his eardrums like daggers through paper.
“I’ll be taking the day off,” he said in a fog.
The gate to his room was flung open. A pair of guards shoved in and grabbed him. “Get your ass moving!”
His arms caught fire where the men roughed his skin. The boils and sores were back, worse than the day before. He tried to walk, but his legs gave out. This made the men furious, and he vaguely remembered being called names and repeatedly kicked, but somewhere along the way, he passed out.
When he came to, he was back at the white box. A short line of men stood in front of him, leading him to again ask the most important question: “Poppy? Where are you?”
A bird squawked from somewhere close, but he couldn’t see her.
“I hear you, Poppy.”
He realized he’d gone blind in one eye. The remaining eye was foggy, as if condensation had built up on the inside of his retina.
David stood on his pedestal in the main room, watching the stage. A phalanx of armed guards stood between him and the prisoners. When the nearest guard had Dwight on his feet, the man waved to his boss.
“The enemy has finally counter-attacked,” David said, swishing his long white hair aside, “though they’ve walked into my trap as I knew they would. You Americans and your haughty attitudes and dependence on technology. It was too easy to lead your forces to the wrong bunker.”
“What’s he talking about, Poppy?” he said to his friend, forgetting she wasn’t with him.
The man in gold continued. “I’m sorry our time has come to an end. I can’t spare the manpower to babysit a bunch of prisoners. The next phase of our invasion has been bumped up. I’ve got to leave this place to make it happen.”
David motioned to an assistant, who pushed the first prisoner into the cube. Before anything happened, the leader came down from his perch and walked to the back of the room as if unwilling to watch what came next. The bulk of his guards followed him through the rear door.
“That was weird,” a woman said from behind him.
“He doesn’t like violence,” Dwight replied, mocking David’s insane claim from the previous day. He did his best to turn around without hurting himself. “You!” he said with surprise.
“Hi,” she replied, not pleased at all to see him. The white light beamed from the cube, lighting up the girl’s face like a camera’s flash.
“I found my bird,” he said proudly. “I hear her in the room, but my eyes…my eyes aren’t what they used to be. Can you help—”
Before he could finish the question, the girl pointed ahead. “That man didn’t come out of the box. They put him inside—I saw him go in—but he didn’t come out. What the hell is this?” She turned to some big oaf standing behind her.
Dwight didn’t see anyone in the box, but he couldn’t see much at all.
After a short wait, the line moved forward. Curious about what the woman had said, he tried to focus his good eye on the next prisoner. Another man, Jacob perhaps, was shoved inside, screaming at the top of his lungs until the door shut. He continued yelling and banging on the walls, but the device was soundproof.
Sure as snot, the light flashed on and off, leaving the box empty.
“Wait a second,” he said with growing concern. “Where’d he go?” He keeled over from the pain in his throat. It hurt to speak.
One of the remaining guards laughed. “You lot have an expenses-paid vacation coming at you. You’ll get into the box, look into the light, and be whisked away to your favorite paradise.”
Another man was forced in, and he disappeared. Dwight was next.
“Ah, you,” a guard remarked, touching his tablet. “We have something special planned for you. David said we weren’t supposed to send you in alone. He went through some trouble to find your friend. He called it a going-away present.” He motioned for Dwight to step inside the box. However, before going in, he froze as if cursed by Medusa.
“Wait! You can’t. Don’t hurt her.” Poppy was on the floor of the cube, watching him with what he perceived as a look of avian worry.
The guard laughed. “He said seeing your bird in there would do more harm than the diseases ever could. I admit I thought he might have been off the mark on the point, but it turns out our great leader knows a lot more than I do.”
He trudged through the door. His clothing rubbed against his chafed back and shoulders, making him break out in tears. However, he endured the pain to bend over and coax Poppy to climb up his arm. She wasn’t normally one to be held, but she did enjoy standing on his shoulder like a pirate’s pal. If they were going to die together, he didn’t want her to be alone.
“Come on, Poppy, let’s get this over with.” To his surprise, the bird hopped on his hand and kept hopping all the way up his arm.
Back on his feet, he looked out the open door. The pretty young woman in blue stood next in line. He vaguely recalled being a bit short with her. With the time he had left, he could at least fix one mistake.
“I’m sorry I called you a bitch. I wanted so badly to find her.” He pointed to his shoulder, proud as a new papa.
The girl smiled, a tear rolling down her cheek. “She’s really a beautiful bird. I swear if I would have known what she looked like, I would have helped you find her.”
The door swung shut, cutting off her voice.
“Wait! You can see her?”
He’d watched other men yell and scream to be let out of the box before they disappeared in the light. He knew
