Calm and Calamity

Chapter 70

Day: 795

Days Left: 4685

Lives Saved: 4

It was dark in the prison cell, only a dim lightbulb to illuminate the place that softly hummed; however, Henry Best had grown accustomed to the darkness as well as the constant din of the lightbulb.

He covered his eyes as a blinking purple light engulfed the solid black wall then dissolved, revealing the hidden prison bars. On the other side of the bars stood Antonette Bancroft.

They were both silent for a long moment, neither looking at the other directly. Henry remained huddled in the corner of the prison cell, hugging his legs close to his chest.

"It's today, isn't it?" he mumbled.

Bancroft nodded. "It's today."

"I'm supposed to be allowed to see a family member before I go. I asked for my grandfather Albert Best; do you know when he's arriving?"

"He's..." Bancroft hesitated. "I'm sorry, Henry, but Reyes' father paid for you not to be allowed to see any family before you go."

"I see..." Henry swallowed. He perhaps might have cried if his eye-ducts hadn't already dried up and ran out of tears. Henry stumbled up to his feet, the metal shackles around his wrists that prevented him from using magic, clattered and clinked together. "Do you know what sector I'm going to?"

"It'll be a sector away from Corinna Warren, one run by another country," answered Bancroft. "You'll go on a five-hour flight to get to the portal. They don't want to give you any advantages by dropping you so close to your second cousin whilst you still have your memories."

"Makes sense."

"But you'll still have an advantage since you know so much about the Abyss," Bancroft added hopefully. "All the footage you've watched, it's not like you're going in blind like all the other prisoners."

"Yeah," Henry mumbled. "Let's just see how much of my knowledge I retain after that memory curse has taken into effect." He glanced away. "Congratulations, by the way, on the promotion. The new Lead Director of Sector 38 and 39."

Bancroft looked to the floor, her face souring. "It's not how I wanted to get the job-"

A guard walked over and whispered into Bancroft's ear.

"Okay," said Bancroft. She then turned back to Henry. "It is time for you to be branded."

Day: 802

It had been a week, and Corinna did not want to lie down any longer. Gritting her teeth, she started small and wriggled and squirmed her torso. Though her back still hurt, it was incomparable to the pain she was in days ago.

"Come on, you can do it!" cheered Sumit, who was lying on a mattress next to her. "I believe in you!"

Silently giggling, Corinna fought through the pain and propped herself up with her stub arms.

Sumit clapped his bandaged hands together, then slowly sat up himself. "I'm sure you'll be up and running in no time. I'm Sumit, by the way, unless you already knew that."

Corinna nodded, forcing a weak smile.

"Ah, you do know me? I wasn't sure because they found you a week ago and I hadn't seen you around beforehand. Lost my memories and a lot of my skin." He flailed his arms around, showing off the red and black peeling skin. "It's healed quite a lot, though. I wonder if my face is good looking underneath all this burnt stuff? What do you think? Was I good looking?" He said as he posed.