Gyrus

Chapter Nineteen: Bigger Problems

"In my seventeen years on the Earth, I've never seen such damage on the human body." Wong whispered his eyes wide with fear.

For the first time since we'd known each other, I was in complete agreement with Wong. The three of us just stared into the cell, the sudden reality of how much trouble we had stumbled into hitting us square in the face. It was obvious that the two people hung by their arms in the police cell had survived a great deal of torture. We had escaped and brought ourselves to this town without thinking it through and had remained virtually unscathed except for Zoe getting handcuffed by only God knows who and the scratches on Wong's arm. But Roberto and Maria hadn't been so lucky. We had to take a closer look and find some way to bring them down. I took a tentative step into the cell, waiting to see if it was booby trapped or had some kind of surveillance like the Laundromat. Nothing happened. I looked back at Wong and Zoe and nodded into the room, urging them to follow. They looked at me like I'd asked them to step to boiling oil. There was a sudden cough and gurgle and we turned to look at Maria. She seemed barely conscious. She coughed again, and a torrent of dark blood gushed forth, flowing like a waterfall.

Zoe let out and ear piercing scream and Wong dove for her, imprisoning her in his arms and clasping one of his hands over her mouth. She thrashed and continued to scream into his palm, seeming completely traumatized. This was the reason the cell's bars had been replaced with this high tech gadget door. The cell had been converted into some kind of interrogation chamber complete with a water-boarding stool and an overhead cabinet filled with little torture knick knacks. Roberto and Maria were restrained at the back of the room close to the wall where a metal rod had been fastened to the ceiling. He was nude from the waist up, hands over his head. His entire torso and neck were so thoroughly covered with blue and black bruises from what could only be vicious beatings that he looked more leopard than human. His face was puffy and his left eye swollen shut and lined with dried pus. His lips were cut and bleeding from repeated trauma, his neck had a black ring of bruised skin most likely from choking or a garrotte. Maria was in a blue t-shirt and jeans, her feet bare. She didn't have as many bruises as Roberto, but by merely looking at her, I could tell she was much worse off. Her head drooped forward between her raised hands and rested on her chest totally devoid of any semblance of control. Her brown hair partially obscured her face, the once lush locks now in thin stringy clumps held together by what could only be drying blood. Her recently expelled blood dripped off her feet and chin, adding to the pool on the ground.

Zoe whispered something into Wong's ear and he let her go, just before she turned and ran to the nearest door and stuck her face in. We could hear her retching as Wong came to join me inside the cell. He took Roberto's hand as gently as he could and held his first two fingers against the wrist checking for a pulse. He did the same for Maria and sighed.

"They're still alive, Maria only barely so."

"What can we do?" I asked. "I've only seen things like this on television. Is it safe to let them down?"

Wong peered over his shoulder and yelled over Zoe's heaving. "Shut the hell up Zoe. I'm trying to concentrate."

She stuck her head out of the room which I could see was some sort of storage room and tried to glare at Wong, only managing a weak frown instead. Wong ignored her and continued his field examination.

"They're both too hurt for it to matter if we took them down. Besides it would be easier to examine them and decide what to do if they were in a prone position."

Wong and I exchanged glances, neither of us was tall or strong enough to reach up and pull the rod out of the ceiling.

"I know, I know." Zoe said behind us, cleaning her mouth with the back of her hand. "I can pull it down."