Rules of Prison

When Riley woke up to another electric shock. She felt wave after wave of blinding pain. When it was over, in a daze she looked down at her talons and webbed hands. She clenched her fists in despondence for she did not want to go back.

She took in a long breath, closed her eyes and focused. She thought about her body, her old body. A pins and needles sensation ran through her and suddenly she was choking on water. Clamoring to the surface, her human hands grabbed onto the concrete sidewalk and she pulled herself out of the pool coughing out water. She lay there shivering and naked on the walkway, unaware of what happens next.

"Congratulations, Riley Wilson. You are now permitted to leave the room." said the disembodied voice.

Suddenly what appeared to be a door that seamlessly blended into the wall opened up to reveal a large bright fluorescent hallway. The sudden glare sent a moderately sharp pain in her eyes. She closed them and looked away for a tiny bit only to receive a small shock.

"Get moving, your clothes are waiting for you."

Riley sighed and trudged along. The lights still caused sharp pain in her eyes which was vastly annoying to her and developing into a persistent migraine.

Her previous human form was fine with bright lights, but it seems that her new body was a little different. Walking down the hallway she started to notice there were dozens of code locks on seamless walls as she passed by, She gets to the end of the hallway only to be met with another wall. Annoyed she looked around squinting at the corner for a camera she was sure would be there.

At this point she wanted to flip them off but then another popping noise sounded and yet another seamless wall opened up to reveal another long hallway. She stepped forward and continued to walk. A whooshing noise sounded off behind her and she turned around to find the wall closing. It fell in place and became a wall yet again with code lock on it. She turned around and walked forward. This hall was different.

There were doors. There were real doors with manual locks and handles. Each door had a name on it. Casey, Leslie, Tanesha, Carlie, Amelia, Kaia, Lauren, Bailey, Chelsey, Rose, Lily, Harriette, Chloe, Ashley, Kelly...dang a lot of these names end with an E sound. She thought to herself as she walked by. About halfway through she noticed an open door. Inside, there was a bed, and what appeared to be fabric resting on it. She steps inside and suddenly the door slams behind her. She turns around and stares at the new locked door. Grunting to herself, Riley looks around to her assess her new cage.

There is another camera and speaker which doesn't surprise her. There is a second door. She opens it to find a simple wet room. She goes to the bed to survey the black blob of fabric on the bed. It is a wetsuit and sunglasses. She immediately puts on the sunglasses and the sharp pain instantly went down to a dull throb. Sighing in relief, she assessed the wetsuit and began to put it on. It was definitely a snug fit considering she had to jump at 17 times to wiggle into it. After slipping into the suit, the intercom comes on.

"I would like to introduce a new member to the research program Caetus Shriek. She is a volunteer from Minnesota. Be nice to her and show her the ropes. Lunch will be ready in 1 hour."

Rage filled Riley. She was no volunteer. She was abducted and brought here and they knew it. She was angry and suddenly a shock went through her.

"Be careful to control your anger Ms. Wilson, your body started to transition back into your diseased form." Said the speaker to her.

She glared at the camera and flipped it the bird. Another shock went through her body, this one more intense than the others.

"Ms. Wilson, I suggest you not anger me. I have full authority over this facility. We are not trying to hurt you. We want to help you. We can't risk you spreading the disease to civilians. Hosts, are extremely contagious Ms. Wilson and we will not put the populace in danger. That is all."

The intercom cut off and suddenly she was alone in her room. Pacing back and forth and circling her space for what felt like an eternity, until another popping noise came on and her door opened. Stepping out she saw a bunch of other girls staring at her.

All of them smiled in unison and said "Welcome."

"Sure...let's call this a welcome." Riley said with a sarcastic tone in her voice. A tiny shock went through her and she growled and tugged at her shock collar which she now knew was exactly what it is.

"I see you have some spunk in you. I like it." Said one girl in the back. The group separated to a dark skinned girl with cat shaped eyes tugging at her collar.

"I'm Tanesha." she said.

Riley took a moment to survey Tanesha. Never in her life had she met someone that gave off such a vibe. Something about her felt very commanding. Her hair was curly, dense and had this wild feel to it. Riley took a few steps up to her and had to look up. She was tall, very tall. She was almost 6ft tall with toned muscles you could see through her wet suit. Her lips were full and her nose was slightly pointed with a very strong jawline. She stood with perfect posture and looked down on Riley with twinkling eyes.

"Go to Lunch." said the intercom. Everyone but Tanesha and Riley walked down the hall as the continued to study each other. Suddenly a shock went through Riley and she tugged on her collar again. She noticed Tanesha did the same.

Tanesha sighed and said, "Come on, let's go eat."

Both of them walked to the open door at the end of the hallway and was introduced to a cafeteria with over 1000 people walking around. Some of them appeared to be in their 40s. Some of them her age. All people forced to be here because they were hosts to a disease.

"Let's get in line for food and then I'll introduce you to the gang."

She got in line with her and noticed Tanesha wave to a girl sitting at a table in the back and then pointed to Riley and gave a thumbs up. The girl in the distance repeated to signal and started spooning food in her mouth. When they get to the front, what appeared to look like a bowl of slop was handed to her along with a bottle of water. They walk back up to this new girl at the table and she immediately rolls away from her seat and comes up to them in a wheelchair.

"Soooooo, who is the new girl?" asked the mystery girl.

"This is Riley, Riley meet Lisa." Tanesha said ushering to both of them.

Riley blatantly stared at her. This was the only wheelchair bound girl she has seen in the facility.

"If you take a picture, it will last longer." said Lisa.

Riley stuttered and both girls laughed.

"It is okay, I'm used to that reaction, being the only disabled diseased person here. I don't stay with the other girls because I'm a special case or something. Anyways, I haven't finished eating and I'm still hungry."

She rolls up to her spot at the table and continues to eat her meal. Riley then sat down and took a moment to survey Lisa. She had downturn slanted eyes and jet black hair. She was a very small girl with pale skin whiter than Riley and that was saying something.

"You really like to stare don't you?" said Lisa.

"I like to observe what I don't understand so I can understand it.." said Riley.

She then looked at the bowl of slop and took a bite. She paused at the taste. It wasn't terrible, no 5 star meal or anything but not too bad. It tasted kinda fishy though and was very salty. She continued to eat.

"Oh FINALLY! I swear they always let out our ward last for food."

Suddenly a new girl places her food down. Right behind her was another girl staring wide eyed at the table. One of them had fire engine red hair, thin lips, green eyes and freckled cheeks. She plopped herself down in the chair and immediately started shoveling food in her mouth like she hadn't eaten in days. She took a moment halfway in and stared at the girl still staring at the table behind her.

"Come sit. Oh btw, this is a new possible recruit from my ward. Meet Cyndi." The other girl sat down slowly. She had an olive tone to her tan skin and very large almond shaped brown eyes. She sat down slowly and stared at all of us. The red headed girl then looked at me.

"Who is this? Where is Adah?" She asked.

"I'm Riley….and you are?" Riley asked slowly.

"June." she responded and then continued to shove food down her face without breathing.

Riley took another bite of food as another girl walked up. She had slightly beige skin that had a pink undertone. Her nose was wide and her hair was dark brown and very curly.

"Is it just me or did 2 new people show up." a thick Brooklyn accent came out of her mouth.

"June brought in this Cyndi girl and I brought in Riley."said Tanesha.

"Got it. I'm Adah." she said sitting down.

June pushed a now empty bowl away from her and slammed her hands down on the table. "Ookay, so now that introductions are over, let's talk about this group. If you aren't into us then you can go find another group. We are all the outcasts anyways because of how often we try to escape from this prison."

June then tugged on her collar and then glared at the wall. I follow her eyes and there is a camera right there.

"So if you want to fall in line and be a good little sheeple then go find a different group."

She then stared at Riley and Cyndi. Neither of the girls left the table but continued to eat. June took that as permission to keep talking.

"We know we are all separated into wards with code locked doors. The wards are categorized by how quickly we turned back into our human selves. If it took you less than a week to turn back you are in Tanesha's ward which is to the left. If it took you more than that you are put in my ward, which is to the right. If it took you over a year, you are in Adah's ward which is those doors right there. Then we got Lisa who is a special case in her own special area and no one knows where she sleeps. We also know that women and men are in separate buildings." June winces and tugs on her collar again but then Tanesha starts speaking.

"We also know this facility is surrounded by desert because I managed to get out once but was quickly brought back." Then she quickly grabbed at her collar and made a pained hiss.

"We also know this isn't a damn contagious disease either. It is a genetic disorder that either kills you or makes you what we are. I know this because I was able to hack into their database once." said Adah and she winced and clenched her fists together.

Riley was taking all this in and trying to process it. "So I'm going to need you guys to rewind and explain to me how you guys managed to do that in the first place."

"For some reason every host for Caetus Shriek has some sort of weird ability. Tanesha can make things explode if she concentrates enough but it takes her awhile. Adah can become invisible. June can make people hallucinate. I can control water." said Lisa. She then opened her water bottle. She looked at it and on its own, the water began to move out of the bottle and form a ball. Suddenly she screamed and the water crashed down on the table with a splash, pooling all over the surface.

"They don't like it when we use our powers outside of the education center. So you have to learn how to control it through the pain. In time, you will learn your ability. The problem isn't getting out. The problem is getting to water once we do." said Tanesha.

"Well we are in the United States...so we are probably closer to the West Coast or Gulf of Mexico because Arizona, Texas, Nevada and New Mexico are mostly desert." Riley then felt another shock and suddenly the intercom came on.

"Everyone make way to the education rooms for power training." Suddenly everyone got up and started walking away.

Tanesha turned around and said, "You know that is actually a good point. If only we had a map and compass."