Season 02 - Episode 08

‘justice done GovCo’

Until a few days ago, Iz had never seen a park before. It was the widest, most open space she had ever experienced and it had almost overwhelmed her the first time. She has grown used to it quickly however and now she stands unmoved.

Specifically, she is standing unmoved on a low, makeshift stage before a crowd of hundreds of people. Her hands and feet are shackled together and four EnFo's form tight square about her. A GovCo official stands towards the front of the stage, making an impassioned and apparently improvised speech.

Iz stares at the back of the man's head with contempt. It's the exact same speech, word for word, stutters and stumbles and all, that she has heard several times now. He has given it to several different crowds in several different parks.

“...single worst atrocity in the history of The Levels!” the man is shouting. “Your friends! Your families! Your homes! The cults have torn them from you in their genocidal insanity! We have to resist them, my friends! We... we simply must!”

The crowd roars its approval, a great wave of sound peppered with individual barbs of rage. A line of EnFo's with their backs to the stage form a wall before the bristling mob.

“In this time of crisis,” the official continues as the screaming ebbs. “This time of unprecedented pain and suffering for us all, remember... remember and believe! GovCo has your back. I promise you all, here and now, that with your help, GovCo will exterminate every last cultist in The Levels! That is my pledge to you today!”

The crowd explodes once more, their howls building into a seething chaos of white noise. Iz knows what's coming next, the choreography is perfect.

“We've already started!” he cries. “Here she is! The Enemy!”

As the EnFo's her shuffle her forward, the official steps back to stand alongside her.

“The Enemy!” screeches the official again, pointing a vicious finger at Iz. “Look at her! She is nothing but a husk, her mind destroyed by her cult's vile doctrines and degenerate lifestyle.”

The crowd surges forward, trying to storm the stage, trying to get to Iz and tear her apart. She doesn't flinch but just stares over their heads, bored.

“GovCo captured The Enemy for you!” shouts the official over the near riot seething before him. “And you will see justice done! GovCo will make sure of that!”

A fist sized chunk of masonry sails through the air and catches Iz on the temple. She staggers into the EnFo's beside her as the crowd cheer. The blow dazes her and as the EnFo's shove her roughly back to standing, her head swims. Hot blood runs down her face.

The EnFo's kick the backs of her legs so that she falls forwards to kneel. Their blows land in exactly the same place as yesterday, aggravating the ugly bruises already blooming.

“See how she shows no remorse!” cries the man. “She doesn't care, this scum, this creature! She killed the people you love and she doesn't care at all!”

The crowd showers her with missiles and curses, venting their fury, until eventually she is marched out of the park and back to her cell. Waiting for her there is low metal bed and thin, stained mattress. Another EnFo appears with a small, dented metal bowl containing a thick, cold soup.

“Here you are, scum,” his crackling voice leers. “More than you deserve.”

He throws the bowl to the floor so that half of the soup spills out then leaves and locks the door. Iz moves slowly to retrieve the bowl and then consumes the soup with her fingers. When she's finished she leaves the bowl on the floor and lowers herself carefully onto the bed.

The Scape on which she was born and spent her life is gone, consumed by The Collapse. Iz feels nothing, it was a brutal, hateful place. Everyone she's every known is dead. Iz feels nothing, they were brutal, hateful people. The Inners are exploiting her for their own ends. Iz feels nothing, it's all they've ever done.

They're trying to punish her for something she didn't do. Their punishment however, means giving her a space of her own, an actual bed and even free food. The very worst life they can think of is infinitely better than what she had before.

There in the dark, bleeding and bruised, she laughs.

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