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Quicker my head shook, and I held out my arm letting it bounce with my impatience. Rob’s lips tightened but he pushed down the lighter, angling it so the sides heated up.
“She’s sick. Why is that so bad? You heard him, it’s a flu. People are getting sick all over. Do you think it’s their bad deeds that are bringing on the sickness? Is that what this is about?”
“No. I think.Hurry.”
“Not until you get it out.”
A sound left me as I raced to the closet to grab my purse. When I came back with the candy, my Master let the flame die. He stared at it, looking between me and the bag.
“You were eating those.”
“Yes.”
“At the restaurant…before you got sick.”
“Yes.”
Rob’s head cocked the slightest amount. “I didn’t buy those for you. Where did you get them?”
“Friend. He made them for her. It’s a special candy. He made them; he didn’t buy. And she’s sick too. He got mad at her when she gave them to me. I think…” I wiped the flowing tears away. “He made her more. She was eating them in front of me just now and she went from happy to…sick. I think—"
My Master snatched the bag, grabbing the phone from his pocket. He laid both on the counter, staring at them. Moments went by before he picked back up the lighter, letting it burn.
“Arm.”
I lifted it, biting down as the blistering pain seared into my skin. I cried out, my other fist flying to my mouth as the hot metal sizzled through my flesh.
“I release you of your secret. Never speak of it again. Not to her. Not to anyone.”
Master B-1212
“Rob, you know I want to help, but truthfully there’s nothing I can do. Had I saw the girl slip your slave the bag of candy under the table, we probably would have solved this faster, but they’re slaves, and it was an accident. Other than fining Master Sixty-three for allowing his slave to carry something that lethal outside of his apartment, my hands are tied. It’s just the way things are here.”
I paced in front of the Main Master, understanding what he said but not liking any of it.
“But it was the candy? You tested it for poison?”
“I did, it was positive. Had he intentionally given them to your slave this would be a completely different story. He’d die, plain and simple, but slave fifty did this and not even intentionally.” Elec shrugged. “You’re just going to have to be careful when you’re both out. These Masters down here are into things you’ve probably never even heard of. This just happens to be what Sixty-three is into. I knew this before he ever stepped foot on the grounds. It’s part of our application process. Complete honesty. He nurses slaves to death. He’s a caregiver to the very end. It is what it is.”
“Weeks ago when my slave got poisoned, he offered me medication under the table. Anything I wanted or needed. Not a big deal, but then he mentioned that there’s a flu going around. He laughed. It was so out of place. I’ve been asking around. What about the outbreaks in the different restaurants? Do you not find these sicknesses appearing around food suspicious at all? Is it just me? I’m afraid to even order out anymore. I don’t trust him, Elec. The man…he’s never felt right. I’ve tried letting it go because our slaves are friends, but fuck. I just can’t shake the way he makes me feel.”
The Main Master’s finger thrummed against the desk as his lids narrowed the smallest amount. To read him was impossible. He looked from me to the wall of glass that gave view to the city below. His floor and the guard apartments across the city were the only one giving a glimpse to the chaos that made up this place.
“You think he’s intentionally making people sick?”
“I’m progressing, being here at the Gardens. I’ve done things to my slave I’d never have the balls to try outside of this place. Why couldn’t he? What’s one slave or many masters when faced with someone who just wants to see people sick?” My hand pushed back my hair from my forehead. “I know you have a lot of shit you’re overlooking at this place, but I have a bad feeling about George. I don’t want to accuse him of anything, but I think this should be investigated. If he is poisoning people, he’s not going to stop. Right now, the symptoms are manageable, but what happens when he wants them to be worse?”
Elec stood from the desk, walking to the wall of glass. He placed his hands behind his back as he stared down.
“I won’t say him doing something like that never crossed my mind. My job is to think of every scenario possible. I weigh the risk, and I go from there. His risk was higher than I liked, but I had to see where he stood. Everyone is different; their compulsions rarely are. Whether they elevate, and how high is something I can’t calculate. Not in a place like this.”
“Will you at least look into it?”
The Main Master turned to me, anger shadowing his face. “I had lunch on the main floor with my High Leader and a few of the guards last week in the food court. It wasn’t planned, but let’s say we felt the effects of this flu. Bet your ass I’m going to investigate it.”
A sigh of relief left me. “Thank you. I hope I’m wrong. In case I’m not, I’m glad you’re going to check into it. I should go. I can’t stand leaving Clara alone. Thanks, Main Master."
Closing the door behind me, I kept my steps at a fast pace. The elevator ride down from the top floor took forever. It was as if everyone decided to leave at the exact same moment. I only had four floors to travel, but we stopped at every damn one as people piled in or got off. When I finally stepped onto the sixteenth floor, all I felt was relief. I hadn’t been gone maybe a half hour, give or take. It didn’t matter. Five minutes away from my slave with Master Sixty-three loose was too damn much. From the moment she showed me that candy…I knew. I didn’t want to believe it, but I’d always been cautious around him, from the first time I’d really met him as my mother’s doctor. No one was so nice without harboring a bad secret, and his was worse than I had imagined. It made my skin crawl. It ground my insides with questions I wasn’t sure I should think about. Killing his slave slowly. Slow…like my mother. That took such a low level of emotion I hadn’t gotten to yet. Hurting my slave, yes, I could do that. Killing her, and not just taking her life, but dragging it out for a long period of time, no way. I saw my mother suffer for almost a year. That wasn’t something I was capable of.
